San Francisco International Beer Festival

About Us:

It started out in 1984 with about five beers and 150 attendees. Now Beer Fest offers hundreds of international and local craft beers and steadily draws a diverse crowd of 3,000-plus beer lovers reflective of the Bay Area – from dreadlocked revelers to silver-haired sophisticates. They all have a common bond: a love of sharing a fine brew for a good cause. 

With admission, attendees get unlimited beer samplings along with delicious beer-focused food pairings, like smokehouse BBQ, artisan sausages and inspired pizza. 

The beers now range from Bay Area small-batch rising stars like San Francisco’s Pine Street Brewing Co. to craft beer powers likes Oregon’s Rogue Ales to old-world standouts like Maisel’s Weissbier.

The festival often features new, reserve or adventurous releases, including sour beers and some of the earliest black IPAs.

And don’t forget the food. This is artisan fare that runs the gamut from natural to imaginative pairings. Among them recently: Pizza Orgasmica (the big-hearted masterminds behind the “Girl From Ipanema” pie), Rosamunde Sausage Grill and Leopold’s Gasthaus.