Proving that Wine Country is in fact also Beer Country, the annual Sonoma County Harvest Fair is offering a lineup of local beers this weekend. The tasting pavilion, traditionally the stomping ground for wine, will feature brew pours from Dempsey’s, Fogbelt Brewing, Lagunitas, Bear Republic, 101 North, HenHouse, and Moonlight. It will also feature cider from Sebastopol’s California Cider Company, parent of Ace Cider and the largest independent cidery in the country.

There will be some interesting How-To workshops at the fair, including one at noon on Saturday from homebrew shop The Beverage People on the basics of making wine, beer, and cheese at home. On Sunday at noon, Petaluma Hills Brewing will give a talk on making the transition from homebrewer to pro (owner JJ Jay should know – he has been building his new microbrewery for the last few months and is just a short time away from opening his facility). At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, the owners of Tilted Shed Cider Works in Forestville will lead a cidermaking workshop.

The Harvest Fair opens 4-9 p.m. on Friday at the County Fairgrounds and will run noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free, but if you want to get into the tasting pavilion, with wine and food in addition to the beer and cider, tickets will run you $50, or two for $90 if you order by Oct. 3. The tasting pavilion is open 5-8 p.m. on Friday and 1-4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

You can order tickets online here. And the fair organizers tell me that readers of BeerCountry can get a $5 per ticket discount by entering the word “blogger” in the promo code section in the online ordering form.

– Sean Scully

Logo courtesy Sonoma County Harvest Fair.