Beer in the Bay: The Rare Barrel seeks its new rare barrel and Boonville returns

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The Rare Barrel has handed over pH1 to a Colorado brewery, but it's still intent on the notion that "the rare barrel" is a state of mind — or rather, a state of the living cultures in a barrel. Two years ago, the Berkeley brewery held its first "The Search" event to find a barrel that would take the crown as "the rare barrel;" that hunt yielded Barrel p9t. In 2018, the brewers are at it again. Beginning April 26 and running through the weekend, the brewery will conduct a second search for its next rare barrel. Locals can participate in narrowing down the best from 20 barrels — if they arrive early enough to sample from three barrels each. Find out more info here at The Rare Barrel's site.

It looks like Laughing Monk and Gilman Brewing are both getting into the canning game. Meanwhile, Fort Point is adding yet another beer to their canned lineup:

Almanac has just released a collab Belgian-style wit, made alongside Carson, Calif.'s Phantom Carriage; over in Oakland, Temescal Brewing revealed it brewed up an IPA called Chillpool with San Diego's Pure Project. Stay tuned!

The 22-year-old Boonville Beer Festival returns this weekend to the Mendocino County Campgrounds. Dozens of California breweries will be on site this year, including Knee Deep, Alpine, Tahoe Mountain, Seven Stills, Moonlight, Cellarmaker, Barrel Brothers, and of course, Anderson Valley, among others.

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On Tuesday, the Brewers Association announced that Dr. J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham would be the organization's first-ever diversity ambassador. "Similar to other ambassador roles at the BA," the press release reads, "Jackson-Beckham will travel around the country to state guild and other craft brewing community events to speak on best practices for diversifying both customer bases and staff and to listen to current challenges in this area."

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.