The Super Bowl was just a warmup... In addition to diving head first into Strong Beer Month, for the first time ever, we're set to celebrate <a href="http://www.sfbeerweek.org">SF Beer Week</a><span>—ten hop-filled days of dinners, pairings and demos. Below, our list of sudsy highlights...</span>
Venture to 21A's beer garden, grab some Fatted Calf sausages off the grill and wash it all down with a few pints of 21A's Double Trippel. Think of it as a bit of Oktoberfest in February.
The brewers of Delaware's Dogfish Head and SF's own Magnolia are going head to head, with five courses of beer paired with Crispy Duck Rolls and Chicory-Braised Pork Cheeks. It's five courses and (at least) ten pints of beer—in other words, the odds are in your favor.
Meet the guy behind some of your favorite barrel-aged beers and Belgian-style ales, and, more importantly, throw back a few pints of just-released Pliny the Younger, as well as Damnation, Temptation and Rejection—we're still talking beer, but you knew that.
Each of Jen Biesty's (of Top Chef fame) seven courses—like Coffee and Malt Rubbed Beef Short Ribs and Shrimp & Scallop Beignets—will be paired with a craft beer from breweries like Triple Rock and Drakes. Proceeds go to SF Food Bank, so in the spirit of philanthropy, order a few more rounds.
Tell her you're shopping for Valentine's gifts and head to City Beer for a few sour Flemish reds, each paired with a lineup of locally made TCHO chocolates. Or bring her in for a pre-V-Day night out that may get you off the hook for Saturday.
Magnolia's brewmasters will pour at least five vintages of their potent Old Thunderpussy Barleywine (much preferable to New Lighteningcock Stout). And if that's not enough, there's the original beer week event—Toronado's six-day Barleywine Festival—where you'll have your fill of 50 barleywines.
