The rotary kicked off with Insurgente, run by brothers Damian and Ivan Morales. Tijuana's would-be craft brew poster boys, the pair seem to wind up with multiple ribbons whenever awards are being handed out. While their La Luposa IPA continues to win popularity contests among their five brews the mid-afternoon sun called for a full cup of Tiniebla, a Witbier heavy on orange peel and coriander but the lightest of their roster. It's intended for weaning people off Tecate, Ivan confessed.
From there it was on to Cerveceria Zesde. ACABC's youngest members, Alan Castoreña and Enrique Seamanduras are a pair of Tijuanenses who are ironically barely old enough to purchase beer north of the border. Dutch for "six," Zesde is a reference to Sixth Street, the epicenter of Tijuana's recent nightlife renaissance that served as the birthplace for their brew. Their regular roster includes a vanilla stout, British and amber ales, the Das Falco IPA (named after one of the city's celebrity graphic designer DJs) and a strawberry lambic. But today they were serving a coffee stout and a honey blond, both made specially for the fest.
Next up was Silenus' Munich-style maibock, whose heavy caramel flavor hides its high-alcohol content (at 6.8 percent, slurring soon becomes unavoidable). This may have been the day's overall champion. Two words: liquid flan. A side of Ben & Jerry's vanilla was sadly nowhere to be found.
Ramuri was a name that kept popping up over the course of the day, recommended by several brewers. While their Diablo Blanco (White Devil) "premium Mexican lager" came off as a sort-of deluxe Corona and the Saison (pale ale) for some reason had me thinking of bleu cheese (not necessarily a bad thing but neither necessarily intentional either, although Saisons are known for getting rather funky), their Lagrimas Negras (Black Tears) oatmeal stout brewed with medium-roast Oaxacan coffee was definitely another personal favorite. Also on tap was a cider that I'd normally pass on because of its sweetness but it was probably the most memorable brew that I tasted, solely for the fact that it was made with green apples from Mercado Hidalgo, Tijuana's most iconic open-air market.
Onward to Bosiger, the house craft brew at Swiss-themed sports bar Sotano Suizo in Plaza Zapato and probably the closest any beer at this fest came to keeping with the Reinheitsgebot, to try what one of the Silenus guys called the best Hefeweizen in the world. "And I hate Hefeweizens," he said. Along with their porter, head brewer Demian Bosiger said it's their most popular of their whopping list of 20 brews, even though his extended family back in Switzerland thinks it's too much of a chore to drink. "Too complex," he said. "They apparently also think I'm an idiot for brewing with habanero."
The long return trek (albeit on the trolley; 20 miles is enough pedaling for one day) and the setting sun on the mind, it was time to head back north. In four or so hours I banked 13 beers, three full pours and 10 tasters. Not bad for an afternoon crash course on Baja craft brew, during which I came in contact with not a single lime wedge. Somewhere in there was a pitstop at Kokopelli, a mariscos stand that's usually parked on the southern edge of downtown at Ocampo and Boulevard Agua Caliente. Run by graduates of Tijuana's Culinary Art School, their pesto octopus and marlin pibil tacos are set to make their Travel Channel debut on Andrew Zimmern's forthcoming food show "Border Check" sometime later this year. An hasta luego to Talamante, who invited us all to Mexicali's installment of the Baja Beer Fest once temps drop into the 90s sometime in the fall, followed by a grand finale photo atop Monica, and back to the border we went.
I'll stop short of wishing every brew whose name I bothered to scribble down were more readily available in the U.S., at least for now. Who's to say whether Tijuana is destined to become the beer lover's Mexican Field of Dreams. But judging by fests like this, it very well could.
One thing's for sure, TJ. If you brew it, and brew it well, they will come.
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