Left Hand Brewery at Misconduct Tavern (Philly Beer Week 2010)

The Where and What: Left Hand Brewery Beer Tastings @ Misconduct Tavern (Locust St., Philly) / Left Hand Good Juju, Widdershins Barleywine, and Nitro Milk Stout.

The What Have You: You can't say they didn't diversify for this flight of beers: a ginger brew, a barleywine style beer, and a stout.  The tasting was a little skimpy on the information side as I didn't have any of the abv percentages to write down, but here is a quick re-cap: Good Juju had some awesome bottle art, but it was a bit underwhelming.  You could smell and taste some of the ginger spicy goodness, but it was a little flat and not my favorite.  I actually just had the ginger-brewed Monkey Knife Fight at The Nodding Head (also in Philly) and liked that better. The Widdershins Barleywine would never rate high with me, because I am not a fan of the style.  It smells too much like alcohol; however, it didn't taste overly "boozy" so I was pleasantly surprised.  One large shot glass worth was enough for me, though.

It shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone who knows my drinking tastes that I thought the Nitro Milk Stout was tasty.  Dark as 10-year-old motor oil with reflected browns where the light can filter through, it was traditionally roasty and toasty in smell and taste, and creamy.  I liked it.  But the best part was that we (Citizen Erica and I) actually got a chance to hold and feel the power of the Hammer of Glory! Pretty awesome. It was my first time in Misconduct Tavern and I suspect I will return to check out their normal beer selection and food. But for now, it's onto the next Philly Beer Week event.