These photos were taken Saturday, September 30 at Rancho Los Cerritos Historical Site in Long Beach, where Craft Beer LB and Sake Secret collaborated to celebrate World Sake Day by hosting the First Annual LB Sake Day.

The inaugural event featured literally dozens of different sakes, several Japanese food options, and a little Japanese beer. It was really just missing sushi to make it a perfect event.

So yeah, this was not a craft beer event by any means, but I don’t think anyone that attended would disagree that sake is a craft beverage. Granted, up until a few weeks ago 99% of my sake consumption involved sushi, my eyes have been opened. This is in no way meant to imply that I have suddenly become some kind of a sake expert, but I at least understand what polished rice is and the difference between one 90% polished versus a 60%; and no, I am not going to explain it here. Suffice it to say that LB Sake Day 2023 was as much about education as it was about drinking sake.

As it was the inaugural event, ticket sales were limited to a couple hundred which was probably a good thing, because while there was a good ratio of sake vendors to attendees, lines did not move like you might expect at a beer festival, primarily because attendees seemed genuinely interested in learning the science of sake so there was a lot more discussion as opposed to the “get a beer and move on attitude” found at your typical craft beer festival.

Speaking of sake, a few of the sake companies in attendance included Kikkawa Shuzo (makers of Afuri), Nova Brewing Company, Sake High!, and Moon Bloom. Others that I noticed were Wismettac, Heaven Sake, and Tippsy Sake. I know there were a couple others but to be honest, I was not familiar with any of them and people were blocking a lot of the signage, sadly my ability to read Japanese leaves a lot to be desired, so I apologize to anyone I failed to mention.

Food options were available from Drinking Buddy Snacks, Chinchikurin (Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki), Kagura (Katsu Sando), Torisho (Karaage Japanese fried chicken), and Wagyu Street (Authentic Japanese Wagyu dishes). Orion Beer poured samples of beer made in Okinawa, Japan.

People that found a sake they wanted to bring home were able to pre-order for pickup at Sake Secret in Long Beach; so that is the hot tip of the day, Sake Secret probably has what want when it comes to sake.

All in all, it was a very interesting and educational event. It kind of reminded me of the first time I went to the Bruery and looked at their tap list; intimidating at first glance, but quite enjoyable once one made the effort to dive in.

For those of you that bring pretzel necklaces to beer festivals, bring some sushi with you and you will be set. Cheers, I mean kanpai!

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