By KATHLEEN DUFFY
The Haddonfield Sun
For only the second time in the last 140 years, alcohol will be served in Haddonfield next month. Legally, at least.
The Indian King Tavern is hosting 3 Cheers for 300!, a beer tasting, on Saturday, May 18. Three seating sessions are planned, with a 100 person limit for each slot, beginning at noon. Tickets are being sold for $50.
Haddonfield resident Chris Thomas, a manager at Monks Café in Philadelphia, organized last year’s beer tasting and has been coordinating with the tavern’s committee again for the upcoming event.
“I’m into beer,” he said. “I am a promoter of the tavern as a meeting place, a community place, a place to get to know your neighbors.
“That’s what the pubs and the taverns used to be in the colonial times.”
Thomas also helps to plan the borough’s First Night festivities.
He lives across the street from Bill Brown, a member of the Indian King’s beer committee, and conversation sprouted between the two about the idea of hosting a tasting last year.
“It was very successful,” Thomas said, citing that the event raised more than $7,000 for the tavern’s needs.
Soon, people began asking when the next tasting would be, and it was decided that it would become an annual event.
“He was instrumental in doing everything,” Brown said of Thomas. “He did it strictly as a volunteer.”
The tasting will be held in a tent outdoors — rain or shine — and two breweries are providing the goods, Flying Fish out of Cherry Hill, and Weyerbacher Brewing Company from Easton, Pa., Thomas said. To change flavors, he opted to make the switch from last year’s choice of Yards Brewery. Yards had been chosen for their line of “Ales of the Revolution,” which includes recipes from the 1700s.
“We thought that would be the appropriate brewery for the first one,” he said.
Unlike the brews, the food will have a semblance of similarity. The British Chip Shop will be providing a menu and Westmont’s The Pour House will bring along oysters again at a buck a shuck.
In 2012, “the oysters were a big hit,” Thomas said.
New this year, the borough’s set of five town criers will be announcing the tasting around town, Brown said.
“They’ll be walking along the streets before the event,” he said.
The criers will also announce at the beginning of each seating.
Rounding out the event, as part of the purchased ticket, attendees will receive a souvenir tricentennial beer mug.
“It should be a special day,” Brown said.
Since the tavern is a state-owned building, the state law overrides the borough ordinances against serving alcohol in the historically dry town, he said.
“It does draw attention to the building,” he said.
Weeks later, beer tasters can be seen walking around the tavern, returning to learn more about the building’s history with new perspective.
“They’re small events,” Thomas said of the sessions. “We try to keep it intimate and comfortable for everyone.”
The details
The 3 Cheers for 300! beer tasting will be held at the Indian King Tavern, 233 Kings Highway East, on Saturday, May 18. The first seating will be at noon until 2:30 p.m. The second seating is scheduled from 3 to 5:30 p.m., and the last time slot of the day is set from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Tickets are $50 and are available from the tavern directly, at the office of Joe Murphy, 30 Tanner St., and at the Haddonfield Information Center, 2 Kings Court, now.
Call (856) 429–6792 with any inquiries and learn more athttp://haddonfield300.org/event/3-cheers-for-300/.
Stay up-to-date with happenings at the tavern by visitinghttp://www.indiankingfriends.org.
