• tapping begins at noon.
• Our kitchen will open at 11am serving our full menu.
• We expect 23, maybe 24 firkins cause ya never know.
• With 24 (or more) firkins, we should have cask ale going until at least 9pm. Time permitting Scoats will be updating the news page and tweeting throughout the day with cask status.
• 7 firkins will be pouring at any time (except when we get down to less than 7), tapping a new one as one kicks. The order of the casks will be random, but hey there should be no stinkers in the line-up.
• Casks tapped/on deck/kicked will be updated on our news page throughout the day.

• Arcadia London Porter, a robust London style porter with a deep chocolate/ruby color and the subtle accent of hardwood smoked malt. This distinctive beer is brewed using no less than seven different varieties of premium European malted barley, resulting in a complex and full bodied beer characterized by hints of chocolate, coffee, caramel and beechwood smoke. The big malty finish to this beer is balanced by a solid hop bitterness and the refined English aroma and flavor of premium Goldings finishing hops. 7.2% ABV.
• Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, a triple hopped IPA containing over 3 pounds of hops per barrel. Not for the faint of palate, it has an intensely floral, spicy, and citrusy hop aroma and flavor. 7.25% ABV.
• Coronado Islander IPA, Brewed within a mile of the pacific ocean this west coast IPA sweeps the senses with its intense hop bitterness, complex flavors and aromas. The Islander IPA pours a nice copper color with a medium body and maltiness. 7% ABV
  
• Cricket Hill Col. Blide's Bitter, 5.5% ABV
• Dock Street Rye IPA, an aggressively hopped American Pale Ale brewed with Simcoe and Amarillo hops. The use of 20% rye gives thisale a unique dry and spicy character. 6.8% ABV
• Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA, a blend of 60 and 90 Minute IPAs with a special whole leaf cascade dry-hopping session. Post-hopping the beer gest transferred into firkins and dosed with fresh yeast and maple syrup. 7.5% ABV
  
• Duck Rabbit double-dry-hopped Brown, brewed with loads of hops from start to finish (it’s hoppy and beautifully bitter). Amarillo hops in the boil provide a spicy citrusy bitterness. Saaz dry hops in the fermentor provide a refined flowery aroma. These hops are supported by a grain bill of seven varieties of malt. 5.6% ABV.
• Flying Fish Grand Cru, strong golden ale showcases a variety of the ingredients and brewing methods that help differentiate Flying Fish beers. The Grand Cru is fermented at a higher temperature than our other beers adding an undercurrent of fruitiness (although there is no fruit in the beer). Very lightly filtered, the Grand Cru exhibits complex mouthfeel, strong malt flavors, a spicy hop presence and a soothing alcohol warmth, followed by a clean, dry finish. 6.8% ABV.
• General Lafayette Cellar Blend, a blend of several of the General's beers. 5.7%
• Iron Hill (West Chester East) Totally Inappropriate, An Octoberfest primed with fermenting Quadruppel and dry hopped with American hops. 6% abv.
• Iron Hill (West Chester West) Hopzilla IPA. A classic rendition of the English IPA. This beer begins with a pleasant malty sweetness and modest fruitiness. These flavors give way to the bitterness and aroma of the English hops used in the boil and a generous dose of East Kent Goldings used for dry-hopping. 5.8% ABV
• Lancaster Celtic Rose, traditional Irish Amber Ale. This beer combines the richness of German and Austrian malts with the delicate and spicy British hops. 5% ABV.
• Manayunk Old Ebenezer Barley Wine, traditional English barley wine made with a nearly a ton of malt, English Phoenix and Kent Golding hops, and a British sense of celebration. 9% ABV.
• Nodding Head Anomaly, an unusual beer without any unusual ingredients black in color with red highlights, rather hoppy, with a fairly light body. Abandon your preconceived notions and enjoy the interplay between the hop flavor and the roasted malt character. 5.25% ABV
• Philadelphia Joe, brewed with locally-roasted, fair trade coffee, dark Munich and chocolate malts which combine to create a well-balanced, flavorful porter with a fresh roasted coffee aroma. Good from the first drop. 5% ABV.
• Sixpoint Otis, an accentuation of the distinguishing characteristics of stout beer: roasted flavor, full body, and hop bitterness. 6% ABV.
• Sixpoint Vienna Pale.
• Sly Fox Chester County Bitter, dry-hopping in the cask produces an enticing hop aroma in this quaffable session ale. 4.5% ABV.
• Sly Fox Rte 113 IPA, big, strong IPA for all the hopheads out there, brewed with British Pale and Caramel malts, and hopped with Centennial, Cascade, German Tradition, UK East Kent Goldings Styrian Goldings. 6.6% ABV.
• Stoudts Winter Ale, a new version from Stoudts. 6.2% ABV.
• Troegs Hopback Amber dry hopped with Williamette, packed full of whole flower hops, each batch circulates through the hopback vessel, creating a fresh hoppy aroma, spicy taste and rich caramel notes. 5.6% ABV.
• Victory Yakima Twilight, a malty platform to showcase the intense flavors and aromas that these dedicated hop-farmers have developed in their wonderful hops. 8.7% ABV.
• Weyerbacher Double Simcoe, a double IPA using exclusively Simcoe hops! 9% ABV.
• Yards ESA dry hopped with East Kent Goldings (Yards is going old school), True British cask conditioned flavor is a complex, lively balance between malt, hops, and fruity esters. 6.3% ABV.

