Beer Week kicks off in Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO - Beer Week kicks off Friday night around the Bay Area, and breweries all around are ready. Local breweries are ready to serve up a pint, but are also keeping an eye on global politics. 

Beer Week is an opportunity for beer lovers to get a taste of some of the best brews the Bay Area has to offer. 

21st Amendment Brewery is hosting a brews and bites night, bringing together two things people seem to love: beer and food. 

"Go to the San Francisco Beer Week website, and it's the entire Bay Area," said Shaun O'Sullivan from 21st Amendment. 

"All the way from Santa Rosa, I think down to Santa Cruz and out towards Sacramento and East Bay…At our production brewery in San Leandro we have the kick-off event for the East Bay."

While beer may be fun for consumers, it's also big business. O'Sullivan said when 21st Amendment started nearly 25 years ago, there was room to grow. 

"Craft beer has gotten huge. Back when we first started in 2000, there were seven or eight breweries in San Francisco and I think at the peak in the last few years it was up to 45 or 50," said O'Sullivan.

Eddie Gobbo from Harmonic Brewing said the San Francisco Bay Area Beer Week is an opportunity for people to try the product local brewers have been perfecting. 

"The high care that we put into the making of our beer and running tap rooms in a community-focused way, it is different than big beer and we're proud of it," said Gobbo.

While brewers are asking people to think locally, brewers are thinking globally. Geopolitics threatens to increase canning costs with the Trump administration placing tariffs on aluminum. 

"You know this is a passion industry, we're donating a lot of time for something we love," said Gobbo. "So, when we get hit with additional costs it really hurts us and makes the business much harder to sustain."

Brewers may also face increased costs associated with raw ingredients. At 21st Amendment Brewery, they sometimes rely on ingredients from Canada.

The difficulty for many smaller breweries will be finding that balance point where they can purchase what they need, and not have to raise prices to the point where customers balk. 

"Customers will only pay so much for a glass of beer," said Gobbo. "So, you find yourself kind of in a conundrum where you can't charge too much more, but your costs are going up. So, that puts a strain on the breweries."

Organizers say the winter months can be a little lean for breweries, so they're encouraging those of legal drinking age to take part, find a local brewery and hoist a pint. 

While it is called Beer Week, this week actually has 10 days of activities at breweries around the Bay Area starting Friday through next Sunday.