Evil Genius founders Luke Bowen and Trevor Hayward announce the official grand opening of the Evil Genius Beer Garden on Friday, April 19, 2019 at 5:00pm. Celebrate the first full season for this Fishtown open-air hot spot with an opening night beach-style party themed after the movie Point Break, staring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. While the movie stars may not be out, Evil will drink under the starry skies with tiki cups for your drinks, grass skirts, coconut bras, music and lays aplenty. From the kitchen, look for special barbecue pork taco with pineapple and other kitchen selections. During opening weekend, and in celebration of the Philadelphia Sixers in the NBA play-offs, sip on Trust the Process (Mosaic & Amarillo Oat IPA) and other top Evil Genius drafts pouring from the outside lines. Major features of Evil Genius Beer Garden include bar top and more seating space for up to 150 people at the same time - with street art by Philadelphia artist Amberella, a refurbished outdoor bar, three faux trellises and pergolas, six draft lines, and a selection of Evil Genius cans including special releases. With ample water bowls throughout the garden, a coming-soon doggie fashion show, and ample space for four-legged friends, Evil Genius prides itself on being one of the most dog friendly beer gardens in the city. The special event program this summer will include everything from a low country boil, to weekly happy hours that benefit a different charity each week, a murder mystery night and many others to be announced. For more about Evil Genius and the beer garden, visit http://evilgeniusbeer.com/ or call 215-425-6820.

"We are proud to introduce the Evil Genius Beer Garden for the 2019 summer season," said Hayward. "As we continue to make some very serious beers (with very silly names) on the inside of the brewery, we now want to give you a chance to take the fun outdoors all summer long. We plan to have events to activate the space and keep things creative all throughout the season starting with this weekend's beach-style party - and continuing with a doggie fashion show, a low country boil, weekly charity nights - plus events for the return of Philly Beer Week."

Evil Genius Beer Garden is located directly next to the award-winning taproom, dining room and bar - known collectively as "Evil Genius Lab." Guests can enter directly from front street through massive rustic metal gates designed by S.D. Design, or guests can enter from inside the brewery itself. High above the garden look for a giant Evil Genius art mural of the company's logo surrounded by ambient string lights. On the adjacent walls look for Goth Hearts from local street and mixed media artist Amberella. Seating and bar space has been expanded with more wooden bars with bar stools, high top tables, communal tables with bench style seating, wooden benches, three faux trellises and pergolas, barrel seating, a rocker and more. Decor features also include reclaimed timber, distressed metals, faux grass and rock floor. The beer garden is dog friendly with ample water bowls throughout the layout.

The newly refurbished outdoor bar will feature a selection of cans, including special releases as they come available, plus six draft lines, along with a selection of wines by the glass.

The opening weekend tap list is as follows:

* #adulting – Guava IPA
* Trust the Process- Mosaic & Amarillo Oat IPA. 6.7%
* Fly Like an Eagle - Watermelon Water Ice Milkshake IPA - 6.2%
* I Love Lamp – Pineapple Hefeweizen
* They Did Surgery on a Grape - Red Wine Hazy IPA - 5.8%
* The Painting Was a Gift, Todd - Light Lager - 4.5%

From the Evil Genius Kitchen look for street food and bar favorites, including a weekend special of barbecue pork tacos with pineapple (3/$7.00). The rest of the opening weekend menu includes the following:

* Beef Tacos – Flour tortilla, house seasoned beef, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and sour cream. 3 for $9. Add one more for $1.50

* Vegan Seitan Tacos – House-seasoned seitan with spicy corn salsa. 3 for $9 Add one more for $1.50 (V)

* Pulled Pork Tacos – Shredded pork pulled in-house with pineapple salsa. 3 for $9 Add one more for $1.50

* Buffalo Chicken Tacos – Mild buffalo chicken topped with ranch slaw and scallions. 3 for $9 Add one more for $1.50

* Toasted Classic Caprese Sandwich– with locally-sourced tomatoes, house made pesto, balsamic dressing and sliced fresh mozzarella. Includes bag of chips. (Veg)– $9.

