The Festival That Taught America to Love Double IPA
Every February, as San Francisco Beer Week comes roaring back to life, it’s worth remembering how we got here. Beer Week did not begin as a marketing construct or a calendar placeholder. It started out more like a pilgrimage.
Well before our app, before tap takeovers were passé, before the annual scramble to define what craft beer was this year, there was a bar at the corner of B and Main Streets in Hayward that became the epicenter of American hop obsession.
The Bistro Double IPA Festival is not just another beer festival. It is one of the rare events that can legitimately claim to have shaped the trajectory of modern beer.
The Bistro, Before the Boom
Publican Vic Kralj opened The Bistro in 1994, at a time when the Bay Area beer conversation was still coalescing around a handful of serious beer bars and a growing but far-from-crowded brewery scene. By 1997, The Bistro launched its first IPA Festival. Less than three years later, Vic pushed things further, hosting what must have been the world’s first Double IPA Festival in 2000.
The idea bordered on absurd at the time.
“At the end of 1999, there were like four breweries in the Bay Area making Imperial IPAs,” Vic recalls. “I sent out an info letter to Vinnie (Russian River), Arne (Marin Brewing), Greg (Stone), and a few others asking if they’d be interested in making a beer at these coordinates.”
This is an easy detail to gloss over today. Double IPA has become commonplace and February is now filled with extreme IPA offerings from many breweries. But in 2000, the style was barely defined. The brewers who attended the inaugural event at the Bistro weren’t refining a known category, or sending along an especially pristine batch of a recipe they’d brewed many times; on the contrary, they were defining a beer style in real time.
A dozen beers arrived for that first Double IPA Festival.
One of them was called Pliny the Elder.
Where Pliny First Poured
Russian River Brewing’s “Pliny the Elder” is not merely famous; it is foundational. Its release and subsequent impact established a blueprint that thousands of brewers would follow, react against, or attempt to surpass.
And yet, its debut was hardly the seismic event one might imagine.
“It was good,” Vic says of his first impression. “It wasn’t one of the better ones there that day, but it was good.”
That modest assessment is instructive. Pliny and many of the other festival mainstays that followed were not born legendary or scarce. Their status grew through refinement, word of mouth, and the slow realization that something genuinely new had entered American beer.
The Bistro provided one of our first proving grounds.
Why Beer Week Happens in February
When Beer Week was launched, it was deliberately scheduled to begin with the Bistro Double IPA Festival, conclude with the Barleywine Festival at Toronado, and take place within “Strong Beer Month,” started earlier by Magnolia and 21st Amendment.
February wasn’t chosen for convenience. It was chosen because that’s when the community already gathered.
In this way, the Bistro Festival did more than popularize a style. It helped provide the axis around which our seminal regional celebrations could form.
The Power of One Pub
There is another lesson embedded in the history of this festival, and it may be the most important one.
None of this began with a trade group, a marketing budget, or a mandate. It began with one person eager to celebrate something he enjoyed. Vic didn’t launch the Double IPA Festival because consumers were demanding it. He launched it because he was excited.
That excitement proved contagious.
By asking brewers to stretch, by offering them a showcase, and by inviting drinkers into the experiment, The Bistro's IPA festivals demonstrated the difference that one engaged publican can make. Pubs are not passive endpoints in the beer ecosystem. At their best, they are curators, conveners, and accelerants.
Great beer does not advance on production alone. It advances when someone is willing to champion it, contextualize it, and put it in front of people with intention. The pubs, bars, and restaurants that host Beer Week events are not just pouring beer; they are shaping taste, setting standards, and creating the conditions for discovery.
The Bistro did this before most others, and certainly before there was any guarantee it would work. The Double IPA Festival's continued relevance is proof that when one person creates space for others to share in something that they are genuinely excited about, the impact can be larger than anyone could have imagined, and the ripple effects can last decades.
From Dozens to Hundreds: A Living Archive
As the years passed, the Double IPA festival has evolved alongside the industry it helped create. Participation exploded. By the late 2000s, demand dramatically outpaced capacity.
“Starting around ’08 or ’09, I could have had 200 entries,” Vic notes.
Even today, with a hard cap dictated by the realities of a 101-faucet bar, the competition remains fierce. Winning—or even placing—at the Bistro is not a marketing footnote. For West Coast brewers, it is a credential on par with a medal from the Great American Beer Festival or the World Beer Cup.
The winners list that follows reads like a living archive of American IPA excellence: Russian River, Firestone Walker, Kern River, Beachwood, Moonraker, Ghost Town, Alvarado Street, Moksa, There Does Not Exist. Different eras, different approaches, one condensed history of innovation and ambition, told through the beers that rose to the top on Main Street.
2025
1st: Onslaught — Ghost Town Brewing (Oakland, CA)
2nd: Terrace Hill — Central Coast Brewing (San Luis Obispo, CA)
3rd: Greener Grass — Narrative Fermentations (San Jose, CA)
People’s Choice: Looking for Gophers — Faction Brewing
2024
1st: The Suspense Is Terrible — Sunriver Brewing (Sunriver, OR)
2nd: HopTomic — Morgan Territory Brewing (Tracy, CA)
3rd: Chux — Danville Brewing
People’s Choice: Cone Goblin — Ghost Town Brewing × Alvarado Street Brewing
2023
1st: Double Cone — Alvarado Street Brewery
2nd: Freshly Rubbed — Floodcraft Brewing
3rd: Green Shift — Beachwood Brewing
People’s Choice: Lurid Lupulin — Ghost Town × Slice
2022
1st: Psychic Advisor — There Does Not Exist
2nd: Chux Double IPA — Danville Brewing
3rd: Pliny the Elder — Russian River Brewing
Honorable Mention: Gallows Humor — Ghost Town Brewing
People’s Choice: LOADY — Wondrous Brewing
2021
West Coast Double IPA
1st: Sticky Sips — Moksa Brewing
2nd: Rabbit Habit — Docent Brewing
3rd: Honorable Villain — Moonraker Brewing
Hazy Double IPA
1st: Distance Haze — Revision Brewing
2nd: Clockwork Intelligence — North Park Beer Co.
