Beer + Food = Love. This is the motto for San Francisco Beer Week. Every year SFBW surprises me with more and more great events and beer. In its eighth year running, there is no shortage of fun to partake in for San Francisco Beer Week. For starters, this San Francisco Brewers Guild hosted week is actually ten days long. There are over 700 events scheduled and the list is still growing. It would be near impossible and detrimental to your liver to even try to visit all or most of the events. Here is a spotlight of some can’t miss events for San Francisco Beer Week.

January 20th

San Franciso Restaurant Week Begins

San Francisco Beer Week just happens to coincide with another great week in the Bay Area. SF Restaurant Week begins on January 20th. These restaurants are offering prix fixe menus throughout SF Restaurant Week with amazing beer and food events: Beach Chalet Restaurant & Brewery, Belga, Bon Marche Brasserie & Bar, Citizen Fox, Dirty Water, Paragon Restaurant, Red Dog, Schroeder’s Restaurant, and ThirstyBear Organic Brewery. A full list of participating restaurants can be found by clicking here.

January 22nd

Brewer’s Guild Opening Gala at Pier 35 in San Francisco

6:00pm -10:00pm: The best way to start a beer week is with plenty of beer. The opening gala will feature over 100 breweries and 300 beers. The $80.00 tickets include a commemorative glass and an unlimited 4-oz sample of new, rare, and classic beers. This event is sold out. There is still hope: tickets are transferrable via the Eventbrite system. Notable breweries that are participating by region; San Francisco – Almanac Beer, East Bay – The Rare Barrel, North Bay – Russian River Brewing, and South Bay – Firestone Walker Brewing. A full list of participating breweries can be found by clicking here.

January 23rd

Opening Weekend Suds Safari in San Francisco

11:00am – 3:00pm: This a beers, bites, and breweries adventure expected to last four hours. You start near Powell Street BART Station at Hotel Zelos with coffee and Almanac Beer Donuts. You than will embark on a “woody” adventure wagon to Laughing Monk Brewing. Here you will enjoy flights of Belgium inspired beer and treats from King Knish. Speakeasy Ales and Lagers will be the second brewery stop to enjoy their Barrel-Aged Old Godfather Barleywine for an exclusive first taste and a barbeque lunch. The tour will continue on board to soak in San Francisco’s charm and 21st Amendment beers. To top it out a special gift bag is included in the $120.00 ticket. This event is sold out so it is best to sign up for notifications on availability by clicking here.

The Reunion: The Bruery, Societe Brewing Co, & The Rare Barrel at The Rare Barrel in Berkeley

2:00pm – 10:00pm. The band is back together for this event. The Bruery, Societe Brewing Company, and The Rare Barrel will all be under the same roof for our second annual reunion event. Each brewery will be serving 5 beers for you to try at the Tasting Room. Real Smoked BBQ is bringing a massive smoker to our parking lot again and will dishing up some amazing BBQ for this event and Sunday, January 24. Come hungry and thirsty! Click here for details.

Green Flash | Alpine HOPPY Tap Takeover at Rosamunde Sausage Grill in Oakland

6:00pm -10:00pm: This event will feature two great San Diego Breweries. Rosamunde will have the acclaimed Alpine beers, the special Cellar 3 beers, and new Green Flash releases available. If you enjoy barrel aged beers, Cellar 3 beer is the one for you. There is no cover to get in. More details will be available soon by clicking here.

January 24th

Battle of the Guilds at Sessions at the Presidio in San Francisco

1:00pm – 5:00pm: This is a battle between 45 breweries from San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angelo fight for the Best Brewing Guild. The competitors will also tap over the 24 taps at Sessions. This event is a great opportunity to taste great beers up and down the California coast. The Battle of the Guilds is open to the public. For more details and directions click here.

Celebrating Women of Craft Beer at The Good Hop in Oakland

4:00pm – 8:00pm: This event is the Girls Night of SFBW to celebrate the women in the beer industry. Photographer Natalie Jenks will have her portraits of Bay Area beer women up. Pink Boots Society SF Bay Area Chapter and Bay Area chapter of Girls Pint Out will also be at the event. Many of the beers are tap will be brewed by woman and include many great women in the industry. For more details, click here.

