Brew Fest Returns To Stockton For Sixth Year
Dressed in a mustard yellow crochet dress and pink color sash with a tiara on her head, Andrea Rodriguez stood in the line in front of the Full Circle Brewing Company booth, holding a sampling beer mug. Her sash read, “Birthday Princess.”
Rodriguez was one of the hundreds of beers lovers attending the Stockton Brew Fest at Weber Point Events Center in Stockton on Saturday. Nearly 600 visitors — locals from Stockton, those who newly moved or are visiting a friend or family — attended the sixth Annual Stockton Brew Fest organized by Visit Stockton.
“I’ve been coming here every year since the first year,” Rodriguez said. “It always falls around my birthday, so I come out here to have some beer and have a good time.”
Many of the returning attendees came back to the fest for their love for beer and for exploring new breweries in the area. Aaron Sahagun, a Stockton native, has attended the festival every year since its inception. “I just love beers,” Sahagun chuckled as he said. “My favorite so far has been the 18 Seventy Brewing Company; they have a good Hazy IPA.”
“It’s a celebration of all the local breweries around the [Stockton] area,” Amy Alpers, the director of marketing and communications at Visit Stockton said. “We have about 40 different breweries here and, like, 50 different beers being poured.”
Besides breweries, the fest also had local artists, vendors, food trucks and sports organizations such as Stockton Kings, who did giveaways. New additions to the fest this year were distilleries and a live deejay.
Jacob Wood, head brewer at Blaker Brewery, used to work at brewery in Stockton before moving to Ceres, California for Blaker Brewery, and has been a regular at the brew fest. “It’s always fun to come back here to the people I know; it’s like a mini reunion.” Wood said.
Wood noted that the fest had more attendees in the previous years. “It seems like there is less people here [at the fest] this year, and I’m not sure why,” Wood said. “It’s always a good festival with good energy, but it’s less crowded than last year.”
“Last year, we had about a thousand [attendees], we are expecting the same this year, Alpers said, as the gates at Weber Point opened at noon to welcome the VIP guests. The gates opened for general admission at 1 pm for three hours, while the VIPs got an additional hour and had access to sample the VIP-only drinks.
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Copyright © 2022 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.