Countdown to Philly Beer Week: Day 15

15 days?! Just 15 days until Philly Beer Week begins? Amazing.

While we’re as excited as anyone about the celebration of craft beer, we’re wondering if Beer Week might be getting a little… bloated?

At last count there were something like 114 events and it made us think of the rambling overkill of the now-defunct Book and the Cook.

Obviously, we’ve been hyperventilating about Beer Week here and so has the local beer community, but outside of that… crickets. And we’re wondering, can local beer fans sustain 114 events, some of which are repetitive? It’s starting to feel more like quantity than quality. We know it’s the first year, but why not start with something manageable and less all-over-the-place?

A suggestion from Team Foobooz for next year: Why not have a (reasonable) entrance fee for bars and breweries to participate? The money could go towards promoting the event.

Speaking of promoting the event, this is a festival that could garner some national attention (or, at the very, least regional) and yet we’ve seen little of it in the regional and national pubs (save for a brief mention in the NY Times Datebook this past weekend). We received info on the Savor beer fest in D.C. months ago and just got an official press release for Philly’s Beer Week last week. The website and calendar just went live in the last month or so. The local press has done a lot of promoting (ahem), but it’s a big event and the Philly-Belgian connection gives it an interesting angle that takes it beyond Philly.

Before our beloved beer geeks get all up in arms, keep in mind, we’re not hatin’, we’re just suggestin’. The idea is to bring craft beer beyond the beer geeks, right?

Philly Beer Week [Official Site]