Long Beach’s affection for fermentation culture is getting a tart new showcase this month as Long Beach Beer Lab turns its Wrigley backlot into a one-day tasting festival dedicated entirely to bright acidity, fruit-forward flavor, and experimental beverages.
On Sunday, March 29, from noon to 4PM, the brewery and bakery will host its inaugural Sour & Fruity Bev Fest, a gathering built around unlimited sampling from breweries and non-alcoholic beverage makers.
“This event is driven by a focus on inclusion and education,” said Beer Lab sales director Tanya Bultsma. “While many traditional beer festivals exist, they often overlook the significant demand for high-quality non-alcoholic and non-beer options, leaving guests who are practicing moderation, or those who do not drink beer, with limited choices. We created Sour & Fruity to address this gap.”
What to expect from Sour & Fruity Bev Fest at Long Beach Beer Lab
Pours will span sour ales, fruit-heavy beers, kombucha, non-alcoholic drinks, and other tart-driven beverages. Tickets begin at $30, with organizers framing the event as an intentionally playful departure from traditional beer festivals: less hop-forward intensity, more acidity, funk, and fruit.
“It will be a truly unique experience where Indie beer enthusiasts, cider seekers, Kombucha fans, and those just looking for hydration can sample a bunch of options and leave having discovered some new favorite beverages,” Tanya said. “I personally drink across categories. It is not odd for me to start with a cider, then order a bitter & savory non-alc cocktail, and then drink an IPA. I think that is the reality for many people. So let’s put together a party celebrating all sorts of bevvies.”
What makes the event especially fitting is where it will happen: the brewery’s increasingly well-used backlot, a space that has quietly become one of Long Beach Beer Lab’s defining community assets.
How Long Beach Beer Lab has been pivotal in creating a sense of community.
Since opening in Wrigley in 2017, Long Beach Beer Lab has steadily expanded beyond being simply a brewery. Founded by Levi Fried—whose background in biochemistry and microbiology heavily shaped the brewery’s fermentation-first identity—the business has built a reputation around experimentation, from mixed-culture beers and barrel projects to bread, pizza, and pastry programs that share the same scientific curiosity.
That same curiosity has extended into how the property is used. The backlot has hosted everything from live music nights and pop-up gatherings to festivals, markets, and collaborative events, evolving into a flexible outdoor venue where the brewery regularly invites the broader community in. Rather than treating the outdoor area as overflow seating, Long Beach Beer Lab has increasingly used it as an extension of its identity: informal, neighborhood-facing, and built around gathering.
“We have been hearing much about the world being on fire,” Levi said. “It has been our ethos from day one that our ability is to focus on our community. Now more than ever, we need reasons to celebrate together, and nothing says that more than a value-driven beverage festival with adult beverages and NA beverages, music, and fun for the whole family. Best of all, it is centered right in the beating heart of one of our most vibrant neighborhoods.”
Sour & Fruity Bev Fest is a simple reflection of what Long Beach Beer Lab has been donig all along…
This latest festival stands out because of how specific its theme is. Beer festivals often lean broad—IPAs, lagers, or general craft pours—but Sour & Fruity Bev Fest narrows the lens to beverages defined by acidity and fermentation character. Much like their rightfully loved Clean & Crispy fest, they are explicitly pairing craft breweries with non-alcoholic producers, meaning kombucha and other fruit-driven fermented drinks will sit alongside sour beers rather than apart from them.
That distinction mirrors Long Beach Beer Lab’s own brewing philosophy. While the brewery produces a range of styles, it has long invested in fermentation that pushes beyond conventional taproom expectations, making a sour-and-fruit-centered festival feel less like a novelty and more like a natural extension of what already happens there.
The event also leans into accessibility: attendees receive unlimited samples, local pop-up vendors will be onsite, food will be available, and each ticket includes an exclusive tasting glass, creating a format that feels closer to a neighborhood block gathering than a conventional beer trade event.
For Long Beach, where brewery culture has often centered around hop-heavy offerings or traditional tasting-room experiences, Sour & Fruity Bev Fest suggests another direction—one where tartness, funk, fruit, and fermentation experimentation take center stage for an afternoon.
Sour & Fruity Bev Fest will take place on Sunday, Mar. 29, in the lot behind Long Beach Beer Lab, located at 518 Willow St. For tickets, click here.
