Live music, craft brews and keg tossing are all part of Boerne BierFest. Credit: Melissa Raelynn Arts for Boerne BierFest

The San Antonio area’s beer-festival season will get a formal kickoff next weekend via the fifth annual Boerne BierFest, a brew-focused fundraiser for Hill Country arts initiatives.

The Saturday, Sept. 24 event will take place at Boerne’s AgriCultural Museum and Arts Center, about 40 minutes north of San Antonio. Tickets include a commemorative stein that allows attendees to sample pours from more than 30 local and regional craft breweries.

Live music and an art market are also on tap. And so are beer-based competitions, including a keg toss and a homebrew competition, which gives home brewers a chance to win the coveted “Beer Belt.”

However, the “Masskrugstemmen,” or steinholding competition, remains the most popular of those contests, according to organizers. The feat of strength requires participants to hold a stein filled with a liter of beer — it weighs around 5.5 pounds — out from their bodies and parallel to the floor as long as possible. Adding to the drama, National Maskrugstemmen champions Jason Hurta (2014) and Deryk Lindsay (2016) will be on hand to judge.

Last year’s “Masskrugstemmen,” or steinholding competition. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Boerne BierFest

The family-friendly event — a partnership between the Hill Country Council for the Arts with help from Majestic Ranch Arts Foundation — will run run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Food trucks will be on hand for the duration.

Tickets are on sale now for $30 or are available for $35 at the door.

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This article appears in Sep 7-20, 2022.

Nina Rangel uses nearly 20 years of experience in the foodservice industry to tell the stories of movers and shakers in the food scene in San Antonio. As the Food + Nightlife Editor for the San Antonio...