Drink beer, feel good at Micro-Brew Fest

Alex Coolman

It isn’t often possible to go out, drink a lot of beer and still feel

good about it the next day. But an upcoming festival will give

Newport-Mesa residents the chance to do exactly that.

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County on Thursday evening will

present its 15th annual Food, Wine and Micro-Brew Fest in South Coast

Plaza to raise money and awareness to combat hunger in Orange County.

The festival, which will feature wine and beer from regional vineyards

and microbreweries, and music from a salsa band, offers each participant

the opportunity to satisfy both their palate and their conscience.

“People come out and enjoy the event, and at the same time,they’re

helping a good cause,” said Nicole Thompson, development manager for the

food bank. “It’s a guilt-free evening.”

More than 50 restaurants, breweries and vineyards will participate in the

event, including the Newport Brewing Company and The Yard House

restaurant, which will be opening its new Triangle Square location soon.

Event organizers are expecting about 1,500 attendees.

Kirk Roberts, the brew master of the Newport Brewing Company,which will

bring several beers to the festival, hopes the people who come to

Thursday’s event have a few pints of fun.

Roberts said the brewery’s Newport Fest, an Oktoberfest-style beer, will

be among his offerings, along with a “Wedge-Weizen” for those who are

still in the mood for a more summery brew.

Roberts has been tinkering with beer recipes since the early ‘90s, when

he was inspired to give it a try by friends in Oregon, who had access to

the state’s wealth of microbrewed beers.

“At the time, nothing like that was available down here, so I started

getting into home-brewing,” Roberts said.

Soon, however, the brewing started to take over Roberts’ life.

“I had pretty much turned my garage into a brewery,” Roberts said. “I had

all kinds of stuff -- refrigerators with special temperature controls ...

I just kind of went crazy with it.”

At some point, the home-brewing experience had become a little

overwhelming.

“I had beer that I was fermenting in my garage and I had a plastic bucket

explode,” Roberts said. “Beer was shooting everywhere, all over the

garage.”

At the Newport Beach Brewing Company, Roberts is better equipped to crank

out high-quality brews. The facility has gleaming copper brew kettles

that hold 600 gallons of beer-in-the-making and five serving tanks that

can hold almost 500 gallons of the finished product.

Roberts’ operation has become more sophisticated over the years, but he

enjoys it as much as he did when he was just starting out and making a

mess in his garage.

“It’s something that’s a lot of fun,” Roberts said. “And you get the

reward at the end of drinking the beer.”

At the Food Bank’s South Coast Plaza event, festival-goers will be able

to taste what Roberts is talking about -- and go home with the

satisfaction of knowing that the hunger they helped end was not only

their own.

***

The microbrew festival started in 1984, not only to raise funds but also,

Thompson said, to make people aware that hunger exists even in places

like Orange County.

“It’s hard to convey that [information about hunger] when people see a

strong economy and low unemployment rate, but it is happening and it’s

happening in other affluent areas,” Thompson said.

About 400,000 people are at risk of going hungry every month in Orange

County, Thompson said. And of that number, 185,000 receive monthly

assistance from the food bank. Children make up 42% of the people

receiving food.

“Typically what we have seen is it’s working poor families,” Thompson

said. “At the end of the month, there’s nothing left to buy food with.”

Fortunately, the festival has helped the food bank put a sizable dent in

the county’s hunger troubles.

“As a result of that event, we’re able to serve more people, and people

become more interested in learning what they can do to help,” Thompson

said. “There’s all sorts of positive feedback as a result of

participating.”

FYI

WHAT: The 15th annual Food, Wine and Micro-Brew Fest

WHERE: South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bear St., Costa Mesa (Crate and Barrel

Wing)

WHEN: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday

HOW MUCH: Pre-sale tickets are $40; $50 at the door

PHONE: (714) 771-1343