This year, Sierra Nevada once again traveled the United States for Beer Camp Across America, a series of beer festivals put on by the brewery in states around the country. The event was held at six different locations this year: Tampa, Seattle, Milwaukee, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
We attended the festival in San Francisco. On tap for the occasion were the six regional collaborations Sierra Nevada created with other breweries (check out our review of the sampler pack here), as well as selections from 127 breweries from the area including Russian River, Alpine, 21st Amendment, Almanac, Fieldwork, Firestone Walker and more.
The beer of the event, of course, was West Latitude, a Session Rye that was made by Sierra Nevada and a group of Northern California breweries: Bear Republic, Faction, Mad River, Magnolia, and Maui.
“We chose to serenade rather than scream out song with a balanced red ale brewed with hibiscus and rye,” says Richard Norgrove, the brewmaster at Bear Republic in a statement about West Latitude. “We feel our beer represents the culture and flair that can be found across our team. We are honored to share our beer with you.”
And we were honored to drink it (and a number of other amazing beers) at the fest. Check out the gallery above for a look at some of what we saw.
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In San Francisco, the Beer Camp event was held at one of the piers on the water.
Don Bernal
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The masses waiting to get in. The festival ran from 1-5pm.
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Sierra Nevada was pouring all six beers from its yearly mix pack at the event.
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Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman was pouring some of the collaboration beers at the event, and chatting with fans.
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Ken Grossman pouring a beer for an attendee.
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Banners hanging from the ceiling represented each of the collaboration beers being poured.
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Collaboration beers also had explanations in front of them, so you could learn more about what you were drinking.
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Some attendees got really dressed up for the occasion
Don Bernal