Tavern 17 & Utopias
March 27th, 2008During Philly Beer Week, I had the pleasure of joining Ale Street News for a small beer tasting at Tavern 17 by Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. Never being to this restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised to find a cozy modern atmosphere offering a few good brews.
Although the design of the establishment was superb, I have one mild complaint. It seemed the bar was practically pressed against the hospitality station and entrance way. It made it quite difficult to be mobile in the front half of the establishment. Then again, this is a pretty petty complaint considering the food and drink were outstanding.
I started my evening with friends enjoying a few pints Flying Fish’s Grand Cru and Victory’s Golden Monkey. Both beers are quite delicious and I admit, I am not a big fan of Flying Fish or Victory. We then proceeded to join about 50 other beer lovers in a private room for the tasting. Some of the rock stars in the room included Tony Forder from Ale Street News and several reps from Sam Adams and Dogfish Head.
Each beer paired up nicely with the foods. I was impressed by the Chef’s choices for pairings. Of course, I was most impressed by my the finale. This was a delicious White Chocolate Covered Strawberry (and the biggest strawberry my eyes have seen, I might add) along with a small thimble of Sam Adams’ Utopias. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the recently released 2007 we were tasting but a 2 year aged ‘05.
This being my first tasting of the legendary Utopias, a bold barley wine weighing in at 27% alcohol, I sipped my all-to-small portion sparingly embracing every dropped as it hit my palette. Each sip was a cornucopia of flavors. Everything from fruit, chocolate, caramel, and coffee could be sensed. The beer warmed as it went down, a sign of the high alcohol, and felt to coat the throat like syrup. It was quite a unique experience!