For the eighth consecutive year, the San Diego Brewers Guild will bring together over 100 breweries from across San Diego County for the region’s highly anticipated annual celebration of all things beer - San Diego Beer Week. The 10-day event, beginning Friday, November 4 and continuing through Sunday, November 13, consists of more than 500 beer-centric events held at locations around the county, bookended by two always sold out extravaganzas - the San Diego Brewers Guild Festival, SDBW’s 2 day official opening event held at downtown’s Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier, and The Beer Garden, the week’s closing event held at The Lodge at Torrey Pines.
SDBW is the Guild’s largest community event and is representative of their tradition of bringing craft beer to the masses while giving local brewers an opportunity to share their passion for their profession. Craft beer tourism has been vital to San Diego's economic growth with millions of visitors exploring the region to experience the city's dynamic brewing industry. With the economic impact of the craft brewing enterprise continuing to grow, San Diego has been especially impacted, with 114 locally-based breweries and brewpubs generating $851 million dollars in sales in 2015 and employing more than 4,500 people.
The 2016 SDBW officially kicks off with the 14th annual two-day Guild Fest, presented by the Unified Port of San Diego. On the evening of November 4, the VIP Brewer Takeover will be held at the Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier from 6 to 9pm. Guests to this exclusive event will have the opportunity to taste San Diego craft breweries’ finest, rare and specialty beers, as well as limited edition brews made solely for the evening. The all-inclusive ticket includes unlimited beer samples throughout the evening as well as unlimited food samples from more than a dozen local craft-beer centric restaurants, including EAT at the Pearl Hotel, Slater’s 50/50 Liberty Station, and more.
The festivities continue the next day at the San Diego Brewers Guild Festival on Saturday, November 5, from 2 to 5pm. This high energy daytime beer fest features unlimited craft beer samples from over seventy San Diego breweries, food for purchase from popular local food trucks and restaurants, plus live music. Both Guild Fest events raise funds for the San Diego Brewers Guild and San Diego State University’s L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.
In addition to the marquee SDBW event, many of San Diego’s 128 craft breweries, as well as area bars and restaurants, will collaborate to offer exclusive experiences for SDBW attendees, including ‘meet the brewer’ events, brewery tours, rare beer tastings and educational events. More than 500 individual brewery hosted events will take place during SDBW, with a complete list available online.
For more information about San Diego Beer Week and to purchase tickets to any of the events, visit sdbw.org.
