Still Crazy After All These Beers

The word pilgrimage can mean different things to many people. For most Americans the very word calls to mind the small band of early settlers near Boston. For some, it can be a trip to a holy place, such as Jerusalem, Israel, or Mecca. Still others, it may be a long trip across the country to visit a favorite place, long revered but never seen, like the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. For craft beer drinkers, it can mean a long distance driven and great expenses incurred to find that one elusive beer that may finally be within grasp.
It may be a frequently occurring drive on certain days of the week, when shipments are rumored to be arriving. Often, the pursuit of that perfect pint will have us follow twitters, distributor blogs, and endless Facebook profiles to know when that elusive beer will be arriving. Often with calculations done, directions in hand, the craft drinker will load into a car (often with friends in tow) in hopes of getting to the store in that epic moment when the box is placed on the shelf. When 5 fingers can wrap around 22 ozs of goodness and know it was a job well done, mission accomplished.
Or, you can do what many people in the Greater Philadelphia area are doing, and just hop in your car and head to Media, Pa. On East Baltimore Pike, you will find a new craft drinker’s paradise, Pinocchio’s Beer Garden. Pinocchio’s is quickly gaining mass attention among craft beer drinkers as a destination, not just a step along the journey from Miller to Russian River. One no longer needs to put in the time, effort, sweat, blood, and tears to acquire great beer. You only need to stop by and pick up a mix 6 pack of carefully selected quality craft beer.
What you will find here isn’t run of the mill, ordinary craft. You find things not only you haven’t seen, but flavors you’ve never heard of. Long Trail Triple Bag? Of course. Pliny the Elder? On tap twice last month. Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout? It’s not measured in bottles here but in cases. During the holiday season this year, you could find six different ways to take home Troeg’s Mad Elf. With over 800 different bottles representing 200 different breweries available for single purchase and twenty-three different taps, there is more than something for everyone. Selection and quantity that is not just unfound, but quite frankly unheard of.
Owner Tim Volikas had a simple plan. Fly out to the Great American Beer Festival and meet the owners of the breweries. Rub elbows with Craft Beer royalty and convince them to send him the good stuff. Simple, elegant, brilliant. Since meeting with numerous heads of different breweries, Tim has been able to secure a steady supply of flavors that bring out the masses. He has developed a very loyal cult following of customers who not only come to purchase, but to hang out. On any given day, Tim and beverage director Dan are offering samples, pouring glasses, and recommending beers for any customer and every occasion. They can pair beer with your food, or just pair a lost customer to a proper beer.
So if you are within reasonable distance, stop by and check them out. Just be sure to come with enough room in your car to bring back everything you thought you’d never see, and stuff you didn’t know existed, but just can’t live without. Tim and Dan aren’t just trying to appease to hop snobs, but to the everyday beer drinker. They are trying to convert the masses to drink better beer, hoping to help a “big 3 beer” drinker find that one gateway beer that just may be the path to enlightenment.
Pinochio’s Beer Garden to go is on the web @ www.pinbeer.com, or check them out on Facebook for updated tap list info.