After several years of hard times for breweries, while hearing “beer festivals are dead,” a little too often, we are seeing a resurgence of smart festivals and new festival ideas around our beer scene. Here are three we’ve noticed that should hold your interest and deliver delight:
The Freshtival 2024
It’s not new, and it’s a simple enough idea from Henhouse Brewing, but it still seems to offer a unique theme to bring us together: “The Freshtival is a celebration of the art freshness! All of the beer poured at this event will be less than 7 days old! That’s right, more than 150 beers, presented in perfect, brewery-fresh condition!”
Saturday June 15, at the SOMO Village Event Center, in Rohnert Park, just south of Santa Rosa. It’s a benefit for the Bay Area Brewers Guild, with proceeds going toward advocating for independent, local brewing in a time when breweries are still hard hit across the nation. Lots of local favorites will be pouring, maybe even some new breweries you haven’t met or tried yet, and this time, some exciting breweries from further afield will be there as well. Tickets and brewery list here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-freshtival-2024-tickets-854107487487
Beers change with time and hop aromas are one of the first things to fall away or degrade, so The Freshtival is particularly enticing for trying IPAs, Pale Ales, West Coast Pils, and other styles which are hop-flavor-centric. It’s not very close to the North Bay’s SMART Train, so other modes of transportation may be required.
It’s The Malt
But enough about hops. What about that major intoxicating and flavorful element of beer, barley malt? Enjoy the first annual It’s The Malt Craft Malt Festival.
Saturday, June 29th. Fest away at the Admiral malthouse in Alameda, where they germinate barley for brewers and distillers. Recently, Admiral worked with Crisp Malt of the UK on a Transatlantic Malting Collab, reviving a traditional “land race” heritage barley variety called Hana, consequential in creating the world’s first light colored beers for the original Czech pilsner revolution hundreds of years ago. They grew this historic barley starting with a few seeds from a seed bank! (What’s a land race crop? An old style strain derived by farmer selection in a region over time, without hybridization. Wondering what’s a malting collaboration and why? For a deep dive, enjoy this Beer Writer Happy Hour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezH7wxiCbSo) It’s packed with cool details and inspiring love of the craft.
Special beers made from the heritage Hana malt by dozens of craft breweries will be served at this fest, along with food and music. Look for cask beers as well as draft. Admiral will be offering tours of their must-see floor-malting operations. (And you can get there by Ferry plus a walk from either Oakland or SF for a classic local vacation day.)
Find tickets to It’s The Malt and more details here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/its-the-malt-craft-malt-festival-tickets-886334248597
Suds Francisco
BareBottle’s floating beer garden at the delightful Salesforce Park, perched atop the Transbay Transit Station, hosts Suds Francisco on Saturday, July 20.
The festivities will transform the park into a quality family-friendly beer festival complete with multiple bands. Children, designated drivers or actually any human who wants to hear the bands but not try the beers is welcome to come along for free. That’s notable, and so is the brewery list.)
BareBottle Brewing is inviting a select list of of local and far-flung brewery friends, from Brix to Ism, and Ogo Pogo to Olfactory and many more.
The drone images on their festival page show the park at their initial beer fest during SF Beer Week 2023, in winter. (One less layer of garments should be ample for the typical cool July weekend in SF!) Arrive at the transbay bus station, or walk over from Montgomery or Embarcadero BART. Info and tix, which have a good chance of selling out in advance: https://www.barebottle.com/suds-francisco
Keep your eyes open for other fine summer festival favorites at many great locations including the wonderful space at Faction Brewing in Alameda. We hope you have a chance to go festing soon, and by enjoying, help bring the more thoughtful and community-building festivals back to life.
Explore Beer By BART: Use our acclaimed destination list of some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s best beer places and their related transit info, so you can get out there to enjoy without driving.
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