From the Beer Writer: Beer festivals happen nearly every weekend in San Diego County. Yes, it is truly a magnificent time to be alive. With such a multitude of beer-drinking extravaganzas, many can come across rather similar and maybe even a bit blah. Granted these are first-world problems, but fests that register a cut above incorporate unique value-addeds, interesting tap lists and, in the best cases, really great humanitarian causes. For me, the annual event that checks all these boxes and is easily one of the best brew-hahas in a county overflowing with them is the Brewbies Festival. Put on by the Keep A Breast Foundation, this festival takes place at Oceanside’s Bagby Beer Co. and includes a robust, thoughtfully curated ensemble of largely Southern California breweries. Each of those businesses is asked to produce a special, pink-colored beer in honor of the non-profit’s mission to fight breast cancer and assist those effected by it. Attendees can spend a day sampling delightful pink one-offs they’re unlikely to encounter anywhere else. One of the beers that’ll be at Brewbies, Bagby Faint of Tart, is already available at the brewpub that birthed it. This blonde-turned-magenta ale is fortified with multiple red fruits, resulting in a complex, well-rounded fruit flavor. Slightly sweet and dry like rosé wine in the finish, it’s a delightful thirst-quencher that’s bound to find plenty of esteemed company at the festival it was brewed for, tickets for which can be purchased online.
From the Brewery: “We don’t make a lot of beer that has ingredients that stray too far from the core four. We jumped really out of our normal set last year with our first ever fruit beer. It was pretty well-liked and we have received some requests for its return. Instead of shooting for the same thing, we went for something a little different this time around. We took a really simple, mild blonde ale and added cranberries, pomegranates, raspberries and cherries into it. The result is a beer that has a great fruit aroma, a light blonde-ale character and a ‘faint’ tartness that comes through the fruit flavors. This beer is a bright, reddish-pink and will be our ‘pink beer’ offering at the Brewbies Festival. What is Brewbies? Well, years ago while working with me at Pizza Port, Melanie Pierce wanted to start a festival that would benefit Keep-A-Breast. She asked me what she needed to do and went to work creating this event, which is now in its ninth year and a very successful fundraiser for the non-profit. Each year, Melanie hand picks the breweries that are invited to pour and has always asked those breweries to bring at least one pink beer to help represent the breast cancer awareness at the core of the festival. It is pretty cool that breweries make special beers just for this event, even more so when they make full batches of pink beer without using any dyes or food coloring. This year we were able to get Faint of Tart ready in time, and a nice bonus is that we made a full batch so the beer is available now and will remain so for a while. There are several beers like this that will be poured at the festival. Some of these beers you may only see at this event so be sure to come check out Brewbies!”—Jeff Bagby, Owner & Brewmaster, Bagby Beer Company