Dispatches from “Beach to Brewery” Beer + Music Festival

For anyone who is a beer connoisseur, you know the name Karl Strauss. With their devotion to great beer, they not only provide an exemplary choice of quality beverages, they breed a sense of community.

For the past nine years, Karl Strauss Brewery has been the spawning ground of a local event known as “Beach to Brewery.” With the combined efforts of Karl Strauss Brewery and the non-profit Surfrider Foundation, the festival was born with the purpose of providing the foundation a fundraising campaign to keep Americas’ beaches clean and vibrant. Smartly, they knew if you provided beer, bands, and the ever-important ladies, the people would come. Or as it goes — “if you beer it, they will come.”

As it was the first time experiencing the festival tucked away deep in Rose Canyon, it did not disappoint. As I approached, at first it looked like a group gathering but, alas, it was the ever-disappointing line. Where not talking Disneyland long, but it was long enough to make me quickly pull my media card and exploit the perks.

Soon after retrieving the red wristband, what lied before me was every beer drinker’s wet dream: I.P.A’s, Ales, Lagers. I thought to myself, “If there is a God, he wouldn’t make the pathway to heaven a pearly white light, he would make it a glistening pint of brew.”

There were beer stands to the right and left, full of premium choice beer — “the nectar of the gods.” Center view lied the stage, where the bands would perform and provide entertainment, with the thirsty masses in between, it was a regular old BBBF sandwich: beers, bitches, bands, and food, topped with fun, and filled with endless possibilities.

Tapes n Tapes perform at the Beach to Brewery Fest

It was time to go forth and sample the tasting that this fine establishment had to offer. The brew was in its finest form, as if it was a fighter who had trained for 6 months in a highly contained environment, and when the bell rang it was ready to knock you out. 20 to 30 minutes later, my pallet had been sufficiently cleansed and I could now kick my five senses back in — mainly just the hearing. As it returned I heard the hard pounding of the very first band. With a lineup consisting of Delta Spirit, Stranger, Get Back Loretta, along with Tapes n Tapes, I knew I was in for a musical orgasm.

Each and every band performed astoundingly, bringing danceable tunes, loud guitars and thumping bass. Delta Spirit set the bar high for the rest of the lineup, with their hard-hitting, trashcan-playing set. Then the pulse pounding, hip-gyrating, lovable reggae of Stranger followed with a one-two punch to the crowd. Furthering along the causeway of musical bliss the onslaught continued with the animated, rhythmic songs of Get Back Loretta. Finally came the Godzilla monster of Tapes n Tapes, who emerged from the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota to wrap up the event.

As the alcohol flowed among the crowd, the crowd started to fill out with faces taking up every inch of space. However, none of that seemed to matter — we were all just living and soaking up every minute of it. Looking upon the dancing crowd, as they cheered and toasted to the good life, I knew that “Beach to Brewery” was something special.

Armando Cordoba is a freelance contributor who currently attends San Diego State University.