It’s beer festival season again! Mendocino Brewing will be pouring at a different festival (or several) almost every week from now through summer, bringing some old favorites and new releases. I asked Mendo’s Sales Manager, Carlos Fuentes, who’ll also be attending many of the fests, to describe a few that he’s looking forward to over the next few months.
Fairfax Brewfest
Fairfax Beer Festival, March 14 – One of the best old-school beer festivals in Marin County, with nice people and a great Northern California hippie vibe. The breweries that attend are a good mix of established brands and new startups. The event is sponsored and organized by Iron Springs Brewing Co. of Fairfax, and the brewery does a fantastic job managing the event. We will be pouring our Oatmeal Stout, Talon Double IPA and Peregrine Pilsner.
Pleasanton California St. Patrick’s Day Beer Crawl, March 14 – The event is held in historic downtown Pleasanton and draws a soldout crowd every year. It is designed to promote the downtown businesses. It attracts a great young crowd that wants to learn about craft beer culture, and also encourages the customers to dress up in St. Patrick’s Day themed costumes. The customers are very appreciative, since there aren’t many beer events in town. Overall a really nice festival. I will be pouring Talon Double IPA, Oatmeal Stout and our White Ale.
Bay Area Craft Beer Festival
Bay Area Craft Beer Festival, April 18 – The largest event of the year in Martinez, California, it draws a soldout crowd every year. A fun, young crowd of beer enthusiasts that really appreciate all the seasonal offerings and one-off styles. I highly recommend the event, it’s worth the drive. I will be pouring our Session IPA, Talon Double IPA and the Peregrine Pilsner.
Glen Park Festival, April 26 – Held in one of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco with great family friendly vibe. This is also a charity event for the Glen Park Library. Mendocino Brewing Co. is going to be the exclusive beer brand for the festival. Great music, street food and beer, of course. I will be pouring the Session IPA, Peregrine Pilsner and Red Tail.
Scroll down for a more complete list of Mendocino Brewing’s Spring Festival Lineup! And keep checking in for more dates and details as new venues are added.
Festival Finding
Although I am lucky enough to get first-hand information about the beer festivals that Mendo will be attending, I still have to do some digging to keep track of emerging and smaller fests. Very small or new fests sometimes fly under the radar, and only appear in the local paper and on their Facebook page. To make sure I stay in the loop, I’ve learned which bars and venues in my area tend to host small fests or tap-takeovers that don’t quite make the big news.
For the other fests, I have a few favorite websites that seem to cover a range of locations and festival sizes.
This is one of my go-to sites for beer fest finding. You have to select a month and then scroll for events, but the list covers beer festivals all over the country—and even a few out of the country. Both larger and small festivals are represented.
This website is a bit sleeker than Beerfestivals, and it lets you search by date range or state. It does not list as many festivals as Beerfestivals, but it will grow as more people add to the collection.
Beer Advocate is a great magazine, and they have one of the most comprehensive beer event lists I’ve ever seen. For example, the day this article was posted on February 18, there were over 20 different beer tastings, pairings, and festivals across the country, Canada and England.
Mendocino Spring Beer Festivals
Hope to see you there!
Mendo Raley Field Brewfest
February
- February 28 – Lindsay Wildlife Museum, Danville
- February 28 – Extreme Beer Fest, Obispo
March
- March 7 – Best Coast Beer Festival, San Diego
- March 8 – Capital Beer Festival, Sacramento
- March 14 – St. Patrick’s Day Beer Crawl, Pleasanton
- March 14 – Fairfax Beer Festival, Fairfax
- March 20 – Winter Wonder Grass, Squaw Valley
- March 28 – Battle of the Brews, Santa Rosa
April
- April 11 – Ball Sack and Beer Fest, Sacramento
- April 18 – Bay Area Craft Beer Festival, Martinez
- April 18 – City Beat Festivals of Beer, San Diego
- April 18 – Taste of Elk Grove, Sacramento
- April 25 – Brews at the Beach, Santa Barbara
- April 26 – Glen Park Festival, San Francisco
