SF Beer Week is back again, from February 20 to March 1, offering the Bay a chance to celebrate all of its amazing breweries and beer-focused bars with a mix of eclectic events that you don’t need to even love beer to be scrambling to attend. Before Nosh gets into some of the specific thirst-quenching, note-worthy East Bay events that you should attend this beer week, let’s get two major categories out of the way: events centered around one beer type and then food pairings.
If you’re an IPA person, head to the Monk’s Kettle for a Triple IPA Fest (maybe take BART there…). If you’re looking for something with a little less hops, head to Paulista on Feb 21 for a European lager exploration with Cohesion and Geistahaus breweries or go on Feb. 28 for their Lagerfest. If your tastes lean more sour, head to the Monk’s Kettle in Oakland on Feb. 21 for their 12th anniversary United Sours of America and get ready to try the funkiest beers the U.S. has to offer.
If you enjoy sipping a pint when it’s also combined with a food item, there are a number of intriguing pairing events to choose from. There’s the Monk’s Kettle’s beer and cookie pairing (cookies made by bartender Kathleen Brown, who is also a talented pastry chef). Temescal Brewing, Brix Factory Brewing, the Rake at Admiral Maltings, and Original Pattern are all hosting their own cheese and beer pairing nights. There’s even a sushi and beer pairing at the Rake with sushi prepared by Kaz Matsune from Breakthrough Sushi. If you want to get really fancy, go to Trumer Brewing’s $128 set course meal and beer pairing.
Now take a deep breath from all of those beer words, and, if the events above didn’t already have you pulling out your calendar, the SF Beer Week events that Nosh has pulled together for you below sure will. They are all in chronological order.
Head to Drake’s late night Feb. 20 for a beer week wrestling tournament. Credit: Courtesy of Drake’s Brewing
This 21+ event starts late, but there’s a reason they say not to bring your kids, and a reason that Hoodslam/SlamTown has won Queer Wrestling Illustrated Promotion of the Year. From 10 p.m. to midnight, you can sip some Drake’s beers and watch a Blind Date/Lethal Tag Team Tournament mashup where partners are drawn at random to face off. They’ve lightly themed the event as a post-Valentine’s Day brawl with love “turning lethal.” Tickets are $25.
Drake’s Dealership, 2325 Broadway, Oakland
Get creative while you drink craft brews at the shadow puppet workshop at Shapeshifters. Credit: Courtesy of Shapeshifters
Shadow Puppets Workshop at Shapeshifters; Sunday, February 22, noon to 5 p.m.
Not the usual activity to pair with beer — but that’s what makes it so exciting. Head to Shapeshifters Cinema & Brewery to learn how to make shadow puppets with instructor Lydia Greer, who is the artistic director of Facing West Shadows Art Collective. All artistic, shadow-bending levels are welcome. You’ll learn how to improvise and play with shadow and light, and see how shadow puppets can be used for film, animation, media installation, or just a performance in your living room right when you get home. Tickets are $75; this includes materials.
Shapeshifters Cinema & Brewery, 567 5th St., Oakland
The Rake at Admiral Maltings in Alameda is hosting an edition of Drunk Beer History. Credit: Courtesy of Admiral Maltings
Grab a beer and a history-loving friend for this event. A panel of local beer legends will regale the crowd at the Rake with stories about the evolution of IPA in the Bay — all while they’re also drinking beer. Bay Area Brewers Guild Executive Director, Sayre Piotrkowski, will guide the discussion. Tickets are free, but make sure you reserve a spot!
The Rake at Admiral Maltings, 651A West Tower Avenue, Alameda
Find your perfect beer and partner at Del Cielo Livermore’s speed dating event. Credit: Courtesy of Del Cielo
Speed Dating at Del Cielo; Wednesday, February 25, 7 to 9 p.m.
Valentine’s Day is over, but the search for love is not! If you’re 30 to 42 years old, head to Del Cielo Brewery in Livermore to meet some other single folks in the Bay Area. Grab a beer and take a seat in the speed dating rounds. After these mini-dates, you’ll get a chance to note who you’d like to see again– hopefully it’s a match! Tickets are $33.
Del Cielo — Livermore, 4771 Arroyo Vista Suite B, Livermore
Michelada Madness has become an annual event at Paulista in Oakland. Credit: Courtesy of Paulista
Every year that Paulista has participated in Beer Week, they’ve thrown Michelada Madness. Micheladas are a Mexican drink that includes beer and tomato juice. Paulista doesn’t normally have Micheladas on its menu because they are labor-intensive to make, especially because they hand-make each one. The drink is traditionally made with a Mexican lager, but at this event, you can choose any beer on tap, or do a flight of them with different beers. The Paulista classic, though, is the Pliny the Michelada, made with the Bay Area classic Pliny the Elder.
Paulista, 4239 Park Blvd., Oakland
Ready to judge? Head to Jupiter in Berkeley to weigh in on the best beers in several categories. Credit: Courtesy of Jupiter
A fitting end to Beer Week, head to Jupiter for a blind taste test of 16 of the East Bay’s finest brews to help decide what is the best of the best. The competition is split into four different brackets over two rounds of blind taste tests, with lagers, golden ales, and blondes in the gold division; pales, IPAs, and hazys in the hop division; black lagers, porters, and stouts in the dark division, and sours all alone in their own division. After one beer wins in each division, the winners will all face off to see which of these drastically different beers wins it all. Tickets are $39 and include a taster pour of all 16 beers, as well as an additional 10-oz. pour at the end of your choice.
Jupiter, 2181 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley
If you’ve never tried beer poking, here’s your chance. Bierstacheln, which translates more precisely from German to English as “beer spiking,” is a winter tradition in which a red-hot steel rod is dipped into a malty beer to form a warm, creamy head and a slightly sweeter finish. In this case, East Brother will be spiking its Czech Dark Lager. Also at this anniversary party closing out Beer Week festivities, there will be brewery tours, live music, food trucks, and special beer releases
East Brother Beer Co., 1001 Canal Blvd., Richmond
Check out all the other great Beer Week events being held in the East Bay here: https://sfbeerweek.org/activities.
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