We are proud to announce that the inaugural Beer Writer's Symposium, presented by the North American Guild of Beer Writers, will take place on Saturday, May 7, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The all-day event is free to guild members. It will take place at The Belgian Café, located at 601 North 21st Street, at the corner of 21st and Green in Philadelphia, courtesy of Tom Peters, who also owns Monk's Cafe in Philadelphia. 

The Belgian Café is about a 30-minute walk from the Philadelphia Convention Center, approximately 1.3 miles away. Please plan on arriving around 8:30 AM so we may begin on time. A light breakfast spread will be provided. Beer and lunch will be available for purchase at the Café. We encourage everyone attending to plan on buying lunch there and generously tipping servers as a thank you to Tom Peters for allowing us the use of his restaurant for our Symposium.

Please RSVP to Jay.Brooks@gmail.com (and please put "Symposium RSVP" in the subject line) at your earliest convenience, so we have a rough idea of how many will be attending. No member will be turned away, but it will help our planning to have a good idea of how many will be there.

We've assembled a stellar lineup of speakers to talk about writing, publishing and beer topics we believe will be of great interest to all of our guild members.

This event is free to active members, there is a $25 fee for non-members (who we encourage to join the Guild!).

NAGBW Symposium | Sat., May 7, 9AM-4 PM | The Belgian Café, 601 N. 21st St., Philadelphia

Symposium Schedule

9:00 AM: Carl Kins (EBCU) and Luc De Raedemaeker (Brussels Beer Challenge director)

10:00 AM: Panel on book publishing with Kristi Switzer, Clare Pelino and Charlie Bamforth.

11:00 AM: Charlie Bamforth, UC Davis Professor

LUNCH 12:00-1:00 PM

1:00 PM: Bill Covaleski (Victory Brewing) and Carol Stoudt (Stoudt’s Brewing)

2:00 PM: Ed Lordan, Professor of Communication Studies, West Chester University

3:00 PM: Keynote address: Greg Koch (Stone Brewing)