4 ounce tasting mug

As many of you know, the Orange County Beer Festival was held yesterday at Irvine Lake. As promised there were lots of breweries, lots of beer to drink and plenty of heat.

Since it was so hot – the thermometer in my car showed 100 degrees – I was shocked at how many people had on jeans, closed-toe shoes and dark shirts. However, most people seemed to be aware we were in the middle of a heat wave and dressed as such. Thankfully there was shade to be had and the vendors that happened to be in the shade produced a crowd.

Our purpose was to try beers we’d not had before. I sampled 14, but did not entirely drink them all. Some were just too heavy for such a hot summer day. I tried to stick to lights, wheats, whites, etc. plus that’s what I tend to prefer. Although, one of my favorites was none of those, exactly. MateVeza an organic beer with caffeine.

More photos and commentary after the jump.

(more…)

Did you know we had an OC Pride event this year? Yeah me neither. They really need to get the word out a little more. Finally there is an official event in OC for LGBT pride and I missed the damn thing. Poor Gay Days in Anaheim has been carrying the unofficial OC Pride torch for so long it seemed likely we should just officially call it OC Gay Pride and get it over with.

Anyway! I am just a wee bit irritated about the complete lack of visibility for the event. Maybe the organizers (listen up boys) should have reached our to their popular queer friendly community blogs (not unlike this one) and let them know it was even happening. Also, lets be real, if we’re gonna have OC Pride shouldn’t we be having it in Laguna Beach? Why Irvine? Oh well, here’s hoping there will be one next year and here’s hoping they actually, you know, tell people about it!

Did you know there was an OC Pride Picnic this year? If so, did you go?

As our constant readers know, I am prone to fits of nostalgia about the wonders of Knott’s Berry Farm. I can’t help it; it’s a condition. Needless to say I was thrilled, wait let me rephrase that… I was THRILLED (!!!) when I saw Jay Jennings (pictured below), the Curator/Historian of The Knott’s Berry Farm Museum was releasing a new book entitled Knott’s Berry Farm: The Early Years.

[Photo courtesy of The Knott’s Berry Farm Museum]

A nice feature over at The OC Register quotes Jennings as saying ”I hope my book brings back fond memories of when families visited Knott’s Berry Farm and Ghost Town and the sheer fun and joy of walking up and down Main Street“. Indeed it does! With all the recent hubbub about D23 it’s nice to see a little history and street-cred being bestowed on Orange County’s original theme park!

There was a book signing on Saturday but, alas I was being burned alive in LA on that day so I was unable to attend. There is something to be said for an event that is smaller, more personal and rich with history. I encourage you to check it out the KBF Museum web site and of course, order that book! One more photo after the jump…

(more…)

As I was passing over the 5 tonight I saw this……..

This picture was taken above the “Orange Crush” where the 5, 57, 22 and 55 (kinda) all meet. That’s right…..the fire in L.A. the San Gabriel Valley is so large, you can see the flames from Orange County.

As Gina said, we know what you’re going through. Stay safe folks!
(More pics after the jump: (more…)

In an attempt to show that Orange County is not so douche-baggy, I wanted to give a quick acknowledgement of the horrible fires that are raging all around our fellow Southern Californians.

We know what you’re going through, we wish you the best. 

Stay safe.

It will now cost you a whopping 99 cents if you go to a quick service location inside of the Disneyland Resort and request a tomato on your burger. That’s right, for the price of the McDonald’s Value menu you can add one (count it, one) slice of tomato to your mouse-based burger.

Here’s a link to the original article over at OC Register’s Around Disney blog. They’ve got their own poll going on over there so I won’t bother posting one here. Personally I don’t like tomatoes but I am willing to wager this particular change is going to irritate quite a few Annual Pass holders who may feel like the parks are stripping more and more money from their wallets.

What do you think? Do you care that the only quick service location where you can get a tomato included with your burger is at Taste Pilots Grill?

As part of the new and fabtabulous changes we’ve got going on here at Metblogs, you might have noticed that we again feature a blogroll on our sidebar.

Wanna be a part of it?

If you’ve got an Orange County-based blog, you’re in!  But sorry, ones that are purely business promotions don’t qualify, so don’t bother.  I’ll send you right back to the spam folder where you belong.

If you’d like to do a linky thingy, leave your URL in the comments and we’ll try to add you on.

I posted a gushing review a while back of the new Cinema Fusion theaters located on the upper level of the GardenWalk. Remember that? Good. Anyway, many people who live locally keep saying they have yet to go. Why why why? One of the weird things a hear is “Oh, I prefer to go to Century’s Stadium Promenade Theaters”. Seriously, you prefer Century? How can you have a preference for one if you have never tried the other? Le sigh. Anyone who has been to both theaters comes to the immediate conclusion that Century is a disgusting pig mess by comparison.

I finally had a camera with a flash so I could snap a photo inside of Theater 5 with its plush overstuffed fully reclining leather seats! if you’re over 21, the screening rooms are always always always the way to go. Theater 5 is especially nice because of the recliners and relaxing atmosphere.

One more photo after the jump…

(more…)

There are still tickets available to the Orange County Beer Festival taking place on Sunday, August 30 at Irvine Lake. Please note the web address on the flyer had to be changed due to technical difficulties. This is the active web address: drinkeatplay.com/orangecountybeerfest/ or you can just click on the flyer.

To order tickets click on the top right of the Drink:Eat:Play website or here. Tickets MUST be purchased in advance, none will be available at the door. There is also a designated driver special of $15, which gives you access to everything except the beer tastings, obviously. Enter code “dd” when ordering tickets.

Remember folks it’s gonna be hot, Hot, HOT on Sunday. In addition to all of the wonderful beer we’ll be drinking don’t forget to drink plenty of water. I don’t want to see someone keeling over ’cause, you know, that’d ruin my buzz. All kidding aside drink responsibly people and that means water and lots of it … that goes for yours truly as well. And to prevent this nonsense from happening iced tea and water will be available for FREE.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the  LA Beer Festival on September 19th.

This is a 21+ only event. Even if you are the designated driver you must be 21 to attend.

Have you noticed our newly tweaked streamlined interface? Slick isn’t it? One major improvement is you no longer have to register with Metblogs to post a comment! So do us a favor and leave us some comments and tell us what you think of the new interface. If your comments are constructive we’ll pass them along to the powers that be!