The Brewers Association board and staff had an amazing dinner at Alla Spina in Philly last night. It's a beer-centric Italian pub by restauranteur extrodinaire Marc Vetri.

BA crew with the Alla Spina crew.

That's Marc in chef whites near Charlie Papazian and I. Alla Spina manager and resident beer evangelist Steve is rocking the tie just behind Marc - he guided us through an amazing meal. Steve curated both food and beer choices and all of them were amazing. Dude knows his shit.

Italian beers like Birra Del Borgo's My Antonia and local beers like Yards Cask IPA - which was tasting as fresh and earthy as the Rhode Island oysters Bell's John Mallett ordered for us.

All and all an epic night of beer and food shared with great friends as a kick off to an epic American Homebrewers Association conference.  Marc Vetri will be a big part of this year's Great American Beer Festival in the farm to table pavilion this fall. Book your tickets as soon as they go live. For more deets check Craftbeer.com.