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Guide To The 2017 Los Angeles Beer Festival

It's back! Drink:Eat:Play's Los Angeles Beer Festival returns for its 9th year, offering plenty of suds, grub, and revelry. Featuring over 80 breweries and a dozen food trucks, it's no wonder this always anticipated beer extravaganza is a coveted ticket. As with previous LA Beer Fests, this year's event will be divided into two sessions. While the breweries and food trucks will stay the same, the bands will change (90's music fans should opt for the afternoon session while indie rock fans may want to hold out until the evening).
 
Los Angeles Center Studios
450 South Bixel Street
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Session 1: 12pm - 3pm
Session 2: 5pm - 8pm
Date: April 8, 2017
www.labeerfest.la
Tickets
Los Angeles Beer Fest - verified david klein
(credit: Drink:Eat:Play)

General Admission – $45.00 includes:

  • Unlimited samplings from over 80 breweries
  • Access to dueling piano bar and over a dozen food trucks (food sold separately)
  • Live music

Connoisseur's Ticket – $80.00 includes:

  • Unlimited samplings from over 80 breweries
  • Access to dueling piano bar and over a dozen food trucks (food sold separately)
  • Live music
  • VIP lounge with air conditioned bathrooms
  • Indoor/outdoor event deck
  • Access to limited and one-off beers
Top Breweries Participating
Beachwood Brewery
(credit: Beachwood Brewery)

Beachwood Brewing

If you haven't tried the pride of Long Beach's award winning brews yet, what's been stopping you? A multiple medalist at the Great American Beer Fest, Beachwood excels at crafting an impressive variety of west coast IPAs, among other stellar offerings. Thanks to a recent expansion into Huntington Beach, finding Beachwood's bottled brews no longer requires a hunting expedition. While the brewery's hoppy beers should be at the top of your list at the fest, be on the lookout for their fantastic sours courtesy of Beachwood's Blendery offshoot.
 
Coachella Valley Brewing Company

This quirky Thousand Palms brewery proves that the Coachella Valley isn't a beer desert. CVB excels at incorporating unconventional ingredients into their beer. Whether it's locally grown dates providing the perfect complement to the dark fruit notes of their Belgian dubbel or the addition of boysenberries to help tart up their refreshing Berlinerweisse, CVB is sure to bring something unique to the festival.
 
Founders

While this craft beer stalwart enters its second decade, the Grand Rapids brewery is a relative newbie in the Los Angeles area. The key to Founders' success is nailing a variety of beer styles. Their All Day IPA is a sessionable stunner that's sure to beat heat. If you prefer your beers on the darker side, Founders certainly has you covered. Their porter and imperial stout are top notch while the brewery's legendary coffee-spiked Breakfast Stout and coveted bourbon-barrel aged Kentucky Breakfast Stout) all help make Founders a welcome addition the California beer scene.
 
Knee Deep

Hops, hops, and more hops. That's the M.O. for this Nor Cal favorite which covers the full hoppy spectrum from their Citra Extra Pale Ale to the classic Breaking Bud IPA to their Mosaic and Simcoe spiked Lupilin River Imperial IPA, and of course, the grand daddy of them all, the Simitra Triple IPA which sports an impressive 11.2% ABV and walloping 131 IBU. In other's words, it packs a heck of a hoppy punch.
 
Sixpoint

Brooklyn's Sixpoint Brewery has received a warm west coast welcome since it started showing up here on shelves (and quickly disappearing) last year. Skip the IPAs (sure their solid, but see better options above) and stick with their easy sippers like the Sweet Action cream ale and The Crisp, Sixpoint's oh so refreshing pilsner.

beer
(credit: Mateusz Gzik/shutterstock)

Other Notable Participating Breweries

  • 10 Barrel Brewing
  • 818 Brewing
  • Absolution
  • Ace Cider
  • Acoustic Ales
  • Alaskan
  • Anchor
  • Anderson Valley
  • Babe's Bar-B-Que & Brewhouse
  • Ballast
  • Bell's
  • Bootlegger's
  • Boomtown
  • Big Sky
  • Breckenridge
  • Brewyard
  • COEDO
  • Common Cider
  • Coronado
  • Cosmic
  • Deschutes
  • Devil's Canyon
  • Drake's
  • Elysian
  • Enegren
  • Epic
  • Fireman's Brew
  • FrogTown
  • Garage Project
  • Golden Road
  • Golden State Cider
  • Goose Island
  • Green Flash/Alpine
  • Guinness
  • Hand Brewed Beer
  • High Water
  • Honest Abe Cider
  • Indie
  • Inland Empire
  • Insurgente
  • Iron Triangle
  • Ironfire
  • Julian Hard Cider
  • King Harbor
  • La Quinta
  • LAB Brews
  • Lagunitas
  • Last Name
  • Latitude 33
  • Lincoln Beer Company
  • Locust Cider
  • Lost Coast
  • Mike's Hard Lemonade
  • Mission
  • New Belgium
  • Ohana
  • Pacific Plate
  • Paulaner
  • Reel Brewery
  • Rekorderlig Cider
  • Rob Rubens Distilling & Brewing
  • San Fernando Brewing
  • Sanctum
  • Scholb
  • Shipyard/Sea Dog
  • Shmaltz
  • Sierra Nevada
  • Singha
  • Small Town/Pabst
  • Spiked Seltzer
  • St. Killian
  • Strand
  • Stumblefoot
  • Sudwerk
  • Telegraph
  • Thorn St.
  • Topa Topa
  • Transplants
  • Trumer
  • White Claw Seltzer
  • Zmurgy Brew Works
Best Bites
Los Angeles Beer Fest - verified david klein
(credit: Drink:Eat:Play)

Baby's Bad Ass Burgers

"Bad ass" is certainly an appropriate description for Baby's half pound "maneater" sized burgers which are cooked to juicy perfection. Save room for some pig tails, a.k.a. curly fries, and if you're hungering for some more meaty goodness, top them off with Baby's 10 spice chili & cheese. For dessert, consider bringing a roll of Tums.

BrewWings
(credit: John C./yelp)

BrewWings

Is there a better food pairing to beer than chicken wings? After tasting BrewWings spicy and crispy chicken the answer will undoubtedly hell no. Grab plenty of napkins because things will get messy. Also, don't forget a tissue because these wings will probably bring you to tears (on multiple levels). Vegetarians take note: BrewWings has you covered with options including grilled cheese, fried vegetables, and sweet potato fries.

Okamoto Kitchen
(credit: Brian L./yelp)

Okamoto Kitchen

Japanese street food is taken to a whole other level with this local favorite that's so popular, it even has its own leaderboard which ranks customer check-ins. You can't go wrong with anything fried, whether it's potatoes offered in three varieties (croquette, fry, and tot), crunchy and juicy fried chicken, or crispy pork katsu served on a brioche bun and topped with topped shredded cabbage, pickled onions, gouda cheese, and thick, Japanese-style curry. Save room for dessert which includes a variety of parfaits and jellies.

food truck
(credit: nenetus/shutterstock)

Other Participating Food Trucks

  • Chairman Truck
  • Dogtown Dogs
  • Epic Tacos
  • Grilled Cheese Truck
  • India Jones
  • Let's Thai Food Truck
  • Rice Balls of Fire
  • Roll'n Lobster
  • Slangin Corea
  • Son of a Bun
  • Thai Mexican
  • VCHOS
  • Zema
Article by David Klein.
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