"We're getting started at 9 a.m. and going all day," said Grey Lodge owner Mike "Scoats" Scotese, who is also hosting "Lew Bryson's Wheat Beer Breakfast of Champions" at 9 a.m. Saturday. A pint of Imperial Espresso Porter with creamed chipped beef, anyone? How about a Dunkel Weisse with those chocolate-chip pancakes?
"It's going to be insane," said Philly Beer Week cofounder Don Russell, who writes the "Joe Sixpack" column for the Philadelphia Daily News and who unabashedly boasts: "We have regained our stature as America's best beer-drinking city."
That the region can support such a mega-festival - with the largest event already sold out - is a testament to the deep well of passion in Philly's beer culture, which has also been one of the most dynamic facets of the restaurant scene in the last few years. Witness the continued surge in new gastropubs, serious beer lists at high-end restaurants, the opening of new local breweries, and the steady flow of rare new imports - in particular, a taste for Belgian ale that is one of the distinguishing traits of our local beer scene.
It's an ardor that will be in full froth during this second annual paean to the brew, beginning with the "Opening Tap" featuring two dozen local breweries at the Comcast Center tomorrow at 7 p.m., and rollicking on through an eye-opening range of events until last call on March 15. Even SEPTA is getting into the spirit, offering $9 "sip safely" passes for all-day rail-bus-trolley rides during the event.
A taste for high-end craft beer is a rising national phenomenon, outpacing all other sectors of the beverage industry with 5.3 percent growth in volume last year, despite the recession and a steep hike in prices due to an increased cost for ingredients, according to Nick Lake of the Nielsen Co.
