Did someone say ‘beer camp’? Yes, indeed, with 2 stops in California

Beer camp. Have two words ever had such resonance?

If you answered “no” to that, pack your stein and head for one of the stops on Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp Across America, a traveling festival featuring seven stops, including San Diego and Chico, Calif. The beer company has invited all 2,800 craft breweries in the country to participate. Other stops include Chicago; Denver; Philadelphia; Portland, Maine; and Mills River, N.C. Organizers are touting it as the biggest craft beer celebration ever.

Not sure it qualifies as “camp,” but as festivals go, it promises to attract craft beer fans across the nation. Each festival will feature up to two beers per participating brewery, food vendors and live music. Hundreds of craft brewers have signed up for the various events, which run in July and August.

As part of the Beer Camp adventure, Sierra Nevada has made a collaborative variety pack with a dozen craft beers: Allagash, Ballast Point, Bell’s, Cigar City, Firestone Walker, New Glarus, Ninkasi, Oskar Blues, Russian River, 3 Floyds and Victory, plus a beer from the Asheville Brewers Alliance. These brewers, and their beers, will join selective legs of the festival tour.

The events take place in Chico on July 19, and San Diego on July 20.

General admission tickets, including beer tastings, are $65. Designated driver tickets (no beer) are $30. Attendance at each event will be capped – to to speak –at 5,000 per venue.