SCENE: STRANGE BREWS

Street shows you even classier ways to ruin your liver Do you consider yourself a beer connoisseur? Do your taste buds thirst for more than a Beastfest at ATO or your hundredth Rolling Rock at Murph's? Does the looming sight of your roommate's Piels pyramid move you to tears? If so, leave that slouchy swill behind and explore the world of home-brewing and microbreweries. Sure, you can find variety at Cav's, but those beers are mass-produced, and not one is unique to the bar. So why not ditch that same-old scene, and instead, sample some of the more unique brewpubs right here in Philadelphia? When compared to corporate chugs like Budweiser, the advantages of a microbrewery are endless. First, micro-brewers are able to pay more attention to the details of the brewing process, and therefore devote greater time to ensuring the beers' purity of flavor. In addition, microbrewers tend to use a higher quality of ingredients than companies like Anheuser-Busch and Miller. This is what gives microbrewed beers their distinctive flavor, and since they are produced in smaller quantities, it adds a freshness that is absent in Rock and Bud. Also, they're just plain cooler. Everyone knows about Samuel Adams Lager, but not many people know that there is a Samuel Adams Brew House (located at 1516 Sansom St.) right here in Philly. However, don't expect to be served the store-bought Sam. Here, they serve five different versions on the old favorite: golden ale, amber ale, porter, springbok (light and sweet) and a jalepe-o-flavored gold that are all brewed in the restaurant (in fact, they have the vats of brewing beer on display behind a glass case). The springbok and jalepe-o are new additions in the last year, and their robust porter won a silver medal at the 1989 Great American Beer Festival. The Samuel Adams Brew House proudly advertises itself as "Philadelphia's First Brewery Since Prohibition," and decorates its walls with ancient pictures and banners from Big 5 basketball championships. The latter makes Samuel Adams the perfect place to catch the upcoming NCAA tournament action, especially when the Quakers take the court. After cheering the last game at Samuel Adams, keep the night afloat at the Dock Street Brewing Company Brewery and Restaurant (2 Logan Square at 18th and Cherry). Dock Street also brews all of its beer on the premises, but features a bit more variety than does Sam Adams. Dock Street regularly carries 6 to 7 beers on tap, and varies them all the time. None of the beers are the same as the ones seen on the store shelves (which is made by the same owners, but with a different recipe and in a different location). Whether you are in the mood for a German pilsner, a Scotch ale (deep malty flavor), a Kolsh (fruity golden ale), or a Dunkel (very dark and heavy), Dock Street can accommodate your taste. You can also learn what the differences are between , say, an India pale ale and the normal pale by tasting for yourself. The atmosphere of the restaurant is a bit more upscale than Sam Adams, making Dock Street an ideal place to bring a dinner date who also enjoys a few beers to wash it all down. And with two in-house bars–a main and a microbar–there's never worry of a dry glass in the house. However, microbreweries are not the only door to new frontiers of beer enjoyment. Perhaps you would like to brew the foam yourself and learn the age-old craft of homebrewing. Homebrewing is fun, simple, and has many obvious advantages. Home Sweet Homebrew (20th and Sansom) stocks everything and anything you would need to learn the art and mechanics of homebrewing. Books are available that describe the brewing process and discuss the differences between the many types of ingredients necessary for the private pitcher. Homebrew also sells all the malts, yeasts, hops, and equipment–imported and domestic–needed to produce your own beer. If you're a serious beer drinker, homebrewing is guaranteed to save you money in the long run. It costs about $60 to purchase the necessary brewing equipment, but only $15-$20 to brew a batch of beer (five gallons, or approximately two cases). Plus, when the beer is homebrewed, it's individually crafted to your standards of what is the best-tasting brew. For example, you can alter the amounts of malt or yeast to suit it to your own tastes, brew your pint whiskey-strong or Zima-lite, or try adding different ingredients, like honey, to change the overall flavor of the beer. And the biggest advantage for the pre-legal is that no big hairy bouncers shake you down for I.D. when you brew your private stock. You came to Penn to get an education,so why not learn about beer? Expand your palate and sample something beyond the pale of Pabst or colon-robbing Colt. When all it takes is a little book-learnin' and a closet cask, or the gumption to forsake the neighborhood bars for something extra-dimensional, what's keeping you?

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.