\jeff{krimmel}

Derby Day and Microbrew Festival

Saturday afternoon, after I ran the 5k, I went back to Santa Anita Park with Paul, Roger, and Adam for the KROQ Microbrew Festival. The festivities started at 12:00noon, and we ended up arriving shortly after 1:00pm. Mike met us there about an hour after we arrived.

General admission was $5, but since I ran the 5k that morning, my admission was free. They had stamped my hand with an ultraviolet ink, so that I could go home to take a shower and then come back later in the day. Admission got us into the park, and from there we could have gone anywhere. We went to the infield, though, where the microbrew festival was taking place.

The track’s infield is quite large, with plenty of room for lots of tents, betting windows, and a reasonably large water fountain. There are food and drink venders out there, and it looked like plenty of people just hung out in the infield to watch the races and take it easy. The microbrew festival took place in the northwest corner of the infield, with a single entrance so security could make sure everyone that entered was wearing a wristband.

Speaking of the wristband, the first part of the day was all about lines. We waited in a line for about five minutes or so to pay for admission to get into the park, then we waited in line for another five minutes to show our IDs and get a wristband saying we were of drinking age, and then we had to wait in line inside the microbrew festival area to buy tickets to get beer. You didn’t “buy” samples from each vendor individually. You waited in line at a string of tents on one edge of the festival grounds, and you bought as many tickets as you wanted for $2.50 each. Then you brought these tickets to the vendors and bought a 7 ounce taster beer with one ticket.

I will write about all the beers we tried in a little bit on my beer and wine blog, The Bottom Shelf.

The crowd was not quite what I would have expected at a microbrew festival. It was definitely a concert-type crowd, which makes sense being that KROQ, the Los Angeles area alternative radio station, was hosting the event. There was a small stage set up on one far end of the microbrew festival area, supposedly for the concert that was going to take place, but it looked dormant the few times I looked that direction.

People were more or less pleasant early in the afternoon, but the longer we stayed and the drunker everyone got, the worse the company became. I’m standing in line for one of my final tasters, and three frat-type guys are standing behind me. The guy standing directly behind me says something to the effect of, “Dude, I gotta take a piss. Give me your empty cup.” A couple of seconds later, “Dude, are you taking a piss in that cup?” “Yeah…hurry up and finish that other beer, I’m gonna need that cup.” “What?” “Finish the damn beer, dude, I’m gonna need that f***ing cup.”

I figure this is a game of let’s get the guy in front of us (me, in this case) to turn around all freaked out as though we’re actually pissing into a beer cup right behind him. I decide after 30 seconds of this charade that I’ll humor them and see what’s going on. Sure enough, the guy had exposed himself for everyone to see and was quickly filling up one of those 7 ounce taster cups. Great. Not what I want to see at a microbrew festival. Not what I want to see anywhere, at any time, really.

A little later, I’m getting my final beer, and I’m standing behind a girl nominally the same age as me. She has a betting booklet and is watching the ninth race intently. I guess I should mention that there were about ten to twelve horse races taking place on Saturday, and everyone was free to bet on any of the races. We could watch the races from the beer festival on a mini jumbo tron. We could also see the race live in person for very small stretches, as this portion of the infield was gated off from the track with high hedges at points. However, there were gates we could see through, as long as no one was standing in front of them, so we got to see a little live action.

This girl in front of me was rooting hard for a particular horse but ended up losing. After the race, I asked her what the minimum bet was, and she told me it was $2. I told her I hadn’t bet on any of the races yet but really wanted to bet on at least one before I left. “Do you have any recommendations?” “You probably don’t want betting advice from me,” she said. “I’ve been losing all day. But, the jockey on horse number three in race ten hasn’t lost yet today, so I was going to bet on him.”

Good enough information for me, I decided. After getting my beer, I went to the betting window with Mike. He placed a $2 bet on horse number one to win, and I placed a $2 bet on horse number three to win. We gathered ourselves and stared at the jumbo tron. The race began. It was kind of cool having a rooting interest in the race. It definitely makes the race more interesting. Horse number three led wire-to-wire, and with a stirring finish I ended up netting $8.10. Then of course I asked myself why I didn’t put $20 on the race.

The festival was fun. We had some good beers, and some not so good beers, but like I said, I’ll put all of that on The Bottom Shelf soon. I would definitely recommend making it out to a KROQ microbrew festival at least once. If you’re a beer nerd, like my friends and I, you won’t see too many others like you there. But, the beers are generally good, a lot of brewers come, and the energy emanating from all those with a rooting interest in each horse race was contagious. Good times.