RateBeer.com has earned a reputation amongst beer enthusiasts across the world for being one of the most visited and respected forums for beer information. The website launched in May of 2000, has since grown to hundreds of thousands of members from around the world who have rated at least as many beers.

Once a year, in January, RateBeer Executive Director Joe Tucker and his team tally the ratings submitted throughout the year and release the RateBeer Best Awards.
Up until this point, the awards have been released on the website over the course of a week. In January of 2016 Mr. Tucker will be celebrating the release of the awards with the culmination of a two day festival event unlike any Sonoma County has seen before.

The two day event will take place on January 30th and 31st in Sonoma County. Earlier this week, Tucker announced tickets will go on sale on August 30th at 8:00 a.m. “There’s a lot of love bringing these brewers together,” said Tucker about the magnitude of the event.

Currently, 39 breweries from 12 countries are confirmed to be attending the event. The list of participating breweries looks like a beer geek’s fantasy lineup.

Some of the names may not be common knowledge amongst the average beer drinker, but those who are familiar with names such as: Hill Farmstead Brewery, Cigar City Brewing Company, Prairie Artisan Ales, Three Floyds Brewing Company, Trillium Brewing Company, Modern Times Beer, Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, and The Rare Barrel, will certainly be traveling to attend this event.

Day one of the two day event will take place on Saturday, January 30th at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel and Spa in Santa Rosa. Only 300 tickets will be released to the public for the awards banquet.

Day two will take place at another Santa Rosa location that has not yet been disclosed. Originally 1,500 tickets were set to be released to the public for the beer festival, but Tucker decided that early interest has been so great that he has opened that number up to 2,000 plus.

The list of attending breweries will be expanding, and Mr. Tucker will be releasing new details as the ticket sales debut day nears. For more information about The RateBeer Awards Ceremony & Beer Festival, and to keep up to the date with event details, click here.

-Peter Lopez Jr.

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