SF Beer Week

The First 4 Days Of SF Beer Week

February 9, 2010

With four days under my belt for SF Beer Week, I’m now behind in everything except having a great time. I thought before I get even more behind that I’d share some of photos from the first few days, which in order to get up quicker are just below in their individual slideshows from Flickr. [...]

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One Chef, 8 Courses, 2 Breweries, 9 Beers and You?

February 8, 2010

This Thursday, the Homebrew Chef, Sean Paxton, will host another of his legendary beer dinners at Mercedes in San Francisco. It’s an eight-course dinner. The cost is $98, and that includes all food, beer and gratuity. There’s limited seating, so snap up your tickets now. This should be a good one. It will feature the [...]

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Bistro Double IPA Winners 2010

February 6, 2010

Pizza Port‘s Welcome Back Wipeout IPA was chosen best in show at the 10th annual Double IPA Festival today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. That’s the second year in a row that a Pizza Port beer has won. The full winner’s list is below. 1st Place: Welcome Back Wipeout IPA, Pizza Port Brewing 2nd [...]

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SF Beer Week Begins!

February 6, 2010

Last night, SF Beer Week officially kicked-off at the Opening Gala held at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. It was a great event, with big kudos to Meg Gill, Rich Higgins and Dave McLean (among many others) for pulling it off in such grand fashion. It was a fun time seeing so many friends, [...]

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The Calm Before The Storm

February 4, 2010

In case you’ve been living under a rock, SF Beer Week starts tomorrow. It feels like we’ve been working around the clock — and in the case of a few that’s literally true — to get this party started. I can hardly believe it myself. We’re past 200 events at this point, and all of [...]

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Tune In Tomorrow

January 29, 2010

If you live in the Bay Area and have nothing going on tomorrow morning (or have Tivo), I’ll be on television in the early morning to promote SF Beer Week. It will air around 8:45 during the three-hour KRON 4 Weekend Show that’s on from 7:00-10:00 a.m. The exact time will depend on how the [...]

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Shaun O'Sullivan's Ken Kesey Tribute To Bll Brand

March 3, 2009

A number of people have expressed regret at not having heard Shaun O’Sullivan’s Ken Kesey-ian rant in tribute to Bill Brand at the memorial the beer community had for him on Sunday at The Trappist in Oakland. I did manage to capture the last third to a half of it on video, so you can [...]

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Barley Wine Festival Video

February 17, 2009

If you were at the Toronado Barleywine Festival on Saturday, perhaps you noticed a guy walking around shooting video. That person was Steve Atkinson, and he’s put up a pretty cool six-minute video of the festival and judging. You can watch it below.   2009 San Francisco Barley Wine Festival from Steve Atkinson on Vimeo. [...]

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Best of the West Fest

February 16, 2009

The final event of SF Beer Week was the Best of the West Fest, put on by the Celebrator Beer News. It was held at the Oakland Convention Center at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Oakland, the same venue where the National Homebrewers Conference will be held later this year. Instead of an anniversary party, [...]

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Toronado Barleywine Festival 2009

February 16, 2009

Saturday, February 14 — yes, Valentine’s Day — began the 16th annual Toronado Barleywine Festival. The day started out cool, but with sun peaking through the clouds. As has been the case for the past few years, the line to get into the Toronado for the Barleywine Festival stretched down the entire length of the [...]

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The Beer Chef's Beer & Chocolate Dinner 2009

February 16, 2009

The Beer Chef‘s annual beer & chocolate dinner took place last Friday night at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco. This is usually the most popular of the Beer Chef’s annual series of beer dinners, and this year was no exception, with 120 dinner guests. The chocolate came from a local chocolate maker, TCHO [...]

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Toronado Barley Wine Festival Results 2009

February 14, 2009

Here are the results from the 2009 Toronado Barley Wine Festival in San Francisco: 1st Place: Big Woody, Glacier Brewhouse 2nd Place: Arctic Devil, Midnight Sun Brewing 3rd Place: Lower De Boom, 21st Amendment Brewery & Restaurant Honorable Mention: Abacus Blend, Firestone Walker Brewing Congratulations to all the winners.

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The Homebrew Chef's A Night Of Ales

February 14, 2009

Thursday night, the Toronado and the Homebrew Chef put on a beer dinner entitled “A Night of Ales” featuring the beers of Firestone Walker. It was a seven-course dinner, including the Intermezzo. It was an amazing evening and the packed house all appeared to be equally impressed by both the meal and the pairings. Matt [...]

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Bear Republic Annexes Zeitgeist

February 13, 2009

I ran into Tom Dalldorf at the Magnolia vertical barley wine tasting, and we drove over to Zeitgeist, where Rich Norgrove, brewmaster at Bear Republic Brewing, was on hand for a meet the brewer event. We slipped in and out long enough to shake hands, take a photo, and slink away so we could get [...]

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Old Thunderpussy Vertical

February 13, 2009

I made a brief stop on my way to last night’s “A Night of Ales” Beer Dinner at Magnolia, who was hosting a “Vintage Barleywine Tasting Event.” On tap was their Old Thunderpussy barley wine from 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 (aged in a bourbon barrel), and 2009 four ways; cask-conditioned, cask-conditioned aged in a bourbon [...]

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Freaks and Beer Geeks

February 13, 2009

As promised, here are many, many more photos and vidoes of the fabulous Lagunitas Beer Circus, an event I hope becomes a permanent fixture of SF Beer Week. Just a few of the clowns at the Beer Circus. Peepshow Mini Golf, just one of dozens of acts going on Under the Big Top. One of [...]

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