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Some glasses at the Dock St Brewery

Philly Beer Week. It’s almost here people, and for the next week or so, I’ll be highlighting a whole bunch of events, places, meet and greets, etc where you can properly celebrate the nation’s best beer city. Today, I’ve got some of my favorite picks in West and Southwest Philadelphia.

Now remember, dear readers, there are over 300 600 (thanks Caroline) events going on all over Philadelphia. If you know a better event or brewery in the area, well please, by all means, leave it in the comments. Your tips and suggestions are more than welcome. You can check out a full listing of events on Philly Beer Week’s official website.

1. New Glarus Kick-Off Toast – So it’s a little off the beaten path. But the mother of all South Philly Gastropubs is offering something those Rittenhouse ritzypubs can’t match: free beer. The first 40 in the door for this kick-off toast will receive a free glass of New Glarus Belgian Red. Just ask your server/bartender for a ticket.

You know what they say”¦don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Even if you do have to travel for it. And while you are there, enjoy the massive beer selection and recently rehabbed menu. This event is today at 10PM! Don’t miss it.

South Philly Tap Room
1509 Mifflin St, Philadelphia, Pa 19145
www.southphiladelphiataproom.com

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2. Dock Street & BrewLounge Scavenger Run – Looking to have a good time this PBW but feeling a little guilty about your ever-expanding beer belly? Celebrate guilt-free with Dock Street’s five-mile scavenger run. The race starts and ends at Dock Street so you can cool off with some water or, if you prefer, one of a myriad selection of in-house brews.

The post-race buffet is free for participants ($8 for spectators). Questions & RSVP by Feb 28 to bryan@brewlounge.com.

Dock Street Brewery
701 50th Street, Philadelphia, Pa 19143
www.dockstreetbeer.com

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Black Sheep, performing at The Khyber on Saturday

FRIDAY

The Elevator Parade, Native Black,Dark Horse, and the Carousels
The M Room, Frankford and W Gerard
Philly indie heroes Elevator Parade with younger teams Native Black and Dark Horse and the Carousels. Myspaces above. 9pm, $8.

Crosscultural Connections: Ancients and Moderns
First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut
Non-R5 church thing of interest: the Dolce Suono Trio (Mimi Stillman, flute; Yumi Kendall, cello; Charles Abramovic, piano) with mezzo- soprano Donna Morein playing Haydn, Ravel, and the world premiere of Jeremy Gill’s “Ode: A Dramatic Cantata,” a work based on ancient written music. 7:30pm, free.

Last Friday Recital Series: Liebesfreud celebrate Mendelssohn
Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th
PAA’s last Friday series host the string ensemble Liebesfreud, who’re playing a program celebrating the 200th birthday of Felix Mendelssohn. 5:30pm, free.

SATURDAY

Live Forever
The Barbary, Frankford and Delaware
Jhn Rdn, Designer Drugs and Club Lyfestile’s monthly glitter-mess, makeup-runner dance party, this time out featuring guest disc jockeys Dirty Dave (LA) and Danny Leminh (NY). 10pm, $5.

More after the jump!

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Planning a wedding can feel like a scavenger hunt, so much to think about and so many options to choose from. For a mere $25 (including a gift bag), this February 28th, from noon to 4:00 PM, you can make of your wedding planning a fun yet productive experience by visiting the Bellevue’s bridal event.

First off, meet Carrie Denny, wedding guru and author of The Bride’s Instruction Manual; then enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres as you watch the runway showcase featuring bridal fashion and formalwear from Nicole Miller & Polo Ralph Lauren; finally engage with selected merchants that can make of your wedding the most sophisticated experience.

Grooms to be and dads are not forgotten, as they will benefit from complimentary sauna or workout at the Sporting Club, or drinks specials at The Palm, JL Sullivan’s or Bliss. You might also be able to convince them to attend the “How to choose the perfect diamond” seminar at Tiffany’s & Co. *hint-hint*

The Bellevue
200 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 893-1234
www.bellevuephiladelphia.com

 

So since childhood you’ve held onto this belief that you had to schlep all the way to Vermont to savor the taste of fresh maple syrup on your tongue, haven’t you? Yeah, not so much. Little known fact: you can actually tap maple trees right here in PA, hence liberating that sweet, gooey deliciousness right in your proverbial backyard.

Okay, not that we’re suggesting that you go the DIY route by investing in one of those little metal funnel thingies you stick into the tree but what we are suggesting is that you check out this whole Pennsylvania maple syrup thing at the Green Lane Nature Center on March 1st. That’s when the yummy-stuff-to-eat wizards, I mean naturalists, up there are hosting “Maple Sugar Magic,” a free annual event that shows you how maple syrup is made, from tree to table, then lets you slather it all over your face so you can thoroughly taste it.

Of course, they’ll want to tell you all kinds of stuff about the history of maple syrup and such before they let you sample that brown gold but at least they reward you by making syrup, candy and the like available for purchase at the end. Tours start at 10am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm and run about an hour and a half. Rain/snow date is March 8th.

