Philly Beer Scene Turns 1 And Is Still Growing!
How do you recap the craziest year in your life? As we celebrate our first birthday, we’re taking a look back at all that has happened over the first year. From our launch party at World Café Live to putting together a Philly Beer Week feature to guide you through the best events those 10 days have to offer, it’s mind-blowing to see how far you’ve all brought us. I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome it has been to meet as many of you as we have. Hearing that you enjoy what we’ve put out and actually read it has by far been the highlight of the year.
Throughout the past year, a ton has happened in the beer world. There has been highs such as the arrival of great new breweries from afar including Great Lakes and AleSmith and even the beginning of new local breweries such as Prism. It was also a year that brought us some awesome new watering holes such as Varga Bar and the much needed German spot, Brauhaus Schmitz in the city. Even the suburbs started growing in the beer scene with new places like the Iron Abbey and the Craft Beer Outlet opening their doors. You also can’t forget about Jersey opening its first brewpub in over 10 years with Iron Hill Maple Shade. With all great things though, there are always the not so great things that always seem to happen. Sadly, we had to witness the devastation caused by the PLCB as they raided some of most beloved bars. There was also the closing of a few doors throughout the area. The good however definitely outweighed the bad. How can a year not be great that saw the resurgence of Yards old friend Bart and was home to a pair of Firkinteenths at the Grey Lodge? It was also the year that brought us great new events such as the Winter Beer Fest and the Craft Beer Express. It was a year that gave us the option of multiple events on pretty much every single day.
The Philadelphia beer scene took great strides this year and helped us accomplish some awesome things as well. Our annual Brews for Boobies pub crawl reached amazing new levels as over 200 people joined us as we wandered around the city raising money and awareness for breast cancer. In March, we had a crazy ten days of events to fill the void of Philly Beer Week moving, with such highlights as the Beer BBQ and Bowling event and Feats of Strength and Weakness. We got to judge homebrew competitions with Dave and Johnny from TwoGuysOnBeer.com at Beer Camp and even host a few beer dinners along the way.
So, to sum it all up, all I can really say is that it was an awesome year to be a beer drinker. Our options were endless and the beers were amazing. Thanks to all of you for your support and making this city the best beer city in the world! Cheers!
Best Moments:
Mat: It’s really hard to pick out one thing that stands out beyond everything else, but I think something I will really never forget is having lunch with Jim Koch. Never in my life did I imagine I would sit down at a regular table at a regular restaurant with the man that started Sam Adams. It was the first big thing I experienced through the magazine, and I think that will make it forever memorable to me.
Scott: The best moment for me is probably one of the first. Our launch party at World Café Live was really special. We were kicking off a brand new endeavor and to be able to share it with so many friends and family and new friends to be made was awesome. Starting things off with so much support really made the rest of year that much more encouraging for us.
John: I’m going to have to say my best experience was one of planning meetings for a future issue. We were deciding what to do for the next issue and celebrating Neil getting his Master's as well as the release of issue number one. To commemorate the occasion Neil brought a bottle of 2007 Sam Adams Utopias for us to share and we had some cave aged bottles of Ommegang amongst others. It was a memorable night of great beer. The maple dipped fried bacon at Kennett Square is a close second though.
Neil: Every time someone says they love the magazine is a “best” for me. Even though we consider this a hobbyist publication since we all have other jobs, we put a lot of care, attention, and work into making it happen. It’s really rewarding when a new advertiser comes on board because they love what we do. And, it's even more rewarding when someone in the Scene comes up to us and says, “I see your magazine, I pick it up all the time, and keep up the good work.”