Brew Rendezvous

Name: 2nd Annual Brew Rendezvous - A food, farm and craft beer pairing event
Location: SILO Makers Quarter, Downtown
Time: Sunday, May 18, 2014 1:00-4:00pm
Price: $55; $25 Designated Driver
Review: 4 out of 5

Pros:

• Representatives from most breweries were present, unlike at the International Beer Festival in the Del Mar Fair, where everyone serving beer is a volunteer who is usually clueless about the beer.
• Unlimited tastings of 11 great local breweries offering 19 brews: 6 offering one beer, 3 offering two, one offering 3, and one offering 4. I tried 13 of them (about 32oz, or 2 pints, assuming they poured 2.5oz each). This was enough for the 3 hours I was there, but I also did not pour any of the beer out - I drank it all.
• About 9 food stations to match with beer was a plus. One of them was the Robusta grilled mountain meadow mushrooms.
• 8 food tents with gourmet food.
• Unlimited food and beer sampling.
• A souvenir 4oz engraved glass taster.
• Designated Driver tickets were $25, and included food.
• The event space was the perfect size for the number of attendees, I estimate 150 people (mostly mid 30s, about even men and women). I did not have to wait in line for more then one minute at each station.
• They had three tables with iced water, lemonade, and bottled flavored water.

Cons:

• Most breweries (6 out of 11) only offered one beer.
• Few sweets, cheeses, fruits, and berries. One booth gave out goat cheese ice cream on a stick, but I can't stand goat cheese. Only one booth was serving sausage and strawberries. But there were no cheeses or chocolates.
• Very few rare beers offered: neither AleSmith, Lost Abbey, Ballast Point, or Stone offer any barrel-age, limited release, collaboration, or seasonal beers. This makes me think the breweries were not tailoring toward craft beer connoisseurs but toward the general population.
• The music was very mellow, folk/country style. I did not enjoy it.

Beers offered by brewery:

The Lost Abbey - Lost and Found, Judgement Day, Avant Garde
Latitude 33 - Carolina honey hips blonde
Monkey Paw - Low and slow rauchbier
Black market - Deception coconut lime blonde, Aftermath Pale ale, 1945 sour wheat ale, Hefeweizen Bavarian style wheat ale
Coronado Brewing Co. - Sock Knocker IIPA
Stone Brewing - Oaked Arrogant Bastard, Stochasticity Project IPA
Rip Current - In the Curd IIPA, Barrier Reef Nut Brown
Mother Earth - 2014 Four Seasons: "Spring" Belgium Tripel (Collaboration w/Brasserie du Pays Flammand)

AleSmith - Nut Brown
Lightning - Thunderweizen, Electrostatic Ale
Ballast Point - Sculpin IPA

Event Page

Science on the Rocks: Love, Lust & Libido - The Chemistry of Sex

Name: Science on the Rocks: Love, Lust & Libido - The Chemistry of Sex

Location: Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, Balboa Park

Time: Thursday, May 15, 2014 6:30pm - 9:30pm

Price: $20 members; $30 non-members
Rating: 2 out of 5

I love the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center - both the idea of spreading the love of science to kids and its creative exhibits, as well as it's legendary IMAX dome theater. So when I heard they had an event catered to the 21+ crowd that combined science with both sex and beer, I had to go. I even missed my dance class because I thought this event would be worth it.

The description of the event cleverly started with the lyrics of the Midnight in Paris' song, Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love, "Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it ..." Simply irresistible.

Walking in, people were arriving in jeans and t-shirts. A formally-dressed attendant was checking ID's. Inside, an expressionless DJ in his late-40's playing Bruno Mars' Grenade, followed by a series of LMFAO songs.

The program showed five breweries: Lost Abbey/Port, Manzanita, Helm, and Aztec, who did not even show up. Four food booths included: seafood, ham sliders, and veggie wraps -- all the stuff I dislike. Everyone was given a ticket with he image of each booth, which were marked upon redeeming. So you could only try each table once, including only one beer per brewery. Beer was served in small disposable plastic cups, an offense to San Diego's craft brewing. I expected a 4oz sturdy glass or plastic cup with an engraving. A sorry bar was also included with yellow fizzy beer for sale and cocktails for up to $8.

The crowd ranged from people in their late twenties to mid forties. No conversations made.

There were three 15-minute sessions in the dome theater. The line was unorganized, so everybody tried to get in from all direction. They mumbled something unintelligible on the speakers with terrible sound quality, like "don't bring food", and they started 10 minutes late. The people sitting behind me kept talking loudly during the lecture, which was very distracting.

The first presentation was by a graduate student (maybe the museum did not want to try hard enough to get a professor) on the chemistry of love, which was far off from his specialty - autism. Not surprisingly, he was not apt at answering the questions, but surprisingly he lacked even the basic critical thinking skills to interpret a question, "how did the research influence your own life in the bedroom", as "what practical applications can everyone here take away from this research," and instead answering, "I did not do this research, and my experience of it is purely academic," correcting himself, "well I do have experience with it, just not with the research" which was unintentionally hilarious.

The second speaker was a comedian, whom I skipped, and the third one - a guy from Understand Men - was someone the museum must have gotten out of desperation to find speakers, because he kept going on about how men don't see a sock on the floor when they come home because their attention is always fixed on only a singular thing, whereas women do notice it because their attention is diffused. He was tangential, unorganized, and sexist. So I left. There were three "hands on" exhibits that were laughable and were only peripherally relevant to sex (including a balloon dropped on a "bed" of nails without being popped).

The goodie bad was a disappointment as well.

Photos from the event
Facebook page for Science On The Rocks

Event description (from the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center website):

Love, Lust and Libido: The Chemistry of Sex

Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it ...

And we're going to do it, too, on Thursday, May 15, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Peep into the science of sex by exploring the laws of attraction, tinkering with sex toys and finding answers to questions surrounding the hot topic of sex. As always, your ticket will include complimentary food and drink samples, fascinating presentations and intriguing activities. Don't be uptight. Join the fun! 

• Be tempted by sinful sips by Helm's Brewing Company, The Lost Abbey and Port Brewing Company, Aztec Brewing Company, Twisted Manzanita Ales and California Fruit Wines. [Aztec cannot attend due to the fires.]
• Sample bites courtesy of Lil' Piggy's BBQ, West Coast Tavern, Feast On This and Carriage Trade Catering.
• Let our scientists show you the dangerous side of a midnight rendezvous with a bed of nails and the science behind morning breath.
• Take it slow and make your own fun Super Slo-Mo Video, thanks to A Little Scene. [Canceled due to the fires.]
• Do you like it hot or do you prefer it cool? Experiment with chemistry and learn how temperature-sensitive lubricants work.
• Find out what the buzz is about—take apart adult toys to see how they function.
• Delve into the mechanics of the mind during a chat about the chemical reactions that occur in the brain when lust or love take over. 
• Practice your sexy laugh during a sassy comedy show by Robert Timothy.
• Discover the primal urges that still drive us today, and find out how understanding the laws of attraction can help you create a successful relationship.
• Shake your groove thing while our DJ spins tunes.
• And be among the first to see our mind-bending new exhibition, ILLUSION: Nothing Is As It Seems.