Another beer festival is changing things up this year, but in ways that might just make it better.

Certainly, we cannot imagine anyone being annoyed that Bear Fest, Boxing Bear’s annual on-premises event, is now free to attend. It will also take place over two days this Saturday and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., which should give everyone that wants to attend the ability to make it work with your weekend schedule.

I caught up with co-owner/director of brewing operations Justin Hamilton and director of marketing and event operations Astrid Galarza to talk about those changes and more for Bear Fest.

“Honestly, we weren’t sure how or if we were going to do Bear Fest this year,” Hamilton said. “It’s one of those events that since we’ve moved it (to the Firestone taproom/brewery location) and tried different things in our front parking lot, we hadn’t hit that kind of swing that we wanted to as far as events and festivals here.

“So over the past year, Astrid has been doing what we call mini-festivals. If you’ve been to any of our events like Mashing Queen (release party), what we’re doing is we have our entire back area licensed for outdoor consumption. We’re having a walk-through for the brewery area to that outdoor fence area. It’s where we’re going to have vendors, we’re going to have beer pouring under our tents.”

In other words, Boxing Bear will not be closing off the front parking lot, but will instead keep most of the activity in the back lot, while also utilizing much of the indoor space.

“Here’s the good part, because things are a little tighter (on space), we’re not going to have to charge for tickets or do entry fees,” Hamilton said. “Come buy a pint from your favorite breweries, but they’re not going to have full representation here and have their staff here the full day. We’re going to be able to have more patrons here, and more vendors to make the whole festival more of a thing where you don’t have to dedicate so much energy towards it. You can come here for two to three hours on Saturday or Sunday. It’s easier for the vendors and for us. There’s also more control over the weather, especially at this time of year.”

“This is the second year we’ve done it at the end of May,” Galarza added. “It does help us have a little more control about the weather. We’ve learned a lot the last two years we’ve done Bear Fest (here). It’s also our 10-year anniversary so it’s a great way to give back to our community that supports us.”

Some other changes from past years will include no commemorative glassware, so you do not have to worry about finding more room for another pint glass at home, nor will there be any special Bear Fest merchandise. Galarza said that Boxing Bear will wait until their 10-year anniversary celebration, which starts on July 20, to drop a lot of new merch upon the masses.

As for the beer, there will still be guest breweries pouring in the back, as Boxing Bear invited a few of their favorite friends to attend.

“We will have awesome beers from the other breweries,” Hamilton said. “Right now we’re putting together that list. It will be unique beers that stands out. It won’t be (only) house beers, it will be stuff everyone wants to drink.”

Since our interview, that list has indeed been finalized.

• Canteen: High Plains Pilsner
• La Cumbre: Hop Drift Cold IPA
• Marble: West Coast Pilsner
• Palmer: St. Robby’s Girl (Dortmunder collaboration with Starr Brothers)
• Starr Brothers: L.A. Woman (Blonde Ale)
• Turtle Mountain: El Cob-ron Rojo (Red Corn Mexican Lager)

Hamilton said that Boxing Bear won’t be releasing the traditional Bear Fest Lager this year, but there will still be plenty of unique seasonals on tap, including recent releases such as Bear Shark IPA and Umbers Cucumbers.

“To piggyback from what Justin said, we want to use our back brew yard to its full potential now that it’s licensed for consumption,” Galarza said. “Our other beer release events back there have been very successful. People like looking at the brewery. We will be offering in-depth brewery tours on the hour like we have in the past. I know people really enjoy those. That opens up our entire brewery to be viewed and toured.”

Galarza added that patrons will still be able to sample the guest taps and the beers from the Boxing Bear lineup.

Boxing Bear will also be bringing back some of the cocktails that were popular at the West Downtown taproom.

“If people are familiar with our cocktail program that we had at West Downtown, it will be a good opportunity for them to relive that,” Galarza said. “It’s also a nice option for anyone that has friends or family that can’t drink beer.”

The Bear Kitchen will be serving up the usual favorites, plus there might be a couple of specials available. Ocean Desert LLC, which Boxing Bear has teamed up with this year for the Bear Affair dinners, will also be parked out front (Saturday only) to provide patrons with additional options.

Live music will run both days, going with a format of artists from noon to 2, 2 to 4, and 4 to 6. So for Saturday, DJ Justincredibl will lead off, followed by RJ Perez and Odd Dog. Sunday’s lineup will be The Band & Co., Seth Hoffman, and Trinity Soul.

A slew of local vendors will be there, including High Desert Flameworks (seriously, at this point we would send out an emergency search team if we did not see Jones at a Boxing Bear event) and at least 23 others as of the last count.

“If you haven’t been to these mini-fests yet, they’re really fun,” Hamilton said. “The feel of them is very unique and has a good flow to it.”

This is a 21-and-over event, so leave the kids at home, but you can bring your dog. Boxing Bear does ask everyone to head over to Eventbrite and reserve a free ticket, just so they have a good head count.

“For two days, it will be a really nice event over Memorial Day weekend,” Hamilton said. “Sunday is always a fun one because you have Monday off. It’s going to be packed, so no matter what time you show up, you’ll have the opportunity to get a unique beer, buy something cool from a local vendor, and listen to live music.”

That sounds like a perfect way to kick off the start to summer. A big thanks to Justin and Astrid for the interview. Franz Solo and I also stuck around for lunch and we can report that the Bear Kitchen pizza is quite good, so if you have not tried their food yet, this weekend will mark a perfect opportunity to do so.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister