My Philly Beer Week position.
Curled up in a fetal ball, whimpering, wondering who’d stolen my clothes….
No, wait. That’s not for public consumption.
Reset…
With regard to when Philly Beer Week should be held, I have, as man of a certain age should, come down in favor of warm rather than cold.
June has its problems, what with graduations, weddings, Little League, yard work and the rare but not impossible appear of the local professional hockey or (really rare) basketball teams in the playoffs of their respective sports, and I think the week chosen was a tad early because at least a few of those issues disappear by mid-month. A week later, or even the last week of the month would work for me. Or go the other direction and set it during the last week of May.
I admit to having been swayed considerably in my final decision when I saw what Scoats wrote, I believe on Facebook, “you can have a blizzard in March.” Yes, I already knew that, but Scoats is a man of wisdom and somehow that struck a chord.
The big arguments for March are two-fold (and major). One is that the first quarter is the most difficult of all for both brewers and publicans and it’s very nice to have ten days of major events to add some cash to the tills. The other is that there is just too damned much going on in June and smaller crowds at a lot of venues this year reflected that. If it is decided to go back to March, I stress again that there is no unbreakable dictum that it needs must be the same week at St. Patrick’s Day. Hold it a week later. Why is this so hard?
Also, as we saw this past year, the likelihood is that there will be a a mini-PBW in March in any case; there should be serious consideration given to making this an even more official part of the overall celebration and that means more than just talking about it during a meeting which was attended by only a few and then issuing press releases claiming provenance.
The one clear truth is, the decision made this year, stay, go back or adjust, has to be final. There’s only one last chance to get it right.
There are many other factors to be considered than my wishes, of course (although in a perfect universe, my wishes would suffice), including what publicans and brewers think and what their experiences have been. And by that, I mean all publicans and brewers, not just the connected few.
I also think there were far too many events competing with one another this past year and more than a few “events” which weren’t events at all. We’ve proven our point many times over that we can do more and have more places to do it than anybody else. Let’s concentrate on making the celebration of “America’s Best Beer-Drinking City” continue to be America’s best beer-drinking experience as well by keeping things reasonable.
Okay, I probably have enough people mad at me now to stop.
Meanwhile—assuming my interminable “Philly Beer Week Reports” series did not send you running from the room screaming “Enough!”—be advised that Mr. Brew Lounge is on Part Two (as of today) of a ten (count ‘em, ten) part magnum opus he is calling Philly Beer Week 2010: Contemplations, Conversations, Ruminations, and an occasional Diatribe. That link takes you to part one; from there you are on your own.
So there you are. You can wallow in PBW just a while longer. Life is good.
I prefer June but I like outdoor weather, not wearing and keeping up with a coat, outdoor events like the Dunk Tank, etc. I will not make the mistake of walking from the Radisson to the Penn Museum in 90+ heat only to find that the South Street bridge was closed. What a mistake. Took me hours to cool down after that fiasco.
There are definitely good arguments to make for both March and June, but personally I’m going to teeter and fall over on the side of “March”. It’s far easier to heat a venue than cool it, and it’s easier to warm up than it is to cool off. Now I think PBW this year was unseasonably warm for June, but I still have to vote for March. Just my $0.02.
Hotter temps = easier to dehydrate one’s self when walking around. Coupled with all the beer being consumed, March is the safer choice!
Yes, do wade in at your own risk! I’d weighed the option of holding off until Philly Beer Fatigue died down a bit, but thought it may lose some of the impact by then. Plus, I figured it better to get the conversation rolling now so as many voices can be heard as possible in order that (hopefully) the wisest decisions are made for PBW 2011.
Btw, I see that a survey has gone for PBW consumers. I urge everyone to go and make their voice heard there as well.
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22ATQHCQSDL
[...] Jack Curtin seems to feel the same way. Sure, March can be tricky, too, what with the whole St. Patrick’s Day thing, to say nothing of the impending 96 team field for March Madness, which may add an additional weekend to the proceedings. Factor in the lousy weather we had this winter and maybe Philly Beer Week dodged a bullet by moving to June. With any luck, the organizers will work some of the kinks out for next year and it’ll be the dream event everyone wants it to be. [...]
My vote is for March, and I think the number of bandwagon jumpers should be reduced, significantly. Why should establishments who serve craft beer once a year be part of the PBW? Weed out the fakes and get real. Go back to the roots, how it all started. And don’t overdo it just so you can say we had the most events, who cares about the numbers if no one shows up? Unless it is not about the beer any more.
