A South Bay Beer Festival!? An Interview with Emma Suttles of SoCal Suds

There are beer lovers everywhere but we’re a special breed here in the South Bay. Seeing the need for an event to tap into our nature, Emma Suttles and friends got together to present SoCal Suds, the South Bay’s very own beer festival, taking place on Saturday, August 21.

In an exclusive interview, I asked Emma via email to share some insights on this inaugural event.

* Tell us a little bit about SoCal Suds.

SoCal Suds is an event inspired from two event planners desire to mix their work with their passion for quality beer and food. The event is concentrated around the 45+ breweries that will be attending but will also feature food from local South Bay restaurants and live music.

* What was your inspiration for doing a beer festival?

After speaking with a few fellow beer lovers in the South Bay my business partner and I realized that there was a huge buzz in South Bay surrounding quality beer, but no big events celebrating and embracing this buzz. We decided to to give this a shot and in the planning process realized that there was really more interest from breweries than expected to come into the South Bay and create the relationships with that beer community.

* Looking at the list of participating brewers, it looks like you’ll have more than 30 varieties of beer at the festival. How did you engage the breweries and beer makers you have participating?

We will actually have 40+ breweries each bringing 2-4 brews!!! This part was fun for us! The beer industry is so upbeat and fun to work with. The breweries are so excited to be on board and come out for a day of celebrating all things beer!

* With all the beers to choose from, which one are you most looking forward to sampling?

This is such a hard question! There are 40+ quality breweries coming. A few personal highlights will be Strand Brewing, Brewbakers, and Magic Hat. I am also always a sucker for anything of the offerings from New Belgium and Karl Strauss. 🙂

* At a festival like this, food is a big component. What can participants expect to be eating along with their beer?

Silvio’s [Brazilian BBQ of Hermosa Beach] is going to be providing the food. We will also have a few surprises from local food trucks and vendors!! We are foodies and take that part very seriously!!

* There are a lot of food and beverage festivals going on around LA. What’s going to make the SoCal Subs Beer Fest stand out?

Our focus during the entire planning process has been for everyone in attendance to be happy with the event experience: From guests not having to wait in long lines and having access to a wide array of beers to taste, to guests of all ages enjoying the atmosphere, and breweries leaving the event feeling as if they have had quality time educating the South Bay beer lovers!!

To get tickets to this event, Check out the SoCal Suds event on Brown Paper Tickets. You also follow SoCal Suds on Facebook and Twitter for news and updates.