San Diego Beer Week 2026 looks different this year, and that is a good thing for anyone who likes actually visiting breweries. The ten-day celebration runs Friday, November 6 through Sunday, November 15, and for the first time in recent memory there is no central festival anchoring it. The San Diego Brewers Guild moved its big festival, now called the Capital of Craft Beer Festival, to September 19 at Broadway Pier, leaving Beer Week itself to the taprooms. There is no pass to buy and no single ticket. Each brewery sets its own events, prices, and rules, so the smart move is picking a few neighborhoods and planning around them.
The opening weekend sets the tone. Pure Project runs Beer Week programming at all five of its taprooms, with a kickoff toast at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 6, plus a doughnut and beer pairing on Sunday, November 8. Blind Lady Ale House in Normal Heights opens its Beer Week run on November 6 with guest taps. And the San Diego Food and Wine Festival’s Grand Weekend lands on the same opening weekend, November 6 to 8, so downtown will be busy.
Midweek brings the keep-the-glass crowd out. Pure Project offers a Keep the Glass deal at its North Park taproom on Monday, November 9. On Tuesday, November 10, AleSmith hosts a CheeseSmith and AleSmith pairing in Miramar, led by owner and cheesemaker Peter Zien, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., with limited tickets. Mike Hess Brewing follows on Wednesday, November 11 with Keep the Pint Night at its San Diego tasting rooms, including North Park.
The back half of the week is where Beer Week traditionally peaks. AleSmith’s Speedway Grand Prix runs Thursday through Saturday, November 12 to 14, and the brewery calls it a San Diego Beer Week tradition: free admission, more than a dozen Speedway Stout variations, food vendors, and tasting laps of four-ounce pours. On Saturday, November 14, Ocean Beach Brewery celebrates a decade of Hoppy Beer Gear with the release of Toked To Be Here, a West Coast IPA.
The most bittersweet event of the week happens Friday, November 13. That is the last day of Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens in Escondido under the Stone name, as co-founders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner prepare to retake the site. If you have never made the trip to the gardens, Beer Week is the time. Meanwhile, Stone’s Kettner taproom celebrates its 13th anniversary all weekend, November 13 to 15, with live music and beer specials.
Our advice: do not try to do it all. Pick one or two events a day, check each brewery’s own page before you go since the Guild’s events calendar was still filling in as of mid-October, and use the week to revisit a favorite taproom or finally try one you have been meaning to get to. Ten days, no festival tent, just San Diego beer where it is made.