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Hola! I got the crew back together! Right when Covid started we [my brother Jeff and my sister Dee] had to cancel our plans to attend the Ensenada Beer Fest in 2020. So this year we finally all got together to attend the 2024 EBF, we stayed 2 nights in Ensenada and 2 nights in Valle de Guadalupe. I visit about 4 times a year with Jeff but adding sister Dee to the mix always gives our experience another set of ideas and suggestions. Yay!
Jeff made the AirBnB arraignments and he booked us a great place practically on the beach! I love the sound of the ocean, it is so relaxing, and we were about a 10 minute Uber from the EBF. We drove in on a Thursday, we had tickets for Friday, and our first stop before checking in was the Agua Mala brewery! The Agua Mala brewery is about 2 or 3 miles after the toll stop on the right hand side of the road. It’s made from containers stacked up on each other, very original at the time, now everyone is using containers. Here’s a little head’s up. If you go make a turn up the Ruta de Vino, go about a mile and you’ll see Madera 5 tasting room. We always stop here for some tasty wine, and you don’t have to go all the way up to Valle de Guadalupe. Agua Mala also has a tasting room here, it’s a rather large complex with other tasting rooms and a restaurant, but this is where Agua Mala brews their beer, it’s their production facility. So now you know!!
We each had a couple of brews at Agua Mala before we headed to our AirBnB, the beer did not disappoint! Mexican craft beer is always maltier, I think that adds to the flavor profile, that’s what separates it from American craft beer IMO. There’s also food at the Agua Mala brewery but were saving our appetites for dinner. After we settled in we decided to go to one of our favorite places, La Hogera, in downtown Ensenda. I have reviewed La Hogera here on my blog, if you love steak you will love La Hogera. They do have chicken, sausage and tripas, which is all grilled over mesquite wood. They even offer a platter of all the above for parties of 4 or more. My favorite thing here is that they make the salsa tableside in a molcajete, they ask you how spicy you like your salsa and they have all the ingredients already roasted, it only takes a few minutes and BOOM! Enjoy! We headed back to our beachside bungalow for some rest before the big day.
The EBF starts at 4 pm so we decided to have a nice lunch, we skipped breakfast but had coffee and pastries in the morning while listening to the waves. Lunch was at another favorite, El Primo Nava Mariscos. I ordered a small shrimp cocktail and one shrimp quesadilla, the small cocktail is pretty big, they really fill up the container with shrimp and all the goodies. Dee and Jeff ordered tostadas of fish and shrimp, they looked delicious. I was stuffed!! We went back to rest some more before the EBF.
This year’s EBF was held at the same spot but they had the whole festival set up in the back parking lot. I never did find out why but some breweries were not thrilled at this. It made it difficult to set up, only one way in and there was also street construction going on. OOF. But once inside we started to figure out the format, we started with some brews!! One thing I did miss since I’m disabled is all the benches that were in the front but now I had to go looking for a spot to sit. I did find a few places to relax and enjoy my beer but hopefully next year they go back to the original set up.
If you’ve never been to EBF and only have attended beer fests in the U.S. then you’re in for a treat. EBF starts at 4 PM and ends at Midnite, there are about 5 stages for music, plenty of food and there is a ballroom with a DJ where the party goes all night. It’s a 2 day festival, you can purchase tickets for both days or just buy for the one day you can attend. We always attend on Friday, it’s less crowded since Saturday always sells out. Tickets sell for about $25 and doesn’t include beer so you can purchase tasters for $1 or a pint for $3 or$4. Overall we were very happy with all our choices, the only critique I have is that the major breweries that attend do not brew anything special for the fest which is a common thing to do in the U.S. By major breweries I’m talking about Agua Mala, Insurgente, Border Psycho, Wendlant. They pour the same beers you can get at any of their tasting rooms, they should encourage or collab with smaller breweries and have some one offs for the beer fest. Come on guys, step up!! 😜
Saturday we left to the Valle de Gaudalupe but first we had breakfast at a spot our Uber driver recommended, Punta Morro in El Sauzal. The El Sauzal area is right before you drive into Ensenada, fifty years ago there was nothing there but now it’s lined with restaurants, breweries,taquerias,hotels almost all with an ocean view. It’s the area right after the toll booth. Punta Morro is a hotel with a restaurant right on the ocean, we were dressed casual tourist as usual, so when we walked in and saw everyone smartly dressed we were slightly embarrassed but they still sat us right up front with a great view of the ocean. The food and service was outstanding! Started with coffee and they gave us mini conchas, mine was chocolate and when I bit into it, it was filled with a chocolate pudding, YUM. We all enjoyed our selections and were on our way to Valle!
Our AirBnB was off the beaten path, if you know you know. If not then you should be aware that most wineries are located off dirt roads, as are the AirBnB’s so don’t bring your Lamborghini. It’s part of the ambiance. 😉 After we settled in we relaxed before our dinner, we had reservations at Deckman’s, a fully sustainable restaurant that 3 years ago we visited their Omakase sushi bar and that was a great experience. They recently received a Michelin star for their Oyster bar, both Omakase and Oyster bar were closed on the afternoon of our visit due to a light rain. Most restaurants in the Valle are outdoors (more ambiance). I would say that our dinner at Deckman’s was the highlight of our weekend. Chef Deckman himself was there cooking up a storm along with his crew of chefs and sous chefs. Apps were oysters and steak tartar, my main course was grilled seabass with clams. Amazing. Jeff had boneless beef short ribs and Dee had the same as I. Dessert was homemade ice cream, more decadence. Everything was spectacular including the service, Deckman’s did not disappoint. We went back to our AirBnB very happy campers.
Sunday morning we had our usual Valle breakfast at Cocina de Dona Estela, she has expanded to two buildings but there still is a wait if you get there late, we always arrive right after they open and had no problem getting a table. I had my usual machaca, chilaquiles, frijoles, huevos with fresh flour tortillas, fresh orange juice and hot chocolate!! This breakfast finished me 😂 I threw in the towel and did not have the energy for dinner later that day.
Another great trip in the books. The Ensenada Beer Fest is always held in March around St. Patrick’s Day so follow them on Instagram to keep up with any info. And please try to go and drink some BEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!!! Cheers!!
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Greetings fellow craft beer drinkers, my name is Robert Flores, some call me The Butcher since I have been a meatcutter for the last 43 years. In January of 2016 Gustavo Arellano, former editor of OC Weekly asked me to start writing about craft beer in Orange County, I was already Instagramming all my exploits in breweries and brewpubs around town so I said, Sure, why not. The craft beer scene has since exploded, I’ve been to The Great American Beer Festival the last 2 years, Ensenada Beer Fest the last 3 years, I was a judge at Coldchela 2018 the largest Latino Home Brew Fest in the Universe and basically covered every brewery in Orange County, some in Long Beach, a few in Downtown Los Angeles, Temecula, Tijuana, Rosarito, going to get to the Inland Empire soon.
