Shangy's/Beer Club
Yesterday was a first for JP. My first visit to Shangy's. It's been called Beervana by some but I'm not a loser so I'll refrain from calling it anything but Shangy's. For those not familiar, Shangy's is noted as one of the best beer distributors on the east coast. Located outside of Allentown in Emmaus, Shangy's is the main supply house for Monk's and Eulogy. They have a selection of over 3,000 beers, some of which are pretty hard to find.
Scott's comments notwithstanding, the owner seemed pretty cool. He gave me the history of Shangy's, most notably that his family immigrated to the US from Iran and built the store from scratch. I find this ironic considering how bad middle eastern beer is (which is also ironic due to the fact that Mesopotamia is the area often credited with discovering and first brewing beer. And yes, they did 'discover' it - most likely by leaving a mixture of grain and water out in the hot sun. It fermented and voila! you have beer.)
As impressed as I was with their selection and low prices (at least compared to Beer Yard), I was frankly disappointed with their selection of domestic 'Big Beers.' For instance, they didn't have Bell's Expedition Stout or Dogfish Head World Wide Stout in stock (or 120 minute or Raison d'Extra for that matter). Not having The Beast or Dreadnaught was a surprise too. Don't get me wrong, their domestic selection is great. I guess some of the bigger beers are seasonal and might not be in stock now.
Their Belgian selection is huge. I really toyed with the idea of buying cases of De Dolle Mad Bitch and Des Rocs Bruin (a formidable strong ale), but finally stuck with my guns and made the purchase that I initially intended - a case of Gouden Carolus Grand Cru. This is a really tasty Grand Cru that comes in a traditional wooden wine-bottle case. It is brewed once a year - February 24th - to commemorate Charles the Fifth's birthday. Charles the Fifth commissioned this beer to be made back in the day to accompany him on fox hunts. Probably BS but a good tale nonetheless.
All in all Shangy's is as good as it gets but I really can't stand the PA beer laws and thus do not like being forced into buying a case of anything. I plan on aging 6 of the Gouden bottles so purchasing a case this time is no big deal. But I just can't justify buying a ton of cases, especially with my need for a constant variety in the fridge. Shangy's is about 15 minutes farther away from me than State Line, so I think I will continue to frequent State Line for now - unless......
.....Hoho's awesome idea of an awesome beer club materializes. Basically we set a fairly modest monthly amount that all participants are willing to spend. I'll make the trek to Shangy's and pick up a case (or two) of a beer of choice - hopefully a new beer to the club participants. The cases will be split up accordingly at a monthly tasting. We can hang out, sample the beer, and just enjoy each other's company. It could be fun to sample beers that we wouldn't normally think to buy.
I'm not quite sure how many people would be into it, but if we can get a minimum of 6 people involved everyone could obtain quality beer at a lower cost than buying per bottle (an even number of people would be optimal to split up a case). For instance a case of Avery's The Reverend costs $44 at Shangy's. That's $3.67 per 750ml bottle. The same bottle costs $5.99 at State Line. The potential savings on imports are even greater. A guy we know, Bob Perkins, has a similar wine club that people love. Now Bob actually travels to France and handpicks the wines, ships them to the US by himself, and then distributes them. Let's see if this club can make it a month before we get too extravagant.
I know we're all busy, but it might be fun to try to out...........
For whatever reason I took some time over lunch to look at the award winners from this year's Great American Beer Festival and found some real surprises. Iron Hill Brewery in West Chester won two medals - a bronze in the Wooden & Barrel Aged category for their Bourbon Ivan and a gold in the Imperial Stout category for their Russian Imperial Stout. Really? Ratebeer has the stout at a 99. It's about a half mile from my house so I'll check it out.
Other local Breweries that won were Rock Bottom(KOP) for Schwarzbier, McKenzie's Brew Pub (Frazer, Kennett Square) for Raven, and Triumph (New Hope) for Triumph Bengal Gold IPA.
