Joe Sixpack's Philly Beer Guide: A Reporter's Notes on the Best Beer-Drinking City in America

by Don Russell

If you've ever wanted to explore the hopping beer scene in Philadelphia, now is the time. Fun and full of attytood, Joe Sixpack s Philly Beer A Reporter s Notes on the Best Beer Drinking City in America is the perfect companion for this city's thirsty visitors and locals alike. Joe Sixpack is Don Russell, the nation's leading beer journalist, who has written a weekly beer column for the Philadelphia Daily News since 1996. It goes without saying he knows, and loves, his beer. Over the years, he has traveled to Belgium, France, Iceland, Israel, Austria, the Caribbean, and throughout the United States and Canada in search of great beer and great stories. But he always comes back to Philadelphia, where the first brewery was built over 300 years ago and where great beer has been brewed ever since. Discover the full flavor of a great beer town. Go barhopping with Joe Sixpack, and you re sure to get all the insider's The best brewpubs, breweries, and beer bars Barroom secrets and money-saving tips Walking tours with maps Festivals, here and abroad And lots of fine, cold beer! Before you duck into a tavern, grab your copy of Joe Sixpack s Philly Beer Guide and learn why Philadelphia is the Best Beer Drinking City in America.

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2008

Reviews

[Josh Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into the philly bar/beer schene throughout the neighborhoods. It's an older publication so a good amount of places have since closed. Will refer to for future dive crawls.

[Mack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, there's good beer in Philly and this book helped me find it. We're new to the area and found the basic local pub was a bland on bland lager land. Not so says Joe Sixpack, and backs it up with a great guide to where to get just about anything brewed. I've especially enjoyed the Belgium beers and the pubs specializing in them. A whole new range of exquisite flavors. And now I know what's good, (and great), from the local micro brews and where to buy them.
Obviously this is a good aid for the serious beer drinker in Philly, but Don Russell, aka Joe Sixpack, adds so much history that this is a far richer read than just find this beer there and there. For instance three years before that tea party in Bean town the local brewers tossed a shipload of British malt into Deleware bay to protest restrictions on brewing beer. Somehow, that seems a more poetic gesture to me than than tea.

[Jonny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book because it's about Philadelphia and beer. Most of the time it feels like it's for tourists; so a lot of the stuff in here is redundant for me. The best part of the book is the suburban brewpub list, the part on glassware, and where I can get good takeout at the shore. Additionally, some of the bar nods are ones I haven't been to, either. It was also nice to see, for example, Bridgid's has bottles of Affligem Triple; and then going there and getting one with dinner. I also like how much this guy loves local beers and delicious imports; and how much he hates BudMillerCoors and BassHeinekenCorona. By the way, he calls people who drink PBR "mooks."