If we get too full, there will be a line outside, so please dress warmly and be patient. We will do our best to let as many people in as safely and quickly as we can.

As usual, We will be stocking up on 8oz glasses so you can safely try several of these great beers. Also, as usual, there will be pitchers of water all over.

An interesting bit of trivia, this is probably the only beer event in the world whose frequency and timing are completely at the mercy of the calendar. Friday the Firkinteenth is a now registered trademark of The Grey Lodge Pub. It is amazing what you can do with a Web browser and a credit card.

Events like Groundhog Day and Friday the Firkinteenth are too hectic for us run tabs or accept credit cards. On rare days like those we are cash only.

How do I know what's currently on tap?
Every Firkinteenth, a sign for each beer is printed out from Open Office Presentations, as well as signs for On Deck, Tapped, and Kicked. These signs are cut out and duct tape is affixed to the backs. The signs are then taped up at the front and back of the bar, high enough to be visible. With the help of tall people and/or a step ladder, as beers progress from On deck to Tapped to Kicked, the sign is moved to appropriate column. It's super low tech, but it works.

What's the deal with ringing the bell?
Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets it's wings. We ring the bell every time we kick a cask. Ergo kick a cask, an angel gets it's wings. Last firkinteenth, 24 angels got their wings. Sounds a bit random to us, but we are not ones to question God's plans. So come out drink some cask ale and help an angel get it's wings.

What's cask conditioned ale and why should I care?
Additional hops and sugars or wort are added to cask conditioned ales when they are barreled resulting in a secondary fermentation in the barrel. These ales tend to have very pleasing natural carbonation and are served at a higher temperature than regular draft beer. Due to the oxygen that enters the cask once it is opened, the shelf life is only a few days. This is beer at its freshest.

Cask conditioned ales are dispensed using gravity or a hand pump. Regular draft beer is pushed using either CO2, nitrogen or a combination of the two. Since the barrels will be sitting on the bar, we will be using gravity. We've stocked up on extra gravity for Friday the Firkenteenth; we'd hate to run out of it.

What's a pin? What's a firkin?
Firkins and pins are two sizes of casks. A firkin is 40.8 liters (10.8 US gallons). A pin is 20.4 liters (5.4 gallons). A typical US 1/2 barrel is 15.5 gallons.

How many Friday the Firkinteenth's are there per year?
Every 11 years (or so) there are three; 1998 was one of those years, when they fell in February, March and November. 2009 will have three. 2010 will have just one, in August. 2011 will have just one as well, in May. 2012 has 3, January, April and July; which will be the first time for that combination. 

Was the first Friday the Firkinteenth another First Time in the Northeast for The Grey Lodge Pub?
Sort of. Cask conditioned ales probably first found their way to Northeast Philadelphia about 350 years ago. We are, however, the first to bring them back after an absence of many decades.

How or even better why did Friday the Firkinteenth start?
Scoats wanted start serving cask-conditioned ales at The Grey Lodge, but thought it needed some sort of push to get it going. He saw somewhere, and with enough time to plan ahead, that 1998 was going to have three Friday the 13ths (this happens about every 11 years). The phrase "Friday the Firkinteenth" came to him in a vision while riding the Market Frankford El and the rest is history.

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