The ninth annual American Craft Beer Week will take place between May 12^th and May 18^th this year. That week is a time for beer lovers across our nation to collectively celebrate the craft beer culture and community. There are well over 2,500 craft breweries operating and many more scheduled to open across America this year. Let’s all take the time to rejoice the abundance of great beer that we are being provided by the hard working American people working to make a dream come true.

For many of you this may be the first time you have heard about American Craft Beer Week. If you are a beer enthusiast in northern California chances are that you may have heard of San Francisco Beer Week. San Francisco Beer Week is something that the people of northern California anticipate come February of each year and with good reason. It’s actually ten days of events that take place between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz. According to Sfbeerweek.org, this year 607 events took place in 222 locations. That is more than any one beer geek could handle. To add to the excitement many breweries release limited production, highly sought after beers such as Russian River’s Pliny the Younger and Drake’s Hopocalypse right around this time.

What you may not be aware of is that SF Beer Week is just one of dozens of beer weeks that are celebrated across the country throughout the year. In some areas of the country they must feel that one week simply is not enough. They have decided to celebrate with a beer month instead. North Carolina makes a month out of it in April, Santa Ynez Valley does the same in the month of May and at least three other parts of the country choose to do the same.

I encourage all Sonoma County breweries, retailers and taprooms to post events that you may have planned for American Craft Beer Week in the comment section below so that the craft beer lovers in our community may gather together and celebrate with you.

— Peter Lopez