2013 SF Beer Week - any knowledge? Rumors?

I haven't heard anything yet. Regardless, I don't think you gain much getting tickets like 5 months out instead of 3-4.

And yes, Younger ought to be available for a couple weeks at RR.

 

My guess is that it will be from Feb 9 - Feb 17 as it usually runs during valentine's day week.

In regards to Younger, my recommendation would be to find it in the city instead of heading up to Russian River, as it is a shit show on Younger day but not sure about the rest of the time. For 2012, Toronado had it on nearly every day of beer week (may have even put on a keg a day). Plenty of other places had it as well (City Beer, Beer Rev, Rose & Crown, etc)

 

According to this Twitter post, it's Feb 8th - 17th.

https://twitter.com/sfbeerweek/status/224958718628995073

If anyone is flying up there, there's a Southwest deal that ends TODAY. I'm booking it now...

http://www.southwest.com/html/promotions/fs-big-winter-sale.html

 

They are bottling Pliny the Younger this year and it will see very, very limited distro the two weeks of SF Beer Week.

 

Source?

 

Pulled straight from his ass.

 

Smell the rare....something.

 

Actually no. My ass refuted this, but the voices in my head still said it was a possibility.

 

They'll never bottle Younger.

But, beware: the Grail cannot pass beyond the Great Seal, for that is the boundry, and the price, of immortality.

 

Ah, you're right. I booked anyway. $100 bucks round trip from SD? YES PLS

 

Anybody else going to the opening gala? I usually attend so I can run through the door, drink a few Youngers and blow out my palate before I have a chance to try anything else. I then spend the rest of the evening getting plastered and, in the case of last year, waiting in stupidly long lines just to share a single bathroom with 2 other people who also need to pee. Sure, there was only one toilet, but there was also a floor drain and a sink we could use. Score!

 

There's a secret bathroom. But if I told you where it is, I would have to kill you.

Honestly, I'm not sure I'll go back to the opening gala. The only stuff I really enjoyed there that was fairly exclusive were the rarities from Ale Industries. Though they were good, it's not enough to get me back.

 

I also enjoyed those beers. I was a huge fan of SF Fusion too - something about that beer puts it above Younger in my book. It was cool to try Fusion, Younger and Hopocalypse Black side-by-side. Getting some RR beer from a magnum is always a fun treat that they do every year, and so was the blind tasting of Sierra Nevada's beers in cans vs. bottles.

I will not go if it's at the same venue as last year, but if they change it I may attend again. Or if they can figure out the bathroom situation and add some damn porta potties.

 

Yeah, that's where I am. A half-hour line to piss is so goddamn absurd.

I wasn't really impressed with the quality of the beers, but I also got there somewhat late. Younger had blown when I got there, and I didn't really feel like waiting in line for some Temptation from a 3L, even though that would be neat. Chatting with Vinnie was fun, though.

 

Yeah getting to talk to some of the brewers or employees at the breweries is fun. Sometimes the smaller guys will represent with the actually brewers/owners, which can be the best part of the night. Aside from having to pee in the sink, of course.

So in the same vein - what are the best events to hit? If you could only go to two or three, which would they be?

 

Oh boy, that's an interesting question. Probably -tion night, the RateBeer dinner (if they do something like that again), and the DIPA Fest. But I'm really excited to be in Oakland near a BART station now, I should be able to make many more events than I did last year.

 

Best events change every year. The standard one for me are the brewery nights at my favorite bars and Russian River night at Toronado.

 

Good call. -tion night is tops in my book, but it's a freaking cluster. What's RateBeer dinner all about - just a bottle share? I've also enjoyed Deschutes Night at Toronado, trying verticals of Abyss and Black Butte Reserve beers, as well as some Dissident.