Yeah, I am from Joyzee, you gotta a problem wit dat? I moved to Charleston 25 years ago, but anyone who knows me will vouch for the saying: “You can take the boy out of Jersey…” You know the rest…

I grew up in pre-casino Atlantic City. It was a sadly depressed and abandoned seaside resort that was once known as “The World’s Playground”. Even though the summer throngs had gone, there were a few things no one could take from us, like the original and greatest Boardwalk and the absolute best submarine sandwiches in the world (Philly has nothing over our A.C. Cheese steak, I’ll address that later). Also, Don’t forget that this is the town that gave the world Salt Water Taffy!

I recently traveled back to “A.C.”, mixing business with a little “beery” pleasure in form of a beerfest. It was time for the 2^nd annual “Celebration of the Suds.” The event was held in the new convention center and featured more than 100 different beers. There is s bit of irony here since the new convention center sits right where a huge “Schmidt’s Beer” sign lit the city for miles around when I was a kid. I could see it day and night from our picture window. It acted as a night light in our living room even though our house was at least two miles away! Schmidt’s brewery of Philadelphia is long gone, but it appears that my former home town has become a “beery” destination; even if only for one weekend a year.

Being the beer activist I am, I threw in my hat as a volunteer for the event. As a certified judge, I was hoping to sit (and drink) on the judging panel but those slots were full. I would have enjoyed pouring beer and meeting people, but in the The Peoples Republic of New Jersey, you must be “Certified” to do such things (some things never change). I was doomed to the keg truck, hauling beer and ice around so as to keep the vendors well stocked and the beer flowing. Oh what fun… Not!

I did have the chance to taste a few really interesting beers and meet some good people. I also scored a few free T-shirts, glasses and such. My favorite beer of the show was a “Baltic” style porter made by a Russian brewery called Baltika. They simply refer to it as Baltika 6. This beer was a mouthful of chocolate and toffee flavors that just disappear on the clean finish. Baltic porters have been brewed for years but they only recently been discovered by beer geeks around the world. An interesting trait of the style is the clean and dry finish. This is due to the fact that unlike their English ale namesake, these are lagers.

Other notable beers at the fest were Lagunitas Pale Ale from California. Allagash of Maine was there dispensing their very traditional witbier to a thirsty crowd of “Blue Moon” devotees and hopefully increasing the appreciation of the style. The originator of modern witbier, Hoegaarden, was also there serving up their world-class beer. I also tasted my first canned craft brew (I am going to write a dedicated blog post on this soon). Dale’s Pale Ale from Colorado is an American pale ale that was really wonderful from the can. I also tasted a really horrible pilsener beer from the Czech Republic (unlikely of a Czech beer) It tasted like the brewer put his blood, sweat and tears into it, literally! An obvious sign of very hard water — or even iron in the water source. I should have noted the brand name as to protect the public from accidentally consuming the stuff!

Now back to the sub sandwiches. Philadelphia cheese steaks are really not very good. Who wants yellow cheez-wiz gooped over your steak and then served to you on a rubbery, gummy sub roll? Trust me. Drive the 50 minutes or so to Atlantic City and try a really good cheese steak from The White House or Sack-O-Subs (or my old neighborhood favorite “Spanky & Sons”). Another great sub is simply called a “regular,” which means a regular Italian sub made with a selection of Italian deli-meats and as with all AC subs, served on a freshly baked long Italian roll. I have posted a few pictures of both kinds of subs. That’s a half of a sub I am holding! I have not been able to eat a whole sub since I was a teen. I had my “ ½ regular” with a pale ale from Stoudt’s of Adamstown, PA which I purchased right from the brewery on my way into town. It went well with the onions and hot cherry peppers.

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