Monday, August 5, 2013

This Saturday, Surf 'n' Suds Beer Festival in Carpinteria!

Living in California, many of us are fortunate enough to live within driving distance to the beach. The upcoming Surf 'n' Suds Beer Festival reminds us not only how lucky many of us are to live near the beach, but also how many amazing breweries are in our great state.
This Saturday, August 10th at Linden Field at Carpinteria State Beach, Deep Surf Magazine will hold the inaugural Surf 'n' Suds Beer Festival.  Over thirty breweries will be on hand to serve delicious beer in an amazing beach setting.  

Breweries scheduled to attend include:
Not only is this a beer event, but it is also an event that celebrates surfing.  Live music will be provided by three bands; Afishnsea the Moon, The Kick, and The Rincons.  Surfboard shapers who are from the area will also be available to showcase their latest surfboard creations.  Throughout the event, movies celebrating surf culture will be shown to help add to the ambiance.  Of course, food is essential during any event where beer is served.  Three vendors will have food available for purchase; B & D's Curbside Grill, The Burger Bus, and Tiki Taco.
Both VIP and general admission tickets will be available.  VIP tickets are $60 and provide attendees to enter the festival one hour prior to general admission ticket holders.  General admission tickets are $45.  For $20, Designated Drivers may also attend the festival.  The Designated Driver ticket also comes with a $5 food voucher.  The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. for those who purchase VIP tickets and 12:30 p.m. for general admission ticket holders.  Beer will stop being served at 5:00 p.m. with the gates closing at 5:30 p.m..
Tickets are available for purchase here.  Don't miss out on a fun opportunity to enjoy the beach and some great beers!

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

IPA Day


IPA Day is back this Thursday, August 1st!  This year marks the third annual IPA Day.  I'm super excited to celebrate because well, I love beer and IPAs are one of my favorite styles of beer.  To read more about the history of IPA Day, check out the creator of the event, the Beer Wench's blog post here.  Many breweries and beer related businesses will be offering specials to help encourage customers to try an IPA.  The following breweries and businesses are just a small sample of events and promotions that will be occurring on Thursday.

Brew Heads will be having a sale all day August 1st to celebrate IPA Day.  Check out their site for some rad craft beer items!  They have shirts, glassware, hats, accessories, and work shirts available.

Butcher's Brewing will be releasing two new IPAs with a sweet price of only $3 each.  They are also having a contest to name one of the new IPAs which was brewed with hibiscus, jaimaica, ginger, and orange.  Names for the new IPA may be submitted in person between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Thursday.  Winners must be at the tasting room if their name is selected in order to win.  Not only will the winner have the honor of naming a beer but they will also get a t-shirt!

Hangar 24 will have four of their standard IPAs on tap in their tasting room along with 6 pilot batch IPAs created just for IPA day.  XIPA also known as Experimental IPA, Double IPA, Columbus IPA, and Essence are the standard IPAs that will be available.

Karl Strauss will be doing a special event on Thursday in San Diego, an interactive pub crawl with their North Park sales rep Ryan Murphy.  The details of where Ryan will be are going to be shared on their facebook page, twitter and instagram accounts.  Toronado, Urbn Coal Fired Pizza, Bar Pink, and True North will all be featuring specials on Karl Strauss beers.

Kern River Brewing Company will have three IPAs on tap on Thursday.  Their Single Track Session IPA, Just Outstanding IPA, and Winter DIPA (their 5th anniversary beer).  They will also have guest breweries' IPAs available on tap as well.

Northern Brewer is offering a special deal, 10 % off when you order a Cascade Mountain IPA extract recipe kit you also receieve a free growler!  The offer ends 7/31 at midnight CST.

O'Dell Brewing will be celebrating IPA day by offering a special deal, if you purchase a growler fill of their Myrcenary DIPA or their standard IPA you will receive the growler (the container, not the beer) for no charge!

Pagosa Brewing will be doing a joint celebration with Riff Raff Brewing offering a tasting flight consisting of beers from both of their respective breweries as well as other breweries.  Beers available in this "IPA Taster Collaboration Tray" include:  Great Divide Brewing's Titan IPA, Pagosa Brewing's Powder Day IPA, Telluride Brewing's Fishwater DIPA, La Cumbre Brewing's Elevated IPA, and Riff Raff Brewing's Hopgoblin IPA.

Stone Brewing Company's Liberty Station will have of course their standard IPAs on tap, alongside guest breweries' IPAs.  They will be featuring more than twenty IPAs along with two beers on cask.  Some of the beers that will be available include:  Ritual Brewing's Hop-O-Matic, Modern Time Beer's Neverwhere Brett IPA, Haven Brewing's Double Hubble IPA, Robert Masterson & Ryan Reschan's Rip Current/Stone Brewing's R & R Coconut IPA, Bear Republic's Cafe Racer, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens' Liberty Station Matt's Thrill Rye'd IPA, Russian River's Pliny the Elder, El Segundo Brewing's White Dog Wheat IPA, and Rip Current Brewing's Lupulin Lust IPA.

Valiant Brewing will be featuring a keg of their Jericho Imperial IPA that was dry hopped with Simcoe hops last week on tap in their tasting room.

