Beer Fest Review: OC Brew Ha Ha 2013

My faith in beer festival organizers has been restored. After the disastrous Beer Loves Music beer festival at the Yost Theater in Santa Ana, I was set for a great beer fest, and found it at the OC Brew Ha Ha. Anyone running a beer festival really should attend a Brew Ha Ha function to see how it’s done.

I went in expecting great things from this beer fest, which supports the Fallen Firefighters Fund. Last year’s Orange County Brew Ha Ha was great, as was the Brew Ho Ho at the Phoenix Club in Anaheim, put on by the same people. It appears that the organizers are cigar friendly, because each event has included a cigar garden. Indeed, this event was custom made for my tastes, because it included beer, cigars and motorcycles, with a number of motorcycles on display in the middle of the event. (I didn’t actually see anything about the bikes, so for all I know a group of riders just found a really good place to park, but they were all suspiciously clean and polished. It made a nice display, intended or not.)

My recollection is that event was held at Irvine Lake last year, but for 2013 they moved it a short distance to the east to Oak Canyon Park. Both venues are good, but I prefer Oak Canyon Park, because it is more spread out and offers more shade. The only downside to the location is that it is a long distance off the main road, down a narrow road, so a bottleneck of cars is inevitable. That part was a little frustrating, and I felt for the people who had come in cabs, sitting there with the meter running, but the organizers had lots of people working the parking lot and the cars were parked as quickly as possible. Parking was free.

My beer angel and I entered on VIP passes, arriving about 30 minutes after the event had started, and the time in line was less than five minutes. The organizers sent out a number of emails about the event, and in one explained that attendees could arrive up to an hour early, check-in, and wait in a holding area until time for admission. I didn’t get to witness that first hand, but it is a great idea. As I have complained here before, as with last year’s beer festival at Union Station, the time spent getting into beer festivals can eat up half the time of the event.

It was a very warm day, but as I said there was plenty of shade, and misters were placed throughout the grounds to provide some relief. There were igloos full of cold water everywhere, and free fountain drinks.

The selection of beers was tremendous, with over 70 breweries present, each offering two, three or even four different beers. Here is a list of the breweries They used a wristband system, tearing off a stub for each beer. I never like that system because I prefer to take small pours in order to try more beers. I will say though, I had 20 tabs with the VIP admission (and between you and me not all the booths were tearing the tabs, especially toward the end), and I did not even go through all my tabs. If you did run out of tabs, you could buy more at $5 for 3 tastes.

After about an hour of beer tasting, we headed over to Slaters 50/50 for a great burger, and then to the Grey Cloud cigar garden. A very tasty selection of cigars was offered, including my choice, the Flor de las Antillas Toro, rated the number one cigar by Cigar Aficionado last year. It was my first time smoking one of these cigars, and while is was a little on the mild side for my taste, it was very complex and flavorful. I can certainly understand why it was ranked so highly. One great cigar. Here is a video about the cigar. I relaxed in the shade for a few minutes, enjoying my cigar, and then returned to the beer drinking, cigar in hand. I was careful to puff only when away from the crowd, and received only two comments, both of them positive, complimenting the smell of the cigar.

I forgot to count the precise number of food trucks, but I’d say there were at least eight, and the lines were not bad. One of the food trucks was a converted fire truck, selling pizza. That was very cool and especially appropriate, given that this was a fundraiser for firefighters. I felt bad for the truck selling shaved ice, because I did not see a single customer the entire day. On such a hot day, you’d expect shaved ice to be a popular choice, but I guess beer drinkers are already hydrated from all the beer and water and don’t want to take a break for a snow cone.

Speaking of cool trucks, the sound stage, apparently provided by Red Bull, is a tour bus that opens up to a stage. There were three bands, according to the organizers. I only saw two – The Slidebar and Reel Big Fish – and both were very good. I was so impressed with Reel Big Fish, which has a horn section, that I bought one of their CDs.

OC Brew Ha Ha 2013 was a complete success. If you are in the area, don’t miss this one next year, and be sure to attend the second annual OC Brew Ho Ho, set for December 7, 2013. While not on the same scale as Brew Ha Ha, it’s a great beer fest in its own right, offering a tremendous selection of special seasonal beers.