Dry January officially ends today, and the Bay Area is celebrating in the form of over 800 different beer events as part of San Francisco Beer Week, which starts tomorrow. Prepare your liver.
The week starts off with the annual Opening Gala at Pier 35 tomorrow night and runs through the following Sunday (February 10), giving you two full weekends and an entire week of beer-filled joy.
Throughout the week you can catch everything from tap takeovers to beer dinners to exotic food pairings. There’s even going to be beer ice cream. Yes, beer ice cream. You can check out the full list on Beer Week’s official page.
If you’re currently plotting your own weeklong bender, we’ve got a few suggestions.
Absolutely go to the following:
The Opening Gala | February 1, 6:00 p.m.
If you’re going to go to only one event this Beer Week, make it the Opening Gala tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. The official kickoff to the week, the party is really just a massive festival that brings together all of the Bay Area’s best beer under one roof. A ticket gets you 4-ounce tastes of all the beer you can handle, which can be great for trying brews as well as old favorites, such as those of Russian River Brewing Company, whose events are typically hard to get into during the week. Brewers are also often pouring their own stuff at the event, so you can meet the men and women behind the beer and exchange high-fives while you’re there.
Pier 35 | 1454 The Embarcadero, SF
Sour Sunday
The first Sunday of SF Beer Week (February 3) is known as “Sour Sunday,” and it’s a must-hit for any sour-beer enthusiasts (you can pre-buy your beer tickets now at SourSunday.com). It’s consistently one of my favorite events of the week, in part because it often features a ton of beer that’s traditionally hard to find. Also, in case you haven’t heard, sour beer is fantastic.
The “main event” goes down at Berkeley’s Triple Rock and Jupiter; however, you’ll find sour events around the Bay. If you’re not going to make it to Berkeley or you want your beer with a side of football, check out the Sour Sh!tstorm Super Bowl Sunday Featuring Cantillon Rosé de Gambrinus, starting at 12:00 p.m. at Old Devil Moon, or Sour Bowl Sunday, starting at 1:00 p.m. at Alpha Acid in Belmont.
Triple Rock Brewery | 1920 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
Old Devil Moon | 3472 Mission Street, SF
Alpha Acid | 121 Industrial Road #11, Belmont
For something a little more unique, try the following:
Big Chicken and Wing-Eating Contest
With a name like “Big Chicken,” it’s only fitting that HenHouse’s limited-edition double IPA will debut alongside a chicken-wing-eating contest. While bars around town will have the beer starting on February 6, Richmond Republic in the Inner Richmond will be the only one serving it while people consume copious amounts of wings; therefore, you should probably go there to drink it. The festivities kick off at 7:00 p.m.
Richmond Republic | 642 Clement Street, SF
Mash the Patriarchy
Mission Cheese is holding a “fem tap takeover” on Thursday, February 7. The celebration of women and cheese will feature beers brewed by women at the Rare Barrel, Three Weavers, Armistice Brewing Company and 21st Amendment paired with hard-to-find domestic cheeses. Just imagine how jealous your friends at work will be when you tell them you spent the evening at a rare-cheese tasting (and also drinking five beers).
Mission Cheese | 736 Valencia Street, SF
Brewing Karaoke Invitational
Can San Francisco brewers sing? We’re guessing the answer is no for at least a few of them, but you can find out for yourself at the first-ever Brewery Karaoke Invitational hosted by Fort Point on February 10. The event will feature songbirds from 10 Bar Area breweries battling it out onstage with their vocal cords rather than their brews. The competition officially gets started at 7:00 p.m. at the Mint and is bound to be something to see.
