It is here!! It is here!! The long wait is over!! Start your drinking!! Click on the picture to take you to the website that lists all of the week's activities. If you're a beer enthusiast, and you live close enough to Philly drive in for one or more of the events, please do so. And drink responsibly.

Or, if you're one of the unlucky beer enthusiast (like me) and you'll either be out of town (as I will be) or live too far away, please responsibly partake in your favorite beer and think about all that is good and wonderful about beer in this day and age. There are more breweries & brewpubs in America now since before Prohibition. There are more choices of beer types available than ever. Try something different than the same-old, same-old that you've been drinking, be that Bud, Coors, Miller, or your favorite micro-brew. Sure, the prices are up due to the hops shortages that are cursing the world this year. A few won't hurt your wallet too much.

Yes, I picked (or should I say "they" picked) the wrong week for a conference in California. Hopefully, I'll be able to find many of the West Coast brands that I haven't seen here on the East Coast. I've scoped out a couple of brew pubs within driving distance of the hotel, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get to them. Hopefully, either the hotel will have a good selection in their bar, or a bar close by will. (You know you have a beer problem when the first thing you do after booking your flight is to go to The Beer Mapping Project to see what's around. (It used to be a running problem when I'd go to the USA Track & Field site to find running routes, until my stress fracture occurred.))

Humor me with pictures of you and your beer while I'm away. I'll try to do the same.