Orange County-based Brew Ha Ha Productions’ annual Brew Hee Haw returned to the Action Sports Arena at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa on Friday, July 14.
The craft beer-focused event launched its first tasting session at 6 p.m. on Friday during the OC Fair’s opening day. It was a hot, sweaty afternoon in the unforgiving sun, but once it dipped behind the stage that was set up for a performance by cover band Saved by the 90s, there was some relief — and thankfully lots of cold beer for tasting.
While there were plenty of hazy and regular IPAs, lagers and blondes offered, there were also a number of bubbly hard seltzers, crisp kombuchas and some sweet meads and ciders.
A clear fan-favorite was the Baja Blasted seltzer from Vista-based brewery WestBrew. Its bright blue coloring stood out in the little Brew Hee Haw-branded tasting cups and whenever folks would walk around with a sample they were stopped and asked, “Dude, what is that?” It was a refreshing shot of liquid reminiscent of Mountain Dew’s Baja Blast soda, but less sugary sweet and with 5 percent ABV. Several patrons went back for second or third tastings and even the boldest of beer drinkers had to admit it was tasty, especially on a hot summer day at the fair.
“Dog, I know seltzer isn’t your thing, but this good,” one guest told another as he influenced his friend to give it a try. He liked it and went back for more. Oh, and we all realized later that this little drink made all of our tongues blue, so we knew who had been tasting it as we chatted with others at the event.
Costa Mesa’s Brewing Reserve was serving the really delish OC Tropical, a light Hawaiian Ale that was flavored beautifully and definitely got a second taste. Again, the coloring on this one, a pretty red color that didn’t stain our mouths.
Comedian George Lopez, who is scheduled to appear at Brew Hee Haw over the weekend, had his beer on tap. In partnership with The Brews Hall, which has locations in Torrance and Hermosa Beach, Lopez’s brewery had a light Mexican Lager on tap and a Mango Hazy IPA bursting with sweet, hoppy and citrus flavor.
Other standouts included San Diego’s Harland Brewing’s Japanese Lager. This one is readily available in a lot of major retailers, but it’s so refreshing. Anaheim’s Brewheim served an addicting Blueberry Lager and San Diego’s Fall Brewing Company was not only handing out the coolest, punk rock-themed stickers at the event, but its Can I Scream? IPA was definitely worth a second taste.
Also, Monster Energy now has canned hard seltzers that taste just like the energy drink, sans the caffeine, but with 6 percent AVB. Representatives were pouring the Mean Green original flavor, Perfect Peach and White Haze, straight from the can.
The event also had live music courtesy of a super fun ’90s cover band that played familiar rock, punk, pop, ska and R&B tunes from that era. The band provided a fun soundtrack to the beer sampling and several fans dressed the part, too. They showed up with ’90s artists on their T-shirts, neon glasses and glowstick bracelets. There was also a lot of amazing people watching as guests let it all hang out while dancing in front of the band and singing along to every word of Third Eye Blind’s “Jumper,” No Doubt’s “Just a Girl,” Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” and TLC’s “No Scrubs.”
While there were snacks available inside the Action Sports Arena to go along with the beer sampling, guests were permitted to exit and reenter into the OC Fair during the tasting to grab some fair food to soak up the alcohol. There were plenty of options nearby, too, including elote in a cup with Flaming Hot Cheeto dust, Tasti Chips with parmesan cheese and we went full fair food-wild and mixed a maple bacon donut with a caramel sundae with vanilla ice cream from the stands located directly in front of The Hangar. It may have cost $25, but it was probably the best sweet-savory dessert we’ve ever tasted.
Brew Hee Haw’s tasting sessions continue on Saturday, July 15 with a session from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. featuring country cover band Redneck Rodeo and from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. with ’80s cover band The Flashbax.
The OC Fair continues Wednesdays-Sundays through Aug. 13. For more information and how to get tickets to the OC Fair, go to ocfair.com.
Brew Hee Haw
When: Friday, July 14
Where: OC Fair & Event Center, Costa Mesa
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