Green Lane Nature Center: Maple Sugar Magic
March 1, 2009, 10am-4pm

Green Lane Nature Center
1492 Gravel Pk (Rt 29), Green Lane, PA.
(215) 234-8497

Post by Jacqueline Rupp

For all you moms and dads out there goin’ stir crazy this winter, Memphis Taproom offers the perfect excuse to get the little ones out of the house. The bar scene might not be the first thing you think of when you are looking for an outing with the tikes, but with Memphis Taproom’s Mom & Me Happy Hour, moms, dads and nannies too can enjoy a relaxing respite from cartoons and Kool Aid.

Take advantage of this family-friendly mix and mingle while you can- it only happens once a month, every first Monday, to be precise, from 1 to 3 P.M. So on March 2nd, happy hour comes early for parents.

Here’s your perfect opportunity to meet other moms in the neighborhood for some parent networking while you kick back with the Kensington pub’s classic comfort dishes (there’s plenty of vegetarian and vegan options here too!), huge selection of craft beer and music that doesn’t involve xylophones or purple dinosaurs.

Memphis Taproom
2331 East Cumberland Street, Philadelphia, PA 19125
www.memphistaproom.com

The Bubble, screening at Temple on March 26th

Oscar season might be over”¦ but fear not Philly movie-lovers! The Philly film season is just getting warmed up. Check out the Israeli Film Festival of Greater Philadelphia, starting March 7th. The festival will bring seven award-winning Israeli films to locations all over the city and the burbs, showcasing the unique talent behind modern Israeli film.

Lost Islands opens the festival with the story of a family feud between two brothers who fall in love with the same woman. A man is strangely obsessed with his VW beetle in The Beetle, while a female Mossad (Israeli secret service) agent leads the thriller The Debt, and a group of elderly re-form a deserted kibbutz in Israel’s north in The Galilee Eskimos. Three young Israelis illegally hide a roommate’s gay Palestinian lover in their Tel Aviv apartment in The Bubble, and a family mourns the loss of one of it’s own against the backdrop of the Gulf War in Shiva. The festival wraps up with The Little Traitor in which an unlikely friendship is formed between a young boy and an occupying British soldier.

With seven films there’s truly something for everyone. Come check it out.

Israeli Film Festival of Greater Philadelphia
www.iffphila.com
For more info call: 484-904-5421
General admission around $10 a film (purchase tickets in advance on the website)
College and high school students get in for free!

Check out the schedule after the jump!

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In addition to the Philly Craft Beer Fest, which sold out early this year, there are four other major festivals that are part of Philly Beer Week.

They are:

• Opening Tap Event – Friday, March 6
• Philly Craft Beer Fest – Saturday, March 7 *SOLD OUT
• Brewers Plate – Sunday, March 8
• Philly Real Ale Invitational – Sunday, March 15
• Zythos America – Sunday, March 15

More information about each is available on the Philly Beer Week website.

CLICK HERE for the Beer Week official website.

Philadelphia Brewing Company; Photo by Mike Mergen for The New York Times

A great piece to get you excited for Beer Week, now just one week away.

Philadelphia is starting to brew anew. From historically minded breweries that pay homage to our founding fathers, to bohemian pubs that craft unusual ales, the city is undergoing a kind of beer renaissance.

Much of the upswing can be attributed to Philadelphia’s bubbling night life. The new breweries, said Don Russell, who as Joe Sixpack writes a weekly column about beer for The Philadelphia Daily News, “are filling a need that’s out there being created by the local bar scene. Every single bar that has been opening up has a multitap system and is featuring microbrews.”

Also, there’s a great photo slideshow that accompanies the article.

Check it out.

Surfacing: Breweries of Brotherly Love [New York Times]

The Philly Beer Week Opening Tap Event will be held in the main lobby of the towering new Comcast Center on March 6, 2009. Tickets are $40 and are on sale here.

Meanwhile, it has also been announced that a Yards keg again has the honors of being the first keg tapped to kick off beer week. And deservingly so.

Philly Beer Week Opening Tap [ Philly Beer Week ]

Photo by Matt Rourke, AP

From today’s USA Today:

Philadelphia exhibit shows Cezanne’s lasting power

A decade in the making, the show draws from private and public collections throughout the United States, Europe and Russia as well as the Philadelphia museum’s own sizable collection of the postimpressionist French master. On view are some 50 Cezanne works and another 100 paintings, sculptures, photographs and drawings by 18 artists from the early 20th century to today.

He has been called a catalyst to cubism “” Pablo Picasso dubbed him “my one and only master” “” and a forerunner of abstract art.

“Our purpose is first to display the continuing vitality of Cezanne as an artistic resource five generations on,” Rishel said. Cezanne’s place in art history, even 103 years after his death, “is a continuing story,” Rishel said.
“¦
Taylor urged viewers to not take the idea of Cezanne’s influence too literally and see instead how the artist’s successors reformulated and extended their own ideas, with the master as a departure point.

“It’s more of a resonance,” Taylor said. “Cezanne is in their DNA. They love him.”

Cezanne and Beyond opens today at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

CLICK HERE for more information and to get tickets.

Philadelphia exhibit shows Cezanne’s lasting power [USA TODAY]