Homebrew Away From Home: SoCal Festival Moves to Lake Casitas

By Tomm Carroll • September 8, 2008

The annual spring Southern California Homebrewers Festival is always one of the coolest beer parties in the bottom half of the state, but this year, the fest was literally cooler. That’s because the 2008 festival was moved from the traditional toasty Temecula location in Riverside County to the more temperate climes of the Lake Casitas Recreation area, outside of Ojai in Ventura County, where a refreshing breeze blew in off the lake to the relief of the revelers.

Over 1,000 homebrewers and their friends, representing nearly 30 brewclubs – from Alpha Ales of Orange County to Walnut Valley Beer and Gourmet Society of Walnut – descended upon the grounds on May 2, set up camp and erected their serving booths for the opening festivities that evening (including a Belgian ale taste-off, a single malt Scotch whisky tasting and live music), and the day-long party May 3.

With each of the homebrew booths featuring at least five beers on draught, and some close to 20, there were literally more brews than people could get to in a day. And the majority of them were exceptional. Among the most unique beers were the winner in the Belgian taste-off, the Long Beach Homebrewers’ French Oak-aged Belgian Quad from Julian Shrago; the Chamomile American Strong Ale from Pacific Gravity (which won Josh Jensen a Gold Medal in this year’s Mayfaire competition); and “Alexander Rodenbach,” a blend of two beers from the Strand Brewers: Super Sexy Flanders and Flemish Sour Red, which was phenomenally tart, and definitely exceeded the sum of its parts.

Aside from the sun and the suds, the day also featured talks by Firestone Walker Brewing’s head brewer Matt Brynildson and Hop Union’s GM/owner Ralph Olson, and a raffle of brewing equipment and assorted breweriana. Tina Damery of Arcadia won the grand prize: a deluxe brewing system from Beer, Beer & More Beer. There was also live music throughout the day, including a lunchtime performance from Steve Casselman (a bluesman and brewer who has performed at all of the SoCal Homebrew Fests, and the Maltose Falcons’ Brews Band, which closed out the fest with a dance-inducing set of class rock covers –– and proved that homebrewers can make good music too.

: Pete Johnson of Brewhouse, Nick Proctor of the Santa Barbeerians, and Dan Reyes of CARP

: Colorado homebrewer Ernest Bermudez and Siobhan Patrick of the Huntington Beach Surf City Brewers

: Thomas Lee Bakofsky of the Pacific Gravity Homebrew Club is unhappy with the hops shortage.

All photos by Tomm Carroll

Categories: Events, People
Tags: Alpha Ales, Brewhouse, CARP, firestone, homebrew, Hop Union, Lake Casitas, Maltose Falcons, Ojai, Pacific Gravity, Santa Barbeerians, Walnut Valley Beer

About the Author

Tomm Carroll

Like most people, Tomm Carroll tasted his first beer as a kid growing up in New Jersey, when his father offered him a sip of his favorite canned beverage: Piels, a regional lager, then brewed in Brooklyn. And again, like most people, young Tomm hated it. Spit it out. Currently, he is a feature writer and the Los Angeles correspondent for the Celebrator Beer News, the oldest beeriodical in the country. He has also written about beer for the Los Angeles Times and Entertainment Today. An experienced beer judge, he is a member of the Brewers Association, as well as Pacific Gravity, the award-winning homebrew club based in Culver City, where he resides. Carroll drinks locally and globally. But he still never developed a taste for that fizzy yellow lager. He can be contacted at beerscribe [at] earthlink [dot] net.