Monks Cafe & More

Monk's Cafe - The soul of Belgium in the Heart of Philadelpiha

Trying to find great beers and brewpubs has lead me to some pretty astonishing restaurants with spectacular food to boot. Some small brewpubs have incredible beer and ok food. Some have incredible food and ok beer. Few nail both the food and beer equation and even fewer add something I would call "A drinkable atmosphere". One of those few is Monks Cafe in downtown Philadelphia.

Well, I've yet to visit Belgium, so I can't comment on Monk's tagline with any authority, but I can say it was dark, the sausage and pomme frites were delicious and the beer selection and freshness among the best I've ever had. Needless to say, I was very impressed.

Not only did they have rare Russian River, Pizza Port and Lost Abbey on tap, they had their very own beer made, for them, IN BELGUIM. How the hell does that work? They must really have some sort of amazing hook-up...

This Tap handle has a photo of a Nun on it.. Wha?

After finishing up our incredible meal at Monks, my brother and I marched down South Street a good two miles before heading back to his house to try some of the rare beers we picked up at The Foodery. We tried a couple beers by River Horse, Ommegang, Hair of the Dog (one of my personal favorites) but the show stopper was again the Russian River.

Brewed in Napa Valley, Russian River has unique access to the wine terrier, by-products and specialized knowledge of that region. Therefore, Russian River is able to apply techniques from the wine industry, such as barrel aging, better and easier than most. Barrel aging has been somewhat of a buzz-process over the last few years, but no one I've come across does it nearly as well as these guys. Not only do they age their beers for over a year (not at all recommended) but they also employ a wild yeast, which is harder to predict and control.

Their unique process and daring creates some of the most flavorful, interesting and amazingly delicious beers on the Planet. Outstanding...