Philly Craft Beer Festival

Back in March I attended Philly's Craft Beer Festival at the Navy Yard with my buddy Ron. Before going to the second session at 6 PM, we went to Tony Luke's in South Philly to get a good base prior to sampling/drinking.

Cheesesteak wit fried onions and sharp provolone


We arrive at the Navy Yard and the line to enter wraps around the building for what I would guess is a quarter of a mile. We eventually enter the building and instantly I knew that this was quickly going to become overcrowded. Ron and I immediately head towards the back where it is less crowded and then the plan was to work our way back to the front. Armed with our plastic 5oz cups (recommended 2oz pours) we attack the first available booth.

I notice right away that attendees cannot see what they are waiting in lines for (any brewer signs were to low and were blocked by the sea of people). And trust me there were lines, it was rare to wait with less than 10 people for a 2oz beer.

The nice thing about this Beerfest were the amount of local brewpubs that were here. Some noteworthy brewpubs include Dock Street and Manayunk (their Smokehouse Porter was my favorite of the event) . Of course there were some great local breweries like Yards (Philadelphia, PA) and Victory (Downingtown, PA), and other top craft breweries like Great Lakes (Cleveland, OH) and Allagash (Portland, ME).

I enjoy going to beer festivals because for the price ($50) you can sample as much different beer as you can stomach for the 2 to 4 hours that you are there. There are 3 main type of people that attend these events:

1. Beer Enthusiest - I fall in this category, people wear beer related clothing, wear pretzel necklaces, and actually enjoy tasting different craft beers.
2. Party Goer - These are the people always looking for a "good time". They are often found in large numbers and are the quickest to get drunk. These individuals do not care about craft beer, but more about the buzz they get from it.
3. The Girlfriend - These are by-far the worst. They do not care about beer, but only their own insecurities. It is no secret that the majority of attendees are men, the other small percentages fall into one of these 3 categories. They wander around closely with their boyfroend or signifacnt other pretending to have fun and enjoy drinking beer.

There were some games setup, poor music (band playing in the smokers section outside, keep in mind it was March), beer related vendors (people selling coasters and t-shirts), and a few vendors selling food. Like most events in Philly, there are never enough bathrooms. This event was no different, which leads to sinks being used as urinals. This leads me to the issues I had with this festival.

The negatives that I had were:
1. Waiting outside in 40 degree temperature for about 15 minutes
2. Not being able to see what brewery/beer you were waiting in line for
3. Sold out event that was extremely overcrowded, to the pint that it shouldhave been a fire hazard
4. Only 2 bathrooms for men (2 stalls and 2 urinals in each)

My buddy Ron know everyone and everything Philly (to the point where it is almost creepy, good creepy though!). He happened to run into some people he knew at this beerfest, some of those individuals being Philly Beer Scene employees. Needless to say we ended up in the April edition of the magazine (see the bottom of page 9). To the right, the picture that appeared in Philly Beer Scene of Ron and I.

There is definitely room for improvemnent, but I would still recommend attending this event. If you want more information on the next Philly Craft Beer Festival, visit their website.