Not that long ago we attended the Noble Ale Works 3rd Anniversary party and it was a rousing good time. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect with a bit of a cloud cover in the beginning of the day and a crisp breeze on the nape of your neck combating the pounding sun and unusual high temps for this time of year. I noticed they expanded the fenced area quite a bit from last year and the line to get into the event went a lot faster, which is great! With sizzling meat and sweet malty beer goodness whirling around me as I stepped out of the taxi, you could just tell it was going to be a good event.

After we entered the event and retained our glassware my immediate priority is to fill it with beer, but most of the lines seemed a bit long already so we had to be smart about our approach. We decided to go for the most interesting beer being poured outside and to camp in that line so we didn’t miss-out on the possibility of getting to taste that beer. We had to go for the Lebowski’s White Russian (5.4%ABV) which is Naughty Sauce with cocoa nibs and vanilla bean. I had a cask of this beer at OC Brew Ho Ho and it was just delicious on so many levels: the coffee aroma, the vanilla bean and milk flavor, the hint of roasty chocolate coffee liquor that made you wonder if they actually just spiked the cask with Kahlua, the silky mouth feel that made the beer so rich and velvety…I could keep going. Even if the line was a bit long, we didn’t care because it meant we get to have this beer.

Once we had been given our golden treasure to cradle as we waded through the crowd, we promptly get in line at the next location so by the time we had savored our first beer it would be about the same time we reached the front of the line for the next beer to be had. It’s not rocket science kids…any seasoned event-attendee knows that when a line is long you prepare yourself with beer and the complaints fall by the wayside and suddenly you are having fun and not noticing anything else. Should we blame Noble for being too damn popular? I should probably place some of that blame on myself and to my buddy Greg at OC Beer Blog because we can’t shut-up about our love for Noble and the ridiculously amazing beer they keep producing. It doesn’t hurt that Evan Price (Head Brewer) and Jerry Kolbly (President and Co-Founder) are marvelous to be around and I can almost always run into one of them at the brewery on most nights.

It was rad to see the Mayor of Anaheim, Tom Tait, there representing his love for beer and promoting the city of Anaheim as a beer-friendly destination. It kinda blows my mind that the Mayor of Anaheim is so damn cool and that I have run into him repeatedly at beer-related functions and he is so friendly and laid-back. It’s just like, “Oh, there’s the Mayor of Anaheim standing in line for a beer with his wife…NBD.”

Some of the other beers we really enjoyed was the Bean Bump, an Imperial Naughty Sauce at 12.7%ABV with a ton of coffee added and The Messenger with Yuzu which is a 7%ABV IPA that is super light and citrusy with the juicy grapefruit bomb from the yuzu. I was frequenting the Yuzu Messenger at the end of the event because the line was pretty short and it was so refreshing. A few other ones that stand-out are the Barrel 1 Is Nuts cask which had such an intense nutty quality it was overwhelming and tasty, and the Wood Eye 7&ABV strong ale that is a brewed with some rye malt and has an oak-y character on the finish but is still somehow managing to be light and very drinkable.

The people-watching was spectacular! There was everything from fur coats, zebra pants, short-shorts, Rob Zombie, drunk lady in flower pants who fell down, two dudes hugging it out with an American flag, a guy dancing with crutches and swinging them wildly, Philippe and Chris dancing, Dallas stuffing his face….the list continues. As always, it was really fun hanging out with my beer buddies. They make any event fun but it really is the cherry on top of a wildly entertaining and fun time. Cheers to Noble’s continued success, it’s well deserved. Keep up the good work!