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Phew! That was a blast! After a post-SFBW week of sleeping and drinking water, it's nice to check out the photo and video galleries on the SF Beer Week website. What a week! Thanks so much to everyone who helped pull it off: that includes the sponsors, the organizers, the venues, and the thousands of loyal craft beer fans who came out to the events. In a nutshell, thanks to the Bay Area's great beer community. Give yourselves a pat on the back. Better yet, drink a beer.

We had about 230 events this year. That's pretty amazing. SF Beer Week has evolved into a cultural movement, and it's only getting warmed up. And keep in mind that all the fun, craft, and quality doesn't end just because SF Beer Week is over. The Bay Area is home to great beer 52 weeks a year, and there are committed brewers, chefs, bartenders, media, artists, and connoisseurs contributing to the beer community all year long.

sfbeerweek.org is going to be around all year long, too. Its galleries and schedule will serve as a reminder of the who, what, and where of all the fun. There's also a little mechandise shop, too, in case you're interested in buying an SFBW poster or t-shirt while supplies last. (I hear the posters make great beer BINGO boards.) And make sure to check out the new recap video that just posted -- it's a doozy.

A last big shout out to SF Beer Week's 2010 sponsors: SF Brewers Guild, Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants, ThirstyBear Brewing Co., 21st Amendment Brewery, Magnolia Pub and Brewery, Starbelly Restaurant, Delarosa Restaurant, Brookston Beer Bulletin, Morris Distributing, Matagrano, Inc., and Brewers Supply Group.

You've read the names, now go support them! That's easy, because they have a big hand in brewing and serving fantastic beer in the Bay Area. And get ready for SF Beer Week 2011, coming to glass near you in February 2011!

Cheers,
Rich Higgins
SF Beer Week Event Director

Source: Flickr

Trumer Brauerei always hosts a party this time of year for Celebrator Magazine's Anniversary, but could they always be this raucous? Those of us who attended the Opening Gala felt a little bit of Deja Vu (Deja-Brew?) when we saw many of the same breweries as before, and more or less the same free-for-all drinking situation. However, where the Opening Gala was a Gala, this was a party, and all pretense to the contrary fell by the wayside around closing time when somehow everyone got it into their heads at the same time to make it rain paper coasters. Maybe we were just letting off some steam after the rigors of a long beer week. Wait, what rigors?

In keeping with the traditions of many, we loaded up on brunch at Magnolia before we went to the Barleywine Festival, not so much because we needed the food to fuel us (that didn't hurt) but because we needed to soak in the relative comity and peace before we plunged into the anarchy of Toronado on the big day. Toronado was everything we expected, and a few flavors of barleywine that we didn't. But an even bigger surprise was that fact that we humble documentary filmmakers were allowed into the hallowed halls of Noc Noc to witness the ancient ceremony of Barleywine judging in all its magnificence. Congratulations to Glacier Brewhouse whose "Big Woody" Barleywine took home the top prize.

Speakeasy's location among warehouses and industrial yards certainly makes for an unexpected, but somehow strangely appropriate place to find yourself in the middle of a week-long bender. Among casks and vats and packing supplies, they hold Firkin Friday every week, but this time they packed it with more SF Brewing star power than usual, and a massive crowd followed. We called it a night early (admittedly after having more than enough) and prepared for the insanity of Saturday's Barleywine Festival - More on that to come.

Dave McLean at Magnolia makes no secret of the fact that beer week events are, first and foremost, a chance for him to combine his favorite pleasures with beer, and if any customers happen to like those combinations too, then it's a lucky coincidence. Thursday being such a beautiful day, Magnolia's Oyster Fest was where some of the city's brewing elite gathered to revel in the pairing of briny bivalves, dry stout, and afternoon sunshine. An argument could be made that life doesn't get any better than that. After the sun set, Shmaltz Brewery stripped off their yarmulkes, strapped on their corsets and hosted the Coney Island Beerlesque Festival, a feast of bad behavior unparalleled elsewhere in Beer Week, (except maybe in an alley around the corner from Toronado) that has to be seen to be believed.

Tuesday night at Toronado, beer enthusiasts were clamoring to get their hands on a glass of Pliny the Younger before Russian River puts the formula in a vault again until this time next year. Those who were eager to meet brewery boss Vinnie Cilurzo were met with the news that he was home sick, but co-owner and wife, Natalie was there to field questions. Still, you could only get to her by fighting your way through a fierce and thirsty crowd. Meanwhile, Shmaltz brewery was having a Bar Mitzvah - or as we called it a "Beer Mitzvah" (Sorry about that) - celebration in honor of their 13th anniversary, and to make sure the night was memorable, serving up a 13% alcohol elixir called "Jewbelation," and entertaining the crowd with all manner of Semitic debauchery onstage.

