Opening Tap tix
May 3rd, 2010 Joe SixpackHeaded to Opening Tap with a bunch of friends/business colleagues? You can save a few bucks by purchasing through Philly Beer Week group sales (minimum of 10). Check out PBW’s O.T. page for more details.
Headed to Opening Tap with a bunch of friends/business colleagues? You can save a few bucks by purchasing through Philly Beer Week group sales (minimum of 10). Check out PBW’s O.T. page for more details.
It’s not just about professionally brewed beer during Philly Beer Week; there are several homebrewing events being held, too. Here’s two, one in the city and one in the ‘burbs:
Homebrew Competition judged by Sierra Nevada brewers. $20 - Pint glass, Sandwich, $3 pints all night. Pale Ale, Summerfest, Collaboration, Southern Hemisphere and more.
Local homebrewers competition for the coveted Oakmont Cup. Brewers brew a special IPA for this Beer Week event. Beer friendly menu, patrons participate.
After the void left by the demise of Ludwig’s Garten, it’s been great to see a full-fledged German bierhall back on the scene. The newish Brauhaus Schmitz (7th and South) is participating for the first time in Philly Beer Week, and they’ve gotten behind a bierfest at the German Society (7th & Spring Garden).
Friday June 11 is shaping up to be a tasty preview to the big Zythos Belgian beer festival on the following Sunday (more details to come). With plenty of Belgophiles around town, several bars are running events featuring Belgium’s exotic brews. Here’s a few, and more are coming - just keep checking in at the Philly Beer Week web site.
The big bike race will be ripping through Manayunk during the first weekend of PBW (6/5-6), and we all know how well beer goes with cycling (at least for spectators).
Watch for other events as other Manayunk restaurants and taverns begin posting events.
We’ve got just under six weeks till Opening Tap. Today I’ll start (what I hope will be) a daily posting of the best of Philly Beer Week.
The CHF (315 Chestnut St., Old City) is a new participant in Beer Week this year, and it’ll be interesting to hear their high-tech take on the science behind beer flavors and aroma. Bonus: this is just two blocks from the site of Opening Tap, so you can stroll over afterward and share everything you learned at the Independence Visitor Center.
If you’re cooped up inside, trying to decide which of tonight’s Philly Beer Weekend events you’re going to go to, just think how nice the weather’s going to be on June 4th.
Specifically here. (Shhh… the official announcement comes on Monday.)
Mark your calendars: Philly Beer Week is June 4-13, 2010.
Yes, we moved it from the first weekend of March. Believe me, this was an incredibly difficult decision, particularly because we had such great success in March over PBW’s first 2 years.
Why did we move it?
Conflicts with other dates, mainly. Many pub owners and distributors felt they were already busy on the weekends leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. Moving PBW would give them an added bang. There was some concern that responsible craft beer lovers are wrongly confused with the chug-and-puke crowd of the Erin Express. (Classic: I’m told that at the Good Dog, Erin Expressers - who were banned from the bar - referred to us as Beer Week Yuppies. Gotta love it.)
Additionally, the Zythos Festival in Belgium is the same weekend, which not only prevents Belgian brewers from visiting Philly (a/k/a Brussels on the Schuylkill), but also presents problems for Belgian importers and distributors. Further, the annual Flower Show - held the last week of February, first week of March - prevents PBW from ever expanding into the Convention Center.
And then there’s the weather. We were extremely lucky this year - the night of Opening Tap was one of the nicest days of the year. But in ‘08, we opened with a miserable storm. And it’s only a matter of time before the week is snowed-under or iced-over.
I opposed the move, mainly because I felt we’d already established ourselves in March. As one local bar owner, who also opposed the move, told me last night: “You don’t get off the winning horse in the middle of a race.”
Why June?
That was the other challenge - if not March, when?
That brought us to June, which is not without its conlicts: Father’s Day, the bike race and a huge outdoor festival in Manayunk. I think PBW can work off all of those, however. I mean, if a guy can’t get a pass to spend the day drinking beer on Father’s Day…
The big plus for June, however, is the weather. Now, we can do more of our beer drinking outdoors. Some of the week’s best events - bike rides, beer-runs, sumo wrestling - are a lot easier to promote in 80-degree sunshine than under 35-degree overcast skies.
So… that’s the thinking that went into moving the date. Agree? Disagree? Personally, I don’t think it’ll matter on June 4th, 2010.
We’re looking for feedback on the week’s events. If you remember anything, kindly visit this site to fill out a very quick survey.
Do it because:
Here’s a quick heads up for those who’ve made it to the final day of Philly Beer Week: A very limited number of general admission tickets will be made available this afternoon at the Zythos America Belgian beer fest at the Penn Museum.
Although the event sold out yesterday, some tickets have been set aside for last-minute beer drinkers (yes, that’s a redundancy).
The tickets are $55, an excellent deal for an event that includes food and samples of more than 80 different Belgian beers. These tix will go on sale at 3 p.m.
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