We’ve been nominated for the Epikur Writer of the Year 2012 award! We’d love it if you visited the Epikur website and threw a vote our way. Click here to do just that.
We wish all of our Philly based food and drink blogging buddies all the best. May the best writer win! Cheers!
Here is a bit more information about this award from the good people at Epikur along with the complete list of nominees:
Philadelphia is home to an amazing group of writers; there are hundreds of restaurant, wine, beer, and food authors working in and around the region. It was difficult to select our favorites from such an deep talent pool. The following are the twenty-two who rocked our world this year.
They are all amazing, but there can be only one Writer of the Year. The winner not only earns the Epikur Trophy, but will also win over a thousand dollars in cash and goodies, courtesy of the Wine School of Philadelphia and Bacchus Selections. Please vote for your favorite local writer! You can read their submissions by clicking on their names. Voting ends on February 1st.
Here are the nominees:
- G-LO (It’s just the booze dancing…)
- Coleen Hill
- Kaitlin Lunny
- Tara Nurin
- Ryan Hudak
- Kristy (22nd&Philly)
- Michael Savett
- Melissa Ward
- Beth Funari
- Tammy Brenn
- Mackie Jimbo
- Marc Lombardi
- Greg Heller-LaBelle
- Phillip Silverstone
- Iris McCarthy
- Kate Marlys
- Alison Steinruck
- Jared Littman
- Alexis Siemons
- John Howard-Fusco
- Lee Khatchadourian-Reese
- Alyssa & Julianne Huegel
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First Ever Duvel And Ommegang Collaboration!
Duvel Rustica Launches In Philly With A Meet-The-Brewer Event At Stateside
PHILADELPHIA, PA – On Wednesday, November 14 at 6 p.m., Brew Master Phil Leinhart of Cooperstown, NY’s Brewery Ommegang will be at Stateside (1536 Passyunk Avenue, 215-551-2500) to celebrate the launch of Duvel Rustica, a Belgian-style golden ale brewed in collaboration between Ommegang and Belgium’s highly-regarded Duvel brewery. For this special Meet-The-Brewer event, guests will be able to enjoy Duvel Rustica, both in 750 ml, cork finished bottles and on draft, and spend time with Phil who will be discussing this two-years-in-the-making new beer. Event will be pay-as-you-go.
Duvel Rustica is 8.5% ABV brewed with fine pils malts and noble Styrian Golding hops from Slovenia. This collaboration captures the delicate balance of the classic Duvel Belgian Golden Ale – one of the world’s most exalted beers – and adds a touch of the typical rustic fruitiness enhancing every Ommegang ale. This distinctive touch is created by using Ommegang’s proprietary yeast for primary fermentation. The secondary fermentation yeast is also quite interesting, but remains secret.
“In Belgium, Duvel is brewed with simple ingredients, yet is a marvelously complex beer that’s never been convincingly duplicated. So, instead of trying to duplicate it, we imagined a charmingly rustic Duvel, brewed in our farmstead brewery in upstate New York,” says Phil. “Our idea was to embrace all the distinctive qualities of Duvel, yet bring our own craft-brewing skills to the beer. We honored Duvel’s essence while adding a light touch of Ommegang’s signature yeast-driven fruitiness to the flavors and aromas. To our taste, Duvel Rustica is the ultimate of brewing collaborations.”
Hedwig Neven, brew master of Duvel in Belgium, says, “Phil and I dreamed, talked and tasted together all along the way…and I’m proud and delighted with Duvel Rustica, the new American cousin of Duvel.”
Along with tasting the Duvel Rustica, Stateside’s award-winning chef George Sabatino will offer dish suggestions for guests to order and enjoy a great food and beer pairing. Chef Sabatino was recently was named “Best Chef 2012” by Philadelphia Magazine and also won Brewery Ommegang’s Hop Chef competition this past July, where he competed with four other East Coast chefs in a beer and food competition.
Brewery Ommegang, a member of the Duvel Moortgat family of fine beers, opened in 1997 to craft-brew Belgian-style ales. The brewery creates six ales year-round as well as a range of seasonal and specialty ales. The beers have won a national following by connoisseurs of fine beer and are distributed in over 40 states. The brewery is located on a 136-acre farmstead in Cooperstown, New York and offers free daily tours and tastings, as well as a Café, a well-stocked brewery store, and an online store.
For more information on Brewery Ommegang, please contact [email protected], call 1-800-544-1809, or visit www.ommegang.com. You can also follow them on Twitter nationally (@BreweryOmmegang) and locally (@OmmegangPhilly) and like them on Facebook.
