{"id":5711,"date":"2011-12-12T14:48:57","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T21:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/?p=5711"},"modified":"2012-03-08T13:35:14","modified_gmt":"2012-03-08T20:35:14","slug":"philadelphia-hockey-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/?p=5711","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Hockey Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC_0007.JPG\"<\/a>
\nThis year for our annual Hockey Trip we headed to Philadelphia for the\u00a0Flyers – Penguins<\/a>\u00a0game. \u00a0This was supposed to be the most ‘hostile’ environment we’ve yet experienced, but oddly enough it was the most subdued crowd we’ve seen yet. \u00a0I’m sure this had a lot to do with it being a Thursday night and the entire row of Eastern Europeans who sat behind us but nonetheless it was a manageable crowd experience. \u00a0Also Crosby was out so Flyers fans didn’t have anyone to boo.<\/p>\n

The Pens started hot for about three minutes and then they basically didn’t compete until the third period. \u00a0With that being said, we were one lame three-bounce-goal from pulling even in regulation. \u00a0Malkin looked good but held onto the puck too long, Letang is sorely missed and Jagr<\/a> looks like a 40 year old hockey player.<\/p>\n

After the game ended we all headed towards the mens room which once again attests to how placid the crowd was. \u00a0While waiting in line we learned that Ben Roethlisberger had torn his ACL and was down for the year. \u00a0Moving forward I will try not get my news in public restrooms.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0048.JPG\"<\/a>\"DSC_0036.JPG\"<\/a>\"DSC_0034.JPG\"<\/a>\"DSC_0068.JPG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nodding Head Brewery
\n\"\"<\/a>\"DSC_0139.jpg\"<\/a>
\n Nodding Head Brewery<\/a>\u00a0as you would assume is filled with wall to wall bobbleheads, kind of reminded me of home. \u00a0We ended up catching the tail end of the Steelers – Browns game and to our surprise Ben was still playing. \u00a0I tried the Sled Wrecker<\/a> and then moved on to the 3C<\/a> which was one of the better beers I had all weekend.<\/p>\n

Cheese Steaks
\n\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
\nAs the night came to a close we soldiered on to partake in cheese steaks. \u00a0We grabbed a cab and headed over to\u00a0Pat’s Cheese Steaks<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Geno’s Steaks<\/a>. \u00a0I wasn’t aware they were both 24 hour establishments, so we were able to have sandwiches from both to compare and contrast. \u00a0There were only three of us for this part of the trip so we ended up ordering two sandwiches from Geno’s and three from Pat’s. To say Pat’s is better than Geno’s would be a major understatement. \u00a0Either way we suffered ‘Geno’s Revenge<\/a>‘ the next afternoon.<\/p>\n

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DiNic’s
\n\"\"<\/a>\"IMG_5248\"<\/a>
\nAfter we got up and moving around Friday morning we headed over to Reading Terminal Market to checkout the shops and then to get a DiNic’s<\/a>\u00a0Roast Pork sandwich. \u00a0I have to say this sandwich was much better than the Cheese Steaks from the night before.<\/p>\n

Liberty Bell
\n\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
\nAfter lunch we continued on our walk of Philadelphia checking out the\u00a0Liberty Bell<\/a>. \u00a0The display has recently gone through a renovation and the tower it used to be housed in at Independence Hall<\/a> can be seen through the screen in the photograph above. \u00a0I think it is a really unique way of displaying the bell and once the renovations of the bell tower are complete it will be a stunning setting.<\/p>\n

Yards Brewing
\n\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
\nAfter another epic Furman March which took us under three highway underpasses and a series of block houses that were transplanted from Belfast<\/a> we ended up at\u00a0Yards Brewing<\/a>. \u00a0The majority of our party was not too high on making this trek but I think we were all pleased we did. \u00a0In addition to Yards’ regular beer line up they had the ‘Ales of the Revolution’ beers which is where I focused my attention. \u00a0I had General Washington’s Tavern Porter<\/a> and Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Craft Ale House – Limerick, PA
\n\"DSC_0144.JPG\"<\/a>\"DSC_0143.JPG\"<\/a>
\nThe Craft Ale House<\/a>\u00a0was a late addition to our itinerary by Josh’s mom who clearly knows a thing or two about beer selections. \u00a0Craft has one of the larger bottle lists I’ve ever seen and it’s basically a liquor store as well where you can create your own six packs. \u00a0I had a Wipeout IPA<\/a> and the\u00a0Jai Alai IPA<\/a>.\u00a0This was one of the highlights of the trip.<\/p>\n

Victory Brewing – Downingtown, PA
\n\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
\nIn addition to the Hockey game, stopping at \u00a0Victory Brewing Company<\/a>\u00a0was a priority destination. \u00a0Their brewpub is a large warehouse type building with a couple large dinning halls and a good size bar. \u00a0We ended up getting a drink at the bar and then grab a table for dinner. \u00a0The food was as good as the beer. \u00a0We ended up getting three growlers filled for the road. \u00a0You can see the amazing sophisticated growler filling station in the photograph above. \u00a0I’m pretty sure it was from the future. \u00a0With dinner I had the Donneybrook Stout<\/a>, a\u00a0Storm King<\/a> and the Victory Lager<\/a>. \u00a0It was the first time I’ve seen either the Lager or the Donneybrook Stout which was about the smoothest stout I’ve ever had.<\/p>\n

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Side Notes:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n* The View From My Seat.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n** Kyber Pass is an intriguing<\/a> place to say the least.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n**** For some reason these are the standard growlers people on the East Coast use. \u00a0They look more like artillery pieces the beverage containers if you ask me.<\/p>\n

\"Limerick<\/a>
\n***** Most likely my 2011 4th of July card.
\n****** Past Hockey Trips: Boston – 2010<\/a> and Washington – 2009<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year for our annual Hockey Trip we headed to Philadelphia for the\u00a0Flyers – Penguins\u00a0game. \u00a0This was supposed to be the most ‘hostile’ environment we’ve yet experienced, but oddly enough it was the most subdued crowd we’ve seen yet. \u00a0I’m sure this had a lot to do with it being a Thursday night and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4,5,7,17,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beer","category-bronder-luck","category-common-man","category-food","category-sports","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pazIS5-1u7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5711"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5828,"href":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5711\/revisions\/5828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackhandproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}