Philly Beer Week's Cup Overflows, With More Events Than Ever
By Paul Kurtz
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Philly Beer Week, the annual 10-day celebration of craft beer gets underway tonight.
Choosing which events to attend may be the biggest challenge -- after all, there are more than 1,000 available this year beginning with Friday evening's Opening Tap. Beer Week board chairman William Reed says they've moved the venue from Independence Visitors Center to the 23rd street Armory.
"One of the great things about that location is that it's a little bit larger, but it's also one main room," Reed says. "And so everybody coming to Opening Tap will be able to be all together in one room with the Mayor tapping that first keg," with the ceremonial Hammer of Glory. Over 30 local breweries will be serving it up. Tickets are $45, or $90 for VIP.
From there, it's a 10-day free-for-all (or beer-for-all), with bars and taverns offering everything from brewery tap takeovers to beer gardens and block parties.
West Philadelphia's Dock Street and a Belgian brewery teamed up to produce a Philly Tripel. And a bunch of local brewers have come up with Brotherly Suds Five. They got together a couple of months ago at Bill Kovaleski's Victory facility in Downingtown.
"We are one of the few breweries that focus on lager beers," says Kovaleski. "And so the guys sort of rallied around the idea of a bock beer. We went for a pail bock beer and we went with all German whole flower hops into it. So it should be a substantial but refreshing beer for the June service."
Beer week runs through June 8th. For a full list of events, click here.
