Hell of a (LA Beer) Week

Los Angeles just did the unthinkable - we had a Beer Week, actually a Beer 11 days. Sure there were glitches, but for a first year event it was amazingly smooth.

For my part I made it to a handful of events: a tasting at the Verdugo, the Blue Palms Brewhouse and Sean Paxton's awesome Firestone and Speakeasy Dinner and the LA Beer Week Festival at the Descanso Gardens. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a beer festival at a prettier place. Of course, the Falcons had our booth there. We were only allowed to pour Kent Fletcher's fresh root beer due to the organizer's concerns about homebrew being served at a commercially licensed event. Along the way we swapped stories with the guys from Mutineer Magazine. And the next day's volunteer's party was great with tons of beer and Wine Warehouse's Larry James pulling out the playbook from his days as a road chef. 100 lbs of perfect trip-tip, chicken and spicy sausages with pinto beans and Larry's Olive oil Coleslaw.

And we even had a party of our own in the middle of all that. 

Every day I looked at www.labeerweek.com and wondered how I could sweet talk my way into spending less time at home and more at the events themselves. That's a great stretch of time

. I'll be back with more words about the LA Beer Week, but suffice it to say: congrats and thank you to Ryan and Brandon of the Verdugo and Dennis Hartman and Jay Baum, formerly of Crown City and now working for Spaten and Chimay respectively. All of them (and many others of course) laid a hell of a foundation for next year.