The Bay Area’s Oktoberfest season continues; this weekend you can enjoy beers from twenty five brewers for twenty five bucks. The Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC) and Access4Bikes are hosting Biketoberfest, a combination Oktoberfest and bicycle expo at the Fair/Anselm Plaza in Fairfax. While many of the major west coast breweries will be pouring their wares, the real draw for locavore beer drinkers will be the inclusion of area nanobreweries such as Beltane Brewery, Pine Street Brewery, and Van Houten Brewing. Since the event is a benefit (all proceeds go to MCBC and Access4Bikes) you’ll be able to help yourself to samples from several breweries whose beer is not yet commercially available or is only sold at the brewpub where it’s made. In addition to the suds, there’s a variety of food available and live music.
While enjoying the beer, food, and music, be sure to check out the bikes. Biketoberfest will have over 25 bike frame and component manufacturers, celebrity mountain and road rides, a cyclocross race, a contest for cargo bikes, vintage bicycle show, valet bike parking, and kid-centered events.
To help you work up a proper thirst, try biking to the event. Fairfax is a little over 20 miles from downtown SF and it’s a relatively flat ride. The Grand Cru, a beer and biking group in San Francisco, has scheduled a ride from the Ferry Building leaving at 10 am. See their site to check out the route and subscribe for emails.
If a 40-mile round trip sounds like more riding than you want on a Sunday, especially after numerous beer samples by the ride’s halfway point, consider taking the Larkspur ferry either on the return trip or both directions, it’s only seven miles from Fairfax.
Sunday, September 25 from 11 am to 6 pm. Fair-Anselm Plaza, Fairfax (next to the Iron Springs Pub). Free admission. Beer tasting ticket $25 advanced or $30 the day of the event.
See the event website for complete information on the event and to buy discounted beer tasting tickets.
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