The San Diego Winter Brew Fest happened on Friday, February 8th at the Port Pavilion at Broadway Pier. The weather was rainy and cold but this festival celebrated craft beer, featured live music and had food trucks on hand to cultivate the good times.
On entry I was happy to receive an actual glass for the festival, an upgrade to the standard issue acrylic cup. Looking down the length of the venue, breweries, mixed with a few specialty booths, flanked the hall for you to visit at your own pace.
The pavilion seems to be made for festivals like this and was the site of the Brewer’s Guild Festival during San Diego Beer Week. There’s plenty of room for the crowd to mingle around without clogging up too bad and preventing you from actually getting beer to drink.
Some of the standout new beers for me included Old Chub, a scotch ale from Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery in Colorado, Delicate Genius from Wet N’ Reckless and my favorite of the night, the Agave Amber Ale from Thorn St. Brewery.
Other home town breweries included Belching Beaver, Coronado, Green Flash, Helm’s, Iron Fire, Iron Fist, Lost Abbey, Manzanita, Mission, Port and Stone.
I have to say, in general, our in town breweries blew the out of town breweries away. I expect nothing less of our now legendary beer city. Beer Diego has taken off on a flight that cannot be stopped. We are extremely lucky to have a deep selection of world class beers being made in our town.
Festivals of this type are perfect for you to get introduced to different beers and breweries. Although I find it hard to truly assess a beer with a 2oz taster; I do find events like this get me interested in a beer or a brewery for further “research”.
The event went very well as far as I could tell. I did not hear any complaints of shortages on beer, the crowd was happy and friendly and most importantly everyone seemed to be having fun.
Thank you to the San Diego Winter Brew Fest for inviting me to cover the event and a bigger thank you to my followers for maxing out the discount code I offered off festival tickets!
This looks like it was a lot of fun 🙂 I am pleased they gave you a glass too…they really would have previously made you drink beer out of an acrylic cup?? Shame on them….lol. There is something about having little tastings….makes it more fun 🙂
It was fun and yes most beer festivals use the dreaded acrylic. I understand the thought of not letting that many people have actual glass to drop and break but it was a nice touch. Thanks for stopping by!
It has been a while since I went to a beer festival, it was excellent fun, you forget how strong some of the Real Ale here in the UK really is…. I was a little worse for wear within a couple of hours.
We used real glasses too, acrylic ones just don’t seem right.
This looked a great night, food, music and beer with a good crowd of happy people. You have done an excellent cover off it with some excellent pictures too, and I am sure you will enjoy ‘researching’ the other beers in the future 🙂
Festivals like this can definitely catch up to you quickly if you’re not careful. The glass was a good bonus and helped this event stand out. I will enjoy my “research”, thanks for reading!
Love this! looks likes lots of fun 🙂
The one i’ve always wanted to do myself is Oktoberfest – i’ve been to a few festivals here in the UK, but I believe the germans have got it right …. I’ve a lot of friends in Germany too, so I wonder if I can make 2013 my year!
Loving the photos too!
Clair
Thanks Clair! It was a great night for sure. I’ve always wanted to go to Oktoberfest myself but that will have to wait awhile. Good luck getting there this year, thanks for your kind words and support.
You should definately make 2013 your year to visit Oktoberfest Clair! It is an absolute blast. You have to make sure that you get to the festival super early tho (like 7-8am) to be sure you get a spot in one of the tents, otherwise they are closed and you have no chance of getting in. And they don’t serve the beer in acrylic cups either!!
No acrylic glasses eh? You’re dead to me…
Haha Karl! I’m typing pretty good for a zombie; not sure how saying an actual glass was nice means no acrylic but there you go. It would not be a good idea for your event, there’s going to be a few more people there.
Stop picking on Karl!