Category: Where to go…

bottle shops, pubs and breweries

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FWIBF 23 – How To

I have had the great fortune to attend the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival a few times now. And as a keen watcher of people, I have gleaned some tips for those attending for the first time or who want to up their experience.

  • Pore over the brewery list. Each year new breweries are welcomed to the Event Center and you should get to know those that you may not be familiar with whose beers you might not see again.
  • I will not tell you to avoid the hype beers but I will tell you that you can drink really well without standing in a line more than five deep. I remember picking a random fest goer who was at the back end of a hype line and recording what I did before that person got a beer. I had two beers, a nosh on ice cream and plotted out my next booths to visit before this person had a sip.
  • Food it up. Take advantage of it all. Not just because you will be having lots of beer but because it is really good stuff. No food truck lines and then more waiting for your name to be called.
  • Be on the lookout for special pours. They will be at certain posted times at booths and also over at the seminar stages. Many a time did beer get brought right to me while I sat in the shade learning about beer, brewers and the brewing process.
  • Do not sleep on the Firestone Walker beers. You may have already had the official festival beer, No Vacancy IPA but they bring a lot of other gems and who doesn’t like DBA.
  • Fred Eckhardt famously said “listen to your beer”. Addendum to that is to listen the the other fest goers. Don’t be creepy about it but overhear when people say out loud that something is great. And if you hear about a beer twice, start looking for it.
  • Be kind and an ally. It is 2023 and I should not have to write this but men act shitty and they need to stop. Right now, before you arrive in Paso Robles. Bring your best behavior and police others you know so that everyone can enjoy the fest.
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101

Eagle Rock Brewery class is in session with their Beer 101 Nights every month in their taproom.

And the price is really right. Only $11, and you get “one flight of 4 beers, a specially selected taster, and an educational discussion about the style, tasting notes, and more.” And believe me when I say, you should never stop learning.

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Stone Day – SourFest

One of my favorite beer experiences was attending early SourFest at Stone Brewing’s garden campus in Escondido.  It was just the right amount of sours poured for plenty of choice and not too crowded either, though we did get a staggeringly high amount of drink tickets.

Makes me wonder what it would be like to return in 2023 to see what the sour world has to offer.

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Re-Visit – The Daily Pint

Well, I had hoped that The Daily Pint would have upgraded the old-school pub on Pico Boulevard but except for a re-decorated bathroom and a mural of KC3 (the new King of England), it seems the same with TV’s in odd spots, a bar that breaks up and darkens the space and a beer list that is quite high priced and though local influenced doesn’t lean into British much at all.

Looking for positives, there is a nice display of mostly Scotches and some whiskeys but no cocktail menu and a bartender working alone who has to search hither and yon for anything that is not a well spirit.

Last point to make is that they had a Strand Brewing IPA on tap. Strand, sadly, has been closed for months. And there was no mention of that fact, when if it was sold as the last keg or as a special brewery closed beer just to turn it over. Which led me to be wary of how fast any of that beer was being moved.

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SD Beer Weekend

If you need help in choosing a weekend that would be optimum for visiting San Diego, well, read on….. “The 2nd-Annual SD Beer Weekend presented by the San Diego Brewers Guild will take place Friday, June 9 to Sunday, June 11. The now annual celebration of the local independent craft beer scene is a prelude to San Diego Beer Week in the fall.”

Think of it as a teaser trailer for the full movie.

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LABW23 – Long Beach Festival

June is shaping up as a busy beer month, following the Firestone Walker Invitational on the first weekend of June is the opening salvo for L.A. Beer Week on weekend #2.

LABW23 starts at Shoreline Park in Long Beach, a beautiful spot to sample the independent L.A. beer scene in 2023.

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To the West

Colorado Wine Co. in Eagle Rock begat Sunset Beer but the former has moved and the latter was pushed out by, well land greed. But now the original CoWineCo. is now Western Station. A beer and wine bar plus small bottle shop in Eagle Rock.

It will be open 7 days a week and I will certainly pop in to see what the new place is like.

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A Full Pint

Santa Monica institution The Daily Pint is back as of March 28th.  One of the early L.A. spots for craft beer, as well as whiskey, has been in various states of closed due to the pandemic but is now renovated and re-opened on Pico Boulevard.  It will be interesting to see what the 2023 beer list looks like.