Silicon Valley Beer Week Debut!
As San Francisco Beer Week has grown in popularity, with hundreds of events ranging from Santa Rosa to Pacific Grove, I have often wondered when neighboring areas (particularly the East Bay and Silicon Valley) would “officially” have their own Beer Week. The First Annual Silicon Valley Beer Week (aka SV Beer Week) was recently introduced and will be held July 28 through August 3rd. According to the Silicon Valley Beer Week website, Silicon Valley Beer Week is “… the region’s ultimate beer-lovers event… and highlights all venues, restaurants and breweries that are passionate about craft beer…. Additionally the week will include seminars, tap takeovers, tastings, food pairings, and other special activities hosted at a wide variety of venues all over the Valley”.
While only a handful of events have been announced, I hope this means events will be held at or affiliated with the notable beer venues in the Silicon Valley, including Bobby’s Liquors, Gourmet Haus Staudt, Harry’s Hofbrau, Good Karma, Kelly’s Liquors, Original Gravity, Rose and Crown and Wine Affairs.
I am excited to see what SV Beer Week will have to offer, as I have been a witness to the Silicon Valley beer scene expansion over the past few years. I moved from Portland, Oregon, (aka Beerlandia) to San Jose in the Fall of 2009. I recall the confusion I felt at time due to the relatively limited availability of beer. Eventually I found a vegan hole in the wall which happened to serve several taps of exceptional craft brew (Good Karma). Wine Affairs began to offer more beer options, including a beer tasting every Monday night. After an extensive search, I found Harry’s Hofbrau which offers patrons 28 drafts (and several bottles) of craft beer and regularly holds Thursday night brewery events. In search of beer, I wandered into Bobby’s Liquors and was in awe of the exceptional selection, which at the time included a shiny bottle of Sam Adams Utopias. After reading the saga of the iPhone 4 prototype in which features of the phone were leaked prior to an official release, I made a visit to Gourmet Haus Staudt, as I was certain they must serve good beer for anyone to “loose track” of an iPhone prototype. While I now live in San Francisco, I am anxiously awaiting the opening of ISO: Beers in Downtown San Jose, which, at 1,756 square feet, will have capacity for up to 100 drafts (but will “regularly” offer around 50-60) and walk-in coolers to store 2,000 bottles.
Cheers to SV Beer Week!
