What a beautiful Sunday to have a beer festival. There were three “must” attend events for this two week bonanza called L.A. Beer Week. One was Deconstructed, the second was the Beer Float Showdown and the third was the festival finale.
First on my list was to sample the beers from L.A. newcomer Ohana. They were pouring their new Black IPA by the gritty L.A. name of Black Dahlia. As well as two versions of a Muscat barrel lambic. And as good as the IPA was to this hophead, the lambics were great. One was milder and really showcased the grape tastes with a bit of tart. The punchier version was much more Belgiany and pucker inducing. I liked both equally precisely because they were so different but with common flavors.
The other spot that I honed in on was the Pro-Am area. And I was lucky to get the last of the collaboration of Strand Brewing and the Beer Chicks. It was a combination of hops, nuttiness and caramel that I really enjoyed. 
I ended up trying close to (15) samples while alternately hiding in the shade and warming up. But there was just too much good stuff being poured. From Beachwood….
to Craftsman….
…to Dogfish Head….
and many more inbetween.
The first two iterations of the festival, I volunteered. But this time around, I played the role of media and got to see the event from a new perspective. There was quite the equal representation. Both genders and all ages in equal amounts. This was definitely not a Beer Geek dominated party. There was also a wide representation of beer with a nice amount of focus on SoCal. I was really impressed by the amount of beer that Craftsman brought too. Angelino Weiss, Ruddy Bloke, Sour Grapes among the many they were pouring.
On the downside, water stations were nowhere to be found and I walked around a few times looking. At a festival with unlimited pours, there needs to be easily accessible water. There was a hiccup getting people inside but that was an unforeseen complication that was not the fault of the organizers.
Overall, it was easy to navigate and get beers. Not many lines and the ones that were there were fast moving. Couple that with the selection and the weather and this event was a winner.
It is great to have a local production in LA. I think in the last 10 years in the States there’s a real interest for good food and drinks and i hope this will last long. In Uk for example there’s a real debate on local stuff (real ales, scottish lager) and big firms. In Italy instead there’s a real interests for micro-breweries and people are understanding how it is important to drink good beers(in a country that is famous for wine).
I think each country and probably each city or state will make their way differently to a point of better beer and better food. L.A. will hopefully keep evolving and adding more breweries to supply the great craft beer bars that we have in growing abundance. And I think that debate is good because it forces people to explain why they like what they like. Cheers!