On Saturday, July 14, one of the Bay’s longest running beer events will take place at Fort Mason. Over 50 breweries, mostly local, will be pouring at the 12th annual BreastFest Beer Festival.

A ticket gets you unlimited beer tasting (Rodney Strong Vineyards and Cahill Winery will be providing wine if you get beered out), a commemorative glass, and food. There’s live music from Metal Shop, an 80’s and 90’s metal cover band, and DJ Von who spins around the area. If you’re more interested in rolling than spinning, Joey the Cat will have his new style skeeball machine available for test drives.

The charity event, staffed entirely by volunteers, raises funds for the Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic (CMCC). This non-profit public health clinic offers complementary and alternative medicine, support, and social services to women battling cancer and poverty.

As Jenn Procopio, General Manager of the Marin Brewing Company noted recently, “It’s not just a fundraiser, but rather a celebration of the strength of those whose lives have been touched by breast cancer. It’s so gratifying to know we’ve created an event that keeps volunteers, breweries and beer lovers coming back year after year. The beer community is a tight knit family and they have really rallied to support this cause every summer.”

One of the advantages to festivals like this is it gives you the ability to sample hand crafted beer from a variety of local brewpubs that otherwise offer their beer only on premises. Buying tickets to this particular festival also helps many local women though the toughest period of their lives.

Where: Fort Mason Center, Festival Pavilion

When: Saturday July 14th, 3-7pm (VIP hour from 2-3pm)

Cost: $45 advance, $55 door ($10 extra for VIP hour).

Tickets available from the festival web site or at Marin Brewing and Moylan's Brewing.

The participating breweries include: 

21st Amendment
Ale Industries
Aleworks
Anderson Valley
Beach Chalet
Bear Republic
BJ’s
Black Diamond
Calicraft
Carlsberg
Cloverdale (Ruth McGowan’s)
Crabbies
Crispin
Drakes
Eel River
El Toro
Elevation 66
Erdinger
Firestone
Fox Barrel
High Water
Iron Springs
Kronenbourg
Lagunitas
Lost Coast
Mad River
Main Street
Marin Brewing Company
Maui Brewing
Moonlight Beer and Ale
Moylan’s
Ninkasi
North Coast
Oakland Brewing Company
Pacific Brewing Labs
Pacific Coast
Pizza Orgasmica
Riley’s Brewing
Russian River
Schubros
Sea Dog
Shipyard
Shmaltz
Six Rivers
Social Kitchen
Sonoma Springs
Speakeasy
Strike
Third Street Aleworks
Thirsty Bear
Trumer
Uncommon Brewers