It’s hard to find people who want to drive to Redondo at 2pm on a Thursday to start a marathon drinking session. But it’s easy to find people in Redondo who you can chat with, share food and beers with, and waste away the hours with during a marathon drinking session. So I didn’t fret on Thursday morning when the person with whom I was supposed to drive to Naja’s Place bailed on me. There was no way I was going to let a cancelation stand in the way of my attending the 3rd Annual IPA Festival. So I went at it alone. And all was very, very good.
I haven’t been to a proper beer festival since the 2006 Extreme Beer Festival (ironically, I attended the third incarnation of that festival as well!) in Boston. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I parked my car near the International Boardwalk in Redondo and searched for Naja’s. I found it at the end of a small marina, set in from the pier a few hundred yards, where the ocean is not quite visible but its presence is palpable. And when it opened at 2pm there were maybe ten intrepid souls in the bar ordering their first beers of the day.
The rules are simple, you pay $10 for a commemorative tulip glass filled with your first beer. After that prices vary depending on what you order. There was a crib sheet available at the bar with the names, brewery locations, alcohol by volume and IBUs (international bitterness measurements) for 71 different beers. No sampling was allowed, you just had to buy your 10 ounces and enjoy it. This made proper beer selection a crucial choice, because if you ordered something that wasn’t good it would be a waste of money and beer. I grabbed a crib sheet, looked it over and made my first selection of the day: Drakes Geyser Brau.
I found a table near the open patio windows, beneath one of the large flat screen TVs hanging from the wall. I settled in to watch the Braves and the Dodgers and ordered up a sampler platter of fried zucchini, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers and jalapeno poppers. The sun was shining, there was a small breeze blowing in off the water, and everything felt right in the world.
Then I befriended a group of locals, older beer nerds with a kind of a fratty mentality, and what had begun as a relaxing day at the beach with some beers become a more serious drinking session. Over the course of the next six hours we watched the Chicago Bulls game and I made serious headway on that crib sheet. My final tally says I — at the very least tasted — 35 out of the 71 beers offered on Thursday. I didn’t drink entire glasses of all 35 beers. But it would be hard to put a number on how much alcohol I consumed. My goal was to drink as many beers as I could while staying upright. I tried to pick beers with ABVs between six and ten percent, I didn’t pick anything I thought might be too heavy or too bitter, and I tried to save the weirdest-sounding beers for the very end. The highlights of my day at the 3rd Annual IPA Festival included:
• Great Divide 17th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA (10% ABV / ??? IBU) – Translucent copper color, floral aroma, bitter but with a really nice malt/hop balance that keeps it from getting too bitter, great lacing, good carbonation, medium/bold body. Yummy.
• Strand Single Hop Double IPA (7.5% ABV / ??? IBU) – I drink a lot of beers and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a single hopped double IPA before. It makes sense in theory, use one variety of hops but do so very, very liberally. The Strand brewed up only 5 gallons of this beer and it sold out pretty quickly on Thursday. Amber color, floral aroma, small head and little carbonation, thin body, hop flavor starts up front and lasts well beyond the finish. This was one of the more bitter IPAs I tasted.
• Port Brewing Mongo IPA (8.5% ABV / ??? IBU) – Hazy golden/orange color, bright citrus aroma (orange, grapefruit?), huge beige foamy head left amazing lacing, hop bitterness followed by a faintly sweet finish.
• The Bruery Mischief – (8.5% ABV / 35 IBU) – One of the least bitter beers of the day, I’m not even sure I could call it an IPA based on the flavor profile. Yellow/straw gold color, orange and lemon citrus aroma/flavor, tart/sour flavor too, very mild hop bitterness, high carbonation, medium-light body.
• Ballast Point Sculpin (with habanero) (7% ABV / 70 IBU) – This was my final beer of the night and it was totally worth the wait. I didn’t know how much habanero would be in there, and I didn’t want to blow out my palette so I saved it for the end. Maybe not a 4- or 5-star but definitely one of the most unique tasting beers I’ve encountered. And yet it was still very drinkable. My handwriting was a little sloppy at this point but my notes say it was golden/amber in color, pine aroma with pepper cutting through, starts with citrus hop flavor and suddenly the heat and spice from the pepper creeps on you, leaving an insane dry habanero aftertaste. Wild stuff.
Since my day wasn’t really complete after seven hours of drinking and fried foods, I stopped at In-N-Out on my way home (yes, I drove, and yes, I drank so much water throughout the day I was good to drive) for an Animal-style Double-Double and a shake. I justified my horrible dietary decision by reminding myself that my stomach doctor told me I was underweight the other day. The burger more than just hit the spot, it ended my day. I got home and passed out on the couch. A few hours later Alex woke me up and we played Super Mario Bros. Wii until I was ready to pass out again.
The 3rd Annual IPA Festival is still going on at Naja’s Place in Redondo Beach through Thursday the 28th of April. I think it starts every day at 2pm. You can find out more details on the Naja’s Place Facebook page.
