Dan Wheeler has teamed up with Cochranville-based Succession Fermentory to reopen A Man Full of Trouble, Philadelphia’s only surviving Revolutionary-era drinking spot, writes Mike Newall for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Wheeler bought the building in Society Hill three years ago hoping to restore it to a neighborhood hub. After undergoing two and a half years of renovations, the tavern has reopened its doors for business for the first time in over a century.
Succession, the tavern’s operator, offers a selection of farmhouse beers and ferments on draft and in cask and bottle along with a curated list of Pennsylvania wines and spirits.
A Man Full of Trouble originally opened in 1759 as a dive bar during the Revolution.
Today, the upper floor of the tavern is a museum with relics telling the story of the neighborhood’s Revolutionary past. Another upstairs gallery is reserved for local artists.
“I didn’t want to have a dusty house museum that nobody ever came to,” said Wheeler. “I wanted to breathe new life into it, and I wanted to set it up as somewhere that told the life of this neighborhood.”
Read more about A Man Full of Trouble reopening with help from Succession Fermentory in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
______
Meet the founders of Succession Fermentary as they share how their farmhouse beers, wild-yeast coolship process, and deep community roots are now paving the way for a new chapter, reopening Philadelphia’s only surviving pre-Revolutionary War tavern with help from Honeycomb investors.
Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on VISTA Today in December 2024.
