These photos were taken at the 5th Annual Kraft Bierfest that was held Saturday afternoon at Alpine Village in Torrance. Having attended every Kraft Bierfest since inception I can say that Saturday’s event reminded me of their first event in 2012 in that there was lots of quality beer but not very many people there to drink it. Since Alpine Village buys the beer they pour, rather than relying on donations, this means it is probably going to be a good time to visit there as their tap list probably has a lot of leftovers available.

In 2012 they had about 100 beers and maybe 200 attendees (probably a generous headcount); on Saturday they had about 50 beers, if there were 100 people that showed up I would be surprised. There was very little in the way of advertising, which was the obvious reason for so few showing up. But, as was pointed out to me by a few people, what was lacking in attendance was definitely made up for with the quality of beers available. In fact, this event was one of the “biggest” I have attended as far as ABV is concerned, in quite a while.

There were several Double IPAs, Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA, and what seemed like at least a dozen imperial stouts including Abyss, Black Xantus and Pugachev’s Cobra. With the $25.00 price of admission, it was definitely a bargain for those that showed up. The fact that Alpine bought the beer meant that there is a good chance that some of these imperial stouts have been sitting in Alpine’s cellar since last year or perhaps even longer.

All in all, it was a fun event; I doubt anyone left disappointed. I think the only real downside to this year’s event compared to the first Kraft Bierfest was the lack of brewery representation. I seem to recall brewery reps from around the state manning every booth in 2012; this year only Absolution, Mission, Anderson Valley and Track 7 had reps on hand. While it may not seem like that big a deal to some, it’s nice to have someone that knows a little about what they are pouring to answer questions.

I look forward to seeing what changes are implemented for next year. Cheers!

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