What better way to kick off Your Next Pint than with a blog post on this past weekend's Los Angeles Beer Festival. $40 ticket admission (or $37 if you had the code word "rundown") got you unlimited 4 oz beer pours from 80+ breweries. While I didn't get to taste them all, here's a list of the best & worst I tried.
The Washdown:
- mellow and refreshing Sierra Nevada's Glissade Golden Bock
- caramel malt flavored Mission Brewery IPA
- light with cinnamon notes San Luis Obispo Einhorn Hefeweizen (like Maudite's little lager sister)
- metal, tap waterey Ballast Point Yellowtail Pale Ale
- hoppy, grapefruity Ballast Point Big Eye IPA
Getting to the LA Beerfest, put on by Drink Eat Play at Sony Pictures Studios, was quite a mission. There were three different intimidatingly long lines strewn about, in which the people standing in them AND the security guards directing them did not seem to know what they were for. But once my friends and I checked in and received our mini 4 oz beer mugs, it was time for the pours to begin!
We bypassed the main area's Food Truck lines and headed down a little alley off to the left where we found brewery stalls like Fat Tire and Sam Adams. Soon enough we stumbled on what was to be one of our favorites of the night – Sierra Nevada Glissade Golden Bock. Perfect for summer days, this crisp beer with a beautiful golden hue had just the right amount of carbonation to keep it refreshing, and a hoppy bitter finish balanced out by citrus flavors. The display at Sierra was one of the best of the Fest, too. They had barley grains and actual hops you could rub between your fingers to bring out the aroma of what you were tasting.
Moving on to Mission Brewery IPA, this beer was another favorite amongst my friends. While we were expecting bitterness, this light amber colored pour had a delicious caramel malty flavor that kept us coming back for more – definitely one to stock up on and sip alongside hamburgers or steak.
The San Luis Obispo Einhorn Hefeweizen was hit or miss for some, but I particularly enjoyed it and I think the ladies will too. It reminded me of a lighter lager version of one of my favorite beers, Unibroue Maudite, because of its cinnamon and clove flavors. This would be a good one to enjoy with a vanilla ice cream cone on a hot summer day.
Now for the bad brews. I don't know if something was wrong with the tap, but the Ballast Point Yellowtail Pale Ale honestly tasted like dirty pipe water. It had such a metal tap water taste to it, we ended up dumping it out. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Ballast Point, and was very thankful for the hoppy grapefruit flavor of their Big Eye IPA we shortly washed down afterward.
On our way to the 40 oz to Freedom
"Sublime Tribute Band" concert, we encountered some great people
watching – frothy beer mug hats, guys in Lederhosen, and Sam Adams
cardboard cut outs to be exact. But nothing topped the old dudes moshing to their all-time-favorite Sublime tunes.
To eat there was a sampling of food trucks like Calbi, Border Grill, Nom Nom, and World Fare Bustaurant (check out Your Next Bite for my upcoming review!), Sony Pictures Studios catering service, and apparently some hefty pretzel necklaces. We tried the Banh Mi from the Nom Nom truck and were disappointed by how stale and hard the bread was. But the pickled daikon, carrot, and sweet vinegar BBQ pork inside definitely made up for it. The Mac and Cheese from the Sony catering service was totally flavorless and boring, but the BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich on a Soft Bun was massive, packed with flavor, and super satisfying.
All in all the LA Beerfest was definitely a fun experience. Though they split up this year's event into two sessions, 1-4pm & 5-8pm, to avoid crowding we all wished we could've had a longer pour.
