John Harvards

Before we get to the review, I'll give you a little background on John Harvard, the namesake of this chain of Brewpubs and of the infamous Ivy League university in Cambridge, MA.

According to the history books, John Harvard's father, Robert, was most likely friends with William Shakespeare in Southwark, England around the turn of the 16th century. It's also likely that Shakespeare introduced Robert to his wife, John's mother, Katherine. But according to the folks at John Harvard's Brew House, John shared many interests with the Bard, one of which included brewing beer.

Brew House folklore claims that Shakespeare took young John Harvard under his wing and showed him a thing or two about brewing beer. Then around 1992 in Cambridge Massachusetts the Bard's famous beer recipes were found (supposedly) during the renovation of a historic building. These very same recipe's are used today to make the brews that are featured at John Harvard's Brew Houses across the country.

The John Harvard's Brew Houses are a chain of 13 brew houses located up and down the Eastern seaboard from Georgia to Rhode Island. We're lucky in the Philadelphia Region to have 3 of these establishments right in our own backyard: Radnor, Springfield and Wilmington, DE.

The Phillytown crew has been to the Radnor and Springfield brew houses. They both share a very similar layout. The bar is centrally located and very large (seating about 30 – 40). In the four corners of the bar area, televisions are mounted high on the wall so you won’t miss any of the big game. Off of the bar area are the prerequisite stainless kettles that are used to store the onsite brews. Separate from these silver holding tanks are the fermenters and mix tanks used to make the liquid magic. At the Springfield location the mix tank and fermenter is located at the store front so that they are visible from the street. At the Radnor brew house these tanks are behind glass and divide the dining area.

I hate to mention it, but the hostesses at the Springfield location have "it" all over the Radnor site. No matter when I've visited the Springfield Brew House, the hostesses have made the visit half worth the trip. Hey, I know the John Harvard's establishments are nice places to take the family, but the cute "skirts" at the front desk don't hurt the business either. Here at Phillytown we give you the total review, not just the schlock those other inferior-hoity-toity websites give you. OK...now back to the review...

Throughout both locations are small oval signs depicting various scenes of Americana that John Harvard attended. One such sign was titled John Harvard at The Boston Tea Party. Whether or not Mr. Harvard participated in all of the scene depicted, remains to be seen. Stained glass images on the walls portray robed figures that appear to be saints but upon closer inspection, these “saints” have the heads of famous Americans like JFK, Teddy Roosevelt, Jerry Garcia, Ben Franklin and Paul Revere.

During one Saturday night visit to the Springfield location, around 9PM, a singer/guitarist took to a microphone and put on a nice set of acoustic songs that included material from Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills & Nash and other acoustic folk heroes. It was a nice finish to dinner and it got me to order another round of brew before moving on to the next pub.

All brews on tap are hand crafted on-site in the "Bard's" style. For a brew pub, John Harvard's runs the gambit from the light “All American Light Lager” to the dark “Imperial Stout.” In between they offer a Nut Brown Ale (similar to Newcastle), Scotch Ale, John Harvard’s Pale Ale and usually a fruit-based beer like their Raspberry Red Ale. Their beer menu also changes with the seasons. I’ve been to the Springfield location during the summer months and a nice Peachtree Honey Wheat and a Hefe-Weizen made it to the menu.

Since both locations are in the 'burbs, they're not the ideal sort of places to do a pub crawl. But on the other hand, there's plenty of parking. On weekend night's it's probably a good idea to call ahead for reservations. Hit the map/direction links above for each location's phone numbers.

My only regret is that I wish that they put each John Harvard's Brew House on opposite ends of the city, rather than both in the Delaware County area.