St. Patrick's Day Beer Crawl to be held for second year in a row

(Originally published in the 3/8/16 edition)

   St. Patrick’s Day isn’t until next week, but you can get a head start on the festivities Saturday by visiting downtown Benicia businesses.

   Benicia Main Street will be holding its second annual St. Patricks Day Beer Crawl where participants can pay a small fee to sample craft brews at participating businesses. Administrative assistant Susie Harper said Benicia Main Street was looking for another event to do in March besides the annual chili cook-off. The first St. Patrick’s Day Beer Crawl turned out to be a huge success. 

   “It sold out and was very popular,” Harper said. 

   The winning outcome of the first event meant a second was inevitable. Once again, participants will be given a sampling glass, map of participating businesses and identification wristband upon purchasing tickets. From there, they can sample some of the finest craft brews from the Bay Area and beyond. Among the brews to be served are Irish staples like Guinness Stout, craft beer titans like Samuel Adams’ Rebel IPA and Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA, and beers from local breweries like Lagunitas in Petaluma, Napa Smith Brewery in Napa and Heretic Brewery in Fairfield. Additionally, Benicia Main Street will be serving beer from Benicia’s very own Bruehol Brewing, which specializes in pale ales, German-style lagers and dark ales. 

   Other participating businesses include Jordan Real Estate, Studio 41, Bookshop Benicia, Dianna’s Bakery and Cafe, Dot’s Consignment, Leather & Lace, Tina Marie’s, Romancing the Home, Vintage Owl and more. The businesses will also be serving foods to pair with the beers like sandwiches and various finger foods.

   “The merchants do an excellent job with their pairings,” Harper said. 

   New this year will be a designated driver ticket. For $10, a ticket holder will be given a bottle of water and will be allowed to sample foods from the participating businesses. 

   Harper says this will be a good chance for participants to support Benicia businesses.

   “We’re excited for the customers to visit the merchants that are participating and increase their sales,” she said. “We hope they have a great time and spread the word.”

   The beer crawl will run from 2 to 6 p.m., Saturday, March 12 in downtown Benicia. Check-in starts at 1:30 p.m., and participants must be 21 or older. Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 the day of the event, and they can be purchased at Benicia Main Street, located at 90 First St. The event will be held rain or shine. For more information including a full listing of businesses and the beers they will be serving, visit BeniciaMainStreet.org. 

Zombies and brews are latest Benicia bedfellows

   (Originally published in the 10/7/15 edition)

   With the advent of “The Walking Dead,” zombies have become all the rage in the last few years. In that time, craft beers have also become all the rage. Therefore, it makes sense that these two things would coalesce, and they can both be experienced at the inaugural Zombie Brew Crawl in Benicia on Saturday, Oct. 17.

   Many communities have held zombie pub crawls where people dress up as zombies and walk down the street, hitting various bars along the way. The difference with Benicia’s event is that 17 First Street businesses- including Bookshop Benicia, Romancing the Home, Lindsay Art Glass and others- will be serving craft beers instead of the bars.

   “(The restaurants) would have to give up their regular ABC license for the day to participate, so we have the businesses,” Benicia Main Street Executive Director Nancy Martinez said.
   For the past three years, Benicia Main Street has hosted an annual wine walk and had its first St. Patrick’s Day brew crawl this year. After seeing other zombie brew crawls, Martinez thought it would be fun for Benicia.
  “Martinez has been doing zombie brew crawls for four years,” she said. “We investigated the different communities, talked with the executive director of Main Street Martinez to see how they go about it, and then we put our own little spin on it.”

   Benicia Main Street will be partnering with Fairfield beer distributor DBI to serve the beers, which will generally be seasonal IPAs and Oktoberfest-style ales. 

   Also, participants won’t have to worry about putting on their Sunday best. They will be encouraged to dress up as zombies.

   “We’re asking them to dress as zombies, but it’s not required,” Martinez said.

   Martinez believes the event could draw big numbers.

   “Because it is zombies, we expect this to be bigger than the Saint Patrick’s Day event,” she said. “But that was a sellout.”
   The event will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. along First Street. Participants will be given a sampling glass, a map of participating locations and an ID wristband at check-in.