If you are a maven of the frosty glass, and an enjoyer of amber liquids that come with a head of foam, you likely have a certain style and approach when it comes to how you take your beer.
There are those of the Homer Simpson school, which go for the old-school cans and a comfy couch. There are the home brewers that fill their libations with basil and chocolate and cilantro. And then there are a whole bunch of people that just like good brews and some light hobnobbing centered around 'em.
We'd say claim that LA Beer Week was built upon the spirit of the last subset, but it is such a large event that anyone who likes fermented foamy goodness can find a spot at the table. And that proverbial table is now set for Thursday, Sept. 19 through Sunday, Sept. 29.
LA Beer Week has a nice, wide focus -- let's call it "local beer and beer purveyors, yay, and other beers are good, too!" -- so bet any brewer who is going the craft or independent route in Southern California will get a little love during the 11-day run. Events include a Spring Street Smokehouse rib-eating competition at Angel City Brewery, the OC Fest of Ales and Beer Run in Anaheim, a beer & breakfast bacon thingie at Simmzy's Belmont Short (um, yes!), and random Oktoberfest pop-up nights hither and yon.
We are not doing this mega list justice, though. No we are not, but we are intent on keeping this to the point, so you yourself may go make your beer-oriented mondo efficient spreadsheet of all the places you want to go.
Yep, our big city siblings -- hi, San Diego and San Francisco -- have a way of topping best-of beer town lists, but SoCal is on the rise, like suds in a stein. This isn't merely a tidy way to end a post, though: The proof is in the pudding, or, um, the massive, scroll-scroll-scroll LA Beer Week to-do roster.
One last glass raise to all of the volunteers who stage the event and the bars and brewhouses that participate. Beer-serving taverns fill our mythology as places of community -- hi, "Cheers" -- and that community is very apparent in the wider group of people who make the libations.
