San Francisco’s only rock and roll beer festival, The Bay Brewed, is back for a fourth year of pairing outstanding local beer and local music! Taking place at The Chapel on March 29, 2015, this year’s festival offers performances by four great San Francisco Bay Area bands and unlimited tastings from ten San Francisco breweries all day long thanks to the SF Brewers Guild. Between now and the festival, we’ll be previewing each of the participating breweries, giving a bit of history and talking about some of our favorite brews from all of these great San Francisco beer makers.

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The neighborhood known as Haight-Ashbury has seen its fair share of transformations over the past several decades. And as SF continues to evolve at a fairly rapid pace, it’s become more difficult to define the current identity of Haight-Ashbury; however, there are a few neighborhood beacons that continue to shine bright and remind the intrepid visitor of where they are. When I find myself in the vicinity of Haight and Masonic, there is no better place to be than Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery.

The brewery concoctions at Magnolia can be considered fair game for both the casual beer drinker and the hard-core beer enthusiast (and of course, those of us who fall somewhere in-between). Their draught options are varied, finding a successful balance between classic and creative, and their cask creations elevate their offerings to another level.

Visiting the brewery has the added bonus of experiencing a unique offering of food with their beers – brunch, lunch, and dinner are all great, holding their own in a food-and-booze-driven city. A more recent development for Magnolia is an additional location in the Dogpatch: Smokestack, which features Magnolia beers as well as cocktails, wines, and BBQ.

The opportunity to taste Magnolia’s offerings (in addition to other fantastic SF brews), while listening to local bands, cannot be missed. Get your tickets to The Bay Brewed!