Figueroa Mountain Brew Co. hosts an Industrial Way block party celebrating the popular brew style
On Saturday, April 11, the south end of Industrial Way was turned into a festival of sorts hosted by Figueroa Mountain Brew Co. and attended by over 60 other breweries.
Welcome to Lagerville, the annual event that’s part brewery convention, part competition, and part block party with food and entertainment, and it didn’t disappoint. The event celebrated the lager style of beer, prevalent in the most popular brands like Coors, Budweiser, and Miller.
Lager is a style of beer brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term “lager” comes from the German word for “storage”, as the beer was stored before drinking, traditionally in the same cool caves in which it was fermented.
“We like lager because it’s really the heart-and-soul of beer production,” said Ben Wallace, co-owner of Lawless Brewing Co. of North Hollywood.
Lawless’ Head Brewer Josh McCombs added, “it’s a really focused process and very technical kind of brewing, and I really like that.”
Lawless Brewing Co. was the big winner of the day as it won the Gold (first place) in the Light Lager category and then the People’s Choice award for overall favorite.
Lawless was founded in 2010 by Wallace and his wife Whitney, who had been Emmy-winning producers for the show “Entertainment Tonight.” Like many in the brewing business, Ben started doing it at home.
“I was a home brewer, and I was enjoying it as a hobby,” he said. “Then I met Josh, who was just finishing brewing school, and we just decided to take the leap and make it a career.” According to the Lawless website (lawlessbeer.com), a friend who noticed the beer fermenting in Wallace’s closet during his time as a home brewer exclaimed “It’s Lawless up in here!” The name stuck.
Lawless wasn’t the only one to come up north and win an award. Bottle Logic Brewing of Anaheim won a Silver in the Dark Lager category, and came on the small stage in the patio to accept their award and, in the tradition for every winner, down a pitcher of beer.
Other winners, like Lawless, had multiple people take a swig to finish off the pitcher, but for Bottle Logic, employee Chandler Gordon took the whole pitcher himself.
“This is my first time to this event and it’s been great,” said Gordon, who said he’s worked for Bottle Logic for 10 months. “In addition to selling our brews, I’ve been able to sample some others. I promised to space it out on the tastings, but I think that chug up there kind of ruined it.”
Taking the Gold in the Dark Lager category was Wild Fields Brewhouse in Atascadero. Owner Ryan Fields manned his brewery’s tent along with Assistant Brewer Kayla Morrow, and her fiance Deryk Izou, who’s also involved in the business.
Fields grew up in Templeton, just north of Atascadero, and moved around a lot in adulthood before returning to the Central Coast in Atascadero. Like Ben Wallace, Fields started out making the beer at home.
“I brewed my own beer, and as I kept going I thought ‘this sounds like fun,'” Fields said. “So I went into business and eventually opened Wild Fields. The name is a play on my name, and I want it to represent natural things like wood and trees.”
Fields also noted he expanded his business to include a new location at Atascadero Lake, along with running the paddleboat rental at the location.
Outside of awards, people were seen sampling drinks from the myriad of breweries, mostly small ones that seem to have a story to tell about their business, and even just about the name.
On such business was Transmission Brewing from Ventura. Their table was set up with a tap area decorated by car parts, appropriate for the name.
“Our brewery and tasting room are actually in a building that used to be a transmission shop,” said Jake Logsdon, sales and distribution manager, who said he’s been to three or four Lagervilles in the past. “It still looks like a transmission shop, and we actually bring in a few gearheads to come just because they like the car culture in it. We also put a deck on the roof, so people can some beer up there and look down at the ocean.”
Along with the brewers who come in to showcase their beers and talk shop, there are also attendees who come just for the vibe, to have some brews, and listen to music, which on this day was provided by the bands False Puppet, Cydeways, and DJ Peete.
Two people just enjoying the atmosphere were Santa Clarita couple Harland and Melissa Skogrand.
“We love to find beerfests like these to go to; I’ve been to Lagerville once and this is the first one Harland’s been to,” Melissa said.
The two were very noticeable in their brightly colored clothing, with Melissa wearing a yellow shirt with beer mugs drawn all over it. They also gave acquaintances a chuckle by passing tiny plastic hands with a certain finger sticking out.
“We like to have fun with that,” Melissa said. “We gotten to know a lot of people on these events, and the attention getter is always the clothes.”
For those who missed Lagerville, or enjoyed it so much they’re looking for a new event, have something to look forward to as the annual Buellton Brew Fest will take place Saturday, May 2. The event will have the usual beer tents, vendors, food trucks, and live entertainment, located at River View Park. For more information, go to buelltonbrewfest.com
