Saint Benjamin Brewing Company
1710 N 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA

Philly Beer Week 2015 continued with a visit to Saint Benjamin Brewing Company in Kensington, PA. Just a quick jaunt down 95 through the Fishtown neighborhood and I arrived. St. Ben’s is located in an old warehouse with plenty of off street parking with not a whole lost else going on in the neighborhood…yet. This Gal predicts Kensington will be the next up and coming neighborhood in Philly.

The brewery is small but there’s plenty of room for expansion. At the moment their beer is only available in the Philly area but as their reputation grows so will their beer distribution.  One  can also fill up growlers at the brewery on tour days.

You enter St Ben’s through a large loading area and into the back brewery room. To the left is a small make shift table where one can purchase various brewery merchandise, as well as, receive your 6 FREE tickets for the sampling. That’s right folks – it’s FREE and their samples are a healthy size. Free beer = one happy Gal. Tours are available as well and on this particular day there was a good size crowd taking advantage of all the good things St. Ben’s has to offer.

There were a total of  8 beers on tap during this visit two of which were Saisons. You know how this Gal loves a Saison so naturally I had to try them.

Saison du Jour 5.7%
All the cloudy, yeasty goodness you find with a saison accented by a bit of rye.

Laison Saison 8%
The scent of herbs and spices hits the nose first thing and the strong taste backs up the scent there were also hints of orange and subtle hops but I had troubles getting past the herbs/spice taste which grows with each sip. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more paired with the right food but on it’s on didn’t work for me.

Foul Weather Jack  English Mild 4.5%
A true English Mild – Yes! Hints of chocolate, roasted malts and dry hops.

Koffee Kolsch 4.8%

This Gal’s favorite of the day and I rarely, if ever, pick a Kolsch as a favorite but this one is AMAZING! It’s a cup of morning joe in your glass, looks wise it fools you but the nose gives it away. The bitterness of the full coffee punch is offset by sweetness of the malts. I loved this beer.

Little Peat Stout 4.2%
A lighter body stout – it didn’t have the rich malty chewy feel to it that I love but enjoyable just the same. I recommend this as a intro stout for those who are afraid of the “heavy” beers.

BNC Barleywine 10.5%
Glad to see this a barley wine on the menu and in June no less.  It’s in lighter color and body but packs the power of a barleywine with tinge of citrus. I good barleywine option for the warmer days.

I was so excited to see two Saison’s on tap that I didn’t thoroughly plan a beer tasting strategy and since I went for both Saisons I had to pass on trying the Unite Red. Hopefully it’ll be available on my next visit. Oh yes, I plan on visiting again, real soon. If you’re looking to make a day of it Philadelphia Brewing is just 4 or 5 minutes away by car.