It's a cruel trick on the liver that the so-called "SF Beer Week" actually lasts 10 days, encompassing two weekends and effectively obliterating the first half of February for those who choose to participate. We're not going to lie to you: Throwing yourself into Beer Week means that you'll spend the next 10 days in a state of perma-hangover, when you're not actively drunk. You'll survive on appetizers chosen for their beer-pairing strength, not their nutritional value, and burritos and slices of pizza furtively scavenged between beer-soaked events.
But you'll emerge from the week with the knowledge that you've sipped some of the world's greatest brews. You'll know more about the local scene as well as the national one; you'll have a better appreciation for everything that goes into making one of mankind's oldest elixirs. You'll have gotten to taste your favorite hard-to-find beer and maybe found a new one. And when it's over you will no doubt be a little relieved, but also sad, because you know that Beer Week is a special time that comes but once a year.
This year's SFBW packs more than 600 events into its 10 days, a lineup that's intimidating to even the most dedicated beer-drinker. But the good news is that there's really no wrong way to do Beer Week. We've picked out a handful of events that sound fun to us, but for every one we selected, we omitted a dozen similar, worthy ones. Use the following pages as a guide to making your own Beer Week decisions; if you follow your heart, and your palate, you can't go wrong.
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