* Grilled Cheese and Tomato – sliced Muenster and Provolone, fresh tomato, and slathered with mayo/mustard on Brioche. (Veg) Served with potato chips – $8.50

* Pulled Pork Sandwich – Slow roasted pulled pork with house-made coleslaw. Served with chips.

* Veg- Vegetarian V – Vegan GF – Gluten Free Cheese Board – Served with seasonal accouterments. Choose two – (Veg) $17 Smoked Moody Blue , Manchego, or Chive Havarti

* Charcuterie Board for Two – Seasonal selection of meats and cheeses to be shared (or not) with seasonal accouterments. – $21.50

* Hummus – Served with celery sticks, carrot sticks, and toasted pita. (V)(can be GF) $8.00

* Spicy Spinach and Artichoke Dip – Made fresh in-house, this spicy dip benefits from the point/counterpoint of creamy spinach and red pepper flakes. (Veg) – $7.00

* Nachos!–Chips, homemade beer cheese, diced tomatoes, sour cream, onions and jalapeño peppers, stacked high. (Veg) (can be made GF) $8 ADD Chili con Carne $1.50

* Buffalo Chicken Dip– Served with baguette – $7.50

* Chili Con Carne – Slow-cooked in house with sour cream and shredded cheese on top. Served with toasted baguette slices. (can be made GF) $6.50

* Soft Pretzel – Two SuperPretzels served with house-made beer cheese and mustard. (Veg) $8

* Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Sandwich

For the grand opening weekend beach party, admission is free for humans (and pups too). All food and drink is pay as you go. Festivities will be themed around the movie Point Break, staring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. While the movie stars may not be out, Evil will drink under the starry skies with tiki cups for your drinks, grass skirts, coconut bras, music and lays aplenty. Inside the Lab, look for the movie to be playing on the big screens. Friday night's party will run from 5:00pm to 11:00pm.

On top of the grand opening party, look for special events for Philly Beer Week at the end of May - as well as regular events all season long. One notable event is Evil Does Good. Every Thursday night through July, Evil Genius will donate one dollar from every beer sold in the garden between 6:00pm and 8:00pm to a different charity. Look for details on the Murder Mystery Night, Low Country Boil, Philly Beer Week and Doggie Fashion show coming soon.

The official launch of the beer garden is a labor of love that has been a long time coming. In their first year on site, they launched a casual outdoor area primarily for spill-over from the Lab. Last year, the duo opened a lower-key, smaller scale operation for a portion of the season to test the waters. This year, the beer garden is all grown up with a major expansion and upgrades - everything for its first full season is bigger and better with extensive refurbishments.

For 2019, the Evil Genius Beer Garden also represents a continued expansion of the Evil Genius brand for founders and partners-in-crime Bowen and Hayward. The two Villanova grads founded Evil Genius in 2011. Known for a lineup of quality and tasty beers with highly-memorable names, Bowen and Hayward went from brewing through a contract brewer in 2011, to opening their own facility and the tasting "Lab" in 2017. Under the "El," Evil Genius brews up to six on site at the same time. On taps inside are twelve rotating selections, plus special releases cans and several batched cocktails.

Outside of the Lab, Evil Genius in 2015 expanded and centralized all other beer production operations to one single larger plant in Pittson, PA. From that plant, Evil Genius brews beer for kegs, as well as bottles that are distributed in seven states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. They also produced special collaboration brews with big names like The Hersey Company, BB&T Park, and Uptown Beer Garden by Craft Concepts Group.

Each month look for special new can and draft releases in the Lab, which was created to test and experiment with new beer styles and flavors. Also, each month look for a new bottle to debut across distributors in the seven states.

For more about Evil Genius and the beer garden, visit http://evilgeniusbeer.com/ or call 215-425-6820.