Even though the sidewalk was sweltering, we braved the heat to do some of our favorite things: socializing, drinking beer and listening to music. And this year’s Claremont Blues & Brews Craft Beer Walk was one to remember.

During a scorching heat wave, you might expect crowds to opt out of the festivities but the very opposite happened. Tickets sold out and streets were filled with beer-lovers from near and far. The heat wasn’t going to stop anyone.

We started our booze cruise at the newest restaurant in town, so new, in fact, that it isn’t even officially open yet—Beer Belly Deli. While at the newly refurbished spot, we ran into executive chef Vince Guerrero, who showed us the menu and some of the cool new features, including a smartphone-operated jukebox. We were excited to try Chef Guerrero’s food but for that we would have to head next door to the Claremont Forum, a nonprofit that sponsors the nationwide Prison Library Project. We walked into the delightfully air-conditioned bookstore to find Beer Belly Deli’s delicious pork BBQ sliders and New Belgium Brewing Company beer samples. We quickly devoured both and decided to once again head out into the heat.

Our next stop was Maple Boutique, where we indulged in a 21 Choices frozen yogurt bar and one of our favorite beers of the day: Legends Premium Lager’s Triple Karma IPA. We even got a chance to talk with founder and president of Legends, Jay Talley. Mr. Talley told us he had heard about the event on Eureka Burger’s twitter feed. Eureka wasn’t able to make it to the event so Legends stepped in. “Where ever we can help—we do,” he said.

To read the entire blog plus see a slideshow from the event, check out this link.

http://claremontafterhours.corecanvas.com/blog-posts/craft-beer-walk