SF Beer Week is an annual event that takes place all around the Bay Area from Feb. 10 through Feb. 19. With over 200 events, locations include San Francisco, Napa, Santa Cruz, Berkeley and San Mateo. From IPAs to lagers to ales, some events choose to focus on beer, while others focus on the pairing of beer with food.
“Depending on the person’s taste, they can find the perfect event for themselves. There’s so much going on during this week,” said Brian Stechschulte, who helped coordinate Beer Week and is the founder and editor of Bay Area Craft Beer.
Each event is designed to cater to various age groups, budgets and particular interests. Events and dates can be found on the website or on the SF Beer Week app.
Teagan Thompson of Anchor Steam said many current and former SF State students work at breweries around the city.
SF State graduate Tyler Potts-Cornfield works at Speakeasy Brewery, and he expects to see an eclectic mix of beer drinkers throughout the week. Speakeasy will be hosting Happy Hour at the Sycamore on Sunday, Feb. 12.
“SF Beer Week will be overrun with beer snobs. We’ll probably get cool, young, 20-year-olds to old dudes and families,” Potts-Cornfield said.
Some breweries and taverns create new beers that are special for SF Beer Week.
“There’s one called the Three Ring Circus. To go along with the circus theme, we blended popcorn, dulce de leche and peanuts. Massacre is an imperial black wheat, its aged in bourbon barrels,” Potts-Cornfield said.
Anchor Steam also created a few beers. Anchor Steam and Wayfare Tavern will be hosting an event on Feb. 15.
“It’s a cool event because it gives us an outlet to experiment where we have people try new stuff, see reactions and see other what other breweries are doing,” said Teagan Thompson, a SF State senior and employee of Anchor Steam.
Those working the events are trying to figure out what event they would like to attend.
“I’m still juggling a lot of stuff but I’ll be at the 3rd annual SF Beer Week Run at Social Kitchen [& Brewery]. You start at the brewery and you run to Golden Gate Park. There’s a course, you stop half way for a beer and run back. They have eight or nine different beers and you’ll get discounts all day,” Thompson said.
