San Diego’s Proud of its Beer-dentity
Years back I used to do a lot of work with the California State Fair, specifically in the County Building where each county in the state gets to put together an exhibit they believe represents its people the most. Frequently counties will focus on their agricultural backbone, or in the case of Napa county they frequently put a lot of wine and grapes on display. I have always liked the County Building, for some reason it just seems to represent what a State Fair should be all about.
Imagine my surprise, however, when I rounded a corner in the County Building and saw bottles of beer, pictures of a mash tun, kettle, hops, barley and even a homebrew kit! Above the display, in big and proud letters, I read “Brewin’ San Diego” and it started to make sense. Sorta. I wasn’t sure if this was the real San Diego exhibit, or if there was special permission for an added exhibit by the powers that be. After finding and asking the docent, it was clear that this was indeed the entirety of the San Diego County exhibit.
I stayed a bit to eavesdrop on passers by and I loved what I heard. “When I think of San Diego, I certainly don’t think of beer.” BRILLIANT! This was a theme I caught in just five minutes of standing and listening – the county exhibit shocked people, it was unique and slightly dangerous (I didn’t hear any, but I’m sure there were people unimpressed by the display). I don’t know who thought this whole thing up, whether it was the SD Brewers Guild or just a passionate resident, but this was hands down the best promotion of craft beer at the California State Fair.
If you’ve never been to the California State Fair you might not care – even if you live in the Golden State. If that’s you, here’s some perspective. In 2008 the CSF estimated there were around 790,000 people in attendance! Clearly not everyone is going into the County Building, but let’s pretend 250,000 do. Where else can a brewers guild, organization or entity get this kind of in-your-face exposure… for free?!
With that in mind, I am a little surprised there wasn’t some more hardware, literature or photographs on display. Still, people got the message – San Diego, by its own admission, is a Beer County.
