Seven days are not enough for L.A. Beer Week

You’ve heard of a “baker’s dozen”; maybe now we need to add a “brewer’s week” to the local lexicon. Every American drinking town worth its salt observes an extended annual beer week, and for the last two years, L.A.’s has been 11 days long. But Angelenos are apparently getting thirstier, and this year’s third annual L.A. Beer Week runs Oct. 10 to 23. Evidently a beer week is now 14 days.

Some believe the growth of L.A. Beer Week reflects the vigor of L.A.’s budding craft beer movement. But others, like Mark Jilg, the founder of Pasadena’s Craftsman Brewing Co.— the L.A. area’s oldest craft brewery — take a more measured position.

“It’s a toddler,” Jilg says. “It’s only 3 years old, and we’re all still trying to figure out what it means and what it’s going to be.”

We may not know what L.A. Beer Week means for the future of the craft beer movement, but we do know what it entails for the next couple of weeks: an expanding lineup of beer tastings, brunches, lunches, dinners, parties and educational seminars — both free and not-so-free — that bring local drinkers and brewers together over lots of beer. Most days will include nearly a dozen beer week events to choose from.

As with the previous two events, this L.A. Beer Week will commence with an official kickoff celebration at Naja’s Place in Redondo Beach, with more than 40 beers on tap from Stone Brewing Co. — the largest craft brewery in Southern California. Stone’s top brass will be on hand to answer questions, sign books and knock a few back with the party people.

But L.A. Beer Week isn’t all parties and beer festivals. Tomm Carroll, the longtime L.A. correspondent for Celebrator Beer News and a veteran of the L.A. Beer Week organizing committee, will be hosting educational events. On Oct. 17, Carroll will moderate a panel of local beer journalists, bloggers and vloggers at the Four Points by Sheraton at LAX, also known as the “Beer Hotel.”

“Two years ago, when [L.A. Beer Week] started, there weren’t a whole lot of people writing about beer,” Carroll said. “Now there are so many people doing a great job covering different aspects of it that I think it would make for a good panel.”

On Oct. 23, L.A. Beer Week will conclude as it has the previous two years: with a big beer-drinking blowout. The L.A. Beer Week Festival will take place at Union Station and will feature more than 70 breweries, unlimited 4-ounce pours and easy access to some of L.A.’s favorite gourmet food trucks.

For brewers, the festival provides a valuable opportunity.

“Seeing as we don’t have a tasting room, it’s one of the few events where we get to share our beer directly with the people who are drinking it,” Jilg says. “It gives us insight into what other people see in our beer.”

Jilg is among the most respected figures in L.A.’s growing craft beer movement, but he’s also one of its biggest critics. Still, he happily collaborated with Jeremy Raub of Eagle Rock Brewery in Atwater Village to make this year’s official L.A. Beer Week beer — Unity, a fall Saison brewed with tamarind.

“Jeremy did a really nice job of taking a traditional Belgian-style farmhouse ale and making it uniquely Southern Californian. And he did it by using an ingredient that grows here but isn’t from here, which I think is true of just about all of us,” Jilg said.

Raub is also pleased with Unity, if less philosophical about the beer’s concept. “It surprised me how much the tamarind came out, based on how little we used,” he said. “We expected to be adding more in secondary fermentation. But the beer dried out a lot and really let the tamarind pop out.”

Jilg and Raub will release Unity to local bars early next week, just in time for the start of L.A. Beer Week.

For a complete schedule, more details and ticket information, go to https://www.labeerweek.com.

calendar@latimes.com