Beer Weeks

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beer-weeks

I love the trend of entire weeks devoted to celebrating local beer or at least beer in a specific place. This is a terrific development that should be encouraged, and I say that not just because I’m involved with organizing SF Beer Week. With local beer scenes having their own unique personalities and dynamics, each has the potential of being an organic celebration that takes on as many forms as there are places willing to host one. And that means we’re moving away from the relative similarity of the beer festival to more imaginative, inventive and ultimately personal ways of presenting beer to the converted and unconverted alike. But I think the beer week concept, with its reliance on a diversity of events, has the greatest potential of introducing hordes of new people to craft beer who might otherwise not have attended a beer festival. With literally something for everyone, this seems like a great way to reach new people and introduce them to craft beer. The interest is definitely there, and these beer weeks provide an attractive venue.

As far as I can tell, there are now more “official” beer weeks as there are weeks in the year and at least three more “unofficial” ones. That means there is some overlap among the weeks but that seems fine to me. After all, every day is a good day for a beer.

Beer Weeks

  1. Alaska Beer Week (January 7-16, 2012)
  2. Kalamazoo Beer Week, Michigan (January 14-21, 2012) [ blog ]
  3. Cincinnati Beer Week (February 2-9, 2012)
  4. Omaha Beer Week (February 3-12, 2012)
  5. SF Beer Week (February 10-19, 2012)
  6. Arizona Beer Week (February 18-25, 2012)
  7. Saratoga Beer Week (February 23-25, 2012)
  8. Sacramento Craft Beer Week (February 25-March 6, 2011)
  9. Portsmouth Beer Weekend (March 2-7, 2011)
  10. Charlotte Craft Beer Week (March 11-20, 2011)
  11. CBC Week (unofficial*; March 23-26, 2011; San Francisco, CA)
  12. Colorado Beer Week (April 8-16, 2011)
  13. Albuquerque Beer Week (April 9-16, 2011)
  14. Milwaukee Beer Week (April 28-May 8, 2011)
  15. Madison Craft Beer Week (April 29-May 8, 2011) Facebook
  16. Eugene Beer Week (May 2-8, 2011)
  17. Vancouver Beer Week (May 6-14, 2011)
  18. South Shore, Cape & Islands Beer Week Massachusetts (May 9-14, 2011)
  19. Frederick Beer Week, Maryland (May 10-14, 2011)
  20. Long Island Beer Week (May 13-22, 2011)
  21. Minnesota Craft Beer Week (May 13-22, 2011)
  22. Nevada Beer Week (May 14-22, 2011)
  23. Good Beer Week, Melbourne, Australia (May 16-22, 2011)
  24. Seattle Beer Week (May 19-29, 2011)
  25. San Antonio Beer Week (May 15-22, 2011)
  26. American Craft Beer Week (May 16-22, 2011)
  27. Chicago Beer Week (May 19-27, 2011)
  28. Southeast Alaska Beer Week (May 23-29, 2011)
  29. Asheville Beer Week (May 25-June 3, 2012)
  30. Tokyo Craft Beer Week, Japan (May 25-June 3, 2012)
  31. Norwich City of Ale, Norwich, UK (May 26-June 5, 2012)
  32. Glasgow Beer Week, Scotland (May 27-31, 2011)
  33. Capital Beer Week, a.k.a. SAVOR Beer Week DC (May 30-June 3, 2011)
  34. Boston Beer Week (May 27-June 5, 2011)
  35. Alabama Beer Week (June 4-13, 2012)
  36. Philly Beer Week (June 3-12, 2011)
  37. Medford Beer Week (June 12-18, 2011)
  38. Buffalo Beer Week (June 19-25, 2011)
  39. Ontario Beer Week (June 19-25, 2011)
  40. Indiana Beer Week (July 11-17, 2010**)
  41. Ohio Brew Week (July 10-16, 2011)
  42. Ann Arbor Beer Week (July 13-24, 2010**)
  43. Wilmington Beer Week, Delaware (July 14-21, 2010)
  44. Mississippi Beer Week (July 23-30, 2011)
  45. Portland Beer Week (unofficial*; July 28-31, 2011)
  46. St. Louis Craft Beer Week (July 30-August 7, 2011)
  47. Kulmbacher Beer Week, Germany (July 30-August 7, 2011)
  48. Snohomish County Beer Week (Washington; August 17-23, 2009^)
  49. Dayton Beer Week, Ohio (August 19-23, 2011)
  50. PDX Beer Week (August 19-28, 2011)
  51. D.C. Beer Week (2) (August 22-29, 2010)
  52. Raleigh Beer Week (August 28-September 2, 2011)
  53. Huntsvile Beer Week (September 9-18, 2011)
  54. Corvallis Beer Week (September 12-18, 2011)
  55. New Haven Beer Week (September 12-18, 2011)
  56. Toronto Beer Week (September 16-24, 2011)
  57. Louisville Beer Week (September 16-24, 2011)
  58. New York Craft Beer Week (September 16-25, 2011)
  59. Denver Beer Week (September 25- October 1, 2011)
  60. North Shore Beer Week Massachusetts (September 27-October 2, 2010**)
  61. GABF Week (unofficial*; September 29-October 1, 2011)
  62. Atlanta Beer Week (October 1-8, 2011)
  63. Cask Ale Week (October 1-9, 2011)
  64. Providence Craft Beer Week (October 1-8, 2011)
  65. Orange County Beer Week (October 2-8, 2011)
  66. Yakima Beer Week, Washington (October 3-7, 2012)
  67. Baltimore Beer Week (October 6-16, 2011)
  68. L.A. Beer Week (October 10-23, 2011)
  69. Cleveland Beer Week (October 14-22, 2011)
  70. Detroit Beer Week (October 13-23, 2011)
  71. Monument Beer Week, Colorado (October 17-22, 2011)
  72. Austin Beer Week (October 22-30, 2011)
  73. Sydney Craft Beer Week, Australia (October 22-29, 2011)
  74. Richmond Beer Week Virginia (November 4-11, 2011)
  75. San Diego Beer Week (November 4-13, 2011)
  76. Syracuse Beer Week (November 5-12, 2011)
  77. Maine Beer Week (November 10-17, 2011)
  78. Dallas Beer Week (November 12-18, 2011)
  79. Houston Beer Week (November 12-18, 2011)
  80. London Beer Week (November 16-20, 2010**)
  81. Newcastle Beer Week, New South Wales, Australia (November 21-28, 2011)