I must say I was dismayed that they moved PBW to June this year. I have taken time off for the last couple of years to attend several events which is easy in March. However, I am not relegated that choice in June. I was not able to take time off and only attended one or two events. I can understand that people like the better weather, but I still prefer the cooler days in March. Though I am only one person, it seems I am not the ONLY one who sees June as difficult.
What about an entirely new month altogether? September would be nice, or early October. The weather would be cooler and the city colleges would be back in session, which means a possible greater attendance for the bars doing the events.
However, as long as we have PBW to look forward to at some point in the year, all is fine with me.
Four letters for you: G.A.B.F.
However, with GABF occurring anywhere from mid-September to early October, this should give everyone a chance to get back, dry out, and get ready for a first or second week of November PBW. It’s still early enough to not compete with the holidays, it’s after hurricane season, and before the wintry weather sets in.
What do you think about that?
I think any move other than an adjustment a week or two either way from this year’s dates or a return (with a “we were wrong” apologia) to March would fatally undermine the whole concept. It turns the story into farce. March v. June is a reasonable dispute based on what has already occurred; all else is just people trying to be clever.
Isn’t it more about getting it right? If March was such a bad idea (not many are actually saying that out loud, but I’ll go with it since it was moved this year for one reason or another) and enough voices are heard to say that June, for different reasons, is no better….then why not open up the entire calendar to find the most optimal time of year?
Isn’t the whole concept about celebrating the Philly Beer Culture and therefore finding the most optimal 10 day period of time to celebrate it? Just because we chose March for the first two years doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the only choice to leave June for, is it? (sorry, are those naive questions? maybe I don’t understand what the “story” or the “concept” are.)
Change it once and it works, that’s good. Change it once and it isn’t as good and admit it and change back, that’s good too. Change and there’s a dispute and arguments on both sides but hold your ground, that’s okay.
Act like you don’t know what you’re doing and throw out both baby and bathwater, you look weak, you lose your panache and there’s trouble ahead. Management is not solely about knowing what your doing, in many ways it is more important to never let it appear you might not know what you’re doing.
Making the “getting it right” argument as if what has been done hasn’t been successful would be silly, wouldn’t it? They’ve gotten it right; the only issue (and it’s not even clear how much of an issue it is) is whether it was a mistake to move it to June.
Wait, Management? Are we still talking about, umm, drinking beer?
Ha! I work in “corporate america”, so I’m all too familiar with management as you speak…..but to your best point.
Your best point comes in the last sentence. I was making the November suggestion in the case that PBW does not consider going back to March, and feels that June will not working going forward either.
I think most of us agree that March has worked quite well in the past and we can hope that the powers-that-be come to see that as well.
First, Kevin, beer is the driving force of good management. I can assure that the management here at Liquid Diet never makes a major decision unless a pint or two has been consumed.
Bryan, “most of us agree” is an assumption entered without evidence. There are some indications in this thread, but we are but a microcosm. We need to drink more beer and become managers….
Well whatever week is chosen, hopefully next Beer Week more gentleman’s clubs / caberets can be involved. Cause clearly nothing says “craft beer in philly” like Delilah’s.
I am firmly on the side of March. If anything, move it to the end of March into April. I’m not sure how close that cuts to the Craft Brewer’s conference but that’s something to consider.
As someone who’s attended it every year and worked in the industry this year, it seems pretty clear that June was a mess. Maybe it was a combination of event overkill but the timing really does clash with everything else going on in life. It limited a lot of people’s funds and time. We had staff in weddings, I personally missed a weekend for a wedding and turned down another wedding invite, and three members of my family had graduations (as did my housemate). I can hardly be the only one.
I have to say that the arguments for March being offered in this thread are pretty compelling, even the ones which are more non-June that pro-March. I guess an old man could bundle up and handle the cold if need be…
If March/April the Craft Brewers’ Conference is definitely an issue. The last five years it was mid-April and now, suddenly, for 2011 it is March 23-26. So you can’t count on it being mid-April anymore.
The end is in sight. Soon all the major beer events with run into one another and civilization as we know it will collapse.
And, you know, that might be a good thing.
Whatever the arguments (the weather, St. Pat, March Madness, whatever), PBW should grow some balls and stake its claim to where it belongs.
March.
—Guy
My birthday is St Patricks day, so, yeah, that’s my bias. I had to miss the HOG relay due to bike race scheduling conflict.