THE FOAM AND SOME FOAM: Sipping a refreshing beverage while standing on a beach that happens to be on an island can conjure specific images for many travelers. Most might imagine that the refreshing beverage in question would have some sort of pineapple juice in it, and perhaps some rum, and very definitely a colorful paper umbrella to top it all off in grand style. And while tropical or rummy drinks are a staple of island getaways, and shall always be so, there are times, when standing upon a chunk of land fully surrounded by ocean, that a person is looking for something hopsier and foamier, a beverage with a strong note of barley. It turns out the craft brews are just the province of the mainland, and that islands, too, can excel in this foamtastic field (of course). Two Harbors, the smaller of the two burgs on Catalina Island, is hosting a late-summer shindig that's fully devoted not to tiny umbrellas but frosty pints and the makers who make IPAs and lagers and porters and such. If you're a craft-brew-ist and you're keen to send off the summer of 2015 with A) a fancy beer in your hand and B) while standing on a remote-feeling beach on an honest-to-Pacific island, then clear your calendar on Saturday, Sept. 12.
AND FIND A BOAT: Always an important side note, when dealing with a trip to Catalina Island. Your best best, of course, is to book passage on the Catalina Express, which vrooms out to Two Harbors from San Pedro. You'll also want to ticket-up for the afternoon shindig before arriving, because it would be a bummer to make the whole across-several-miles-of-the-ocean journey only to find the party is sold out. "Over 30 different breweries will be in attendance" and other add-ups await, like sausage bites and sounds courtesy of the live entertainment. And, no, we're not saying to forgo rum drinks on an island down the road: They're classic. But if craft brew is your jam, and you still like an island idyll now and then, such gatherings do exist. The 13th Annual Microbrew Festival is at Two Harbors on Catalina Island on Saturday Sept. 12.
