This Is My Blood: Shark Attack

I have my doubts about Philadelphia's move to the Yellow Phase. However, so far, there hasn't been an uptick in COVID cases, so I remain cautiously optimistic. There isn't a whole lot different than Red Phase, except for the expansion of food services, from takeout-only to takeout-plus-outside-seating. And so, with that in mind, I returned to an old haunt today, one that I had not been to since (according to this column) March 2nd, when a faint innocuous gas smell was the bulk of our worries.

Not all was the same as it used to be at my beloved Foodery Rittenhouse. The sleek seating area was dark and completely empty. I had to order at the front desk instead of the bar. The beer geek who used to work there was nowhere to be found—probably laid off, if we're being painfully honest. I sat outside at those uncomfortable high-top barrels, and had to wrap my beer in a paper bag on the ever-so-slight chance that a fellow employee walked or drove by. And worst of all, I was by myself, since all my Center City lunch friends have been working from home (or not working at all) for the past three months. Miss you guys!

Still, as jarring as those changes were, it was still a return to my favorite watering hole in Center City (give or take a McGillin's), and it was still a return to one of my favorite sandwiches (weirdly) in the city, the Foodery Spicy Chicken Sandwich. It's not fancy; they pretty much just dip a chicken patty in hot sauce and slap it on a potato bun, but man, do I love it for its amateur simplicity.

And I love drinking a tall heavy ass beer with my spicy chicken sandwich. Save for one clandestine craft beer expedition, the idea of a lunch beer has been extinct during the stay-at-home order. To be honest, it should probably stay mostly extinct, since drinking during the day on a Wednesday can never lead to good things, but I will savor the one single beer that I treat myself to at lunchtime every once in a while, now that we are in YELLOW.

To celebrate, I returned also to a beer style that I was intrigued by when I first had it about a month and a half ago—a Red/Amber Ale. It's a very malt-forward beer style, with a unique burnt sugar/caramel flavor, and only a medium amount of hops.

Today's Amber Ale, Port Brewing's Shark Attack, was same-but-also-different just like my return to the Foodery was. It was a Red Ale for sure, but specified as a double, i.e. a "Red Imperial Ale." We haven't touched on the term "imperial" yet, but it basically just means that the flavors are more intense and the ABV is jacked up. You can have imperial versions of anything (and we will get to imperial porters and IPAs either this week or next, promise), but I guess I didn't realize there was such a thing as a Double Red. 9% ABV, strong character, paired really nicely with the spicy cuisine.

All in all, this was not a return to normal. But sitting outside Foodery, eating a spicy chicken sandwich with a side of chips and a tall boy of cold craft beer, enjoying the nice weather in the center of my beautiful city... this was about as normal as I've felt in a long time.

NOTES

BEER: Shark Attack

GENRE: American Imperial Red Ale

ABV: 9.0%

BREWED BY: Port Brewing

LOCATION: San Marcos, California

PURCHASED AT: Foodery Rittenhouse

PAIRED WITH: spicy chicken sandwich

GRADE: 3.5 pukes out of 5

BEER COUNT: 224