Monday, January 26, 2009

A Matter of Principle

I won't be the one to presume that I should tell you what to do in the realm of right and wrong. What I will point out, however, is something that I've been sitting on for around a week or so. The topic is the Philly Craft Beer Festival, a festival that where hope was once heaped upon to become an annual eponymous Philadelphian oasis for beer lovers. I didn't say anything and I'm now off the hook as Phoodie.info and Jack Curtin have spoken up. See, in the beer rich region that I live and play in, I will rarely...if ever...be the one to break news in our wonderful world of beer. So when I came upon this piece of news, I didn't know exactly what to do with it. Let's just say that whenever possible, and within my humanly capable self, I try to be a principled person. So when I see or hear of others taking a stand for what they believe to be just, then I applaud them and want to bring attention to it. I'll say that I, like Jack, don't know a lot more on the subject than some of the first and first-and-a-half-hand knowledge that I have been provided. I trust these sources enough to say that this issue with the Philly Craft Beer Festival existed two years ago, it existed last year, and it appears to be bigger than ever issue this year, to the tune of many local breweries withdrawing their attendance. If I can get an exact count, I'll be sure to let you all know. As I pointed out above, in this beer rich region, there's little excuse not to know what's going on in the world of beer. There are more informed beer drinkers and beer writers around here knowledgably drinking and discussing the product...this includes everything from beer releases to the politics of beer. I believe it's a fairly good bet that there are more beer writers per capita here in the Philly region than anywhere else in the country....perhaps world? I'll leave this simply at the suggestion that you should look at all of the beer events during Philly Beer Week, look at their credentials (to the best of your ability...what's happening, who's benefiting, and how the business is being conducted) and determine who deserves your consumer dollars. As a consumer, you should demand no less....and remember that Philly Beer Week is much larger than any one event.

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