SoCal Homebrewers Fest
This weekend was the Southern California Homebrewers Fest at Lake Casitas. It’s a camping, beer drinking extravaganza where many California homebrew clubs get together and showcase the best of their beers and their craftsmanship with building portable tap systems. Contrary to the name of the festival, there are actually homebrew clubs from all over California, and homebrew afficionados seemingly come out of the woodwork (perhaps from the very woodworkings of the home-made tap systems) to join in the festivities. There’s nothing like the combination of two of my favorite things, nature and beer. Actually, the campsites are so tightly packed with RVs, cars, tents, and beer drinkers that there is little semblance of being out in nature aside from the painful absence of sinks with running water, showers, and nice fluffy beds. Some people may argue that the smell of all the warm, beer-soaked, unwashed bodies that are packed into the area is the essence of “nature”, but it’s generally not my definition of it.
Camping woes aside, the festival actually had a great showing and was well-organized. There were more beers than I could taste in a single day, albeit a long day. Well, actually, I may have been able to taste all the beers, but it certainly would not have ended well (and praying to the porcelain god in the form of a campground toilet is unthinkable in my world…. eeew!). There was a surprising number of English milds and bitters, but they do go down smoothly while being out in the sun all day. There were also abundant other styles of beers ranging from fruited lagers, to Belgian strongs, to sour beers. There were also beers available to taste from some commercial brewers like The Bruery and Alesmith. The event organizers had managed to get some good guest speakers (Peter Zien from Alesmith and Mitch Steele from Stone) to inspire the homebrewers who are looking to improve their products and maybe even go pro. Then there were some local bands that played music until the end of the festival at 10pm.
view of lake from SCHF
Ale Camino beertaps
Surfboard taps at Foam on the Brain
After all the festivities of the day, the Maltose Falcons (SoCal’s largest home-brew club) has the aptly named “Dead Palate Society” tasting. It happens late in the evening after the closing of the fest where the members of the club get together and “bring out their dead”. In other words, the funkiest, strongest tasting commercially available beers are brought out because everyone’s palates are presumably so deadened after an entire weekend of tasting different beers. It’s an entertaining event that goes on until the wee hours of the morning.
The event was a lot of fun and it’s always great to see how far the long reach of the beer-community extends. People from all walks of life, coming together for a common purpose – to share their beers.
me and dad-in-law at SCHF
