Another L.A. Beer Week Kickoff Festival is in the books. L.A. Center Studios played host to the 8th edition of the celebration of all things craft beer in Los Angeles.

Beer lovers who braved the heat had an immediate choice presented to them. (Once they sampled Unity IPA from Three Weavers of course.) They could turn to the right and visit the “Friends of the Fest” row where breweries from outside the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild had set-up shop. Industry darling Sante Adairius was located right next to Noble Ale Works who was pouring their new Dank You for Being a Friend. Enegren Brewing and Drake’s Brewing Company were nestled together and even more breweries than that could be counted.

If your adventure led you to the left, you could visit newbies like State Brewing, Pocock Brweing and Homage Brewing plus the marvel of the shortest line ever for a Monkish Brweing IPA along with the rest of the ever growing group of homegrown Los Angeles brewers assembled.

Officially there were 200+ beers being poured. There were pilsners aplenty, more IPAs than you could shake a commemorative glass at and even wilder styles. Home brew soda was on hand as well for a change of pace.

I was pouring Double IPAs at the Stone Brewing booth and was able to see the crowds and hear what they liked and didn’t like and to see the increase in beer knowledge from year-to-year. With each passing year, more and more kinks get worked out and the amount and quality of beer continues to grow

The Beer of the Week is the first bottle release from Glendale’s Brewyard Beer Company and they have picked a challenging beer to open their account. Smokin’ Redhead is an Irish-style ale/lager hybrid that uses a little smoked malt to give a big BBQ note to the beer. The beer’s lighter body holds up that rauchbier addition while remaining light to give a compare and contrast set of flavor notes to the beer.

The clock is ticking on L.A. Beer Week, you have four more days to enjoy the beers that are flowing at such a furious pace that Mr. Mulholland himself would envy. Here are a few more ideas for where to grab great L.A. beer:
Feeling sour? On Saturday, June 25, you can head to The Federal Bar and sample same tart and puckery beers.
Wanna meet a Brewer? On Friday, June 24, The Glendale Tap hosts the brewers from Lost Abbey & Brasserie Dupont.
Wanna Rock the Vote? Tonight, June 23, the Battle of the Guilds pits our neighbors to the north and south against L.A. at Naja’s Place.