The Mint Karaoke Lounge | 1942 Market Street, SF
For some truly unique beers, check out the following:
Dessert Night at Barebottle Brewing Company
Secret Breakfast Ice Cream Stout. Yes, you read that right. Secret. Breakfast. Ice. Cream. Stout. On Tuesday, Barebottle is holding Dessert Night at its Bernal Heights bar. On the menu are two dessert beers made in conjunction with local dessert makers. The first, Socola Imperial Chocolate Truffle Stout with Vietnamese Coffee, inspired by Social Chocolatier’s Ca Phe Sua Vietnamese coffee truffle. The second, a collaboration with SF favorite Humphry Slocombe, is a Secret Breakfast beer. You can snag both, paired with ice cream and truffles (natch!), at the bar starting at 6:00 p.m.
Barebottle Brewing Company | 1525 Cortland Avenue, SF
SF Beer Week NightLife
The Academy of Sciences is throwing one of its iconic NightLife events on February 7, except with an interesting twist: this one will have a pop-up beer hall. The event runs from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. and will feature dozens of local breweries, many of which made beers specifically for this event. The star of the show, however, is NightLife’s signature craft beer, Aliciella Bitter, which was brewed by Magnolia using plant types found on the Academy’s living roof. That means you can take a selfie of yourself drinking a beer made with things from the roof while actually standing on that roof — Instagram gold.
California Academy of Sciences | 55 Music Concourse Drive, SF
Brewers Guild’s Collaboration Beers
This year the Bay Area Brewer’s Guild created five collaboration beers with local breweries. The beers will officially debut on February 1 during the week’s Opening Gala but will be available throughout the week at the Rake as well as other select locations. This year’s collaborations include five beers from five corners of the Bay Area. All five are also made using malt donated by Admiral Maltings, the state’s only maltery, that was cofounded by Magnolia founder Dave McLean. Four of the beers will also be put in cans, and one bottled.
These are one-of-a-kind beers that will likely never be brewed again, so you’ll want to snag that Untappd check-in while you can.
This year’s selections include the following:
- Fruit of the Dragon Pale Ale — Brewed at 21st Amendment by the Bay Area Brewers Guild’s East Bay brewers
- North of the Wall White Brut IPA — Brewed at Bear Republic Brewing Company by the Bay Area Brewers Guild’s North Bay brewers
- Valley of the Dragons Kveik Double IPA — Brewed at Strike Brewing Company by the Bay Area Brewers Guild’s Silicon Valley brewers
- Köl-i Sch-EE Kölsch — Brewed at Half Moon Bay Brewing Company by the Bay Area Brewers Guild’s Coast brewers
- Farallon Tart IPA — Brewed at Fort Point Beer Company by San Francisco’s Bay Area Brewers Guild members
What about Pliny?!
If you walk past a bar with a line wrapped around the block this week, there’s a solid chance it’s a line for Russian River Brewing Company’s Pliny the Younger. Beer geeks love the stuff, and there will undoubtedly be people in town this week who have traveled across the country or even the world to buy a glass.
This year Russian River Brewing Company’s 15th Annual Pliny the Younger release coincides with SF Beer Week (it almost always does). If you’re hoping to get a taste of the beer, you have a lot of options. That said, the lines are always long, and most locations tend to get only a single keg. That’s to say, arrive early and prepared to wait.
Even if you do arrive early and are prepared to wait, there’s a solid chance this one isn’t going to play out for you. Fibbar Magees is calling its event on Sunday (2/10) “The Younger Games,” which is probably an accurate description of the aggressive crowd you’re likely to encounter trying to snag this one.
If you’re ready for battle, Russian River is officially launching the beer at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday at its Santa Rosa and Windsor breweries. If you don’t want to make the drive, you can potentially get a glass (and by glass, I mean 4 ounces) at the Opening Gala on Friday, the 18th Annual Double IPA Festival at the Bistro in Hayward on Saturday, or the Triple IPA Mini-Fest at Monk’s Kettle, which kicks off on Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. Those options at least offer you a chance to get a Triple IPA if the Younger runs out. Check out the full list of options on the Beer Week site, and figure out your plan of attack.
And don’t call bars and ask if they still have it. They don’t—I promise.
