Chico, Calif.-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has invited every one of the more than 2,700 craft breweries across the country to participate in a multi-weekend traveling beer festival this summer. Beer Camp Across America is a celebration for the entire craft beer community, aiming to bring together brewers and their fans, the company says.
“We’re about to open a second brewery in North Carolina, and while that’s exciting for us, it’s an even greater reason to celebrate the future of craft brewers everywhere,” said Ken Grossman, Sierra Nevada’s founder, in a statement. “We’ve watched and learned from each other for decades, and together we’ve seen tastes change and craft’s momentum snowball. Beer Camp Across America is our way of reflecting on this with thousands of brewers, fans and great beers. It should be pretty fun.”

Beer Camp Across America will move west to east and feature seven stops in cities with thriving craft beer cultures, highlighting that city’s local and surrounding regional brewers. The festival will begin and end at Sierra Nevada’s two brewing locations, kicking off in Chico, Calif., where the company took root in 1980, and culminating in Mills River, N.C., for the grand opening of its East Coast brewery.

The festival schedule is as follows:

• July 19: Northwest Edition at Sierra Nevada Hop Field in Chico, Calif., from noon-5 p.m.
• July 20: Southwest Edition at Embarcadero North in San Diego from 1-6 p.m.
• July 25: Rocky Mountain Edition at Sculpture Park in Denver from 5-10 p.m.
• July 27: Midwest Edition at Navy Pier in Chicago from noon-5 p.m.
• Aug. 1: New England Edition at Thompson Point in Portland, Maine, from 5-10 p.m.
• Aug. 2: Mid-Atlantic Edition at Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia from noon-5 p.m.
• Aug. 3: Southeast Edition in Mills River, N.C., from 1-6 p.m.

Each festival event will feature as many as two beer varieties from each brewery as well as food vendors and live music by the MarchFourth Marching Band spectacle. Tickets are on sale at www.sierranevada.com/beercamp and are limited to 5,000 for each venue. General admission tickets, which include a tasting glass and unlimited tastings, cost $65 at most locations, and a $30 designated driver ticket also is available. These prices do not include taxes and fees, which vary by location.

In conjunction with the festival, Sierra Nevada has partnered with a dozen craft breweries to create 12 different beers for one mixed 12-pack, which includes 10 bottles and two cans. The Beer Camp Across America 12-pack will be available throughout the United States this summer, and the dozen brewing partners will join selective legs of the festival tour.

Beer Camp Across America also is a giveback program. Proceeds from each event will be donated to state brewers guilds in the festival host states and to hop and barley research to foster the development of new types of hop varieties and barley crops to fuel the pursuit of new flavor experiences for the ever-expanding tastes of craft drinkers.

For more information, visit www.sierranevada.com/beercamp.