Mohawk Bend to host an IPA festival for hop heads

Hops in their raw state, before being brewed into one of the many IPAs that eschew balance for flavor.

By John Verive

Oct. 17, 2013 7 AM PT

Tony Yanow loves hops, and next month he will use the 70 taps at Mohawk Bend, his Echo Park craft beer destination, to share his love for the pungent flowers at the Los Angeles IPA Fest ival. The weekend-long celebration of craft beer’s most popular style will feature a competition including more than 60 of California’s best IPAs, judged by a cadre of brewers and beer personalities from across the state.

The inaugural IPA Fest will take place Nov. 16-17 at Mohawk Bend, with the contest being judged in three rounds Saturday and the winners announced Sunday. It won’t just be the beer judges who will have a say though; you’ll be able to rate each IPA you try during the festival, with the ballots tabulated to determine the People’s Choice Award.

To combat long lines and the general chaos that can sometimes develop on a busy night at Mohawk Bend, Yanow says the 60 IPAs on offer will be broken up into “banks” of taps, each with dedicated servers pouring glasses. This should keep the beers pouring without too much behind-the-bar turmoil, and hop heads will be able to order pints, half-pints or taster-platters of four beers (from the same “bank”).

I got a glimpse of the preliminary beer list, and it looks to be filled with sought-after treats that should get L.A.’s hop fanatics out of bed early on Saturday. Mohawk Bend opens for breakfast at 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays, and if you want to try beers from the rarely-seen-in-L.A. San Diego breweries like Automatic, Society and Alpine Brewing, you’ll want to get their early and stay all day.

“I love all kinds of beer, but I crave hops,” Yanow explained when I asked him why he had dedicated so much to IPAs, adding, “[IPAs] aren’t just my favorite, it’s what everybody wants around here.”

California has built a reputation for clean, unmuddled ales that eschew balance to showcase the variety of flavors hops provide, and the Los Angeles IPA Festival will give craft beer fans the opportunity to sample the best IPAs from Los Angeles and across the state.

Los Angeles IPA Festival, Nov. 16-17, Mohawk Bend, 2141 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 483-2337.

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