San Diego Beer Week 2026 Guide: Dates, Events by Neighborhood & Planning Tips (Nov. 6–15)

San Diego Beer Week 2026 runs Friday, Nov. 6, through Sunday, Nov. 15, at breweries, bars and restaurants across San Diego County, according to the San Diego Brewers Guild’s Beer Week page. The big difference this year: no Guild festival sits inside those 10 days. The humans moved it to September, so San Diego Beer Week 2026 belongs to the taprooms.

Update note: this guide will be updated as more San Diego Beer Week 2026 events are announced. Last checked Oct. 18, 2026.

No Guild Fest at San Diego Beer Week 2026

For years, the Guild’s flagship festival, once called Guild Fest and now the Capital of Craft Beer Festival, sat inside Beer Week. Not anymore. For the first time since Beer Week launched in 2009, the festival moved outside the November window and took place on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, at Broadway Pier, per a July interview with Guild admin Jeanne Pacheco in San Diego Beer News.

Pacheco explained the thinking in that interview:

“The hope is to make it more of a self-standing event and not have it compete with so much going on that week, including events that local breweries are holding around town. Also, we want to ensure breweries can participate without the worry of not being able to staff their own Beer Week events because they are busy representing their brewery at the festival.”

— Jeanne Pacheco, San Diego Brewers Guild, to San Diego Beer News

The Guild plans to try the new timing this year and see what members think. Translation for the interstellar record: at San Diego Beer Week 2026, breweries keep their staff home for their own parties.

A note this correspondent could not ignore: the September bill included Agent 51, a Poway punk band whose members play rogue agents with inside knowledge of extraterrestrial life, per Times of San Diego. Approved.

Who runs San Diego Beer Week 2026, and what changed at the Guild

The San Diego Brewers Guild, founded in 1997, is a volunteer-led nonprofit; its about page describes it as a 501(c)(6) trade group and says the region is home to more than 150 independent craft beer makers. That is a county brewery count, not a San Diego Beer Week 2026 participant list; none has been published.

The Guild itself is in transition. Former executive director Erik Fowler left earlier this year to focus on Good Pressure Brewing, which he opened with his wife on Mission Gorge Road. The Guild then eliminated the executive director role, and Pacheco joined in May in a newly created, part-time admin position. (BeerAlien covered Fowler when he was named executive director.)

What does that mean for San Diego Beer Week 2026? With a lean Guild and no festival anchor, San Diego Beer Week 2026 rests on the breweries.

The official calendar: check back

As of Sunday, Oct. 18, the Guild’s Beer Week page still says “San Diego Beer Week 2026 Guild Events! Coming Soon!” The Guild’s Capital of Craft IPA page, home of the annual collaboration beer traditionally released to open Beer Week, still shows the 2025 team, with nothing posted for 2026. So check back, and use brewery websites for now; the events below come from the venues themselves.

On tickets: the Guild’s page does not mention any San Diego Beer Week 2026 pass or wristband. Each venue sets its own rules and prices.

San Diego Beer Week 2026 events by neighborhood

Below is every San Diego Beer Week 2026 event the Bureau could verify at the source as of Oct. 18. Where an event is not branded as part of Beer Week, it is labeled as one that falls during Beer Week. For a full map of who is open, see BeerAlien’s San Diego Brewery List.

North Park, Normal Heights and Balboa Park

Blind Lady Ale House (3416 Adams Ave., Normal Heights) lists “SDBW 11/6-11/14” on its own website. An event listing on ma.to puts its Beer Week opening on Friday, Nov. 6, with guest taps from Highland Park, Sante Adairius and others.

Pure Project runs a full week of San Diego Beer Week 2026 programming at all five taprooms, including North Park (2867 El Cajon Blvd.) and Balboa Park (2865 Fifth Ave.), per its SDBW event page. Highlights: a kickoff toast at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at every taproom; Keep the Glass at Pure North Park on Monday, Nov. 9; and Stout Sunday at all locations on Nov. 15. Our recent Baja Breach IPA report shows what Pure has been pouring.

Mike Hess Brewing holds a Keep the Pint Night on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at its San Diego tasting rooms, including North Park (3812 Grim Ave.): buy a pint for $10 and keep the glass, according to its event page. It is a recurring series that falls during Beer Week.

A fan group will hold its “13th Annual San Diego Beer Week Brony Pub-crawl” on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 5 p.m. to midnight, starting at The Original 40 Brewing Company (3117 University Ave.), per its Meetup page.

Miramar (“Beeramar”)

AleSmith Brewing (9990 AleSmith Ct.) has two events. On Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., owner and cheesemaker Peter Zien leads a CheeseSmith & AleSmith pairing; tickets are limited, and the listing the Bureau saw did not show a price.

Then, Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 12–14, comes the Speedway Grand Prix, which AleSmith calls “A San Diego Beer Week tradition.” Hours: 5–10 p.m. Thursday and Friday, noon–5 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free; tasting “Laps” of 4-ounce pours with a collectible glass cost $20 (four), $35 (eight) or $50 (12). Expect more than a dozen Speedway Stout variations, including a bourbon-barrel Old Fashioned Edition made with Sons & Dotters (lineup subject to change). For a lighter warm-up, see AleSmith Evil Dead Red.

