Philly Beers This Week at the Black Squirrel

All this week you can drink beers by two new-to-D.C. Pennsylvania breweries at The Black Squirrel, Sly Fox and Yards. True to Pennsylvania’s German heritage, both these breweries specialize in classic, sessionable beers — sometimes it seems like you can’t start a brewery in the state without making a good lager. Sly Fox’s Helles Golden Lager and Route 113 IPA will be on draft, while both breweries will have bottle offerings.

In the past few years Sly Fox has been expanding to the north and boasts a pretty amazing share of taps in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Though they don’t have D.C. distribution yet, Black Squirrel owner Amy Bowman said she’ll be sending someone to pick up kegs directly from the brewery once a month. Since their early brewpub days, Sly Fox gained fame for their Hop Project beers, a series of single-hop IPAs, released monthly in small batches, designed to highlight the intricacies of different hop species. Meanwhile, Yards isn’t in D.C. or Maryland, but they have distribution in Virginia. Read after the jump for the full beer list, recommendations, and the Black Squirrel’s cheese steak menu.

Sly Fox beers: Helles Golden Lager (draft), Route 113 (draft), Pikeland Pils, Phoenix Pale Ale, Dunkle Lager, and Incubus Tripel. Beerspotter pick: Pikeland Pils, the only pilsner in America I’d actually choose over Victory Prima Pils.

Yards beers: Philadelphia Pale Ale, IPA, Brawler, and Saison. Beerspotter pick: Philly Pale Ale, mild for a pale ale but amazing when you consider it’s essentially a light beer — grassy and hoppy and just 4.6% abv.

Black Squirrel cheese steak menu:
• Traditional Cheese Steak with melted provolone, sautéed onions, carrot, celery, and sweet peppers
• Deluxe Steak with homemade foie gras and black truffle mousse
• Chicken Cheese Steak with provolone and sautéed onions

Philly Beers This Week at The Black Squirrel was originally published by Washington City Paper on Jun 21, 2010

Copyright CITYP - Washington City Paper
Contact Us