Philly’s First Beer for Runners: The Official Philly 10K Beer

The folks at Philadelphia Runner are delivering on their promise to serve up a special beer honoring the first-ever Philly 10K and the Philly running community. (Don’t believe me? Check out the sick label on the left, and click it to make it bigger. So many running clubs!)

Brewed by none other than Philadelphia Brewing Company, the beer is meant to toast the September 6th race and local runners alike. It’ll be tapped at the pre-race expo at the Italian Market on Thursday, September 4th, and be served at the festival after the race on the 6th.

Here’s what Philadelphia Runner’s Ryan Callahan has to say about the so-named Philadelphia Runner’s Ale:

After two months of sampling, contests and brainstorming we have a name for The Philly 10K beer: Philadelphia Runner’s Ale. We got ton of great suggestions but nothing quite spoke to the entire running community in the city which was important to us. After coming up with over 100 names, PBC suggested we name the beer after our store. It felt selfish at first but then we talked about why we opened this business and why we called it Philadelphia Runner way back in the fall of 2004 when we opened our first store. We named Philadelphia Runner after the city that we called home and the thousands of runners, clubs, and organizations who help make this the best running city in America. It’s our name but really it’s named after this community. Philadelphia Runner is who we are but it’s also who you are. You are a Philadelphia Runner. And now it’s what you drink!

Once we had the name, we worked closely with PBC as they developed a logo that celebrated the entire running community here and incorporated some of the iconic running imagery in the city.

As for the type of beer, Bill Barton co-owner of Philadelphia Brewing Company says, “We brewed what we are calling a session IPA and we are very happy with it so far. The beer just finished primary fermentation and is 4.5% Alc. The beer has been dry hopped and should be ready next week.”

My thoughts on the beer: We wanted something that was light and refreshing but Philly is a beer city and we didn’t want something watered down or lacking flavor. I don’t think PBC would have let us make anything that didn’t have a bold taste. What they ultimately created is a session IPA but with great flavor. We are thrilled with how it turned out.

And we can’t wait to try it!

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