Santa Cruz’s Strange Brew

Assistant brewer Reed Vander Schaaf explains the finer points of brewing beer. Photo by Brian Harker

Alec Stefansky learned to make beer in his UC-Santa Cruz dorm room, where he hid five-gallon batches from campus authorities and shared home-brewed pints among his roommates. It was a common enough way to begin. But today the 31-year-old is a professional brewer quickly ascending into the ranks of West Coast weird-beer stardom.

Continue Reading →

A New Festival for Santa Cruz? But for What?

We're just saying. Photo by Curtis Cartier.

City Councilmember Don Lane and former Mayor Emily Reilly have an idea to raise money for Santa Cruz. They want to launch an annual festival, much like Gilroy’s famous Garlic Festival, with proceeds going to support local charities. It’s a great idea, but they haven’t quite thought it through. While they insist it become “a signature event” for Santa Cruz and a means of promoting off-season tourism, they haven’t decided exactly what it should celebrate.

Continue Reading →