Every year, Northern California residents look forward to (over) a week of beer debauchery. Simply known as SF Beer Week, any brewery or bar worth a damn residing in NorCal will host a range of events every night. Food pairings, beer dinners, tap takeovers, etc. Throw in a few festivals and you have the makings for an awesome week of beer drinking.
I was lucky enough to attend the Opening Gala at the Concourse Exhibition Center in SF and the Double IPA Festival in Hayward as a representative for the Cicerone program.
With 50+ breweries pouring their beers with unlimited tastings... I highly suggest dropping the $75 for tickets to the Opening Gala.
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| Lagunitas Sucks on Cask at Mars Bar |
The Obvious big names in craft beer were represented. Sierra Nevada had their Barrel Aged Big Foot Barley Wine, Russian River was pouring Pliny The Younger, and Lagunitas had 3 beers pouring and a cask of Lagunitas Sucks across the street at Mars Bar & Restaurant.
Lots of smaller up-and-coming breweries were in attendance and pouring some excellent brews. Heretic, Track 7, Knee Deep, Iron Springs, Berryessa, Ruhstaller, etc. all had staff on hand answering questions about their beers. My favorite new beer experience was American Wild #2 by Mill Valley Beerworks (Dark Strong Ale aged in wine barrels).
It wasn't all drinking, however. A few Certified Cicerone® joined Master Cicerone® Nicole Erny at a booth where we asked questions regarding the program and passed out literature/pamphlets for both cicerone.org and beersavvy.com (a new website that provides an interactive e-lesson for people interested in the Certified Beer Server exam).
Being the only booth not providing beer, we did manager to provide some sensory intake in a different way. Using jelly beans, we demonstrated the difference between taste and aroma and how together they create flavor. Although the occasional visitors was a little too deep into their beer drinking to appreciate our lesson in sensory analysis, overall it went over very well.
The following day I joined Nicole once again in Hayward, CA for the DIPA Festival. Once again we used our jelly bean experiment. Reactions at this event were less predictable and but we had plenty of interested people at the booth. When we weren't talking to people about the program we were able to try some great beers by Russian River, Port Brewing, Tioga-Seqouia, and many others.
After a few days off from the festivities I returned to the Bay Area with my lovely girlfriend Tamara to celebrate a friend's Birthday. We stopped by the SOMA StrEAT Food Park where 101 North Brewing, 21st Amendment, and Lagunitas were pouring beers. A cold beer, nice weather, and a falafal wrap from one of the local food trucks made for a great end to Beer Week 2013.
