Recently I attended the first annual Cali Uncorked event that consisted of beer, wine, comedy and live music.
The beer section had some really decent options, one of my favorite being the Telegraph’s Obsucra Fortis. This 9% ABV barrel-aged Belgian strong ale was balanced with a sour tartness, with some strong stone fruit flavors. Admittedly I had a few pours of this.
I enjoyed partaking in the beer and cheese tasting, where a familiar face was putting the cheese plates together. I watched as Greg Daniels rushed to get an aged Gouda on each plate next to a stinky brie and out to each table so they can taste along with Dr. Bill. I fell in love with the aged Gouda with it’s salt crystals, and how well it goes with the hoppy stone beers we tasted.
I wish there was beer stations closer to the music and comedy stages, because the beer was in a separate location and it made venturing toward the stages less desirable. I was also really surprised by the lines that formed towards the end of the event. Longest I’ve seen in a while, and probably due to most booths blowing their kegs early, and the attendance being pretty high. It never felt crowded, but the lines were a little nuts. I think people were also trying to get their last free pours in before cut-off time and they had to start paying for beer. Even the beer purchasing lines were nuts.
Overall I had a great time listening to the bands and drinking some fantastic beers. I even branched out and had some wine while I was there, because yes – I do enjoy wine from time to time. There was some really tasty stuff from Darkhorse. The crowd was really eclectic, and ranged from the young stoners to the craft beer crowd to older wine lovers. I would see a festival girl in her bear hat and crop top next to an older lady in her tight foxfire dance dress, and it was inexplicably normal. Kinda rad if you ask me.
One thing that was really fun was my husband, Sean, had a bag of hops at Ritual’s booth and we started having fun taking pictures with hops as confetti. I love how good sports my beer friends are, they really went for it.
I attended Brew Ho Ho yesterday, on my birthday, and it was a really fun event. I will be recapping it soon! Cheers 🙂
Great photos honey!