{"id":20,"date":"2010-10-11T09:54:06","date_gmt":"2010-10-11T09:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westcoastersd.dreamhosters.com\/?p=20"},"modified":"2010-10-29T17:50:36","modified_gmt":"2010-10-29T17:50:36","slug":"the-taste-of-tijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2010\/10\/11\/the-taste-of-tijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Taste of Tijuana – TJ Beerfest Pt. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

We were relaxing on the second story patio of El Torito, a restaurant by day, disco by night situated on Avenida Revoluci\u00f3n in downtown Tijuana.\u00a0 As beats pumped through the aging speakers and drowned out the table-hopping mariachis, young kids were either riding the precarious mechanical bull or playing with multi-colored balloons.\u00a0 The parents, like us, looked on while sipping $1 Coronas and enjoying cheap carne asada tacos on the mild Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

From this vantage point, we could just barely make out the entrance to the TJ Beer Fest. When we arrived at 11:30 a.m., half an hour after the scheduled start-time, a worker told us the proverbial doors would open in una horita<\/em> or \u2018a little hour.\u2019 Having lived in Spain and become accustomed to affectionate, diminutive understatements like this, we should\u2019ve known better.<\/p>\n

\"palms<\/a>
view from El Torito<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 2:15 p.m. we finally paid our bill, thanked our waiter Jose and strolled in the direction of the twenty-foot tall inflatable Tijuana Cerveza beer bottle that we presumed had been erected to signal the start of the festivities. \u201cThe three amigos,\u201d a nickname with which we were oft-solicited throughout the day, were nearly persuaded along the way to buy an infamous Tijuana souvenir with the line \u201cCome check out my store guys, buy something you don\u2019t need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resisting the temptation, our memorabilia itch was soon scratched in the form of a TJ Beer Fest shaker glass, 4oz. taster line marked and all. Our $8 entrance fee also awarded us orange entregado<\/em>-stamped wristbands and three taster tickets each.\u00a0 A staff member greeted me with Bienvenidos a Tijuana<\/em> \u2013 we felt welcomed indeed.<\/p>\n

Inside, first up was the BeerBox<\/a>, a chain of boutique beer stores expanding throughout Mexico, and one of the most popular tents of the day.\u00a0 Their own Pale Ale was not bad, and they offered a decent international selection as well.\u00a0 Next was the brewery Zona Norte, whose company and beer names were derived from the bars and brothels of Tijuana. Their Molino Rojo \u2018Red Mill\u2019 <\/em>Red Ale was quite tasty, yet the Indian Pale Ale had much to learn from its San Diego brother.<\/p>\n


\n\"jeff
Beer Box tent <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Broken, rusty Spanish got us through the three small tasters relatively quickly, but thankfully a pint of most selections was only $2-3 thereafter.\u00a0 Some were hit or miss, but the Lowrider Rye Ale from Cucap\u00e1<\/a> really quenched my thirst on a hot afternoon\u00a0 \u2013 we couldn\u2019t imagine how Jeff Hammett, fellow West Coaster and San Diego Beer Blog<\/a> author, and his crew, rode the fifteen miles from North Park to the border in the heat.\u00a0 Select Cucap\u00e1 brews are available in San Diego and found through their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With Presidente Felipe Calder\u00f3n in town for the two-week Tijuana Innovadora conference, police presence was high.\u00a0 At the opening day speech, Calder\u00f3n proclaimed \u201cTijuana is a city that works, studies and innovates; it\u2019s a community where everyone works for the common good.\u201d\u00a0 The breweries are doing the same – this wasn\u2019t the Tijuana your mother warned you about.\u00a0 The diversity offered from Mexico\u2019s craft brewers was surprising, and more important, refreshing.\u00a0 No longer should San Diegans believe their Mexican beer selection is limited to Corona, Pac\u00edfico, XX or the like.\u00a0 A quick jaunt back across the river, a two-hour pedestrian wait at the border and a sleepy trolley ride back to downtown not only made us hungry for even more Mexican cuisine, but thankful we don\u2019t have to endure that commute every day to support our families. \u00a1Viva M\u00e9xico!<\/em><\/p>\n


\n\"famous
arch @ the end of la revu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We were relaxing on the second story patio of El Torito, a restaurant by day, disco by night situated on Avenida Revoluci\u00f3n in downtown Tijuana.\u00a0 As beats pumped through the aging speakers and drowned out the table-hopping mariachis, young kids were either riding the precarious mechanical bull or playing with multi-colored balloons.\u00a0 The parents, like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,6,5,11],"class_list":{"0":"post-20","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"tag-cucapa","8":"tag-tijuana","9":"tag-tijuana-craft-beer","10":"tag-zona-norte","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-k","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}