Almanac Beer Co. Sour Night at Ale Arsenal in San Carlos

12:00pm – 10:00pm: We’re having Almanac back for the third year in a row, once again highlighting their sour beer program. We’ll be tapping a huge selection of kegs from our archives, including 20 barrel-aged beers.

Tap list:

Dogpatch Grand Cru & Sour, Don’t Call It Frisco, Farmer’s Reserve Strawberry, Pluot, Citrus, Blueberry, Blackberry, & Grand Cru, Grab Some Oak, Hoppy Sour: Citra, Simcoe, Wakatu, Mandarina, & Mosaic, Paris of the West, Petit Citra Saison, Paris of the West, Petit Citra Saison

Elephant Heart de Brettaville, Peach de Brettaville, Saison de Brettaville, Summer in San Francisco, Truthful Statement, and Valley of the Heart’s Delight 2014 & 2015. Click here.

January 25th

Crack Capone’s Vault: Vintage & Barrel-Aged Cellar Sale at Speakeasy Ales & Lagers in San Francisco

1:00pm – 10:00pm: Capone’s Vault is full of Speakeasy’s best vintage and barrel-aged beers barrels and bottles.

ROTATING TAP LIST:

Barrel-Aged Scarface Imperial Stout 2013, 2014, & 2015, Syndicate No. 02 & 03, Barrel-Aged Old Godfather Barleywine, Scarface Imperial Stout 2013, 2014, & 2015, Old Godfather Barleywine 2014, 2015, & 2016, Joe’s Ale of Strength

BOTTLES FOR SALE:

Syndicate No. 01 , 02 & 03, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Scarface 2013, 2014, & 2015, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Old Godfather Barleywine 2016, Old Godfather Barleywine Ale 2013, 2014, 2015, & 2016, Scarface Imperial Stout 2013, 2014 & 2015, Christopher’s Fine Catering will also be here by 2pm, serving up Fried Chicken with sides and homemade sauces. For more info, click here.

Firestone Tap Takeover – Sours, Barrel-Aged Beers & More at Harry’s Hofbrau (Redwood City)

3:00pm -11:30pm. This event with have the following specialty Firestone beers on tap: Velvet Merkin Anejo tequilla BA, Anniversary XIX, Sucaba, Agrestic sour, Double Jack

Nitro Velvet Merlin and more… to find more details click here.

SF Beer Week Trivia at Freewheel Brewing Company in Redwood City

7:30pm -9:30pm. Mondays are for trivia! A special SF Beer Week Edition of Freewheel’s hugely popular Monday Night Pub Quiz. More Prizes, More Beer, and More Fun! The questions will be fun, fast, and most importantly all beer-related. Forget Meeting the Brewers, you will be getting quizzed by the Brewers (along with a few other special guests including our friends from South City Cider)! This is a FREE event. Teams and individuals welcome. Click here for details.

January 26th

Almanac Beer’s Vintage Super Sour Eve at Beer Revolution in Oakland

6:00pm – 11:00pm. Beer Revolution will have Almanac super rare releases. Featuring 22+ sour & vintage sour brews! There will also be a very limited amount of vintage & rare bottles available. Click here.

Tasting in the Dark in Sierra Nevada Torpedo Room in Berkeley

6:00pm – 8:00pm. This event is to challenge your taste buds. Consider it a game of craft beer peek-a-boo: simple yet thrilling, educational, and in this case, delicious. Tasting in the Dark is a blindfolded sensory experience that challenges your perceptions of various beer styles and yields a more discerning palate. Please join us for an enlightening evening in the dark as we explore a beer and cheese pairing like no other. Tickets are $20.00. Click here for details.

Behind the Tanks :: True Tales from the Brewing World at Local Brewing Co. in San Francisco

7:00 – 8:30pm. This event is a night of storytelling and beers. Speakers include:

— Brendan Dobel, Brewmaster, ThirstyBear Brewing Co.

— James Davids, SFBrewcraft and Winemaker/owner, Oro En Paz Winery

— Kim Schimke, Social Media & Event Reporter, The Brewing Network

— Shawn Scott & Ian Gordon, Owners/Designers, Gamut Design (branded breweries including: Golden Road, Cellarmaker, Local, SFBW and many others)

For more details click here.

