This past Saturday, a sold out crowd of almost 10,000 people gathered in Huntington Beach for beer and music. The Punk ‘N Brew Craft Beer and Music Festival delivered a wealth of tasty brews and musical attitude by several popular punk rock bands.
The Punk ‘N Brew Huntington Beach festival was one of a six-city Punk In Drublic Craft Beer & Music Festival tour. NOFX’s frontman Fat Mike teamed up with craft beer pioneer Stone Brewing to create an event that featured the best in punk rock music and regional craft beer. They also brewed their very own Stone & NOFX Punk in Drublic Hoppy Lager for the festival events. The beer got its name from the band’s 1994 studio album release. This collaboration is a huge show of support by Stone, as it marks the first time that Stone Brewing has worked with a musician for a craft beer can release.
Stone & NOFX Punk in Drublic Hoppy Lager, courtesy of Stone Brewing
Punk ‘N Brew Craft Beer and Music
The event took over the parking lots on either side of SeaLegs at Bolsa Chica State Beach. In addition, the venue used a fenced off portion of the sand. Shuttles provided free transportation to the venue from a remote parking area.
Almost 50 breweries participated, offering close to 200 different beers to try. The breweries offered unlimited craft beer tastings from noon to 4pm. Participants included my hometown breweries of Artifex Brewing, Lost Winds Brewing and Left Coast Brewing. Nicholas Cordato, co-owner of Artifex Brewing, said Artifex was thrilled to be participating. They served their very popular Unicorn Juice – an American Wheat Beer with Passion Fruit. Artifex also served a Honey Blonde ale, their Trigger Finger IPA and recently released Burlington Bandwagon hazy Double IPA.
A long row of breweries provided a vast selection of delicious craft beers at Punk ‘N Brew
Well-known craft breweries from other areas also participated, including Colorado-based Avery Brewing and Michigan-based Founders Brewing. Among other beers, Avery served Liliko’i Kepolo – a Belgian-style style white ale with passion fruit. Founders’ beers included Breakfast Stout – an intense but smooth stout brewed with flaked oats, imported chocolates, and two types of coffee.
The craft beer selections were so good they’d make your hair stand on end
One of my favorite breweries, Knee Deep Brewing, featured several of their delicious IPA’s. I couldn’t resist Knee Deep’s Breaking Bud IPA. This beer combines a classic IPA approach with newer tropical fruit hop flavors. The overall result creates mesmerizing and delicious layers of mango, passion fruit, pine and dank.
Live music began at 1pm and continued through the evening with an impressive band line-up headlined by NOFX. Other groups included Bad Religion, Goldfinger, Strung Out, The Dickies, Ignite and more.
Music Line-up
Punk rock is every bit as much an attitude as it is music. Punk attitude brings a unique sense of individualism and social rebellion. Self-expression, independence, nonconformity, resistance and a belief in alternatives are the key components of this attitude. Paradoxically punk rock also seeks to unite like-minded souls through musical performances. On this day, Punk ‘N Brew managed to effectively combine all these attributes and goals into one stupendous event with some great craft beer. Now that’s my kind of attitude.
My only suggestions for future Punk ‘N Brew events are to provide more seating (with shade) and a broader range of food trucks that offer dishes with that same attitude.
