A WHOLE LOTTA BEER !!!

Last Saturday, I was able to go to a beer party. Yay!! My step-son, Yiga, works as the plant manager and so, for free beer - we went.
He works for Saint Archer Brewery. This party was their 5th year anniversary and also the release of their new beer (I'll reveal that later) Certainly, there were a lot of people there. S.A. was established as an independent craft brewery, but was then sold to Miller Coors a couple of years ago, which creates large amounts of consternation in the craft brewing community.
View from the street to the main entrance.

Basically, they were started by a group of professional surfers and skateboarders as "session" beers - low alcohol to drink all day. Since then they have branched out to many different types of beers. Here's going in to the tasting room and the available beers.... sorry for being fuzzy.

My inside source at the brewery says they are still (at the moment) making beer as they did - making them craft. But they are owned by a world-dominating brewery - making them very non-independent. I was surprised by the number of people at the party. In the early afternoon, there were a lot of employees and their families there. As the afternoon wore on more people came, the bands started playing louder and more independent/hipster/partiers started arriving.

Yeah, those are bags special items came in, not trash. And - I got a special item - a V.I.P. white wrist band that got me free beer - all I wanted!!! Absolutely worth the trip.
San Diego has a very large craft beer industry. Saint Archer still only distributes in the very southwest US - SoCal, Arizona and maybe some of Nevada. There's at least a dozen or more larger craft brewers in San Diego that are much larger (i.e. Ballast Point, AleSmith, Pizza Port and certainly Stone) than Saint Archer.
Here's just before the masses came and the stage for the bands under the banner.
And outdoor beer tanks and foodstuffs available.

Here's a look at the actual canning/bottling lines. I know, a shit-load of shiny steel stuff.

Here's Yiga trying to explain it to us family "tourists." And yes, he tries to surf at least a couple of times a week.

Oh yes, the new beer: If you look at the board with the beers, you'll notice a BlackIPA. 6.5% alc. WHAT!? I live dangerously, so I had one... (my wife kindly held it up for me)

It tasted just like you'd guess - a decent stout with some nice hops underneath. Kinda weird, but better than I thought it would be. If I see some in Yiga's fridge, I'll steal some for another review.
It was a beautiful day. Hot. It was fun to tour the brewery and I got to taste free beer!

As always, all pictures are mine with my iPhone5 :-))
All hail #beersaturday - particularly needed during these troubling times.