Beer Meets Science at Fun Fundraiser

Cheers to the intersection of beer and science! The Mission Creek Beer Festival is coming to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History on Saturday, October 18, with a Flavor Field Guide blend of sensory exploration, storytelling, and thoughtful beer curation leading the way to an awesome afternoon of fun beer tasting and light bites. 

Best of all, 100 percent of the net proceeds from the event support the Museum’s science and nature education programs. So, every sip you take can actually have a positive impact on the world through fostering excitement about and furthering understanding of science. 

With the offerings broken up into four distinct flavor zones — Bitter, Sweet, Sour & Salty, and Umami & Beyond — under the experienced taste buds of certified cicerone and area beer expert Zach Rosen, who is known for crafting immersive beer experiences that combine taste, art, performance, and education, this is sure to be a unique experience. 

“We had a few creative brainstorming sessions. And then he came and he sat in our backyard under the oaks, and just had his own sort of meditation,” said the Museum’s Director of Marketing and Communications Jonah Haas of his collaboration with Rosen. “And he came out of that with an idea for a concept that we all really like — the Flavor Field Guide.”

Haas continued, “So much of what we do at the Museum is about identification of species, and so the idea of a field guide, both literally but also figuratively, is really strongly aligned. And so, we’re going to create on our map four flavor zones that allow people to explore the nuances and the diversity of their palate through craft beers paired with local food.”

Participants who will be pouring unique beers along Mission Creek in the Museum’s lovely outdoor area include Figueroa Mountain, M. Special Brewery, CARP Homebrewers, The Brewhouse, Draughtsmen Aleworks, Third Window Brewing, Island Brewing, Night Lizard Brewing Co, Seaward Brewing, Captain Fatty’s, Barrelworks at Firestone, and TW Hollister. 

In addition, the culinary partners providing food for this second annual fundraiser include Good Company, Finch & Fork, Costa Restaurant (Hyatt Mar Monte), Convivo Restaurant, The Nook, Cuso Creamery, and Beacon Coffee Company.

The whole thing definitely sounds like fun. “The goal with each of the different stations is to really get people thinking about flavor and taste and how all of that works,” said Haas. For example, there’s a station that focuses on flavor experiments. “They will have jelly beans, and if you hold your nose and you eat a jelly bean, all you can taste is the sweet, and then you open your nose, and then you can actually taste what the flavor profile of that jelly bean is supposed to be. So, you’ll be learning about the play between smell and taste.”

He continued, “Mission Creek Beer Festival is like the cool younger sibling of our 38-year-old Santa Barbara Wine Festival tradition. It brings a fresh perspective, a sensory twist, and lets us play creatively with beer, food, and flavor in a way that both tips the hat to a tradition of science programming around food and beverage the Museum has been offering for decades and reflects where Santa Barbara’s culinary and craft beer scenes are headed.” 

The Mission Creek Beer Festival, Saturday, October 18, 2-5 p.m., Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (2559 Puesta del Sol). Tickets are $95. See bit.ly/4293syq.