It is exciting to see such a variety of events and promotions that will be happening on IPA Day!  I can't wait to celebrate my love of craft beer on Thursday by drinking an IPA.  Do you have any fun plans to celebrate IPA Day?
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Brussels Bistro, which is not in Brussels

Going to a new restaurant is always a bit intimidating for me.  As a kid, I traveled and lived all over the States and World.  As a picky eater, I quickly learned when my family and I were on trips or living in different places to eat before we went out so I wouldn't be stuck eating odd sounding food.  Thankfully, I've grown up a bit, not too much mind you, since then and am more willing to try new places.  Sunday afternoon, with no plans and nowhere to go, my boyfriend and I decided we would drive down the coast on PCH.  I thought we would start in Laguna Beach and work our way back up the coast, possibly heading to a favorite of ours, Beachwood BBQ.  Instead, we stumbled upon a small Belgian restaurant, Brussels Bistro.  At first I didn't want to even go into the restaurant because it seemed small and crowded.  As our hostess seated us, though, I realized that the restaurant was in fact, bigger on the inside.  I felt like we had traveled overseas in a few moments and had arrived in a neighborhood restaurant in Europe.  Our waiter had a nifty French accent, which made me feel like I should try to bust out some of my unused French, thankfully for my boyfriend, I chose to stick with English.  Since the restaurant is Belgian, they of course had a wide variety of beers on tap as well as available in bottles.  I ordered a Grimbergen Dubbel by Brouwerij Alken-Maes while my boyfriend chose a La Chouffe Golden Ale.  Both of our beers were served in glassware which matched our beers, which is always a nice touch.  


 Instead of ordering full meals, we decided to order Belgian fries, which came with three different dipping sauces as well as a charcuterie plate. Our appetizers were accompanied with a bread basket, which tasted as if it were freshly baked, which is always nice. The charcuterie plate also came with a different type of bread along with three types of meats, small pieces of cheese, and pickles.  
We were lucky to arrive prior to dinner, so for most of the time we were in the restaurant only a few other people were in the downstairs area where we were seated. As we were finishing up, the dinner crowded was in full force, I'm glad we arrived when we did since the small restaurant quickly filled up. It was nice to find a hidden restaurant with great food and beer on a whim!



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Monday, July 29, 2013

OC Brew Ha Ha



Last year, was my first time going to the OC Brew Ha Ha.  I knew it was going to be a great event when I found out my boyfriend and I were going to drive Greg Koch to the festival.  He had sent out a tweet asking if anyone would be able to pick him up from the Irvine train station.  Ahh, the power of the internet!  When one of the biggest names in the craft beer world attends an event, you know it is definitely one you don't want to miss!

Reel Big Fish love beer, just like you!
This year, I'm looking forward to seeing one of my favorite bands, Reel Big Fish perform while I drink some amazing craft beers.  While I love drinking local beers such as those from Bootlegger's, Noble Ale Works, Valiant Brewing, and The Bruery, it is always nice to try beers from other parts of Southern California as well as those from different counties and states.  This year, the event will once again be held at a Oak Canyon Park near Irvine Lake.  While the event is held during the summer when it can be a bit warm, there are plenty of shade trees to help keep people out of the glare of the sun.  The venue is located in an area that makes you feel you've traveled farther from the major freeways than you actually have.

Most events have a mixture of brewery representatives and volunteers pouring beers.  The OC Brew Ha Ha also has volunteers who just happen to be off-duty fire fighters.  This helps to remind attendees that some of the ticket sales profits will go to an excellent cause, the Fallen Fire Fighters Relief Fund.

Scheduled breweries who will be at the event this year are:

Alcatraz Brewing
Anchor Brewing
Avery Brewing
Beachwood Brewing
Brash Brewing Co
Bootlegger's Brewery
Backstreet Brewery
Ballast Point
Brewery at Abigale
Brewery Ommegang
Black Market Brewing Co
Cismontane
Clown Shoes Beer
Coronado Brewing Co
Craft Brewing Co
Dogfish Head
El Segundo Brewing Company
Figueroa Mountain Brewing
Firestone Walker
Fireman's Brew
Goose Island
Great Divide Brewing
Hangar 24
Haven Brewing
Inland Empire Brewing
Ironfire Brewing
Iron First Brewing
Karl Strauss
Left Coast Brewing
Lost Coast Brewery
Maui Brewing Co
Monkish Brewing
Monks' Ale
New Belgium Brewing
Newport Beach Brewing Company
Noble Ale Works
Ninkasi Brewing
Old Orange Brewing
Oggi's Brewing
Packinghouse Brewing Company
Pizza Port San Clemente
Refuge Brewery
Ritual Brewing Co
Saint Archer
Speak Easy Brewing
Smog City Brewing Co
Stone Brewing Co
Stadium Brewing
Taps Brewery
The Bruery
Tustin Brewing Company
Valiant Brewing
Wicks Brewing
Widmer Brothers

Not only does your ticket allow you to sample some amazing craft beers, but there will also be home brew enthusiasts on hand to explain the brewing process along with beer connoisseurs who will help attendees have a better understanding of beer.  There are two ticket types, general admission and VIP tickets.  The general tickets include ten four ounce pours of beer along with complimentary water and soda.  VIP tickets will have fifteen four ounce pours of beer, access an hour before general admission as well as the opportunity to sample some rare beers.  Both tickets include a special glass to enjoy beer during the event and to also display proudly on a shelf at home.  Food will be available for purchase from a wide variety of food trucks, some even incorporate craft beer into their recipes!  Food vendors scheduled to serve scrumptious food at the OC Brew Ha Ha this year include:

Brewcakes
Devilicious
Burrito Bandito
Dos Chinos
Garlic Scapes
The Viking Truck

And don't forget the live music!  Two bands will be performing, the aforementioned Reel Big Fish and The Creepers.  General admission tickets will set you back $45 while VIP tickets are $60.  If you're into math at all, that equates to a really good deal.  Even though I hate to see the summer come to an end, the OC Brew Ha Ha is a great way to ease into the fall season.

When:  Saturday September 7th, 2013
1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.--General Admission
12:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.--VIP
Where:  Oak Canyon Park
Tickets are available through Eventbrite, here.
Don't wait to purchase your tickets, the event will sell out, wouldn't you rather hear Reel Big Fish play live than on your record player?



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