3rd: Wizard of Fog — Humble Sea Brewing
2020
1st: Double Church — Kern River Brewing
2nd: Revision Double IPA — Revision Brewing
3rd: Gimpier McGee — Riip Beer Co.
People’s Choice: Doobie Snacks — Slice Beer Co.
2019
1st: Double Church — Kern River Brewing
2nd: Bigger on the Inside — Urban Roots Brewing
3rd: Green Shift — Beachwood Brewing
People’s Choice: Triple Mt. Nelson — Cellarmaker Brewing
2018
1st: All Hops on Deck — Moonraker Brewing
2nd: Green Shift — Beachwood Brewing
3rd: Hop Salad — Triple Rock Brewery
People’s Choice: Oak and Rye — New Bohemia Brewing
2017
1st: Knotty — Three Weavers Brewing
2nd: SUM — Eagle Rock Brewery
3rd: Hop Soup — Faction Brewing
Honorable Mention: Oh-So Mainey — Kern River Brewing
People’s Choice: Slauncher — Kaweah Brewing
2016
1st: Long Swim — Kern River Brewing
2nd: Hop Juju — Fat Head’s Brewery
3rd: Hella Hoppy — Altamont Beer Works
4th: Knotty — Three Weavers Brewing
2015
1st: Hammerland — El Segundo Brewing
2nd: Double Jack — Firestone Walker Brewing
3rd: Saint Archer Double IPA — Saint Archer Brewing
People’s Choice: I See a Dankness — Cellarmaker × Sante Adairius
2014
1st: After Burner — Kinetic Brewing
2nd: Double Standard — Third Street Aleworks
3rd: Hop Salad — Triple Rock Brewery
2013
1st: The Roustabout — Societe Brewing
2nd: Double Jack — Firestone Walker Brewing
3rd: Pliny the Elder — Russian River Brewing
2012
1st: Hopologist — Knee Deep Brewing
2nd: Pliny the Elder — Russian River Brewing
3rd: Ruination — Stone Brewing
2011
1st: Double Jack — Firestone Walker Brewing
2nd: Hopsickle XXXIPA — Moylan’s Brewing
3rd: Hopocalypse — Drake’s Brewing
2010
1st: Welcome Back Wipeout IPA — Pizza Port Brewing
2nd: HopSauce — Rubicon Brewing
3rd: II Max Imperial IPA — Triple Rock Brewery
People’s Choice: Pliny the Younger — Russian River Brewing
2009
1st: Poorman’s Double IPA — Pizza Port Brewing
2nd: II Max — Triple Rock Brewery
3rd: Apex — Bear Republic Brewing
Honorable Mention: Pliny the Elder — Russian River Brewing
People’s Choice: Pliny the Younger — Russian River Brewing
2008
1st: Double Dog — Flying Dog Brewery
2nd: Racer X — Bear Republic Brewing
3rd: Hopsickle — Moylan’s Brewing
People’s Choice: Pliny the Younger — Russian River Brewing
2007
1st: Dorado — Ballast Point Brewing
2nd: Pliny the Elder — Russian River Brewing
3rd: Hop Stoopid — Lagunitas Brewing
Honorable Mention: Hopsickle — Moylan’s Brewing
People’s Choice: Pliny the Younger — Russian River Brewing
🍻 Upcoming Events Featuring Our Member Breweries
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TOMORROW! Wednesday 1/28—Karaoke at Del Cielo
(San Francisco, CA| 6-9 PM)
Karaoke night is coming to DC's Martinez taproom with DJ Solrok on the decks 🎧
Warm up those vocals because we’re singing our hearts out!
More Info –> Karaoke In Martinez!
Thursday, 1/29—Beer People at Bartlett Hall
(San Francisco, CA| 3 PM)
Join the BABG as we celebrate our last Beer Week 2026 collaboration brew. Bartlett Hall will be offering 50% off pints for beer industry pros!
More Info –> Beer People In San Francisco!
Thursday, 1/29—Trumer Taproom Beer Dinner
(Berkeley, CA| 7 PM)
Four course dinner paired with Trumer beers.
More Info –> Beer Dinner In Berkeley!
📅 Save the Dates
Saturday 2/7/2026— The 26th Annual Bistro Double IPA Festival
Another chance to taste history.
Tickets & More Info –> Double IPA Festival 2026 In Hayward!
Monday, 2/9—Beer Week 2026 Event Listings Go Live
Be sure to check Sfbeerweek.org the day after the Super Bowl!
Friday 2/20/2026 - Sunday 3/1/2026 — Beer Week 2026
(The Whole Damn Bay Area!)
The biggest and best regional celebration of independent craft beer on the planet!
Keep up-to-date at sfbeerweek.org
Saturday 2/21/2026— SF Beer Week Fest 2026 at Salesforce Park
Tickets on sale now! Prices increase 2/9/2026!
Tickets & More Info –> SF Beer Week Fest 2026!