USA, PA: Carbon Copy to launch in former Dock Street West Brewery location on December 10

Kyle Wolak and Brendon Boudwin, who have two decades of combined brewery experience, will open the doors at 11 a.m. Saturday, December 10 to Carbon Copy, their beer/wine-focused restaurant at 50th Street and Baltimore Avenue, in the former West Philadelphia firehouse that formerly housed Dock Street West Brewery, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on December 7.

They’ve brightened it up to allow sunlight to stream in from both sides. There is a combination of high-top and regular tables. Counter seating offers a view of the brewing equipment. (They make their wines in Kensington.)

The menu from chefs Bill Braun and Alyston Upshaw is what you’d call easy pub food, with solid vegetarian-forward options such as chips and dip; a mixed salad with miso garlic dressing and quinoa crunch; charred cauliflower; and gnocchi. The outlier is a pork belly dish with root vegetables, greens, and mustard au jus.

All beers are on tap and are available to go via growlers. The production of 16-ounce cans will start next year.

Both Wolak and Boudwin have worked in every aspect of production at breweries all over the world, including Modern Times Beer (San Diego), Three Floyds (Indiana), Warpigs (Copenhagen), Hill Farmstead (Vermont), and Tired Hands (Philadelphia and Ardmore), where they met.

They left Tired Hands in 2020 — giving their notice in April “even though the pandemic had just hit. We were like, ‘Well, if we’re going to do it, we should do it now, regardless of what’s happening with that,’” Wolak said. “It took a little bit longer to find the spot that we were looking for, but we found this spot and it worked out perfectly.”

They also started making wines several years ago at a friend’s winery in New York. They call their winemaking philosophy “natural intention with low intervention,” by sourcing grapes from smaller, sustainable vineyards. They also incorporate organic natives and hybrids that are fermented in native yeast with minimal sulfites.

They weren’t worried about the viability of a restaurant. “People are always going to want to do that, regardless of a pandemic or not,” Boudwin said. “I feel like not only do people enjoy eating and drinking and not having to make those things themselves, but also the social aspect of coming into a place. It’s almost like pandemic-proof — the camaraderie and socialization.”

Carbon Copy, 701 S. 50th St. Hours: 4-10 p.m. Monday (bar only), 4-11 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 4 p.m.-midnight Friday, 11 a.m.-midnight Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday. Closed Tuesday.

08 December, 2022