By AML Publisher
Photos Courtesy of Bernadette Uzcategui

“It's always a great party with fantastic food and sophisticated music. We look forward to it every year,” said Tak Papariello, General Manager of Main Line Land Rover and Jaguar. Pictured are Papariello and Jazz Fest Co-Founder Jennifer Bailer

Call it the ‘sixth’ year itch. Organizers of the annual Main Line Jazz and Food Festival knew this year it was due time to change up the format of their popular June event. The past five years the festival has been held on a Sunday afternoon in early June, along Wayne’s North Wayne Avenue. Jennifer Bailer of Main Line Jaguar and Land Rover, one of the original founders of the festival, said they wanted to change up the approach to keep the party atmosphere fresh. “We had always envisioned an evening event, under the stars with the Jazz Fest. Our sponsors, restaurants and guests’ feedback have confirmed that’s the way to go! Due to the heat and always having it on a Sunday, not being able to stay for the fabulous headliners, it’s now clearly a natural progression,” explained Bailer.

That ‘progression’ has been the talk of the Main Line since word has gotten out all restaurants on North Wayne Avenue will be serving alcohol (and food) outside all day long for the first time ever. North Wayne Avenue will be closed off starting at 7am the day of the event, Saturday June 13th, to allow the dozens of local businesses who are exhibiting to set up. All restaurants located on Wayne’s restaurant row will have tables and dining areas outside starting at 11am, in lieu of the previous five years where patrons were confined to a beer tent. “We’re hoping that holding the festival in the cool of the evening will garner bigger crowds and make performing a little more comfortable for the musicians, too. It helps that township regulations on outdoor dining changed, in our favor, last year. Now the restaurants on the street can put out tables and offer an enticing respite to concert goers,” explained Laura Munich, a local musician who is part of the exciting lineup and a Jazz Fest cofounder. “We’d always hoped to include some evening concerts and are thrilled that everything has come together to allow us to create an evening event. We envision the 100 block of North Wayne Avenue transformed into a European piazza, with bistro tables and umbrellas, friends and neighbors sharing delicious food and conversation under the twinkling lights strung across the street.”
Continue Reading

By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Kevin E. McPherson and Mimi Janosy (www.mimiprophoto.com)

“I am really surprised about how cool the beer scene is in the ‘burbs, it blows me away,” enthused Tom Peters, co-founder of Philly Beer Week. Pictured: Bartender Steve Keenan of The Oakmont Pub, Havertown

On this morning of the eve of what has become America’s largest beer festival, there is a feeling of the calm before the storm. A storm that entails a tsunami of suds that is steering its way to the Philadelphia and Main Line region. Philly Beer Week 2009, in only its second year, is just shy of 700 individual events spread throughout its ten day gargantuan celebration of the region’s, the nation’s and the world’s best beer. PBW 2009 will kickoff with an amazing celebration at The Comcast Center lobby and Winter Garden tonight—and be followed by a flurry of fun for anyone and everyone who loves lager. From food and beer pairings, to a 5k Sunday run, beer brunches and lunches, lumberjack contests, a refined ‘Meet the Brewer’ cocktail party at The Four Seasons’ Swann Lounge and more, PBW offers something for everyone. With almost 70 events a day to choose from, it’s a most dizzying selection for any beer lover near or far.
Continue Reading

By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Mimi Janosy
Mimi Janosy Professional Photography Studios, Philadelphia, PA
www.mimiprophoto.com

The In Pursuit of Ale posse at the Wayne Train Station headed for an afternoon of fun at Teresa’s Next Door.

The Main Line is saturated with the martini-mingling, wino-wasping and cocktail-collaborating crowds that are a part of every private party and happy hour from Wynnewood to Wayne…and beyond. Until two years ago, when beer aficionado Suzanne Woods came along with a blog called beerlass.com. Woods has carved out a creative niche among Philadelphia and national beer writers with her site, which chronicles her adventures spearheading the area’s first women’s beer club, In Pursuit of Ale. With the surging popularity in craft beers and the second annual Philly Beer Week just two days away, Suzanne Woods’ liberating concept is giving the region’s female beer lovers reason to raise a pint of Chimay in celebration!
.

Woods, a Penn State grad, has been a lover of craft beer since 1999, when she discovered she had a discerning palette for finer hops. Woods found herself reaching for Double IPAS at college parties instead of a can of an American light beer, like her female counterparts. A few years after graduating, she landed a job working at Boston Beer Company (brewers of Sam Adams), where all employees are required to learn how to homebrew—which greatly enhanced Woods knowledge of the beer industry and culture. She eventually parlayed her hobby and appreciation of hops into a career that included a stint at World Café Live as an event coordinator organizing beer festivals. Today, Woods, 30, wears several hats as the sales coordinator and event manager for Sly Fox Brewery (www.slyfoxbeer.com) based out of Royersford.
Continue Reading

By AML Staff Writer
Photos courtesy of Mimi Janosy
Mimi Janosy Professional Photography Studios, Philadelphia, PA
www.mimiprophoto.com

Taps, like the terrific selection at Teresa’s Next Door in Wayne, will be pouring steadily starting March 6th as Philly Beer Week kicks off with a great reception at The Comcast Center in Philadelphia.

The opening fete of Philly Beer Week 2009 promise to set the stage for a colossal-size celebration of beer, unlike any other event this region as experienced. Opening Tap, as it was dubbed by the PBW founding fathers trio of Don Russell, Bruce Nichols and Tom Peters, will take place on Friday March 6th at 7 p.m. in the spectacular Comcast Center lobby and Winter Garden (17th Street and JFK Boulevard) in Center City. Just as the second annual celebration of Philly Beer Week is surpassing the inaugural event (nearing close to 700 events on the itinerary), the opening night celebration will far exceed last year’s kickoff party. “In 2008, our opening event was out in Roxborough, we had the mayor come and tap the first keg and it was put on by a private company. It was a great time! But, this year, we were looking for bigger and better and what better venue to host such a party than the Comcast Center? Opening Tap is a major source of revenue; it’s a fundraiser for phillybeerweek.org which is our nonprofit industry organization. Having it in the breathtaking Comcast building brings great potential, especially with the cool video screen that will set the stage for a festive night for locals and those in the industry,” explained Peters. “This is one of the biggest events of the year for the city so it’s appropriate we are holding opening tap at one of the most visible and beautiful buildings in the city, the Comcast Center. The lobby is a spectacular venue and it is strategically located—all our friends from the suburbs can come down and walk from Suburban Station,” enthused Russell, best known as Daily News beer columnist Joe Sixpack.

Continue Reading

By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Mimi Janosy
Mimi Janosy Professional Photography Studios, Philadelphia, PA
www.mimiprophoto.com

Grab your friends and celebrate safely with SEPTA’s affordable and responsible Philly Beer Week promotion. Pictured: The beer lovers from In Pursuit of Ale (www.beerlass.com)

Beer will be flowing and the ’burbs and city bars will be bustling as the highly anticipated second annual Philly Beer Week 2009 kicks off Friday, March 6th. And this year, nearing close to 500 events across the region, PBW ’09 is going to the rails—the SEPTA rails! PBW has announced an exciting collaboration with SEPTA entitled: Sip Safely with SEPTA. The Sip Safely campaign offers an unlimited, all-day, bus-trolley-rail pass for $9.00, and is valid any one day during the ten-day beer week celebration March 6th through March 15th. This pass is to encourage PBW participants to travel safely, rather than driving from event to event.

Continue Reading