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Photo by San Jose Beer Fest
The San Jose Beer Fest is back at Plaza Mijares on 6 June, its third year in the historic district. Admission is free. From mid-afternoon into the small hours the plaza fills with local brewers, restaurants, food vendors and live music, a modest gathering when it started and now one of the town’s busier nights out.
The Beer
The festival works with the region’s main producers, among them Baja Brewing Company and Cervecería Yenekamu. Baja Brewing opened in San Jose del Cabo in 2007, the first brewery in the state, and close to twenty years on its beer is a fixture for locals and visitors alike. Yenekamu is the newer hand, building its brews around the ingredients and history of the peninsula. Expect limited releases, and brewers willing to talk through what’s in the glass.
The Scene Behind It
Photo by San Jose Beer Fest
The state has filled in a lot since Baja Brewing’s first batch. Flora Farms brews its own organic beer at La Micro, out in Las Animas. La Paz now has a cluster of its own: Black Marlin, Pacific Brew, La Pinshi Paceña. Head north and you reach Mulege Brewing Company, a small operation on Highway 1 now run by an American owner, with a Venezuelan chemistry teacher turned brewer still on the kettle. From Cabo to Mulegé, the map keeps growing.
The rooms that pour the stuff have multiplied too. The Beer Shop keeps a tasting room in San Jose, La Pintada draws a crowd in Cabo San Lucas, and La Paz has Harker Board Co., La Miserable and Paralelo 24. These are the year-round spaces, tastings and launches and the odd collaboration, that keep the beer in front of people between festivals.
Tying it together is the Club de Cerveceros de BCS, the brewers’ association that runs the fairs and trades know-how across the state. The San Jose fest sits on the same calendar as the La Paz Beer Fest, the two of them carrying independent beer to new drinkers through the year.