Thursday, July 01, 2010

Philly Beer Week 2010: Contemplations, Conversations, Ruminations, and an occasional Diatribe: Part 9

(This is the ninth in a series of ten installments documenting both my time during Philly Beer Week 2010 and insights provided to me by customers, importers/distributors/representatives, brewers, brewery owners, publicans, et cetera. All of whom wanted their comments to be aired, but very few who wanted their name associated with them. Some of you may not appreciate the anonymity, but that's the way it needs to be if we're going to talk about these things around here. You'll need to trust in me that I've gathered up all of these notes and opinions during PBW '10 and am sharing them with you in order to continue the conversation about what will make a better Philly Beer Week 2011.)

Click back to see the eighth in the series. Click forward to see the nine point fifth in the series.

Anyone who wanted to write off the Beer Raid actions of the PLCB/BLCE in March as a Big Debacle and assume that everyone became a little more objective about the enforcement of The Code better think again.

The actions of the PLCB/BLCE during the Opening Tap event demonstrate that "it's not over." Not only were the Captain and a handful of undercover officers present inside the Independence Visitors Center on June 4th, but there was an issue with unregistered beer and a venue license issue that needed to be dealt with.

Rick Nichols wrote a comprehensive piece at Philly.com talking about a Roxborough-based church and its last minute intervention that allowed Opening Tap to occur at the Independence Visitors Center on time and on schedule June 4th. Then, in a move out of an abundance of caution, the event organizers pulled a handful of local beers and homebrews that would likely draw beer registration concerns on the part of the BLCE.

Dislike it, Condemn it, poo-pooh it all you want, Brewers, Wholesalers, and Retailers need continued vigilance in matters of the law.

Your thoughts, if you will?

Coming tomorrow...we need to make a quick diversion into interval 9.5 before we finally wrap this Philly Beer Week up all nice and tidy-like.



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