What: Philly Beer Week 2009
Where: Philadelphia, PA
When: March 6-15th
Why: You mean, other than the fact that you really love beer? It might be good to bone up on your brewsky skills, like what food pairs best with smoky, sweet, chocolatey lagers, ales, stouts, and draughts. While broadening your horizons (hopefully not your bellies) at a few of the 700 tasting events across the city of brotherly love, don’t worry about being disloyal to the Brooklyn Brewery, it’ll be one of the 75 beers on tap at the Belgian Premier Beer Festival.
Throughout 10 days, over 50 top notch breweries around the world will join some of Philly’s best restaurants and bars. There’s even a 14-mile bike ride that makes stops at five breweries, beginning at Nodding Head. (Check out the route, which might be easier for you to stomach than the 60-mile Le Philly Tour de Brew.)
Sample Brown Ale mousse, almond cake, and sautéed pears with a McKenzie Dunkelweizen at the UPenn-hosted Brewer’s Plate event or waddle over to Yards Brewing Company for the Philadelphia Real Ale Invitational to close out the week with live music, more food, and you guessed it, beer!
Get hopped up and make some quick decisions, like booking your room at the Radisson Plaza-Warwick hotel for a special $149 Philly Beer Week rate. And if you want suggestions on ways to burn off calories and explore the town, consult our Philadelphia page.
Cost: Check event schedule for prices ranging from $4 pints to $60 for all you can drink.
How to get there: Consult our Philadelphia transportation advisor.
Photo: Courtesy of Ben Harris-Roxas
The co-founder and editor-at-large at offMetro, Lauren is a sustainable travel specialist and freelance journalist with frequent bylines in National Geographic, Bicycling Magazine and Shape. Follow Lauren’s adventures at @laurenmati.
Sarah Knapp is a Brooklyn based entrepreneur whose love for the outdoors and community building led her to the October 2013 creation of OutdoorFest. She has a BA in History, is a Wilderness First Responder and a NY state hiking, camp and boating guide. Her proudest achievement to date is reading the Aeneid in Latin. 
Allison was one of our first top writers and Chief Editor but is no longer working with offMetro. Allison is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributed travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She never missed a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine. 
Josh Laskin is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When he is not at work or on the road, you can find him in the mountains snowboarding, climbing, hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, and eating bagel bites.
Annie is a travel writer, environmentalist, and surfer based in Venice, CA. She heads up our West Coast team, keeps our grammatical errors in check, and makes sure our California writers always have a plan for their next adventure. Follow Annie’s travels @annelisemcb.
Carly Pifer is a freelance writer who has been known to follow whims inspired by romantic movie scenes or colorful street style shots to India, Japan, Tunisia and Argentina. After stints living in Seoul, Boston, Paris and Los Angeles, writing and searching for something intangible, she landed somewhat steadily in Brooklyn and has begun to find inspiration in her more immediate surroundings. 
Kate E. O’Hara is a New York based freelance writer and photographer who loves all things food—especially the people who make it and market it. Her writing aims to capture the essence of the food experience; the stories that go well beyond a plate of ingredients. In addition to her love of food, Kate is also known to have a hankering for red wine and craft beer. You can also find Kate on Instagram