Yes, this post is a little late, but that’s what happens when I’m spending so many days in a beer induced haze from going to all these beer events. Beer season is in full swing! This past Saturday, LA CABAL (Los Angeles Craft and Artisanal Beer Appreciation League) hosted their first craft beer fest at the Echoplex. It was a huge success considering how many people showed up! There were great beers, all from California. Some of the featured breweries were Stone, Green Flash, Craftsman, Ballast Point, Telegraph, Port Brewing, Sierra Nevada, and The Bruery. The foods that were presented at the event were also good, but the beers definitely took center stage.
My favorite beer of the event? Surprisingly, it was the young lambic called Cuvee Jeune by The Bruery. Perhaps it was the heat trapped in the building but what seemed to be too many warm bodies packed into a windowless, indoor space. But, in my mind, this beer was really good! It had a nice earthy sourness, that was not overpowering, and a light body and clean finish. Cuvee Jeune proved to be a perfect refreshment for this event and also served to clean my palate between snacks. It paired great with a soft, creamy, super-sexy cheese brought by Hot Knives, called Cana de Oveja. Yum… I’ll be re-creating that pairing at home sometime for sure!
As far as the rest of the goings-on of the Craft Beer Fest, there are too many good beers to name and overall, the event was very well-thought out. I loved that sheer variety of the beers and foods! There were great local bands and even a “Craft Beer Roundtable” featuring some of the local beer scene’s heavy hitters discussing the finer points of cultivating the much needed beer community that has traditionally been missing from Los Angeles. The organizing snafus were relatively minor considering this was the first Craft Beer Fest put on by LA CABAL, and it was really the best case scenario for the beer community that there was this much un-anticipated support for this type of event. I would definitely recommend future LA CABAL beer events to anyone willing to listen, and hope to see a continually growing beer community there! It’s super-fantastic to see that Los Angeles is primed and ready for more good beer!
[...] that were are quite nice. I think that my favorite is still the Cuvee Jeune that I also had at LA CABAL’s craft beer fest, but the White Zin and the Gypsy Tart were also very refreshing and nice considering the heat. I [...]