Re-Living BAM Fest 2012

Craft Beer Los Angeles


I finally made it to my first ever BAM (Beer-Art-Music) Fest this year and it did not disappoint. We had a bevy of beers to choose from amidst the bucolic though busy setting of the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica.

Organizers closed off a street to add space but there was still wandering room as we moved from the main craft beer area through to artists stalls and galleries as well as food trucks and homebrewed soda.

My beer radar was working better this day as choice after choice yielded interesting beer after interesting beer. From the latest Local Fields beer from Hangar 24 that I will talk more about in weeks to come, a tripel from Ladyface that they dosed with black licorice Twizzlers, to fresh-hopped beers courtesy of Pizza Port.

Also exciting for me was the opportunity to sample three beers from The Brewery at Abigaile’s: Misfit Pale Ale, Vanilla Bourbon porter and my favorite on the afternoon, Full Nelson XPA, which took full advantage of the qualities of the Nelson Sauvin Hop. I am looking forward to trying more of their beers.

Other standouts on the day were the once a year and then it’s gone Oaktoberfest from Firestone Walker and the Collaborative Evil barrel aged beer from Smog City (a brewery that is really firing on all cylinders lately).

There is a reason why this event sold out the day before; it is a great beer festival that is grafted onto music and art that benefits people as creative with paint and sculpture as our L.A. brewers are with malts and hops.

Your Beer of the Week is from Colorado home of the Great American Beer Festival where I will be filing reports for Food GPS from today (the 11th) until Saturday. Deviant Dales from Oskar Blues. It comes in a big 16-ounce can with a big 8% ABV and a bitter 85 IBUs. It has been available in SoCal for awhile but you may want to pick one up the next time you need a hop infusion because this IPA has a serious amount of dry-hopped goodness.

I mentioned that Ladyface presented a cask of Twizzler aged beer. Well that is not the only candy beer that they have planned. Brewer Dave Griffith “had the brilliant idea of doing a series of weekly October casks inspired by Halloween candy.” On every Wednesday until the Ladyface 3rd Annual Halloween Party, “he’ll be creating a special candy cask.” Jump on Facebook or tweet the Agoura Hills brewery about the candies you’d like to see they include.

Find more of Sean Inman’s writing on his blog, Beer Search Party.

Address: 1639 18th Street, Santa Monica, California 90404
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Sean Inman

Find more of Sean Inman's writing on his blog, Beer Search Party.

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