{"id":192156,"date":"2026-02-25T00:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/192156\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T00:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:14:11","slug":"bottoms-up-with-the-advanced-cicerone-crafting-this-years-sf-beer-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/192156\/","title":{"rendered":"Bottoms up with the advanced cicerone crafting this year’s SF Beer Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thick of SF Beer Week<\/a> (through March 1\u2014check out my guide to the festivities here<\/a>), I found myself reflecting on first meeting Sayre Piotrkowski when he was the cicerone at Monk\u2019s Kettle in the Mission, shortly after I\u2019d just moved to the city in 2009. I\u2019d heard the lore about how Monk\u2019s was the craft brew pub to check out in town, and was both hyped and overwhelmed when I perused the loaded list of drafts. We were on the precipice of the craft beer revolution, and that list reflected it.<\/p>\n

Sayre approached our window table, enlightening us to the finer points of beers like Moonlight\u2019s Reality Czeck Pilsner (a perfect beer), telling anecdotes like one about how brewer Brian Hunt would drive down from Santa Rosa to deliver the kegs and lower them downstairs into the keg room himself. I knew I liked Rodenbach Grand Cru\u2019s world-renowned sour ale, and Sayre had a wealth of stories to share about the storied Belgian beer.<\/p>\n

In short, he got me even more engaged and excited about craft beer and the brews I was drinking and discovering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But a lot happened in those 15 or so years since: The craft beer industry blew up and then came back down. San Francisco changed, the Mission changed, heck that Monk\u2019s location on 16th Street changed (it\u2019s now a bar specializing in wine on tap\u2014sigh\u2014and Monk\u2019s moved to Oakland and Marin). Local craft beer as a whole has changed A LOT.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Arnold Suliguin<\/p>\n

One thing that hasn\u2019t changed, however, is Sayre\u2019s passion. The Petaluma native and advanced cicerone is now parlaying it into his new role as executive director of the Bay Area Brewers Guild<\/a>, where he\u2019s the chief advocate for 71 member-breweries in the Bay Area. And this year, he\u2019s at the helm of his first SF Beer Week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new role really lets me do the work I\u2019m good at; engaging the end consumer to be more savvy and interested,\u201d Sayre says. \u201cOn behalf of all the small breweries in the Bay Area between Monterey and Windsor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has the right juice for the job, making a career out of evangelizing and sharing the stoke of what makes craft beer so special. After Monk\u2019s, he worked at the North Bay\u2019s Henhouse Brewing for over seven years and was the beer director at beloved bygone craft spots like Oakland\u2019s Hog\u2019s Apothecary and St. Vincent on Valencia. Through his Beer and Soul<\/a> consulting business (a nod to his love of beer and music; catch him regularly hosting hip-hop and R&B trivia nights <\/a>in Oakland), he\u2019s worked with everyone from emerging to gigantic craft breweries, as well as taprooms and beer festivals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the advice I give is sobering news\u2026 namely, that sound business practices in this industry will only get you so far,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat grew this industry was a ton of ingenuity, hard work, creativity, and getting people to understand what was special about what we were doing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sponsored link<\/p>\n

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In this new era of craft beer, it\u2019s the small businesses that are still standing and ready to show off that very Venture capital exodus be damned\u2014Sayre Piotrkowski will advocate for the pours of 71 Bay Area Brewers Guild members until last call.creativity during SF Beer Week. There are over 200 events currently on the schedule (our picks below!) and it\u2019s the main vehicle (along with the highly informative Brew Deck<\/a> newsletter) for Sayre and the Guild to pump up the state of craft beer in the Bay. One that\u2019s largely devoid of the venture capitalists who poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the industry a decade ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Sarah Deragon<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018smart money\u2019, if you will, is elsewhere now,\u201d Sayre says. \u201cPeople looking to participate in an industry for the four-times, five-times, six-times return in a short amount of time? Those people don\u2019t usually make things better. If that\u2019s your desire, you\u2019re not playing in craft beer anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while the dynamics of craft beer are far less globalized and well, more localized now, SF Beer Week 2026 is a prime opportunity to get out there and sip high quality beer made skillfully by locals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBeer has never been better in this country,\u201d Sayre says. \u201cThe world\u2019s best beers are really easy to get and we\u2019re making the best beer we\u2019ve ever made in the Bay Area right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

SF BEEK WEEK runs through March 1. Various Bay Area venues. More info here.<\/a><\/p>\n