January 27th

2nd Annual Battle of the Bay at Diving Dog Brewhouse in Oakland

4:00pm – 12:00am: The following 17 breweries will compete for one trophy

Ghost Town – Speakeasy – Altamont – Faction

Benoit Casper – Fort Point – Cleophus Quealy – Iron Springs

Ale Industries – Federation – Half Moon Bay – Triple Voodoo

Epidemic Ales – Lucky Devil – Oakland Brew Co

21st Amendment & Diving Dog Brewhouse

For more details, click here.

4505 Smoked Heritage Hog with Anchor Brewing at 4505 Burgers & BBQ in San Francisco

5:00 – 10:00pm: 4505 is doing smoked heritage whole hog. There will a tap takeover and special cans from Anchor as well as a whiskey barrel aged BBQ Sauce. For more info, click here.

Avery Tap Takeover Featuring Rare Selections at Harry’s Hofbrau in San Leandro

5:00pm – 11:30pm: My favorite brewery from Boulder, Colorado is gracing the Easy Bay with a few hard to find kegs. If you are an Avery beer fan, you know how hard it is to find their beer in the Bay Area. Taplist includes: Vanilla Bean Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels (only keg in the Bay Area) — Samael’s Oak Aged strong (15%) — Pum[KY]n Bourbon BA Stout — Maharajah (2 weeks fresh!) — Raja DIPA — Raspberry Sour –The Reverend — The Czar Imperial Stout — Collaboration not Litigation (Russian River collab). For Directions, click here.

Pizza Party with Holy Craft Brewery at Slice House in San Francisco

5:00pm – 10:00pm. Pizza and beer, what is there not to like. Tony Gemignani is pizza royalty and 11 world champion of pizza celebrity chef. He has created a very special pizza, Magnum PI, in collaboration with Holy Craft Brewery. HCB is one of San Francisco’s newest and exciting breweries. Brew-master, Philip Fabian will be on hand to chat with. More info here.

January 28th

Festival of Firkins at Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery in San Francisco

11:00am – 7:00pm: This is the event for all cask lovers. Magnolia will have many cask-conditioned ales as they can fit in their cellar and bar for the day. There will be at least a dozen real ales flowing from Magnolia and others, all carefully sourced, cellared, vented, and tapped. Drink them by the pint or in smaller tastes. For Directions, click here.

Beyond Beer Batter at ThirstyBear Restaurant & Brewery in San Francisco.

6:00pm – 9:00pm Chef Rob McCarthy guides you through the art of cooking with beer’s raw ingredients: hops and malt. Learn to cook delectable dishes and then eat them all – paired with organic ThirstyBear beers! $ 45/person, Limited to 30 guests. More info click here.

Almanac & Friends Second Annual Sourfest at MaSo in San Francisco

7:00pm-11:00pm: Pucker up for this sour event. Almanac and MaSo teamed up to pick some of their favorite “funky” beers. The event will include thirty plus American wild ales from breweries including: Cascasde, The Bruery, Jester King, Praire, Barrelworks, Sante Adarius, Modern Times, and New Belgium. Directions and contact information can be found by clicking here.

January 29th

Get Vertical (and Horizontal) with G.I. Bourbon County at Harry Hofbrau in Redwood City

11:00am -11:30pm: If you were feeling left out of all the Bourbon County parties, this is the event for you. The Goose Island Bourbon County taplist:

2014 & 2015 Bourbon County Brand Stout, 2013, 2014 & 2015 Brand Barleywine, 2014 Vanilla Rye Bourbon County Brand, 2015 Regal Rye Bourbon County Brand Stout, 2015 Bourbon County Rare, and 2015 Lolita Raspberry Sour. Click here for more details.

Blues, Blue, and Blues at Whole Foods Market in San Francisco

5:00pm -9:00pm: If you love barrel aged beer and cheese, this is the event for you. Oskar Blues from Longmont Colorado will be doing a tap takeover with their barrel aged brews. Whole Foods will be pairing these beers with their favorite moldy (blue) cheese and classic American Blues music. Get all the details here.

3rd Annual Hops For Housing: AM-PRO at the Danzhaus aka the Gingerbread House in San Francisco

6:00 pm – 10:00pm This is charity event with beer to support the SF Tenants Union. Homebrwers will team up with local beer masters to produce brew a collaberative small batch beer. The final beers will be available only at Hops for Housing event. Tickets are $40.00 and support a good cause. Here is a small taste of the brewing teams.

