The beers your local brewers think are worth putting in front of the best judges in the world are on tap right now. Last week, the Guild collected entries from dozens of our member breweries. Those beers are now sitting on a refrigerated truck headed toward Denver, where they’ll eventually go through rounds of blind judging by some of the world’s most accomplished brewers, cicerones, sensory experts, and beer judges. And this weekend, many of those same beers will be on tap all over the Bay....

Imagine a wedding reception so spectacular that the entire country got invited and had such a good time that they decided to keep the party going for more than two centuries! That, more or less, is the origin story of Oktoberfest. On October 12, 1810, Bavaria celebrated the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig, later King Ludwig I, to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen with a five-day celebration centered around, of all things, a horse race. The party was so successful that the city repeated i...

Hello Beer People, We’re keeping the Brew Deck very brief this week because the Guild is deep in the weeds co-producing Barebottle’s Suds Francisco this Sunday at Salesforce Park. A few things you should know: Suds Francisco prices go up tomorrow (Thursday). If you’ve been thinking about coming, now’s the time to grab your tickets. Want a discount? Ask your favorite brewery. Barebottle has shared discount codes with all of the participating breweries, as well as all of our San Francisco memb...

If you are a regular Brew Deck reader, you already know that Oakland, CA is an extraordinary beer destination. It is home to two of the top 12 small breweries in the country, according to Craft Beer & Brewing—Ghost Town and Cellarmaker—plus Brix Factory, Original Pattern, Temescal Brewing, and a whole lot more. And that's to say nothing of the world-class breweries just across the water in Alameda, or in nearby Emeryville and Berkeley. But what makes the East Bay's beer scene particularly exci...

Brewing is one of humanity's oldest and most sophisticated culinary arts. Like every great culinary tradition, brewing rewards not only technical skill, but an endless appetite to keep learning. Yet even among those of us who spend our lives talking about beer, our conversations often become surprisingly narrow. We debate hop varieties and forms, celebrate the return of local maltsters, and argue over genetically modified yeast strains or water chemistry. These are worthy conversations—that’s w...

The craft beer world lost one of its true originals this month with the passing of Alan Sprints, founder and brewmaster of Hair of the Dog Brewing in Portland. If you were lucky enough to experience Hair of the Dog at its peak, you probably remember a brewery unlike any other. While most of us were drinking our very first craft beers, Alan was producing massive barleywines, burly double IPAs, barrel-aged oddities with cherries and currants, and Adam—his dark, sweet, and slightly smoky interpret...

This week's Brew Deck arrives in the middle of California Craft Beer Week, an annual activation spearheaded by the CA Craft Brewers Association, which serves as a reminder of the decades of advocacy that have helped shape and fortify our modern craft beer industry. Last week also brought news of another impressive showing for BABG member breweries at a national competition. Taken together, they reinforce a simple truth: great beer doesn't happen by accident. Just like an award-winning beer re...

Katdelic & Afterthought to Headline The City’s Funk & Fermentation Festival Two weeks ago, we introduced the first five producers joining us for Suds Francisco, a celebration of funk, fermentation, and San Francisco flavor presented by the Bay Area Brewers Guild and Barebottle Brewing, coming to TJPA's Salesforce Park on Sunday, August 23. One question immediately rose to the top: "Who's playing?” Today, we're excited to answer. Just as we've carefully curated every brewery, winery, cider m...

There is a familiar, tired story being told about craft beer right now: breweries are closing, consumer interest is declining, and the industry's best days are behind it. Like most simple narratives, this story is not entirely wrong, but it is woefully incomplete. The challenges facing craft beer are real, especially in notoriously high-operating-cost markets like San Francisco. The economics of distributing beer at scale have become increasingly difficult. Consolidation among wholesalers, shi...

Last week, we introduced Suds Francisco, a new festival celebrating funk, fermentation, and San Francisco flavor, coming to TJPA's Salesforce Park on Sunday, August 23. When we began building Suds Francisco, we didn't set out to assemble the biggest collection of breweries and producers we could find. Our goal was to bring together a lineup that celebrates the excellence and diversity of the Bay Area's world-class fermented food and drink culture. Everyone we've invited has earned their place....

In February, we partnered with Barebottle Brewing and the TJPA to bring hundreds of beer lovers together high above the streets of San Francisco in Salesforce Park for a SF Beer Week Fest 2026. This summer, we're going bigger. On Sunday, August 23rd, the Bay Area Brewers Guild will once again partner with Barebottle Brewing and Salesforce Park for: Suds Francisco 2026: A Funk & Fermentation Festival As part of Salesforce Park's anniversary celebration, Rooftop Rhythms Weekend, Suds Francisc...

If you've spent time in the Bay Area, you've probably noticed a recurring theme: whenever a community needs support, local breweries are often among the first organizations to step forward. Whether supporting wildfire relief efforts, local nonprofits, schools, youth sports teams, or social causes, independent breweries consistently find ways to give back—even as larger companies and other industries hold back. In just the past year, Bay Area Brewers Guild members have raised funds to support i...

