Next Saturday kicks off Buy Fresh Buy Local week in the greater Philadelphia area and here are some highlights.

• Saturday, July 12th – Ultimate Philadelphia Ice Cream Festival at the Reading Terminal Market
• Sunday, July 13th – Kickoff party at Philadelphia Brewing Company
• Wednesday July 16th – Local Beer and Local Hors d’oeuvres at Standard Tap
• Thursday July 17th -Southwark Happy Hour with Bluecoat Gin and Sly Fox beers
• Saturday July 19th – Good Food, Good Beer, and the Rest is History food and beer tastings at Headhouse Square
• Sunday July 20th – Cooking Demonstrations and Cookbook Swap at Headhouse Farmers’ Market

A complete list of events as well as tickets to the Kickoff at PBC can be found on Local Food Philly.

Buy Fresh Buy Local Week [Local Food Philly]

Saturday marks the third annual Wheat Beer Festival at South Philadelphia Taproom. There will be over 30 varieties of wheat beer on draft, each for the low price of $3. The fun starts at 2pm.

South Philadelphia Taproom [Official Site]

July is an “embarrassment of riches” when it comes to food and drink events in July. The Bite lists some of the can’t miss events.

The Bite: Celebrate food throughout July [Metro Philadelphia]

This Tuesday, June 24th Chicks Cafe and Wine Bar will be hosting a beer dinner with Sly Fox’s Brian O’Reilly. The twist is not only will you get to enjoy beer with each course but you will also get to compare the Sly Fox beer to an old world classic of the same style that inspired Sly Fox’s interpretation. There will be samples of Belgian Saison, Bavarian Weisse, Northern German Pilsner, Irish Dry Stout, and Belgian Abbey Quadrupel styles.

There will also be a cooking demonstration by Next Food Network contestant Adam Gertler and a musical finale performed by local singer-songwriter Iota.

Dinner is $65 per person and reservations are required.

Menu after the jump.

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Every Thursday a group of runners meet up in Fishtown and set out on a run to a bar and they’re doing it for science.

The Mission
The primary mission is to test the results of a scientific research study conducted by Manuel J Castillo-Garzon, MD, PhD, Professor of Medical Physiology, School of Medicine, at the University of Granada. The study said it is better to drink beer rather than water after a long run. (FINE PRINT: until this is proven, we encourage proper water hydration while running)

The Fishtown Beer Runners [Official Site] via Art & Industry

A few months ago I was asked if I would like to judge the Mojito Olympics at the Rum Bar. I of course jumped at the chance and it didn’t dawn on me that it could be anything but a great time until Rum Bar owner Adam Kanter handed me a sizeable stack of judging forms. There were five contestants representing Chick’s Cafe, G Lounge, Pinocchio’s in Media, Rum Bar and Valanni. With three events that meant sampling 15 mojitos. My lunch of a soft pretzel seemed woefully inadequate at this point.

Continued after the jump.

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OK, we’ve safely gotten our tickets so we’ll share with you that Nodding Head’s Royal Stumble is set for Saturday, July 12th.

This year’s theme will be mud wrestling. Local breweries will be providing kegs of their best unfiltered beers to see who is crowned champion.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the Royal Stumble, it is an event that pits brewers against each other as they race to empty their kegs first. So that means no lines, instead the brewers come to you, pitcher in hand urging you to try their beer.

Tickets are $40 and can be purchased over the phone by credit card or with cash at the bar.

UPDATE: SOLD OUT

Nodding Head [Official Site]

Tonight at 6pm the Mojito Olympics kick off at the Rum Bar. Join Foobooz’s Arthur Etchells as he judges which bartender can make the best mojito.

$8 gets you in the door and your first mojito for free. Subsequent mojitos are half-priced and there will also be plenty of samples being passed around from the competitors.

Mojito the Moment [City Paper]
Rum Bar [Official Site]

Today the Grey Lodge hosts Friday the Firkinteenth®.” And just what the heck is Friday the Firkinteenth®? Well it is of course a nonsensical celebration of each Friday the 13th. So starting at noon today the Scoats and the rest of the good folk at the Grey Lodge keep seven firkins of unusual beers on the bar until they run out. And with 20+ firkins listed on their web site, that probably won’t be until well into the night.

Friday the Firkinteenth [Grey Lodge]

Don’t miss Sam Calagione and Marnie Old, authors of He Said Beer, She Said Wine, on NBC’s “The Today Show” today during the 10am hour.

If you miss the she show on TV check out the video here later today.

Today Show Video [Official Site]