Mammoth Bluesapalooza

A couple of weekends ago (August 3-5 to be exact), Patrick and I went to Mammoth's Bluesapalooza. It was our first time at the event, and we had a great time. The drive up was excrutiatingly boring- we had no CD's or adapter for Pat's I-phone (lucky Bastard), so it was only the radio for us, which consisted of mostly fuzz in the middle of the desert- so fun. We reached Mammoth about lunch time, and grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed over to a California Small Brewers Association seminar at Mammoth Brewing Company that afternoon. We missed the first couple of sessions because we were late, but got to hear the tale end of a interesting marketing presentation, and heard a talk from a canning systems distributor, Cask Brewing Systems. We also got a first hand look at Mammoth Brewing Company's brand new canning line. We left feeling quite intrigued with the idea of canning beers, but don't think it goes well with the image we are going for. Perhaps in the future we will develop another Bruery off-shoot, where Pat CAN put his hoppiness to good use(pun intended).

We went to festival Friday evening, and got to hang in the special VIP Brewer's section. Thank you Dave!!! We got to meet a couple of really nice brewing folks from Kern River Brewing, Coronado Brewing Company, and The Brewhouse. After that, we met Tyler, a brewer friend from BJ's West Covina, for some beers back over at Mammoth Brewing.

Saturday morning we went on an early morning horseback ride. You don't think we could go all the way to Mammoth and not do something outdoorsy?? The ranch must have known of Patrick as an up and coming brewer, because they made sure he had a special horse- a former actor who was featured in "Scorpion Kings." There was some Hollywood personality left in the guy- he was definitely not enjoying Pat's manly frame on his backside, and would let out a grunt/moan (not the usually horsy noise) whenever Patrick gave him a gentle kick. I can see why he was turned down for "Brokeback Mountain."

After the ride, we washed the dust off us (did I mention even my teeth were covered in dust?) and headed over to the Festival of Beers. It was packed by opening time, and the bands were playing away. We immediately spotted several Long Beach Hop Heads-complete with shirts and tatoos! The highlight of the festival would have to be Craftman's lavender sour ale- fantastic. Firestone Walker's cask IPA was pretty great too. It was the perfect setting- beautiful scenery, great music, and most importantly, great beer. Oh, did I mention, unlimited pours??

Mammoth's Bluesapalooza and Festival of Beers will now be a yearly event for us. We cannot wait to be able to serve next year, and bring Barley too.