Our SF Beer Week Report

[Chris of thebeergeek.com]

The second SF Beer Week is in the books. This year's celebration of Bay Area beer culture comprised over 240 events, from Santa Cruz to Sebastopol, in the ten day period.

Last year, we only attended events on the weekends. This year, we went all out; only taking two days off of the ten. While, we didn't host our own event this year, we volunteered at two.

We drank lots of beer, attended our first Pliny the Younger release, first Double IPA Festival, Toronado Barleywine Festival and host of other events. And we can't forget the sausages, cupcakes, cheese and ice cream that accompanied all that beer.

Congratulations to the organizers. They promised a bigger and better Beer Week and they delivered on that promise.

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Getting Younger

Opening day of SF Beer Week really came together for us. Well, at least for me. Merideth called me earlier in the week asking whether a work trip up to Santa Rosa on Friday would work. Being the loving and supportive husband, I said we could make it work. She could drop me off in the City on her way to Santa Rosa. Later we could meet back up for SF Beer Week’s Opening Gala. Then I remembered the Pliny the Younger release at Russian River Brewing was on Friday. We could go to Santa Rosa together; me to drink Pliny the Younger, Merideth to work...

Read the complete post > http://www.thebeergeek.com/blog/?p=1777

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Double IPAs, Sausages and Ice Cream

I’d like to start with a confession; we had never been to the Bistro in Hayward. It opened the same month, January 1994, we left Oakland to move back home. In the subsequent 16 years, we spent quite a bit of time in the East Bay. But, we never thought of stopping in Hayward. Even with the Bistro’s legendary beer festivals, we never managed to attend any of them. But this year’s SF Beer Week, for us, is about trying new things...

Read the complete post >http://www.thebeergeek.com/blog/?p=1837

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Cheese and Beer

While Double IPA and Barleywine Festivals get all the press and crowds, it’s the smaller events that are the backbone of SF Beer Week. These events mostly happen during the week, away from the adulation of the big crowds. Last year, during the inaugural SF Beer Week, we sat on the sidelines for the midweek events. Not so, this year; we wanted to get more of a Beer Week experience...

Read the complete post >http://www.thebeergeek.com/blog/?p=1874

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A Tribute to a Friend

Before we knew it, the second weekend of SF Beer Week was upon us and we returned to the City with a full schedule of events for the final three days. Friday afternoon, we headed to our first event: the Bill Brand Tribute at Drake’s Brewing in San Leandro. Bill was a Bay Area beer writer who tragically died last year shortly after the inaugural SF Beer Week...

Read the complete post >http://www.thebeergeek.com/blog/?p=1906

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Did I Just Have Fun at Barleywine?

Saturday dawned quite foggy in the City, somewhat apropos for how we were feeling. While Merideth and I were doing much better than the previous Saturday, late night beers at Tommy’s Joynt with the Alaska crew always leaves us a bit ‘weary.’ We needed to buck up as we had another busy day planned. A 3 1/2 mile walk to Magnolia for their Pre-Barleywine Breakfast was just what we needed...

Read the complete post >http://www.thebeergeek.com/blog/?p=1908

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Chicks, man

It’s early Saturday morning the first post-SF Beer Week weekend. You’d think I’d be resting and recuperating, which I am, but I also couldn’t wait to report on a great SF Beer Week event I had the good fortune to participate in. I’ve been thinking about writing this post all week, but alas, work got in the way. So, I’m taking a brief moment out of book writing to bring you this...

Read the complete post >http://www.thebeergeek.com/blog/?p=1979

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Finishing Up SF Beer Week

In the blink of an eye, it was the last day of SF Beer Week. Much of the previous ten days was a beer-induced whirlwind. In that time, we drank lots of beer, attended our first Pliny the Younger release, first Double IPA Festival, Toronado Barleywine Festival and host of other events. And we can’t forget the sausages, cupcakes, cheese and ice cream that accompanied all that beer. But we still had one more day to go...

Read the complete post >http://www.thebeergeek.com/blog/?p=1981