L.A. Beerathon: OK to start, not finish

According to its organizers, one popular misconception about the inaugural L.A. Beerathon is that it’s a marathon of beer drinking with a finish line.

“Unless you are a truly unique individual or have no regard for your personal well-being, you will not finish,” said Beerathon organizer Sam, who has helmed the New York City version of the 26-stop pub crawl for five years (and, because of a sensible day job in New York, doesn’t offer his last name when he talks about the event). “If you do it responsibly, it’s definitely more of a tasting tour. There are no prizes for finishing. You are not encouraged to finish.”

The L.A. Beerathon is an all-day jaunt through 26 participating downtown L.A. venues Saturday. On one hand, it’s an all-inclusive package tour of revitalized downtown night life, where design-forward taverns like Villains, Salvage and Wurstkuche will serve local craft IPAs while divey taverns like the Down and Out and New Jalisco go more low-brow.

On the other hand, it’s a chance to drink 26 beers in one day.

The Beerathon is a tasting menu writ large across the city’s best drinking neighborhood. It is also fortunate that Yellow Cab and the downtown Marriott are participating sponsors.

The organizers of the L.A. Beerathon are, perhaps understandably, a little shy about talking to the press. “I don’t want people to Google my name and have the word ‘beerathon’ as the first result,” Sam said. Nor will they provide an exact ticket count (a Facebook post days before the event encouraged fans to act fast, because “less than 200 tickets” were left, and the event has sold out).

But now the Beerathon is a countrywide operation with an actual staff, a corporate entity (the New York Department of State lists a “Beerathon LLC” based in Paramus, N.J.) and events planned for San Francisco, San Diego and Chicago, among other cities.

At past Beerathons, participants bought a ticket and checked in at one of several larger participating bars along the venue’s route. Then they’re off to the races, with their pass good for one selected brew at each location.

However, late Thursday evening, a dispute with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control led to organizers nixing the advance-ticketing plan and issuing refunds.

The tour map isn’t released until Saturday, but the scope of the L.A. edition is enormous, including Arts District taverns, skid row dives, Little Tokyo noodle houses, historic core staples and South Park lounges.

For participating bars, it’s a chance to offer finds from the city’s sweeping craft beer scene (beer nerds will approve of the Golden Road, Black Market and Eagle Rock Brewery selections at several stops) and to stand out amid the glut of new downtown nightspots.

“It’s going to be a good crazy, but that’s one of the main reasons we’re involved with this,” said Wally Moran, the events and marketing manager at Bonaventure Brewing Co., an alfresco pub and brewery based on the fourth floor of the Westin Bonaventure hotel. “We’ve been brewing downtown for 15 years. But with the craft beer explosion of the last few years, the stakes are up.”

An alcohol-centric event of this size has logistical challenges. “We’re really serious about people not drinking and driving,” Sam said, specifying that all venues will have cabs on call and extra security.

The L.A. Beerathon may be the first attempt for fans of the neighborhood’s new beers and bars to take them all in at once. Or at least a few of them.

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august.brown@latimes.com