At what point did I criticize it?
I do have a friend (the aforementioned one), who went within the last few years, and said she found it too "touristy". Though she herself was visiting from NYC, so she was only contributing to its touristiness.
Though I haven't been, I can see her point. If you have a place that is a magnet for visitors, clearly it's going to lose some of its local charm, right?
But if you're going to a BELGIAN beer bar in PHILADELPHIA, local charm is probably not a priority.
Exactly. It's an institution. The Philly beer bar any out of towner is most likely to have heard of and head straight to.
But is still THE place to go? ( haven't been, I'm just asking) I remember a couple of years ago I had a visiting friend who had previously lived in DC mention going to the Brickskeller, and I had to break it to her that a number of places had surpassed her old favorite.
And gee whiz, the owner knows how to pour beer into proper glassware. Wow, that is quite an accomplishment for an American!
Here's a good list of Philly beer bars.
http://www.visitphilly.com/articles/philadelphia/top-beer-bars-in-philadelphia/
And here's a great site listing what's on tap in Philly. Wish we had something this good for DC.
http://phillytapfinder.com/
I've only been to Philly once in the last 15 years, for a daytrip. We really should go more. We went to Eulogy and Memphis Taproom. Eulogy was pretty decent, Memphis Taproom was better.
for belgian pubs in philly... i'm a big fan of Eulogy.
looking forward to checking out some spots during the homebrew conference, if I can survive the day to make it out.
Well in the first link it says this about monk's:
"
Monk?s Café
The bar that brought Belgian ales to America, Monk?s has won every conceivable award for its Belgian beer and food menu that reads like a novel. The tavern has been named ?One of the Top Five Places in the World to Have a Beer Before You Die? by All About Beer magazine. And owner Tom Peters has been knighted as a Chevalier du Fourquette des Brasseurs, the 500-year-old Belgian brewers guild, and is one of four Ambassadeurs Orval in the U.S., which means Trappist monks have acknowledged his ability to properly serve their beer. "
criticizing a place you have never been seems silly to say the least.