Philly Beer Week 2011 Event Previews

Coming soon! Check back in mid-May.

Philly Beer Week — Day 2: Saturday, June 5

Looking through every single event listing for Philly Beer Week, I found the following events to be the most interesting for Day 2, Saturday, June 5.

First off, the two major (and competing) festivals:

Philadelphia Global Beer Expo
The Simeone Automotive Museum has a private car collection valued at over $80 million. Enjoy learning about these historic cars while drinking great beers from around the world. Two sessions: 12 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. $45. Tickets.
The Simeone Automotive Museum, 6825 Norwitch Drive.

Simeone Auto Museum

and the

International Great Beer Expo
Join us for an international beer tasting event featuring an incredible variety of beers from the U.S. and around the globe. More than 50 brewers and over 100 beers. Shoulder to shoulder with some of America’s best breweries will be amazing beer from Japan, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Jamaica, Belgium, Italy, Trinidad, Scotland, Cyprus, Ireland, Mexico, Israel, Poland, China and Peru. Don’t miss out on this great event. Two sesssions: 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. $45. Tickets.
International Great Beer Expo, 5100 S. Broad St.

Both are international beer fests and take place at approximately the same time, however, both events have two sessions and and are located near each other in South Philly, so you could choose to attend both.

The PGBE (pronounced Pigbee) features “Great Beer from Around the World” with over 125 world class beers from 90 breweries across 16 countries. This event is put on by Philly Beer Fests, which is owned and operated by two co-creators of Philly Beer Week, Tom Peters (owner of Monk’s Cafe, among other things) and Bruce Nichols (owner of the new bar, The HeadHouse). The IGBE is put on by Andy and Lynda Calimano of Starfish Junction–the same company that every March throws the raucously fun party known as the Craft Beer Festival (also at the Navy Yard). The IGBE features 50+ International Brewers/100+ BeersLooking over each beer list (PGBE and IGBE), my palate clearly prefers the PGBE’s selection of beers, however, there is still plenty of great beer to love at the IGBE. Plus, they’ll be featuring an outdoor beer garden.

On to the rest of the events for Saturday after the jump:

Philly Beer Week — Day 1: Friday, June 4

Looking through every single event listing for Philly Beer Week, I found the following events to be the most interesting for Day 1, Friday, June 4. I will definitely be at Opening Tap–the official kickoff event to PBW–and hope to make at least one bar/event during the day-long Hammer of Glory relay. Everywhere else beyond that is up in the air.

The Hammer of Glory

The Must-Do Event of the Night: Opening Tap at the Independence Visitor Center, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $40 and must be bought in advance. IVC is at 6th and Market Sts.

Here are some reasons to attend:

• The over-the-top arrival of the infamous Hammer of Glory, which will be used for the ceremonial tapping of the first firkin with Mayor Nutter
• Samples of beer from roughly 30 regional brewers, some of them are being debuted at Opening Tap– more on this in a second
• Processional by the Second Street Irish Society Pipe & Drum Band
• Live music by the Flathead Gang.
• Flyers Stanley Cup Game 4 will be on TVs at the event

Every local brewery is represented, but here are the beers that have been confirmed so far…after the jump.

Welcome to Firkins and Gherkins

Welcome to Firkins and Gherkins. When it comes to Beer and Food in Philly, we’re your BFPh.

And now for a series of posts about the upcoming Philly Beer Week 2010, starting this Friday, June 4.

Philly Beer Week -- Opening Tap 2009. Mayor Nutter with the Hammer of Glory, a Ben Franklin impersonator and Tom Kehoe of Yards. Photo courtesy of PBW.