Pure Project’s Miramar taproom (9030 Kenamar Dr. #308) joins the San Diego Beer Week 2026 toast and the doughnut pairing.

Ocean Beach and Point Loma

On Saturday, Nov. 14, from 6 to 10 p.m., Ocean Beach Brewery celebrates a decade of Hoppy Beer Gear with the release of Toked To Be Here, a West Coast IPA, per a ma.to listing. It falls during Beer Week.

Downtown and Little Italy

Stone Brewing Tap Room – Kettner celebrates its 13th anniversary weekend Friday through Sunday, Nov. 13–15 with live music and “Lucky 13” beer specials. It falls during Beer Week.

North County

Pure Project’s Vista brewery (1305 Hot Spring Way) and Carlsbad taproom (2825 State St.) carry the same lineup, which starts a day before San Diego Beer Week 2026: Thursday, Nov. 5, is International Stout Day, with $5 pints of Milagro, its nitro dry stout, and the release of Cocoa de Corazón, a rum barrel-aged stout. On Sunday, Nov. 8, from noon to 4 p.m., Pure pairs three doughnuts from The Goods in Carlsbad with three 5-ounce beers for $29 plus tax; pairings must be bought online in advance, and you pick your taproom at checkout, per the pairing page. Beers include Tropical Mist Citrus Blonde, Come What May Pub Ale and Off the Bine West Coast IPA. The page showed a “notify me when available” prompt when checked, so confirm availability.

Keep the Glass runs Nov. 9–13 across Pure’s taprooms: $18 gets an anniversary glass and a fill of any non-barrel-aged beer under 10% ABV. Carlsbad’s date is Tuesday, Nov. 10; Pure’s page mismatches weekdays and dates for Balboa Park, Vista and Miramar, so confirm those three.

Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Escondido (1999 Citracado Pkwy.) spends Beer Week saying goodbye. Its last day under the Stone name is Friday, Nov. 13; co-founders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner plan to reopen it under a new name, as covered in Stone founders take back the Escondido bistro. During San Diego Beer Week 2026, Stone’s events calendar lists live music there daily from Nov. 7 through Nov. 12. The Grand Finale Beer & Cigar Dinner on Thursday, Nov. 12 ($125) is sold out, per Eventbrite. On the final day, a photobooth popup runs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. in the Mezzanine. These fall during Beer Week.

Oceanside, San Marcos, East County and South Bay: no San Diego Beer Week 2026 events verified yet. More are expected, so keep an eye on the Guild’s calendar.

San Diego Beer Week 2026 quick events table

The industry backdrop: a thinner fleet this November

San Diego Beer Week 2026 arrives after a rough year for local brewers:

• The Roadies Brewing in Vista pours its final service today, Oct. 18; see The Roadies Brewing closing again.
• Rincon Reservation Road Brewery (3R) in Valley Center has closed; see our 3R report.
• Prohibition Brewing in Vista is closing after about 15 years. Sources conflict on timing: What Now San Diego reported a planned close at the end of September, while CalMatters (Oct. 15) said it would shut “this month” once the last kegs are drained.
• Mission Brewing closed its East Village taproom on Aug. 31, per KPBS; other Mission locations stay open.
• Stone Escondido leaves the Stone name on Nov. 13, mid-Beer Week (background in Stone Brewing Escondido is closing).

Statewide, California’s craft brewery count fell from 987 in 2023 to 939 in 2025, about 5%, according to Brewers Association figures cited in a CalMatters report published by the Los Angeles Times. Our breakdown is in California craft breweries closing. If San Diego Beer Week 2026 has a theme, it is this: go see the places that are still pouring.

Planning tips for San Diego Beer Week 2026

• One neighborhood per day. North Park is the walkable one, with about ten breweries mostly along 30th Street. Miramar has more than 17 breweries and tasting rooms but is not walkable between stops, according to a Coronado Brewing guide.
• Use transit where it reaches. The MTS Trolley serves downtown, Little Italy, Old Town, Grantville and East County, but has no stops in North Park, Normal Heights or Miramar, so plan on a bus or rideshare there. In North County, the NCTD SPRINTER links Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos and Escondido, with later trains on Fridays and Saturdays. Never drive after drinking.
• Read the ticket rules. Some events require advance purchase (Pure’s doughnut pairing); some have free entry with paid tastings (AleSmith). Beer dinners sell out; Stone’s already has.
• Book early. The same 10 days also bring Fleet Week (Nov. 6–15), the San Diego Food + Wine Festival (Nov. 6–8), Veterans Day events and Del Mar’s fall racing season, per San Diego Tourism Authority.
• Bring ID. Everything here is 21+.

Before San Diego Beer Week 2026 even starts, there is still time for Culture Brewing FestCoast, which runs through Oct. 25.

San Diego Beer Week 2026 FAQ

Alien final thoughts

Ten Earth days, no mothership, a guild running on volunteers and one part-time admin. On paper, San Diego Beer Week 2026 looks smaller. From orbit, it looks more local. This correspondent will update the guide as San Diego Beer Week 2026 fills in.

BEERALIEN.COM | Reporting on Earth’s finest craft beers from a galaxy far, far away.