PHILADELPHIA, PA – On Thursday, November 15 from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m., top craft brewers will come together at the National Constitution Center (5th and Arch Streets) for Bathtub Beer Fest, a Prohibition-era beer-drinking party and fundraiser for Philly Beer Week (PBW) 2013. Tickets are available online (click to purchase) for $40 per person ($45 per person after October 12), and include samples of both old-fashioned beers and modern favorites from 20 top craft breweries, plus free admission to the Center’s new exhibit, “American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition” (normally $17).
“Waiting for Philly Beer Week to roll around every year is exciting – but sometimes, we need a great beer event to tide us over,” says Executive Director Don Russell. “The Bathtub Beer Fest is it: a suds-filled celebration of beer and beer drinking with some of the best in the business bringing special and unusual brews that we’ll serve out of sixtels chilled in bathtubs full of ice, in a fun homage to Prohibition-era home brewing.”
The event will include beers from PBW brewery participants including: Boston Beer; Dock Street; Dogfish Head; Evil Genius; Fegley’s Brew Works; Fifth & Blake, featuring its pre-Prohibition-style Batch 19 Lager; Flying Fish; Free Will; Great Lakes, featuring their era-appropriate Eliot Ness amber lager; Harpoon; Neshaminy Creek; Nodding Head; Prism; Saranac; Shawnee Craft; Sly Fox; Victory; Weyerbacher; and Yards. Guests are encouraged to don Prohibition-era duds, including fedoras and flapper attire.
While sampling beers from top breweries, attendees will be able to observe an on-site “bathtub brew” that will utilize an open fermentation style of brewing, an homage to the way beer was made (illegally) during Prohibition. The beer will be available exclusively during PBW 2013.
Also on hand for the event: author Daniel Okrent, whose Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (Scribner, May 2012) is the inspiration for the exhibit and was featured in Ken Burns’ comprehensive PBS documentary.
Philly Beer Week 2013 will be held from Friday, May 31 until Sunday, June 9. PBW is a 10-day celebration of “America’s Best Beer-Drinking City,” and kicks off on the first Friday in June annually. Established in 2008, it’s the largest beer celebration of its kind in the United States, featuring hundreds of festivals, dinners, tours, pub crawls, tastings and meet-the-brewer nights throughout greater Philadelphia. PBW highlights the region’s diverse beer scene – its world-class breweries, neighborhood taverns, trend-setting restaurants and rich beer culture and history.
For more information about Philly Beer Week, including the ever-expanding schedule of events both during PBW and throughout the year, a list of participants and other details, please visit www.phillybeerweek.org and follow them on Twitter (@PhillyBeerWeek). PBW tweets should include the hashtag #PBW. You can also like them on Facebook.