The transition into the workweek hasn't slowed down enthusiasm for craft beer so far. Despite being a Monday night, 21st Amendment had a packed house, and the cans from other breweries they had stocked for Can-A-Palooza ended up completely sold out (but of course there was plenty of their own beer to go around). At Pi Bar, Sierra Nevada was showing off it's rarer, stronger brews, and letting some of their staff cut loose with Steve, the elusive brother of owner Ken Grossman.

After recovering from the opening gala, we stayed busy and buzzed all weekend long. Hops abounded at the The Double IPA Festival in Hayward where the atmosphere was surprisingly upbeat for an event so well-attended. ThirstyBear's Cask and Queso celebration turned a diverse crowd on to cask beer and cheese pairings usually only enjoyed by a handful afficionados. And at Monk's Kettle, the traditional beer swilling background of Superbowl Sunday was no damper on Allagash's low key "Meet the Brewer" event, where those in-the-know got to sample some rare vintage beer.

Beer Week kicked off with a bang on Friday as close to a thousand beer enthusiasts gathered at the Yerba Buena Center to talk shop, share ideas, and most importantly, sample wares. Most everyone we talked to was blown away by the sheer scale of the event, which should secure its place as a legendary night in the annals of San Francisco brewing. Cheers!

The rains thunder and drench. The winds moan and howl. The chill seeps and numbeth. Wherefore must we, the thirsty disciples of malt and hops, linger and pine for the joyous celebration of that sustaining elixir? Yet, in the depths of our winter's infirmity, I feel the clouds may soon part. Indeed, from this rainy vantage, I can feel the vigor with which San Francisco Beer Week nears, only a fortnight away!

The heights and spires of the Opening Gala are visible on the horizon from San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. I can almost taste the 60 extremely rare, limited-release beers that will awaken my gullet and sharpen my senses. The caramel warmth and oaky spice of the SF Brewers Guild Imperial Common beckons me. I can sublty hear the instruments and chantery of musicians. I can nearly smell the grilled meats, spice route tacos, fresh sushi fishes of the Far East, and earthly vegetables that will be prepared for sale. I can feel the goodly hand shakes of the brewmasters that will be spinning tales of their brewing exlpoits while pouring tankards of ale. News has traveled that tickets are for sale now, and will increase in price after the end of the month.

The inscriptions for Opening Gala ticket purchasing are:
http://sfbrewersguild.inticketing.com/events/70238
http://sfbrewersguild.inticketing.com/events/72087 (includes VIP session)

Steel thy resolve! and ready thyself! lest you miss out on:

• A music concert, live comedy, and a dozen breweries at a Beer-In for charity at Cobb's Comedy Club
• Craft Beer Can Chicken at 515
• A dinner with barrel-aged beer pairings by Beer and Nosh's Jesse Friedman with celebrity chef Jen Biesty at Scala's Bistro
• Nightly food pairings with Drake's Brewing Co. new Belgian Trippel at The Front Porch
• Beer to Brakers bike ride with brakes at breweries in San Francisco
• A chance to brew your own beer at Devil's Canyon Brewing Co.
• New beer releases like Triple Rock's Keyser Soze Imperial Stout, Gordon Biersch's Rauchbier, Special Bock and Barrel-aged Dunkles, Russian River's Pliny the Younger, Schmaltz's Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah, and Speakeasy's new collaborative beer with Whole Foods
• Bavarian breakfasts at Gordon Biersch restaurants with a tour of the production brewery in San Jose
• An empire of beer and cheese tastings with award-winning breweries: Valley and Schooner's team up in Antioch; Firehouse in Sunnyvale; Iron Springs in Fairfax; Rogue at their Public House in SF; plus a beer and cheese vs. wine and cheese pairing duel in Albany
• Beer appreciation 101 class with certified beer judge Peter Estaniel
• Meet the brewers nights with Black Diamond, Sudwerk, Trumer, Allagash, Marin, Ballast Point, Moylan's, Triple Rock, Bear Republic, and the SF Brewers Guild
• A hopless beer tasting with Moonlight Brewing Co. at Monk's Kettle
• A Peninsula pub crawl on CalTRain with Wet Your Whistles
• The annual decadent beer and chocolate dinner from Beer Chef Bruce Paton with a sunset view of SF from Treasure Island

These amazing events and SF Beer Week are all able to come together because of the support of the SF Brewers Guild, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants, ThirstyBear Brewing Co., 21st Amendment Brewery, and Magnolia Pub and Brewery.

Source: Flickr