SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The 15th annual North Park Festival of Beers is happening this Saturday, right on El Cajon Boulevard.
ABC Ten News anchor Lindsey Pena talked to Kevin Hellman, one of the event's founders, about what this year has in store.
“You know, the whole event raises money for a charity, the San Diego Music Foundation," Hellman said, "and there's a program guitars for schools. We promote the greatest craft beer city in the world and, hopefully, help the kids of tomorrow become the greatest musicians.”
“There will be 22 brewers at this event this weekend, and hopefully each of them is gonna make new customers with what's going on in the world these days," Hellman told us. "Aluminum going up if you, if a lot of breweries sell beer by cans, it's gonna make it tough. So we want people to come into some of the tap rooms and spend their money there.
With unlimited 2-ounce sample pours, the event is about trying and tasting all the best craft beer San Diego has to offer.
"The toughest thing with our event because we're basically in a residential area, parking is at a premium," Hellman said. "So please Uber, Lyft, take the bus, ride your bike if you're close by, walk. Parking is tough, so we want to be safe."
Steve Billings, owner of Original 40 Brewing, says his brewery's name has its roots in the origins of North Park.
"We ended up with the original 40 Brewing Company because we're right in the middle of the original 40-acre settlement of North Park," Billings says. "The soil's not very good. It was hard to get water here, and so they subdivided it and started making lots."
He says Original 40 has more than just beer, offering non-alcoholic options, wine, seltzers and more. And, the brewery will be introducing a new beer at the festival.
"We are super excited about this. It is a brand new beer we brewed in collaboration with the San Diego Velodrome," Billings told 10News. "It's called Go Fast, Go Left. It's a hoppy pale ale, very drinkable, but still has a really nice aroma and great hop flavor. It's only 5.4% alcohol, so you can have two or three of them, no problem."
The North Park Festival of Beers is this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. in front of the Lafayette Hotel. Tickets are still available online, but there is only a limited amount available for purchase on the day of the event.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
