I’m writing this while simmering in the mild, buzzy afterglow that follows attending a beer festival. In the past few years, Humboldt’s beerfests have slowly come back, and the return of Strange Brew, a benefit for the Eureka Theater, feels like a full-circle moment. With at least three dozen libations to sample, I tried, I really did. But I’m only human and couldn’t get to them all.
Let’s start with what seems like a throwback to pepper brews. Mount Shasta Brewing Co. brought an excellent Jalapeño Amber beer across the hill. The brewers cut off fermentation early to allow for a higher final gravity, making a sweeter base beer that complemented the mild but super-flavorful jalapeños. Trinity County Brewing Co., a small brewery and pub in Weaverville, brought a similarly good Jalapeño Hefeweizen, this one packing moderate heat … not enough to blow your head off but sufficient to get your attention. Lost Coast Brewery contributed something called El Diablo Chili IPA, which kept its IPA cred by delivering a pleasingly hard hit of hops complimented with subtle mixture of charred jalapeños, Anaheim and poblano peppers.
Paskenta Mad River Brewing poured several beers. I chose two that provided nice, local tie-ins. The Pumpkin Ale proved to be a very drinkable concoction with local pumpkins from Pomme Hill Farm. The Bloody Peach Wheat Beer provided a sniff of botanicals up front. The peaches were added at fermentation and — total Humboldt locavore story — came from a blood peach tree in the brewer’s yard.
Six Rivers Brewery brought adult deserts. Brewer Aaron Weshnak and the team were serving up Sour Cherry Lambic, using the base Raspberry Lambic with cherry puree and lime, reminding me of pie cherries, but in beer form. The Mai Tai Seltzer was sweet in a way that succeeded in seeming reminiscent of mulled cider, but tropical. Weshnak’s Coffee Sprite Porter sounded like one of the stranger offerings. Based on the brewery’s Macadamia Nut Porter, it was not actually strange, but a nice delivery of a sweeter vanilla-infused porter.
A high point for me came from Eel River Brewing Co., which was pouring several brews. I went for Wolves at the Door, a barley wine aged in whiskey barrels with hints of vanilla and cherry, brewed in observance of the company’s 30th anniversary. It was outstanding and so very alcoholic.
It wasn’t all beer. There were options for ciders, seltzers and kombucha.
I tried the full flight of Humboldt Cider Co.’s offerings. It started with Chocolate Apple, a loveable, though not in the end strange, combination. Next was Passion for the Berry, a complex, boozy mix of apple cider, passion fruit, blueberries and blackberries; you could drink it all day but it’s still not strange. The Hopenero felt fun, participating in the pepper brew revival, and I pronounced it “approaching strange.” Similarly strange and good: HCC’s Hot Nuts, apple cider blended with candied pecans and habanero peppers.
It’s Alive Kombucha brought two excellent choices. The non-alcoholic offering, Earth Booch, was infused with lots of things including turkey tail and candy cap mushrooms. Their other pour was a nicely drinkable hard kombucha called Blueberry Lion’s Mane with — you guessed it, mycology buffs — lion’s mane mushrooms.
And then there were my people, the Humboldt Homebrewers. Pro tip: If you go to a brewfest where homebrewers are participating, hit them up first. Sure, you’ll find highly inventive recipes poured by the people who lovingly brewed them, but you want to go there first because it’s damn near guaranteed we will run out of beer before the commercial folks do.
I provided my People’s Choice voting ticket to Matt Kowalski for his lovely ruby red Hibiscus Tea. Shockingly, considering this was me voting, it’s non-alcoholic.
Among other offerings, Caitlin Berry brought a loveable, fruit-forward Mango Spritzer that, as I understand it, she created by magic rather than fermentation.
Her husband, Kenneth Berry, who regularly wins awards for his beers, proved you can make a great brew with malt extract, combining Pilsner and rice to present an entirely quaffable, though not strange, beer.
Steve Martin brewed a base porter and dressed it up post-fermentation three ways, with his Bananas Foster being another winning adult dessert.
Kristina Watson and several others from the Homebrewers went on a there-are-so-many-apples cidermaking binge, so they offered multiple choices. My favorite was technically a perry, a cider made with pears. These originated with a 30-year-old Asian pear tree in Bayside that reportedly bears fruit the size of my substantial head.
If I had to name the strangest beers, they would be from other homebrewers. Julien Parra poured two versions of Dill Pickle Raddler (continuing with the pepper-infused theme, I liked the spicy one best). And someone — by this time, I was tipsy enough that my notes failed me on who, I’m so sorry — brought a hot dog beer. A nitpick: I’d say it leaned more toward bratwurst. Josh Gruver, a talented beermaker, shamelessly poured something called Spamulent (Spam! Wonderful Spam!), darn strange and also pretty terrible. He offered me something called Tongue Reaper. I demurred, but Heidi McHugh, who works for our Assemblyman Chris Rogers, was already drinking it. She said it was like someone had mashed up cocktail bitters and strained those through a coffee filter. She’s a true public servant and I was grateful to her for drinking this stuff so I didn’t have to. To demonstrate that he could make an actually good, and still strange, brew, Gruver provided something he called Coconutter, a coconut, lime and curry ale that tasted pleasantly like a nice Thai restaurant smells.
In the end, Parra took home both the People’s Choice award and the Brewer’s Award. Per Eureka Theater board member and host Nate Berg, it was the first time either award had been won by a homebrewer, let alone the double.
So Strange Brew, and our other beloved beerfests are back. Saturday evening’s offerings proved to provide more quality than oddity and, honestly, I’ll take a little strange and good over truly strange and bad any day.
Michael Kraft (he/him) consults part-time. In his free time, he is involved in the community in various ways and writes about Humboldt’s nonprofits and businesses and its beer/wine/cider scene. You may reach him at michael@kraftconsultants.com.
This article appears in Holiday Gift Guide 2025.