And these beer weeks have been announced, but without a firm date:

If you know of a beer week that’s missing from this list, please drop me a line. Thanks. There are also at least two more lists of beer weeks, one at the Beer Festival Calendar and BeerWeek.com.

There are also other types of beer weeks, more celebratory in nature, like holidays rather than a series of events. Here are the ones I’ve come across. Please drop me a line if you know of any others.

Weekly Beer Holidays

  • 3rd Week of February: Community Pubs Week (UK; sponsored by CAMRA) [now retired]
  • Last Week of February: National Pubs Week (UK; sponsored by CAMRA)
  • 2nd Week of April: National Cask Week (UK)
  • 3rd Week of August: Ranger Beer Week (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
  • 2nd Week of December: Lager Beer Week
  • 2nd Week of December: Organic Beer Week (UK)
Footnotes:

* The three “unofficial” weeks are during other beer events that last nearly a week. The main events spawn side events that rival the primary reason people go to these festivals or conferences. So in that sense, they’ve become beer weeks all their own, even though they’re not organized as such. These are often more for the trade, that is people with some involvement in the beer industry. This also makes them bad weeks for a community beer week to take place, because too many brewers and media would be unable to attend, so I think it’s good to block them out for that reason, as well, at least in terms of planning other beer weeks.

** 2012 dates have not yet been announced.

*** Estimated dates.

^ Last known date.

Note: The top graphic was adapted from the New York Craft Beer Week logo. I hope they won’t mind.

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