Every four years, something unusual happens. Millions of people across the planet who normally consume entertainment alone suddenly seek out other human beings. They wake up early, rearrange their schedules, and make plans with friends they haven't seen in months. They leave their couches to gather in public squares, pubs, bars, and increasingly, breweries—watching the world's game alongside friends and strangers alike. For a few weeks, those strangers become teammates, neighbors become rival...

Last week, we explored how some of the most interesting beers in the Bay Area right now are adjunct lagers. After decades spent chasing the biggest and the boldest, many of our breweries are becoming fascinated with restrained, crisp lager styles that craft brewers once decried as "fizzy yellow beer." One of the beers we highlighted was Fort Point's Ganada, a Korean-style lager brewed in collaboration with San Ho Won and designed specifically to complement the restaurant's cuisine. More than ju...

The first few decades of American craft brewing specialized in intensity, novelty, and extremity. Meanwhile, the simple adjunct lagers that once formed the backbone of American brewing culture remained associated with industrial scale, commodity ingredients, and cultural blandness. But something fascinating has begun happening across the Bay Area. Some of the region’s most thoughtful breweries are diving deep into light lagers, brewed with adjuncts like rice and corn. They are doing this not a...

Last Saturday, Trumer Berkeley held its “Last Call” farewell event, and hundreds of Bay Area Beer People turned out. For a long time, Trumer occupied a very particular place in Bay Area drinking culture: the dependable local pilsner you could order almost anywhere. For many drinkers, it was an early off-ramp from multinational industrial lager without requiring full beer-geek initiation. For others, it was simply the “just give me a beer” beer that still carried local credibility. Trumer Pils ...

Twenty years ago, the Brewers Association launched American Craft Beer Week as a national celebration of small and independent breweries. What began in 2006 as a coordinated effort to spotlight a growing but still fragile manufacturing sector has endured through massive changes in both the beer industry and American culture. At the time, craft beer was growing rapidly, but it still occupied a relatively marginal position in American life. There were fewer than 1,500 breweries in the U. S. in 20...

Malt is beer’s main ingredient. In a typical recipe, it outweighs hops by a ratio of 50:1 to 100:1. Still, even the most savvy beer consumers tend to be far more fluent in hop varieties and processes than those of malt. This is understandable considering that IPA remains at the forefront for most small breweries across the United States. That said, just as we have seen the rise of craft lagers, there are early signs that interest in malt and the malting process is beginning to build. One of th...

Last week, much of the brewing industry gathered in Philadelphia, PA, for the Craft Brewers Conference, where the 2026 World Beer Cup medals were awarded. Alongside the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), which takes place annually in October, the World Beer Cup (WBC) is one of the two most prestigious and competitive global benchmarks of beer excellence. In the days surrounding World Beer Cup 2026: * The 9th Annual Best of Craft Beer Awards took place in Sun River, Oregon * The Brewers Cup...

A couple of quick items before we get to the main event of this week’s newsletter: Foxtale Fermentation Project Heads Back to Television Our friends at Foxtale Fermentation Project are apparently becoming fixtures on culinary television. Following last week’s national appearance on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Foxtale will be featured on this week’s episode of Check, Please! Bay Area, KQED’s stalwart diner-driven review of local independent restaurants. The episode airs Thursday at 7:30 PM o...

Last week, we discussed how many small breweries are evolving into hospitality-driven destinations where exceptional food, culture, and community come together around great beer. Apparently, we are not the only ones taking notice. Over the past few weeks, two Bay Area Brewers Guild member breweries received visits from some truly legendary figures, highlighting the growing cultural relevance of small breweries across the region. Foxtale Fermentation Project Welcomes the Mayor of Flavortown ...

Last week, we explored applied descriptive sensory, the practice of translating what you perceive into clear, specific language. That skill doesn’t just help you talk about beer more clearly. It’s also the first step toward unlocking one of beer’s greatest strengths: its unmatched versatility at the table. Simply put, beer is often the best beverage for the modern American diet. Today’s cuisine is bold. It’s spicy, rich, acidic, smoky, umami-driven, and often layered with multiple flavors and ...

Brewers don’t just taste beer for pleasure. They taste it with purpose. At the brewery level, sensory analysis—the scientific process of putting beer in front of trained tasters—is one of the most important quality-control tools we have. It helps ensure that every beer leaving the brewery is consistent, true to brand, and free of flaws. Sometimes, we’re tasting for typicity. Does this batch taste like previous batches of the same beer? Does it accurately represent the intended style? Other ti...

Two weeks ago, we shared a survey through this newsletter and our Guild social media accounts. We were very pleased with the response: about 100 of you took the time to provide feedback, and most of your answers were thoughtful and detailed. Overall, your feedback was overwhelmingly positive.  • 84% of you rated your experience as good or excellent • Two-thirds of you discovered new breweries during Beer Week • 85% of you said Beer Week made you feel more connected to Bay Area beer culture Th...

If you frequent the Bay Area’s leading brewery taprooms and beer bars, you have likely noticed an unusual faucet with a long horizontal handle that pulls toward the bartender. These are side-pull faucets, most famously made by the Czech manufacturer LUKR. They are a defining feature of beer culture in the Czech Republic, the most beer-obsessed nation on earth, where people drink nearly twice as much beer per capita as any other country. They may look like a novelty. In reality, they unlock on...