Spring is here and that means something here in Downtown L.A. No, not baby birds. No, not the changing of the leaves. Spring means it’s time for L.A.’s 9th Annual Beer Festival. The celebration of the classic beverage put together by the good folks at Drink, Eat, Play. The LA Beer Fest allows event attendees a miniature beer mug to sample over 200 unique drafts. Lines go quick, and the crowds grow quickly at LA Beer Fest, the largest event of its kind. This year’s iteration will see its attendance reach upwards of 10,000.
The Downtown L.A. Beer Festival features brews from 85 unique breweries from all over Southern California including your favorite downtown breweries. To put it lightly, there’s something here for everyone. Casual beer drinkers and seasoned aficionados alike can partake in the consumption of these tasty mixes and flavor combinations they’d only dared to dream about. This year’s Beer Fest will also feature a San Diego selection.
Admission for the festival starts at $45 and includes unlimited beer tastings, a souvenir mini mug, and access to the event. For a little more dough ($80) you can access the V.I.P. features of the event like the private deck with a view of the entire event, a select collection of rare beers, and much, much more.
Another addition is the inaugural L.A. Beer Festival official beer. This year’s selection is the Maple Bacon Porter. A mix of the beer originally brewed by the craft beer wizards of South Florida’s Funky Buddha Brewery. This year the honor of brewing the legendary drink goes to Reel Brewery out of Los Angeles.
For entertainment, a slew of bands, Power 106FM, an humongous dance floor outdoors and the dueling piano bar featuring the talented musicians from Howl at the Moon offering all tipsy fans a chance to sing along. In addition, free mementos from the event at the custom photo booth. Also, the gals from Dame’s N Games will be handing out promos at the Downtown Weekly booth, stop by and enter your business card in their raffle for a chance to win tickets to more Downtown LA fun events.
Enjoy the wide selection of indie food trucks ranging from Indian to Japanese, and Peruvian to burgers. Food is sold separately and accessible to all attendees.
Organizer Dan Silberstein says he loves all the beers and started LA Beer Fest after years coordinating L.A.’s BBQ Festival. “People just kept suggesting that we do something centered around beer. There was this void for this kind of thing in L.A.” Um….he was right. Cheers!
The LA Beer Fest will take place at LA Center Studios at 1201 W. 5th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017. Entrance to the LA Beer Fest is on 5th Street and Bixel.
