Capital of Craft Beer Fest<\/a> last year, so technically it\u2019s the second year as Capital of Craft,\u201d event promoter Kevin Hellman explained. \u201cBecause the moniker Capital of Craft Beer kinda is what San Diego is known as.\u201d<\/p>\nA celebration of the region\u2019s thirst for suds takes place starting Friday with San Diego Beer Week which, despite its name, is a 10-day event that continues through Nov. 16.<\/p>\n
And one of the premier events of the week is the Capital of Craft Fest, a 21-and-older event set for Saturday at the Harley-Davidson Festival Grounds.<\/p>\n
The festival also has a new location to go along with its new name.<\/p>\n
While previous gatherings were held behind Kilowatt Brewing, this year\u2019s event is being staged at the Harley-Davidson Festival Grounds on Morena Boulevard, near Costco.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe venue capacity is a little over 2,000 (people). Our goal for this year is 1,200,\u201d Hellman said. \u201cLast year it was capped at 400-500. Our goal is to grow it and do a larger reach, to continue the growth and continue to spread the word about San Diego beer and the guild and to try to do more for the members.\u201d<\/p>\n
He described \u201ca big, giant lot that we\u2019re gonna use for this event\u201d with an upgraded stage and sound system. Food, arts and crafts vendors will participate while a couple of them offer art exhibits.<\/p>\n
More than forty brewers have committed to attend this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there (were) 25 or so brewers last year, so we have a lot more this year,\u201d Hellman added. \u201cIt\u2019s just, I think, going to be a fun time as a kickoff event for San Diego Beer Week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attendees will have access to unlimited 20-ounce craft beer samples, poured into a
commemorative cup. Among the brewers confirmed for the event are well-known locals like Stone Brewing, Alesmith Brewing, Ballast Point, Bay City Brewing, Mission Brewing and Karl Strauss Brewing Co.<\/p>\n
Food vendors include Full Belly BBQ, Doggos Gus \u2013 which specializes in bacon-wrapped hot dogs \u2013 Bread & Cheese Eatery and LuLu\u2019s Cookie Bar.<\/p>\n
In addition to the food and drink, live music is scheduled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an \u201880s band called Flash Pants,\u201d Hellman said. \u201cThey actually got started with the revival of the \u2018Gong Show\u2019 (in 2017) and they won it, and they\u2019ve been playing since.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, there\u2019s a DJ who\u2019ll spin tunes. He takes his stage name from one of the more notable movies set in San Diego, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwon Burgundy obviously is a pseudonym \u2013 Twon Burgundy instead of Ron Burgundy. He\u2019ll be spinning his favorites,\u201d Hellman said.<\/p>\n
Since craft beer is so popular in San Diego County, a number of events celebrating it have popped up over the years. But Hellman said there\u2019s one aspect of the Capital of Craft festival that separates it from the others: the fact that it supports the local brewers guild, a nonprofit made up of allied brewery members, tradespeople and other providers supporting the production and distribution of craft beer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are all San Diego Brewers Guild members, so they\u2019re all San Diego brewers,\u201d he said of the event\u2019s beer vendors. \u201cYou go to some of the other beer festivals and they\u2019re just trying to have as many brewers as they possibly can, they don\u2019t care what the beer is, where it comes from. So they might go to a distributor that\u2019s got 20 brews from wherever. Some of its corporate beer, some of it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this, we try to promote San Diego beer,\u201d he said. \u201cthat\u2019s what the Guild\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n
General admission starts at $50. Tickets are available at Eventbrite<\/a> and attendees receive $5 off with the code SDBEER.<\/p>\nREAD NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Capital of Craft Beer Festival What: San Diego Beer Week’s premier eventWhen: Noon to 4:30 p.m. Saturday (Beer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[9385,74,4788,28195,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-41888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-craft-beer","9":"tag-san-diego","10":"tag-san-diego-beer-week","11":"tag-san-diego-brewers-guild","12":"tag-san-diego-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timesofsandiego.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0.ales_.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>Organizers expect a bigger Capital of Craft Festival in 2025 and more brewers too. Here, a brewer\u2019s booth in 2024. (Photo courtesy of the San Diego Brewers Guild)<\/p>\n