About Last Night: Philly Beer Scene Award Winners

Okay, so no matter how strident were the requests that attendees treat last night’s Philly Beer Scene “Best Of” Awards like they were the Grammies, Tom Kehoe still didn’t wear a tie. But Jose Pistola’s owner Joe Gunn wore a tux, and Best Brewmaster nominee Chris LaPierre sported an outlandish Western shirt, jacket and bolo at the first-ever Philly Beer Scene public awards ceremony. The recommended black-tie attire for the red carpet-style affair allowed the who’s-who of the local beer and bar scene to dress up for one another in sometimes tongue-in-cheek fashion. The merriment was palpable as brewers, bar and homebrew shop owners, sales reps, journalists, distributor employees and drinkers came together Downstairs at World Café Live to get photographed and interviewed on the red carpet (interviews courtesy of Suzy Woods) and cheer one another and the community as a whole.

Troegs took home the most awards (including one for its Nugget Nectar being the most searched beer on PhillyTapFinder.com) but Victory and Weyerbacher were the big winners, receiving awards for Best Brewery and Best Brewmaster, respectively.  But Weyerbacher’s Chris Wilson didn’t just receive personal accolades, his Merry Monks and Insanity won the prestigious awards for Best Belgian-Style Beer and Best Barrel-Aged Beer.

In other categories, Iron Hill won Best Brewpub, Lew Bryson won Best Writer, Standard Tap won Best Bar in Philadelphia, Barcade won Best New Bar and Monk’s Café won Best European Bar and Best Bar Food. The Sly Fox Goat Races took the Best Beer Event category, while the Philly Craft Beer Festival dominated the Best Beer Festival category. South Philly Tap Room received the honor or Best Happy Hour and Keystone Homebrew returned as Best Homebrew Store.

Next on tap for these folks: the insanity that is Philly Beer Week, starting on June 1.

Philly Beer Scene [Official website]