Get this: The PLCB actually did something that benefits drinkers. In 2015, the board passed a regulation that allows small breweries to sell beer directly to consumers in tasting rooms — and also to use their brewery license open up to two satellite taprooms.
Neshaminy Creek Brewing Co., which has seen tremendous success since launching its Croydon production brewery in 2012, is taking advantage of the new rule to open a spot in Philadelphia proper.
The as-yet unnamed taproom is going into 957 Frankford Ave. in Fishtown, right next to the Barbary and across the street from the Fillmore. The bar will pour NCBC beer from 24 taps (the license doesn’t allow for sales of other alcohol), and food will be provided by rotating trucks. Seating will be at both stools and tables, plus an outdoor beer garden — and hopefully also a roof deck, per head brewer Jeremy Myers. Expect the vibe to be similarly industrial to the NCBC tasting room that currently operates at the Lower Bucks brewery.
Late October is the target launch date for the location, which will start out as just a taproom but eventually become a working brewhouse — “as soon as the equipment arrives,” says Myers. (He’s hoping for a January delivery.)
Neshaminy Creek — which makes a signature IPA called J.A.W.N. (Juicy Ale With Nugget) — has racked up many awards and accolades over the past four years, including a Great American Beer Festival gold medal for Churchville Lager. Just last night it snagged another when Jeremy Myers was named the Philly Beer Scene 2016 “Brewer of the Year.”
The NCBC taproom will be joining a seriously hot block. Live Nation’s conversion of the former AJAX building into entertainment venue Fillmore Philadelphia has been very well-received. In addition to Travinia, an attached Italian wine bar, its complex will also become home to a bar and tasting room from Philadelphia Distilling. Then there’s the Barbary (which is on the market, but not closed yet), and right up the street is Barcade and the Handle Bar. A few yards away is Girard Avenue, where Garage North is well on its way to joining Johnny Brenda’s and Joe’s Steaks at the corners of the busy intersection.
Farther north in Fishtown is another brewery taking advantage of the new LCB code — Evil Genius, which is planning a brewpub at 1727 North Front St., under the El at Palmer Street.
