People are starting to talk about it, wondering if it will happen, so here’s the latest on Seattle Beer Week 2021. Normally SBW would see hundreds of various beer-fueled events taking place around the greater Seattle area. It’s a ten-day celebration of beer that takes place in May of each year and has since 2008. In 2020, the organizers had to postpone Seattle Beer Week for obvious reasons. So what about 2021?

Seattle Beer Week is not dead but will exist in an altered form for 2021. One thing you can count on, the release of the annual Seattle Beer Week beer. It was brewed yesterday. More about that below, and more details forthcoming.

Playing it by Ear

The folks who organize Seattle Beer Week say that beyond the Seattle Beer Week Beer, they’re playing it by ear. “It doesn’t seem that we’re gonna be through with the pandemic by this May, and it doesn’t seem socially responsible to promote hundreds of events over 10 days this year,” says Ian Roberts, one of the founders/organizers of Seattle Beer Week. “But we can calmly acknowledge SBW once again. This year will obviously be very different than years past as we’re not encouraging events.”

“If people can think of an event that can be done from home, or safely in person then that’s great too,” says Ian. “There will be no sponsors this year, and no opening and closing night hoopla.”

That’s a responsible approach, but as we’ve all acclimated to these strange times, some folks have learned to host not-so-grand events that operate within the bounds of the pandemic’s requirements and protocols. We’ll see what kind of virtual, at-home, and pandemic-responsible events might pop up.

Seattle Beer Week Beer

Once again, there will be an official Seattle Beer Week beer. We will have more info about its release as the date nears. For now, Ian explains that it’s a collaboration project involving five Seattle breweries: Burke Gilman Brewing, Future Primitive Brewing, Hellbent Brewing, Holy Mountain Brewing, and Stoup Brewing.

Ian says that the beer should remind us all that we’ll get through this together. “That we will return to some sort of normalcy, and that beer has been, and will still be there for us.”

Stay tuned as the date nears. There’s no big hoopla planned, but know that Seattle Beer Week, in whatever pandemic-afflicted form, kicks off on May 6th.

“As more people get vaccinated and more things open up, maybe more will come of it.”

In other words, watch this space and don’t lose hope.