Patterns and storylines inevitably emerge when you have more than 300 events within in a 10-day timeframe. Here are 5 Big Narratives:
Sour Craze – Every year sours seem to gain popularity with the average beer drinker. There are a multitude of SDBW events featuring this catch-all group of beers: Everyone’s out to get you Mother Pucker @ O’Brien’s (11/7); Pucker up with Cascade @ Holiday Wine Cellar (11/7); Sour Saturday @ Common Theory Public House (11/7); Sweets and Sours @ The Local (11/9); Tart Tuesday w/ 20 Sours on Tap @ Machete Beer House (11/10); All-Day Sour Fest @ Bottlecraft Little Italy (11/10); Sour & Bitter w/ Green Flash @ Neighborhood (11/10); Karl Strauss’ Shawn Steele Talks Sours @ Amplified (11/11); Sour Tap Takeover @ Rip Current North Park (11/11); Sour Day and Bottle Release @ Intergalactic (11/11); Sour Beer Night @ Pizza Port Ocean Beach (11/13); Sour Tap Takeover @ Valley Center Brewery (11/15); and Spontaneous Sour Saturday @ Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station (11/15).
For The Ladies – Women are a growing segment of the craft beer-drinking demographic, and a few events are geared specifically for the ladies: Chicks for Beer w/ Faction Brewing @ The High Dive, a beer dinner benefitting Susan G. Komen Foundation (11/10); San Diego Suds Sorority’s Learn to Brew Day — no experience necessary/new members welcome — @ Citizen Brewers (11/11); Ladies and the 80s co-ed event benefitting Pink Boots Society @ Urge American Gastropub (11/12); and the 1st Ever Goddesses of Crafts & Causes @ Second Chance Beer Company, benefitting Keep a Breast (11/14). Bonus event: Fall Brewmasters Dinner @ Rock Bottom La Jolla featuring a four-course dinner pairing with beers by Head Brewer Carli Smith (11/14) — check out a recent Q&A with her here. Also, the Beer 4 Boobs team, established by White Labs’ Lisa White in 2008, will be walking the Susan G. Komen 3-Day after Beer Week; help them out by donating here.
Homecoming – Fieldwork’s Alex Tweet first gained notoriety in the local beer scene when his homebrew won a contest sponsored by Ballast Point and Holiday Wine Cellar; that beer went on to become the spicy stout Indra Kunindra. He has since started his own brewery in Berkeley, but is back this week for a Veterans Day event benefitting Wounded Warrior @ O’Brien’s Pub (11/11). In Pacific Beach, Amplified Ale Works’ co-founder JC Hill will pour five beers from his Monterrey-based brewery Alvarado Street, including 2015 Great American Beer Festival gold medal-winner Mai Tai IPA (11/8).
From Baja With Love – Just a few years ago it was nearly impossible to find more than a couple of Baja beers on tap at once. This “week” we will see a wave of flavor from south of the border: Beer of Baja @ Bottlecraft Little Italy (11/8); Insurgente & Wendlandt @ Panama 66 (11/8); Beer without Borders – 30 Baja Beers on Tap @ Machete Beer House (11/13); and Tap into Baja California Beers & Food @ Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park (11/13).
Guided Tastings – Beer is great, but drinking with the brewer in an intimate setting is even better. Tiger!Tiger! is hosting several “brewer guided tastings” this week: Societe & Noble Ale Works (11/6); Automatic (11/7); Almanac (11/8); Ninkasi (11/11); Highland Park & Cellarmaker (11/12); Three Weavers (11/13); and Craftsman (11/14). All these beers will pour from the bar’s notably clean and well-maintained tap system, just as the brewer intended.
Bonus Narrative: Solis Batch #50 – West Coaster teamed up with Mike Hess Brewing five years ago to collaborate on the first beer that would leave their Miramar tasting room: West Coaster IPA. That beer has since evolved into Solis Occasus, an IPA with a recipe that changes slightly each brew. On Tuesday (11/10), MHB North Park will open its doors at 9 a.m. as we brew the fiftieth batch of Solis. We’ll have some coffee and donuts (and beer); come hang out with us.