THE BREWSPAPER / MAY CRAFT BEER EVENTS IN SAN DIEGO

First posted on WestCoaster.com, the website of monthly print magazine West Coaster.  For a free copy of the May West Coaster online edition go to www.westcoastersd.com

After an incredibly lengthy winter, spring is finally in full bloom, and that means the dawn of beer-event season. Sure, there’s always a lot going on in the local suds scene, but this is where it all picks up en route to the summer festival season. We’ve picked out some featured events, but don’t forget to keep your eye on our full-scale events page! (And clear your calendar for May 19!)

May | Beer to the Rescue Events: May is Lupus Awareness Month. Fittingly, the Beer to the Rescue campaign benefiting the Lupus Foundation of Southern California has a whopping ten events taking place. B2TR reps will be at Societe Brewing every Tuesday in May, Division 23 Brewing is releasing a dry-hopped hazy IPA brewed for the cause May 3, then there’ll be four straight days of fundraiser May 17-20, with events at Thorn St. Brewery, Rouleur Brewing, Bay City Brewing and Pacific Islander Beer Co. | Societe Brewing, 8262 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, Kearny Mesa; Division 23 Brewing, 7408 Trade Street, Miramar; Thorn St. Brewery, 3176 Thorn Street, North Park; Rouleur Brewing, 5840 El Camino Real, Suite 101, Carlsbad; Bay City Brewing, 3760 Hancock Street, Point Loma; Pacific Islander Beer Co., 8665 Argent Street, Santee; Times Vary by Location

May 5 | Rhythm & Brews: The San Diego Brewers Guild always puts on a good party, and, with breweries and beers from across San Diego County and a full slate local musicians pumping out live music, this is one of their biggest of the entire year. New to this seventh-annual fete this year is a tented VIP area with rare brews and food crafted to pair with those liquid wares. | Historic Vista Village, South Citrus Avenue & East Broadway, Vista, 1 p.m.

May 19 | Arts & Amps: Karl Strauss Brewing’s successful summer art-and-music series kicks off with Boostive and Elektric Voodoo performing at the San Diego stalwart’s outdoor beer garden. Adding extra flair—in addition to 20 taps of local craft beer—will be live mural art from Cohort Collective and a gallery show by Creative Souls on the West Coast. | Karl Strauss Brewing, 5985 Santa Fe Street, Pacific Beach, 4:30 p.m.

May 19 | Fifth Anniversary Celebration: It’s been a half-decade since Stone Brewing took over an old Navy mess hall and converted it into a vibrant, brewery-equipped fortress offering an ever-changing array of innovative house beers, many of which will be on tap along with a special anniversary IPA served in tandem with eats from vendors at the next-door Liberty Public Market during their five-year soiree. | Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station, 2816 Historic Decatur Road, #116, Point Loma, 12 p.m.

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May 19 | Over the Line Beerfest & Tourney: Booze and over-the-line have always have always gone together, but this tournament, which will include 120 OTL teams, ups the quality of the former considerably with a full-on, four-hour craft-beer festival taking place smack dab in the middle of tournament play. As organizer OMBAC puts it, “you can’t say OTL without beer.” Hear, hear. | Mariner’s Point, 1100 West Mission Bay Drive, Mission Beach, 12 p.m.

AMERICANA / LOVE BOAT ICE CREAM

Let the Series Begin: PillartoPost.org has exhausted its coverage of the world’s largest Ferris wheels and instead redirects its resources to ice cream.  For the near future P2P staffers will be traveling to taste and report on ice cream from shops across this great land.

#2 LOVEBOAT ICE CREAM, Ft. Myers Fl.

Love Boat Ice Cream opened its doors in 1967 on San Carlos Boulevard. When Hurricane Charley hit Southwest Florida in 2004, it wiped out many of Ft. Myers favorite mom and pop shops, including the local favorite ice cream shop. 

Store manager, Jennifer Borst wasn’t around for the destructive storm but is familiar with the story of rebuilding. She says, "I believe that they were working out of freezers and a trailer just to be serving customers before they opened the doors back up." 

Now celebrating its 51st anniversary, Love Boat is serving up more than 70 flavors of homemade ice cream from its brand new building about a block away from the original location.

Butter Pecan is the leading flavor.

Always popular with locals, Love Boat has a cult following with tourists.  One group of regulars from all across the nation are the players who attend the annual Roy Hobbs World Series, a collection of month-long amateur baseball tournaments held in November.  One player (from San Diego) in the 60+ division (pictured) doesn’t leave Ft. Myers without ordering the banana split.

As you can see management doesn’t skimp on the size of the servings, especially the non-fat selections.

Love Boat has several locations in the Ft. Myers area.