What to know about this year’s upcoming San Francisco Beer Week

San Francisco Beer Week is starting much later than usual this year, thanks in large part to Feb. 8’s Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Despite the late start, the lineup still offers a diverse array of exciting beer-focused events.

Ten years ago, the last time the Super Bowl was held in the Bay Area, multinational businesses took over seemingly every restaurant and bar in every town during the week, making it difficult for our little beer week to compete.

An additional challenge is that the Bay Area Brewers Guild, which puts on SF Beer Week, is currently run by a single person, Sayre Piotrkowski, who took over as executive director last summer. So, long story short, to avoid being overshadowed by the biggest football game of the year and to give everybody a little more time to plan for the controlled chaos of 10 days of beer events, this year, SF Beer Week runs from Feb. 20 to March 1.

I spoke to Piotrkowski to get the scoop on this year’s SF Beer Week and his perspective on the state of local craft beer.

While the full list of events is still being finalized, so far about 100 events have already been confirmed. While the opening gala is no more, the festivities really get going on Feb. 21 with SF Beer Week Fest 2026 at Salesforce Park. Hosted by Barebottle Brewing Co., the event features unlimited tastings from at least 35 breweries, live entertainment and a commemorative glass.

Piotrkowski mentioned a few highlights. For example, he’s coordinated several exclusive collaboration brews of six different IPAs with release parties throughout the week that will tell the story of 21st-century IPA in six pints. Other interesting events so far include a Drake’s Speed Dating Event on Feb. 25, a Fort Point Dim Sum Beer Brunch at Hong Kong Lounge on Feb. 28, a Brewers’ Cup Golf Tournament in the Presidio on Feb. 23 and a Beer City Half Marathon in Santa Rosa on Feb. 21. And speaking of Sonoma County, you can sign up for a Santa Rosa Beer Passport, and a free shuttle service will transport beer week participants among the county’s breweries both weekends.

There will be beer dinners (for example, the Fair Isle Brewing Dinner at Anchovy Bar in San Francisco on Feb. 25), food and beer pairing events, games, probably some stand-up comedy or wrestling matches and definitely live music. And Piotrkowski, the man coordinating it all, will also be hosting his own event, a Beer vs. Wine Dinner at Old Skool Café on Feb. 28, where he’ll be choosing the beers in a friendly competition.

In our conversation, Piotrkowski emphasized how excited he is about local craft beer, and how he wants to remind everybody involved of the time when we were all excited about it, before COVID made things difficult for the industry. During the pandemic, many breweries had fewer opportunities to educate customers about what makes craft beer so special.

With the economy in its current state, many breweries have been closing, but the small brewers that focus on serving their local community and making a connection with them are the ones still thriving, he says. They make their customers feel like they’re part of something — which, of course, they are. California, and specifically the Bay Area, was ground zero for the craft beer movement with pioneering breweries like Anchor Brewing, New Albion, Triple Rock, Buffalo Bill’s, Sierra Nevada, Pete’s Wicked Ales, Lagunitas and Russian River.

If you love Bay Area craft beer, attending events during SF Beer Week is a great way to show your support for numerous small businesses and the local beer community as a whole. I hope to see you out there.

Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.