Tonight is the big Dogfish Head dinner at Monks. I've been told that Tom is pulling out some real rarities, including Baltic de Belgium, an ale designed for and sold only at Monks like four years ago. When I spoke to Tom at the Return of the Belgian Beer Festival he mentioned that he wanted to pull out some '01 World Wide Stout, too. I'm excited.
Scott's comments notwithstanding, the owner seemed pretty cool. He gave me the history of Shangy's, most notably that his family immigrated to the US from Iran and built the store from scratch. I find this ironic considering how bad middle eastern beer is (which is also ironic due to the fact that Mesopotamia is the area often credited with discovering and first brewing beer. And yes, they did 'discover' it - most likely by leaving a mixture of grain and water out in the hot sun. It fermented and voila! you have beer.)
As impressed as I was with their selection and low prices (at least compared to Beer Yard), I was frankly disappointed with their selection of domestic 'Big Beers.' For instance, they didn't have Bell's Expedition Stout or Dogfish Head World Wide Stout in stock (or 120 minute or Raison d'Extra for that matter). Not having The Beast or Dreadnaught was a surprise too. Don't get me wrong, their domestic selection is great. I guess some of the bigger beers are seasonal and might not be in stock now.
Their Belgian selection is huge. I really toyed with the idea of buying cases of De Dolle Mad Bitch and Des Rocs Bruin (a formidable strong ale), but finally stuck with my guns and made the purchase that I initially intended - a case of Gouden Carolus Grand Cru. This is a really tasty Grand Cru that comes in a traditional wooden wine-bottle case. It is brewed once a year - February 24th - to commemorate Charles the Fifth's birthday. Charles the Fifth commissioned this beer to be made back in the day to accompany him on fox hunts. Probably BS but a good tale nonetheless.
All in all Shangy's is as good as it gets but I really can't stand the PA beer laws and thus do not like being forced into buying a case of anything. I plan on aging 6 of the Gouden bottles so purchasing a case this time is no big deal. But I just can't justify buying a ton of cases, especially with my need for a constant variety in the fridge. Shangy's is about 15 minutes farther away from me than State Line, so I think I will continue to frequent State Line for now - unless......
.....Hoho's awesome idea of an awesome beer club materializes. Basically we set a fairly modest monthly amount that all participants are willing to spend. I'll make the trek to Shangy's and pick up a case (or two) of a beer of choice - hopefully a new beer to the club participants. The cases will be split up accordingly at a monthly tasting. We can hang out, sample the beer, and just enjoy each other's company. It could be fun to sample beers that we wouldn't normally think to buy.
I'm not quite sure how many people would be into it, but if we can get a minimum of 6 people involved everyone could obtain quality beer at a lower cost than buying per bottle (an even number of people would be optimal to split up a case). For instance a case of Avery's The Reverend costs $44 at Shangy's. That's $3.67 per 750ml bottle. The same bottle costs $5.99 at State Line. The potential savings on imports are even greater. A guy we know, Bob Perkins, has a similar wine club that people love. Now Bob actually travels to France and handpicks the wines, ships them to the US by himself, and then distributes them. Let's see if this club can make it a month before we get too extravagant.
I know we're all busy, but it might be fun to try to out...........
For whatever reason I took some time over lunch to look at the award winners from this year's Great American Beer Festival and found some real surprises. Iron Hill Brewery in West Chester won two medals - a bronze in the Wooden & Barrel Aged category for their Bourbon Ivan and a gold in the Imperial Stout category for their Russian Imperial Stout. Really? Ratebeer has the stout at a 99. It's about a half mile from my house so I'll check it out.
Other local Breweries that won were Rock Bottom(KOP) for Schwarzbier, McKenzie's Brew Pub (Frazer, Kennett Square) for Raven, and Triumph (New Hope) for Triumph Bengal Gold IPA.
Tonight is the big Dogfish Head dinner at Monks. I've been told that Tom is pulling out some real rarities, including Baltic de Belgium, an ale designed for and sold only at Monks like four years ago. When I spoke to Tom at the Return of the Belgian Beer Festival he mentioned that he wanted to pull out some '01 World Wide Stout, too. I'm excited.
posted by JP at 9:50 AM
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