The Butcher & The Brewer

This transformation def made this place more upscale. I liked both Boilermaker and The Butcher and The Brewer. sad to see them go.

Randomly stopped in this place after passing for weeks and it turns out it’s the last night this place will be open – couldn’t have been more disappointed! The cocktails were awesome (even if it did take 20+ minutes to make) and the chef who was behind the bar was straight up awesome… Made one of the best charcuterie plates I’ve ever had and had a great chat about travel and fun places to eat in Philly! Will def be following this guy to Farmer’s Cabinet and hope that the amazing flavor profiles continue!
Bottome line: totes bummed this place is going out of business because I would def be back.

Great beer selection here — somewhere around 40 handles. Couple that with genuine service from behind the bar and you get two stars. However, that was as far as it went. Our concern was that we were the only ones in B & B ordering anything other than charcuterie. My plate of Shepard’s Pie with sides of Pumpkin Bread Pudding and Blue Potato Fries was certainly unappealing to the eye. I will take some blame for ordering food from all the dark color spectrums. My dining partner went with the vegetarian sides of Roasted Root Veggies, Vegetable Gratin and Grilled Endive. Gratin had nice flavor, but it was over-​cooked. My shepard’s pie was a poor impersonation, both pork and lamb were over-​cooked and i got a good chunk of gristle. The Pumpkin Bread Pudding was dry and overly-​salty, but the blue (purple?) potato fries were fine. We were unclear why the food took so long and why it came to the bar so over-​cooked, especially when nobody else was ordering entrees. Our hypothesis was that it was cooked at sister restaurant Farmer’s Cabinet, and had to be carried around the corner. We did enjoy the mix your own salad concept and thought the dressings were actually quite delightful.

We had a group dinner here and as excited as we were to go, we were pretty excited to leave. The place would be great in any small town, but the bar is higher here, and The Butcher and Brewer simply didn’t make the cut.
The good:
The food is creative.
Atmosphere is nice.
The bad:
25 minutes to get our drinks on a Wednesday and the place isn’t busy.
The «creative» food was missing something in the execution:
— pancetta bread was dry — good idea, bad execution
— smokey flavors are good, but eating campfire ash is not (flavor palette not literal)
— When you say there is a chocolate drizzle on the cookies, and then don’t drizzle chocolate, that’s a problem. Fix it, don’t say «we’re not doing that tonight.»
Service left a bit to be desired.
Overall, there are a lot of places in Philly who do a great job, and I think you’ll be better served at one of those venues. I’m not planning on going back.

I was really excited to check this place out based on the food and beer menu. When I got there I was tired and attempted to order a coffee before I sampled the beer menu. Unfortunately, they didn’t have coffee. I was disappointed but ordered a diet coke instead. The diet coke was flat and tasted heavily of syrup. Without any caffeine to wake me up, I had to skip the beer menu, sadly. The bread and salads they brought out were awesome, and plated very nicely. I was hoping this was a good sign to how my entrée would be. However, my entrée, bison short ribs, was tough and salty and tasted like beef jerky. My wife’s dish had cherries, which she is allergic to. We asked the host or manager to verify if there were actually cherries in the dish. He wasn’t sure but asked a waiter and then told us there were not cherries in the dish. We weren’t convinced so we asked for a second opinion. They finally confirmed there were cherries in it after speaking with a cook. When allergies are involved, a little due diligence is necessary.

I was hoping for a bit more from this place when I saw that they were reinventing the Boilermaker. I really can’t complain about anything I tried while I was there (good food, good beer selection, and really good staff) it just seemed to be kind of an oddity. Its not quite a bar, not quite a restaurant… I suppose it fits the bill of being a cheaper alternative to Farmer’s Cabinet. (Which is not to say that it is cheap)
I miss the larger beer menu of Boilermaker, but I was pretty impressed with the sausage offerings. I could make points for and against this place, I’d like to see if this place can find more of an identity after a few months.

This place is awesome.
The bar looks great, the seating and décor are also very nice.
The food selection is not very big, but they have specials such as pulled pork in coca cola sauce (Or was it Bison Ribs in Coke, not sure).
The food was extremely good. Although the mains portion is not very big, they come with a house salad and 2 sides, which makes the dish more than fulfilling.
Prices for food are reasonable in my opinion: ~26 $ for bison back ribs, or a Wagyu Ribeye.
But the best thing about this place, is when you factor in the beer selection. They have a huge selection of beers on draft. I am not sure about the count, but i would say around 30. My favorite was the Belgium beers available on draft. Absolutely delicious.
Overall, I loved this place, and I don’t think there is anything close to it in Philadelphia.
I would definitely come back, and recommend everyone to give it a try.

