SF Beer Week Collaborations: Co-operating for the Win

SAN FRANCISCO, CA  – During SF Beer Week, February 11-20, five eagerly-awaited SF Beer Week Official Collaboration Beers – each created by three local breweries working together – demonstrate that both co-operation and competition benefit a thriving craft brewery community.

The annual SFBW Collaboration Brews turn competitors into teammates

For over a decade, different combinations of brewers from different breweries have shared their brewing knowledge and collaborated on creating new beers to launch the annual week-long celebration of craft brewing. The official collabs have become an SF Beer Week fan favorite.

Each of the 2022 collab brews is a creative take on the most popular family of craft styles, the IPA. Since both recipe and process have profound effects on beer flavor, three breweries share the credit for each of these beers.

• In San Francisco, Barebottle Brewing brewed and fermented “Red Whale,” a tropical red IPA, hopped with Citra, Citra Cryo, Strata and Galaxy hops, following a new recipe created by the brewers at Local Brewing and Woods Beer Co.

• In the North Bay, Cooperage Brewing executed a recipe designed by Adobe Creek Brewing and Parliament Brewing to create “Hop Drip,” a sour Fruited IPA brewed with apricots and strawberries and hopped with Galaxy and Mosaic hops.

• The East Bay’s entry, “Intrinsic,” brewed by Oakland’s Temescal Brewing following a recipe designed by Del Cielo Brewing and Headlands Brewing, is described as an enhanced West Coast IPA, using  HBC 586, Mosaic Cryo, Motueka, Vic Secret and Saaz hops.

• The Silicon Valley brew, “Pure Harmony,” a Cold IPA brewed with local honey from Belmont’s Wings of Nature, comes out of Devil’s Canyon Brewing using a recipe written by Brewing With Brothas and ShaKa Brewing. It’s finished with CTZ, Zappa, Galaxy and Sabro hops.

• Representing nearby coastal breweries, Santa Cruz’s Woodhouse Blending & Brewing is releasing “Juxtapose,” a double dry-hopped West Coast IPA, following a new recipe written by Highway 1 Brewing and New Bohemia Brewing. It was hopped with Galaxy, Strata, Citra, Mosaic and Cascade hops.

All five of this year’s SF Beer Week official collaborations will be presented on Feb. 11, at simultaneous SF Beer Week Kick Off events in San Francisco, San Rafael, San Leandro, Sunnyvale and Seaside. See https://sfbeerweek.org/kickoffs

After the Kick Offs, some of the official collaboration beers will be available at select locations during beer week. Alameda’s Admiral Malting Company, one of the nation’s few traditional artisan floor-malting facilities, provided malted barley ingredients for the collaborations. The malt makers will pour all five at The Rake taproom in Alameda. Learn more about the 2022 collabs and where to find them on the SF Beer Week site. See https://sfbeerweek.org/collabs

Here Comes the Rest of SF Beer Week

New events keep on pouring in to SFBeerweek.org, where people of the Greater Bay Area go to make plans for all the tastings, gatherings, remote activities and special offers to come during the week.

About the Bay Area Brewers Guild
The Bay Area Brewers Guild is a non-profit 501(c)(6) trade association. Its mission is to support and promote local independent craft beer and breweries throughout the greater Bay Area. Stay atop the region’s world-class craft beer scene year round at   DrinkBay.Beer