Earth Bread + Brewery and the General Lafayette Inn

This past weekend took a trip with R down to the Philly area. Visted Earth Bread + Brewery, which we'd been meaning to check out since it opened. Founded by the owners of the late Heavyweight Brewing, of Ocean Township, NJ, they're trying to do an American Flatbread type thing - a couple of house beers, a bunch of local taps, and good, simple, locally sourced food. The beer selection and menu told me this much, but the chef walking around wearing an American Flatbread t-shirt was a dead giveaway.

We loved American Flatbread when we went to Burlington a bit over a year ago, so the bar was set high for Earth. We tried two of the house beers - a Mild and a Scotch ale. Both were excellent. The Mild was really fresh and lively and somewhere around 3.5% ABV. A blog post from Lew Bryson tells me that the Mild must have had something to do with the Session beer thing going on for Philly beer week. The Scotch ale, on the other hand, was big and malty and somewhere in the 8-8% ABV range. Delicious, both of them. The flatbreads that we had were very good too. Not quite as mind blowing as American Flatbread, but still excellent.

After a little jaunt around Chestnut Hill, we checked in to the General Lafayette Inn. This was our second stay at the General. I can say from both experiences that after going to a brewpub with great food and trying every beer that they have on tap, being able to simply walk across the parking lot to your bed is a beautiful thing. The food didn't disappoint this time either and the beers on tap ranged from solid (Pale Ale, Sunset Red) to excellent (ESB, Biere Des Fraises). The Winterfest was the shining star of the eight on tap - you'd either call this a really strong Alt or a Doppelbock fermented with ale yeast. Loaded with Munich malt character and strong (about 8.5% ABV) but smooth.

Great times. We totally recommend checking out both places.