View a slideshow from the 2016 festival.
Hundreds of craft beer options in one centralized location: good.
Hundreds of rowdy good-for-nothin’ hooligans in one centralized location: bad.
Unfortunately, the two tend to come as a package deal—except at Buellton Brew Fest.
The festival will hit town for its fifth year on May 7, and according to Event Director Andres Nuño, it’s pretty much the most low-key craft beer shindig you’ll find around town. This year’s Brew Fest will host more than 50 craft breweries, local wineries, and cider companies, as well as a variety of food trucks and live entertainment from Out of the Blue and DJ Hektik.
All that stuff’s great, but the Buellton Brew Fest stands out for a totally different reason: the chill factor.
“People can bring in their own chairs, blankets, food—which we allow—and they just kind of hang out,” Nuño said. “They’ll go and set up an area on the field, go out and try some beers, come back and relax. It’s a lot different from most of the beer festivals in the area. It’s kind of unheard of, actually.”
It’s Nuño’s second year directing the festival, and he said most ticket-buyers come from the 27-and-older crowd, which adds to the event’s laid-back vibe. The past few years’ craft brew boom plays its part as well, transforming beer-lovers’ attitudes toward beer festivals.
“Three or four years ago, beer festivals were about showing up and getting as drunk as you can as fast as you can,” Nuño said. “And now that there’s this huge craft beer movement, you get people who actually just enjoy craft beer. They’re there to try certain kinds of beer. They’re not just there to get hammered.”
(That said, people still get hammered—it’s just a fancier kind of hammered.)
One of Nuño’s primary goals since taking the reins at Buellton Brew Fest has been to beef up the event’s legitimacy. While the festival used to rely on volunteers who knew nothing about the beers they were pouring, participating breweries are now sending representatives with expertise to pour and answer people’s questions about their brews.
Local celebrities like Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. and Firestone Walker are a given at the Buellton Brew Fest, but Nuño said he’s really looking forward to some of the fresh faces, including Full Sail, Founders, Belching Beaver, Knee Deep, and Elysian.
General admission tickets are available online for $45 a pop, and they’ll get you a souvenir glass and access to samplers from all the beers and wineries onsite. The event itself will take place at River View Park from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
And because we all know drinking and driving is a big fat no-no, the brew fest has transportation covered for all you drunkies out there: A “brew bus” will pick up from Fig Mountain in Santa Maria at 10 a.m. and drop you back off there after the event for a flat $25 fee, or a $5 shuttle service will pick up and drop off folks in Los Olivos, Santa Ynez, Solvang, and Buellton.
Still, as far as Nuño is concerned, the best parts of the event have nothing to do with beer.
“The thing I really like about the Buellton Beer Fest is the crowd. It’s really laid-back,” he said. “And you can’t beat the location. You’re surrounded by mountains. It’s pretty incredible.”
Brenna Swanston is secretly one of those rowdy good-for-nothin’ hooligans. Yell at her to get off your lawn at bswanston@santamariasun.com.
PHOTOS BY DAVID MINSKY
This article appears in May 5-12, 2016.