Regarding your take-away, Tom does get the brand name (only fair) and the recipes (again only fair). However most of the accounts were the efforts of Bill and Nancy, so I’d say those are pretty much up for grabs.

Tom needs to maintain current production and sales, while scouting out a new location, negotiating for it, and having it ready for production and legal all in 5 months. That’s a tall order. Me, I’d rather get the current facilities and start from scratch brandwise.

I agree that the original Philly Pale Ale sort of sucked. The version of the last few years really rocks. Their addition of pilsner malt sets it apart from other pale ales (in a good way), very tasty and interesting. Try it again, you may be pleasantly surprised.

I’d recommend the new brewery try to resurrect Red Bell’s Philly Irish Amber. While Red Bell’s Philadelphia Original Lager was horribly nasty, their Irish Amber was a wonderful little beer with huge cross over appeal. One of Red Bell’s many mistakes was backing the wrong horse by making Original Lager their flagship beer.

This break-up could be a great thing for everyone. Each side could do their thing their own way without in-fighting and us Philadelphians will now have two production breweries (actually three since Dock Street is scheduled to start local production in the fall). Most microbrew drinkers have divided loyalties anyway, so there is room for more than one local brewery. And most bars have more than one tap.

Everyone on both sides are all great people so I hope it works out for everyone.

OH MY GOD this was so funny. Wow. Go, you.

“I Can’t Believe It’s Not Yuengling, a bold lager directed at those of us who don’t mind Yuengling Lager but still would be pleased if they never had to drink one for the rest of their lives”
yes, yes, yes. A thousand times.

This is great stuff.

Philly Pale Ale is fantastic. Cold as possible. Beats the other easily available beers by miles.