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American
Beer Month's West Coast Rally
July
2001 marked the second year's celebration of American Beer Month,
starting with a rally in Philadelphia, cradle of American brewing,
and ending with another rally in Portland.
Did
Americans recognize that July is American Beer Month? Depends on who
you ask.
The
two guys to the right, Alan Moen of Northwest Brewing News, and Jim
Parker of the Oregon Brewers Guild, worked hard to promote the concept
of American Beer Month, featuring articles in newsletters and brewspapers.
So did many breweries, and a big steering committee of volunteers.
Mt. Hood brewer Jon Graber organized the largest rally at the Oregon
Brewers Festival, to read the pledge. Rex Halfpenny raised glasses
with the "founding fathers" of American craft brewing.
Still,
most of the drinkers I encountered at the Oregon Brewers Festival
were more concerned with lines for beer tokens than celebrating the
rally.
 But
in upstate NY, Brewery Ommegang and Slow Food,an international group
dedicated to celebrating old-fashioned food traditions, gathered 500
beer and food fans for a hot dog tasting.
Brewery
Ommegang made a special witbier, Pale Snail, to mark the occasion.
USA Today
sports writer Mike Dodd participated in the judging, and also wrote
an article about hot dogs, giving the event national publicity.
Did you
know that July is also National Hot Dog Month, according to the National
Hot Dog and Sausage Council?
Maybe
there's a "hot dog in hand, beer in mouth," approach for
both groups to work together next July...
But in May 2008, American Beer Week will be celebrated in Washington DC with SAVOR, a festival for craft beer and cuisine. Many of the recipes to be sampled were created for the Cooking with Beer Challenge, sponsored by the National Beer Wholesalers Association, and some are from the cookbook, The Best of American Beer & Food.
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