Found this spot my last night in Philly. Stopped in for happy hour, and ended up staying for 5 hours. Beers great (Maudite on tap!), Drinks outstanding (Adam makes a mean Manhattan), Charcuterie awesome (LACON!). We had eaten dinner already, but if we didn’t, I would have been here, not doubt. The menu looks awesome. I guess I’ll be back in Philly soon just to come back here.

My friend and I do not mess around when it comes to good food. Despite our paltry salaries as university employees, we like to have a big splurge now and again to treat ourselves. So when visiting the Philly area this past weekend, I was happy to find a restaurant that specialized in my two favorite things cured meat and craft beer. Having worked in many restaurants over the years as a bartender and server, I tend to have pretty high standards when it comes to a good meal. The staff at The Butcher & The Brewer did not disappoint.
The highlights:
Staff: our server Alethea was knowledgeable and enjoyable company throughout the meal offering suggestions and pointing out her favorites
Beer: the beer selection was a unique mix with a little bit for everyone, I tried the Innis and Gunn and a wheat wine — both very nice complements to the meal
Cheese, cheese and more cheese: we tried a variety of cheeses with the bleu and the tallegio coming out on top
Accoutrements: the other accoutrements on the plate were also well thought out, pickles, figs, pears, almonds, and toasted bread
Charcuterie: in our initial order we decided to go with the lacon (lamb bacon), salami picante, and a soppressata but the staff and chartcuterie chef were so delighted with our choices that they brought up an additional board with some surprises including a fireball salami that was amazing
Ambiance: the layout of the restaurant, music and lighting were well selected to match the vibe of the food and beer
Price/​value: I felt that the cost was very reasonable for a night out and while charcuterie boards will not leave you feeling overly full we were immensely satisfied
The only thing that I felt the restaurant was missing was coffee. I like to finish out a meal with a well made cup of coffee to offset the sweetness of my dessert. The whiskey cake was delicious but I missed that accompanying cup.

Bring back the Boilermaker!
If you’re coming to this place expecting the 4 page beer menu from the Boilermaker, go elsewhere. It is long gone. Having just been to the Boilermaker a few weeks prior, we were all shocked to see it had been replaced when we walked up to the door. I thought my boyfriend was going to turn into the Hulk when he saw his favorite bar had been changed. The selection of beer he would dream about like a kid on Christmas, was all gone.
The food prices are outrageous. Our table ordered 2 meat plates and 2 cheese plates. Both meats and both cheeses come out on plates together. This means that we paid $ 14 for 8 crumbles, and I mean crumbles, of cheese on a plate with 2 grapes sliced in half, 3 croutons and 3 almonds. 4 people were supposed to share that. The same happened with my friends meat plate for $ 16.
The only reason I gave it 2 stars is because we had the sweetest waitress I think I have ever had. Kate was warm and friendly and even asked the kitchen if they still had the ingredients to make the old Boilermaker mac and cheese for us, which has now sadly been removed from the new menu.
RIP Boilermaker, you will be missed.

I was leaning towards giving this place a 4 but the atmosphere tipped my vote to a 5. The inside is so pretty and cozy! Anyways…
I grabbed a seat at the bar (luckily I got one, the place was pretty full opening night). The bartender was outgoing and made me laugh. I had a cider to start and a Tallegio cheese plate. The presentation on everything was amazing and tasted even better! Apparently the blue cheese is worth a try too (next time…).
Another beer, recommend by the bartender, «Are you feeling adventurous?» Indeed I was. I need to bring my craft beer buddies here for sure.
Then I couldn’t leave without trying an entrée. They had a leg of goat as a special. And let me tell you, it just melts in your mouth. The sides I tried (baked apple and bread pudding) were nothing to rave about; very creative but definitely out-​shined by everything else.
But the beer, cheese, meat, and staff were absolutely phenomenal. I can’t wait to come back and try the charcuterie and sample some more awesome beers!
Welcome to the neighborhood B&B! Please take your shoes off and stay awhile.

We stopped in here tonight for drinks after dinner and had a great time! (Tonight just happened to be their opening night) Our group of five sat at the bar which was perfect for bugging the bartenders about the different taps they have, drinks they’re mixing, and pretty much anything that struck our fancy. The bartender was a great sport and answered all of our questions with a smile. He even restarted and turned up a song that we were loving. They had a bunch of beers on tap and a decent wine list, even though they were out of a few wines.
The menu looked incredible and if I hadn’t already eaten dinner, I would’ve been more than happy to eat here. I’m really looking forward to coming back here for food and I know I’ll be here for drinks again. This place is definitely a good addition to the neighborhood.