United Nations of Beer

Stone 13th Anniversary Invitational Beer Festival

by Steve LaRue
(Beer Delegate, UT, USA)

Stone 13th Anniversary Invitational Beer Festival: A Utahrin Gets Stoned

Sold Out! state the signs in front of the entrance to the Stone 13th Anniversary Celebration & Invitational Beer Festival. This being my first Anniversary party I didn't know what to expect. There was no bad luck considering that this is the 13th; only good beer.

This is the second year for the event at UC San Marcos. The site is a terraced grassy area in the middle of the campus and a great place for a festival. There was also some additional space added this year which allowed the breweries to spread out more and make it more accommodating for the guests.

By the time the gates opened for the 1st session there were almost 1000 people in line. As soon as the gates opened the line moved quickly as everybody spread out to visit the tents of almost 50 participating breweries. Most of the breweries were from California with a few from elsewhere in the US and a couple of international participants.

Stone has recently employed a full time Beer Guru to provide selections for the restaurant and they often host tastings of unusual and rare beers as well as providing at least 20 guest taps at the Bistro. They also act as a distributor of not only their own beers but are an exotic importer so they can develop relationships with smaller brewers worldwide.

Brewers from California, Colorado, Arizona, Mexico, Hawaii, Scotland, Oregon, Norway, Pennsylvania, Denmark, Florida, Japan, New York, England, Delaware, Germany, Maine, Michigan and Belgium were all invited to provide product for the festival. Even with 2-3 hour sessions it is difficult to attempt all or even most of the beers, so I find myself trying to specialize by trying the IPAs and sour beers and a couple of the more unusual beers.

The longest continuous line (10 minutes) was for Maui Brewing's CoCoNut Porter and the longest line of the afternoon (30 minutes) was at the Stone Collaboration tent for the Ken Schmidt/Maui/Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter that was served only for the last 45 minutes of each session.

My favorite beer of the festival was a new offering from Lost Abbey called Sangre de Cristo. This is a red grape-infused Belgian style sour ale (ala frambozen) served from a punchbowl with added fruit.

The festival seemed odd to me as it was so quiet. There was no music, though it is being considered and there were very few 'sociables.' The crowd's silence was almost uncanny. Most beer festival crowds are really boisterous and happy. This seemed almost like a funeral though it could be a San Diego thing. I'm certain people were enjoying themselves but it was hard to tell. I spoke to Greg about this and he stated that this is the atmosphere he was trying to cultivate.

Everything else I liked. The selection of beers was extraordinary and there were several food vendors, as well as a couple of vendors that were providing unlimited free samples, including Mike's Beer Cheese, Stone Onion Rings and Carlsbad Gourmet. It was nice to be able to get free snacks in between tastes. Pizza Port, Stone Bistro, T&H Prime Meats and Amore Cheesecake provided larger meals for reasonable prices.

The venue for the festival is just a short walk from the UC San Marcos Sprinter stop, which allows people from all over Southern California to get to the festival without driving.