Annual ‘halfway to Halloween’ beer festival returns with wildly cool, updated lineup

Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny has moved beyond a sister event from the crew that brought Long Beach its first major beer festival during the pandemic, Halloween Hootenanny. It’s officially Long Beach tradition to bring on the spooks in May as Festival Obscura founders Martin and Ryan Hughes-Svab along with Craft Beer LB founder and all-around awesome human Dennis Trilles carry on the yearly tradition.

The event has opted to keep Rancho Los Cerritos their home for Halloween in Spring. And festivities not only include breweries and wineries but, as with last year, spirit distillers for the hardcore boozers. In the spirit of connecting Long Beach with the beauty that is beer and horror, Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny goes down on Saturday, May 9 at Rancho Los Cerritos.

Even more, Martin has leveraged his 20-plus years of experience in the beer world to deliver tangible results with this year’s event. Just look at the awe-inspiring beer lineup…

Is there anything different at this year’s Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny?

Yes, and that is mainly the pours.

While we all know and love our local beers—ISM, Ambitious, Blendery, Everywhere, Syncopated…—the crew from Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny has eschewed the redundancy found in SoCal festivals across the year. With it, they’ve respected the local while also branching out into incredibly awesome Belgian and German territory.

Even on the local level, appearances by breweries like Cellador Ales is a highlight. Sure, it is local-ish, but it operates in a very niche, oak-aged, mixed fermentation space. And even more, it doesn’t flood festivals.

“There’s gonna be some last-minute additions, so expect more,” Martin said. “And we’re trying to work with the importer to bring some fun things out there. But very happy about the lineup as we’re trying to go beyond normal borders when it comes to local festivals. Of course, some of these will be served from bottles because getting kegs is nearly impossible but it gives people the chance to try something new and different.”

What are some of the highlights of the list for those that know the local breweries all too well?

Here are some particular highlights Martin has procured for Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny…

Kloster Andechs

This is a legit Bavarian monastery brewery—not just any, but one with centuries of brewing tradition. While their beers exist in the States, they are sporadically imported and tightly allocated. Seeing Andechs on a SoCal festival lineup is rare because their distribution is inconsistent and often prioritized for specialty importers or select accounts.

Bosteels Brewery

The makers of Kwak and Tripel Karmeliet, Bosteels is iconic—but paradoxically not a common fest pour locally. Their beers are specialty imports that aren’t always sent out for large-scale pouring events, especially given glassware considerations. (Kwak, anyone?)

Weltenburger Klosterbrauerei

Claiming to be the oldest monastery brewery in the world (since 1050), Weltenburger is even more elusive than Andechs in the U.S. market. When it does appear, it’s usually through specialty import channels or curated festival selections.

Timmermans Brewery

One of the oldest lambic producers in Belgium, Timmermans represents a category—true lambic—that’s still underrepresented at local fests unless it’s a niche sour-focused event. Even then, imports like this aren’t guaranteed.

Veltins

Yes, they’re a major German pils producer, but here’s the catch: German macros rarely get poured at craft festivals in SoCal, especially ones that aren’t already heavily embedded in U.S. distribution. Veltins shows up far less often than, say, Bitburger or Warsteiner.

So this is a Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny—but is it celebrated elsewhere, this halfway-to-Halloween thing? Yes.

In Gaelic terms, it is called Beltane, the spring equinox that marks the halfway point toward Samhain, or what Americans commonly call Halloween—and in Long Beach, at least for myself, it represents part of my favorite beer festival, the annual Halloween Hootenanny and Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny celebrations.

“For some cultures, Beltane is actually more important and more celebrated than Halloween itself, or what they call Samhain,” Ryan said. “And compared to the last Halloween Hootenanny, this one is a bit more focused on the horror part: We have more horror vendors, we’re encouraging people to bring on the costumes… It’s going to be just a great reason to escape.”

It’s a damn good reason to escape: This is the halfway point to Halloween, Long Beach.

What should we expect from this version of Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny?

Just look at this list of libation producers:

Breweries, Cideries, and Wineries

• Altar Society
• Ambitious Ales
• Archer Rose Wines
• Artisanal Imports
• Aspal Cider
• Beachwood Blendery
• Beachwood Brewing Co.
• Beer Thugs
• Bosteels Brewery
• Brown Soul
• Cellador Ales
• Crown & Hops
• Everywhere Beer
• Farfield Brewing
• Fuego Hard Cider
• Galipette Biologique
• Gordons Christmas
• Grevensteiner
• Kelterei Possmann
• Kloster Andechs
• Kopparberg
• La Jara
• Level Up
• Long Beach Beer Lab
• Martinelli’s Hard Cider
• Orion Craft Beer
• Praga Pils
• Project Barley
• Pure Cider
• Sangre de Tigre
• Syncopated
• Timmermans
• Tortugo Brewing Co.
• Veltins
• Weltenberg Abbey

Spirits Vendors

• Beachwood Brewing & Distilling
• Eluniqo Tequila
• Surprise Cocktail RTDs
• Chuntikis

And let’s not forget the food purveyors, artists, authors, crafters, and performers…

There’s plenty more besides the drinking at Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny.

Artists / Authors / Vendors

• Craft Beer LB
• Local Beer Brand
• Mood Poison
• Error ‘84
• Halloween Hun
• Art of Sketch
• Monster Tease
• Brian Asman
• Bat in Your Belfy
• Twigz Morgue
• Rock N Horror
• La Dama Luna
• After Hours Fun
• GWE
• K. Howell
• Pyramid Printing

Food / Dessert

• Shady Grove
• Whale Face Grub
• Leaf Over Beef
• Lumpia
• Yakitori Cartel

Music / Performers

• DJ Paul E Wog
• DJ Buttercuts
• Christopher Wonder
• The Thingz
• Sonny Skyes
• JMau & The Kiss Off

Go get yer hootenanny’n’hops on, Long Beach.

Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny 2026 takes place on Saturday, May 9, at Rancho Los Cerritos in Long Beach. VIP ticket holders get access to the space at noon; GA enters at 1PM. The festival runs until 5PM. For tickets click here.