These photos were taken Saturday evening at Three Weavers Brewing Company in Inglewood, where they hosted their first annual Lite Fest; a craft beer festival billed as the Champagne of Beer Festivals. The event showcased beers that were no higher than 5.0 ABV from more than 30 breweries. The ticketed event featured unlimited pours, a very nice souvenir glass, live music and food popups. Proceeds from the event went towards supporting the California Craft Brewers Association.

Food was available from Breakfast Dreams and Tortas El Aguila. Live music was provided by LA Rockabilly band, Johnny Shakes & the CA Quakes, and Las Vegas based Punk Rock/Rock & Roll Rat Pack tribute band, Franks & Deans.

The event was initially scheduled to be held out in the Three Weavers Brewing parking lot, but winter decided to show up this year and the festivities were moved inside where it was at least dry and out of the wind. With beers being poured from the main bar, the “Dock & Disco Pit” and the canning hall, Three Weavers had plenty of room to handle everyone with the only lines I saw being for food or using the bathroom.

Now, I will admit that low ABV beers are typically what I drink when it is sunny and warm; last night was anything but. However, with probably 40 different beers to choose from, even a hophead could find something they enjoyed. I spoke with a couple hopheads that admitted that Lite Fest may have opened their eyes to the fact that there was life outside of IPAs.

After scoring a HopSaint Helles I began wandering around, taking photos, talking to friends, and checking out where all these breweries were from, because there were definitely names I did not recognize. As I roamed I started noticing that not all the breweries were local, in fact they were anything but local as evidenced by the presence of such breweries as Russian River Brewing (Santa Rosa), Fifty Fifty Brewing (Truckee), Urban Roots (Sacramento), Sante Adairius Rustic Ales (Capitola), and Rhinegeist Brewing (Cincinnati).

Like I said, and my friends know, I can only do so many “champagne” lagers and pilsners but lucky for me, not all lagers and pilsners are see-through and I really appreciated finding Solidarity from Eagle Rock Brewery, Dunkel from Common Space, and a few other dark lagers from places like Radiant Beer. There were also a few sours in the mix, so I was definitely able to have a good time.

I actually had favorites by the time I left, with my hands down favorite being Minor Dissent, a barrel-aged saison from Sante Adairius; it was love at first sniff. I walked around a long time just smelling it. My two other, new to me brews were Fleurs from Ambitious Ales, and a new Raspberry-Lemon sour from Smog City that apparently was so new it doesn’t have a name yet.

As you may have noticed, I said this was the inaugural Lite Fest; that is because I was informed that they intend on making this an annual event and rotate the participating breweries each year.

Congratulations to Three Weavers, the California Craft Brewers Association, and everyone that helped pull off a fun event, even if under excruciating circumstances. Cheers!

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