Baja California

Here's What You Missed at the 2016 Ensenada Beer Fest

Long lines and beer!

By Miranda García2016-03-22T21:31:40+00:00

Driving down to Ensenada was the easy part. We were expecting a lot of traffic in Tijuana since Spring Break is now in full force and there were reports of hotels and tourist destinations filled to capacity in Baja, but we actually got there pretty quick, very little hassle.

The Ensenada Beer Fest 2016 kept reminding us through Facebook that the event would start at 2 p.m. It was barely noon when we arrived at the former Hotel Rivera, now the citys Cultural Center, to purchase our tickets. Of course, there were people already lined up.

After a few commercial beers in some local bars, we went back to the Hotel Rivera and the line was now three times longer. It seemed as if the line didnt move at all, it was now 2:40 p.m. when we heard that the they would barely start selling the tickets.

It was past 3 and after paying $300 pesos, we were finally inside, holding a commemorative plastic cup and two beer samples that came with our ticket purchase, as well as a stamp that served as proof of payment so we could enter and exit the place. Reminder: Always purchase your tickets in advance and avoid the long lines.

With two 4 oz. beer samples from any of the 85 breweries there, it was a must to check out the whole place before choosing. But after an hour of being under the sun, we decided to look for the closest option to quench our thirst. We decided on Colima, a brewery named after the Mexican state its based at, to be our first beer tasting of the day. Ticús, a porter-style beer thats light, with a nice bitter and coffee-ish flavor.

Without an event map, we downloaded the Beer Fest app to a designated phone, a phone that disappeared after laying on the grass for a while...

After walking four times around the place, we found three different music acts and kept calling our missing phone. After a while, one of the sanitization guys gave us back the missing phone, so the day was a good one, once more.

In our search, we found some interesting breweries, also the app kept crashing down or didnt show us the names of the different stands.

While Sublime covers played in the background, we enjoyed the remaining free beer tastings. We also purchased beers at $50 pesos the cup from breweries that came from different places, including Baja California. As well as Mexico City, Monterrey. California. And international beers from Germany, England and Belgium.

Among the food options available there, were food trucks, restaurants and the famous Ochentos Pizza that had a medium-sized pizza for $100 pesos. Will prompt us to go outside the event and enjoy some good, cheap tacos from one of the many taco joints in the Ensenada streets, all of this so that we could have more money for beer.

We went in and out 4 times during the day, the line was still pretty long during the day and by 7 p.m., people starting getting pretty anxious since the tickets could sell out at any moment.

Cops were kicking drunk people out as well as others who tried getting in without paying while more than 7,000 tourists and locals enjoyed themselves inside the event, a Spring Break party that ended on midnight.