Oh, SF Beer Week.  You are a cruel, cruel tease.  With so many events, it’s going to be impossible to hit everything. So what to prioritize?  

First, I’d start with some of the other recommendations out there: Rob at Pfiff! has a great starting list, and Brian at Red White & Brew has the perfectly titled “Fat, Drunk & Broke” post that lists his must attend events. 

Given the huge variety of events happening, I’d suggest a divide and conquer plan of attack.  There is such a breadth, that there are a few key types of events you’ll want to make sure each has a spot on your drunken itinerary. My suggestion: Go to a beer dinner, a meet the brewer event, and a festival. 

Beer Dinners:  There are so many of them, but tickets appear to be going fast.  If you’re not coming to for example, my dinner, or the Firestone dinner, there are lots of other dinners to be had. I’d check out the Stone Dinner at Monk’s Kettle, or the the Dogfish Head Dinner at Alembic.  There’s also some sort of Fatted Calf / Magnolia collaboration happening that really sounds outstanding. 

Meet the Brewer: This also provides a great opportunity to meet and rub elbows with the brewmasters who make the beer we’ll be enjoying. All week Toronado is hosting a series of “Meet the Brewer” nights, with the brewmasters from local, and not so local breweries. City Beer is also hosting a series of events, and Craig always manages to offer a nice collection of beers, at surprising affordable prices. Having the creator of a beer on-hand always enriches the experience of tasting the beer, and provides a great context to understand where the brew originates from.  Or, you can always pub crawl your way across the city with the revelers from Shmaltz brewing, who are bringing out a special guest Donny Vomit, the Coney Island Human Blockhead to put a couple of nails in his face (you might want a taste of his namesake barleywine-style lager first.) 

Finally, go to a Festival – there are more than a few to choose from.  The whole week is bookended by two big anchors: There’s the Double IPA Festival at the Bistro and the Barleywine Festival at Toronado. Be warned for the Barleywine Festival: come early expecting crowds, and for God’s sake, order by number. I think the sleeper hit might be Triple Rock and Jupiter’s Sour Beer night.  Located a few blocks apart, it’s the perfect way to experience Berkeley (intoxicated.)  All of these festivals will provide access to special and one off beers that aren’t regularly available, and may not be again. 

What am I missing?  Chime in below! 

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 9:50 pm and is filed under etc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.