Friday the Firkinteenth – Grey Lodge Pub, Philadelphia

VIDEO – Friday the Thirteenth is anything but unlucky for those of you who live near the Philadelphia Northeast.  That’s because on every Friday the 13th for the last 11 years, the Grey Lodge Pub in Northeast Philadelphia has held what they call “Friday the Firkinteenth” and being able to try 20+ cask beers is certainly good luck.

Friday the Firkinteenth started in 1998 as a “gimmick” to get a budding beer audience to understand and appreciate cask conditioned beer.  Scoats, the founder of Grey Lodge and the Firkinteenth event explains that in it’s early days the event had only one or two casks.  Today the event has grown to include 24 casks of beer from a variety of breweries.  The event is held on every Friday the 13th so it is at the mercy of the calendar – in 2010 there is only 1 and it’s in August – so it promises to be a big one…

In this video we talk to Scoats about the event and get a rundown on what is cask beer from Nodding Head Brewery’s Brewmaster Gordon Grubb.  We also get the privilege of chatting with some great folks attending the event.  Including Joe Sixpack from the Philadelphia Daily News and one of our favorite beer writers, Lew Bryson – who has been covering beer in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania area with his blog and books and trying his best to rid Pennsylvania of the PLCB for years now.

We would be remiss to not mention that Grey Lodge is open year round and when we lived in the area, was one of our favorite pubs.  They have 11 draft lines that they dedicate to great craft beers, a great bottle list and good cheap food.  For more about Grey Lodge check out their website.  They are located at 6235 Frankford Ave in Northeast Philadelphia (215) 825-5357.  They are also on Facebook and Twitter.

We had a great time and have already marked our calendar for August 13, 2010.  Enjoy the video and we will see you next time on Here for the Beer!