Kenneth Libeson from Fair Oaks Brewing with Miles from Marin Brew Co.

Matt Murray from Lone Mountain Brewery with Kim Sturdavant from Social Kitchen

Comrades Brewing with Phil Cutti from Headlands Brewing Co.

Paul Duatschek from Standard Deviant with Darren Cummings from Magnolia Pub

Michael Nelson with Ross Halligan from Southpaw BBQ and Brewing

Blue Oak Brewing with Jen Jordan from Anchor Brewing Co.

Friends with Phil Meeker of Triple Voodoo BreweryFor more details, click here.

January 30th

Dogfish Head Tap Takeover at Gott’s Roadside in San Francisco

11:00am – 3:00pm East Coast brewery Dogfish Head will be taking over the taps. All day long, fish & chips made with Dogfish Head beer batter will be the special. A brewer rep present to answer any and all questions. For location details click here

Anchor Brewing Co. Hair of the Dog Brunch at Broitzeit in Oakland

11:00am – 2:00pm Experience special releases from Anchor Brewing Co. while enjoying a special SF Beer Week Brunch Menu.Buy an Anchor pint and keep the brewery logo glass..

Featuring:

— Zymaster Series #3 — Argonaut Barrel Aged Ale — Flying Cloud Stout — Brotherhood Steam

— Go West IPA …AND MORE! Click here for details.

A Night with New Belgium, Boulevard, Firestone Walker and Stone Brewing at Public House in San Francisco

5:00pm -10:00pm: The four breweries have gathered to present four categories of beer. Wood Cellar Manager Lauren Salazar will also be on hand. The beers being poured will include the following:

1) Hoppy: The Calling, Union Jack, Dr. Gamma, Citradelic Tangerine IPA

2) Belgian-themed: Saison Brett, Bretta Weisse, 24 Carrot, NB Trippel

3) Strong/Dark: Rye on Rye, Stickee Monkee, Your Father Smelt of Elderberries, Cocoa Mole

4) From the Cellar: Lovechild, 2013 Parabola, 2012 IRS, Felix Love

These beer selections are for comparison and enjoyment of the different approaches by each brewery. More details can be found by clicking here.

January 31st

Belgian Brunch with Cleophus Quealy at the Half Orange in Oakland

11:00am – 3:00pm: Enjoy brunch in the beer garden with Cleophus Quealy beer. Beer delights will include:

— Fig Barleywine — Maple Tripel — Strawberry/rhubarb sour — Sweet Henrietta (coffee milk stout)

Paired food will include Belgian (Brussels) waffles, nutella pancakes with strawberries, our full regular brunch menu, and full lunch menu. For more detail click here.

A Very Vegan Final Pour at SoMA StrEat Food Park 11:00pm – 4:00pm A Very Vegan Final Pour joins SF Beer Week with Very Vegan Sundays: a Monthly Vegan Food Festival, for a celebration of meads, ciders and gluten-free beers paired with 10+ of San Francisco’s best vegan food vendors. There will be a selection of 20+ ciders and gluten free beers from local breweries to satisfy us all. Purchase option for unlimited beer, cider and mead tasting with commemorative glass available. Vegan food vendor lineup coming soon, includes:– Hella Vegan Eats — No No Burger — Little Burma — Firetrail Pizza — Odan Udon. Click here for details. Russian River Tap Takeover at Rosamunde Sausage Grill in San Francisco 4:00 – 5:00pm: There is no time to waste when considering Russian River beer. Taplist will include Blind Pig, Damnation, Consecration, and Supplication. For details, click here.

Small Batch, Good Buzz: Half Pint Cider Showcase at Church Key in San Francisco

5:00pm -11:30pm: If you want a break from beer or are a cider fan, this event is for you. There will be ciders from near and far.

Cider Selections: Riestra Natural (Spain), Minotiere Brut (France), Worley’s (England), Pippins (Canada), Aplenfire Ember (US), Troy (US).

101 Cider Company Tap Takeover: Cactus Red (dry cider with cactus pears & agave nectar), Pina Menta (cider with pineapple and mint added), Hot Pho You (pho inspired cider with Sirracha and lemon verbena)

Stay tuned for more details here.

More info can be found at http://www.sfbeerweek.org/