This month, OCWA hosted its 2nd annual Pure Beer Home Brew Tasting Event. It was a great evening! Thank you to everyone who came out. We appreciate the participation of everyone who joined us and hope everyone had as good a time as we did.

And special thanks to our partner, Orange County Water District, who provided the highly purified GWRS water as the base water for our home brews. The water profile was perfect and made for a wonderful base that allowed our brewers to create some tasty brews. We are proud to be part of this community where resilient drinking water sources have been established through OCWD’s leadership and innovation.

Photos of all the days events,
and a listing of all the Sponsors and Vendors,
are available on the OCWA website.
Click here for the photos.

Our host, Tim Roberts, of T.E. Roberts Inc., provided a perfect place for our community to come together, converse, network, laugh, and enjoy each other’s company in a casual setting. Everyone enjoyed delicious TK Burgers while listening to music by Junior Lagade, (Black & Veatch).

Our evening was a success thanks to our corporate sponsors: T.E. Roberts Inc. and Black & Veatch Government and Environments.

“I was happy to see and say hi to everyone who attended, and I’m grateful for all the support we received,” said OCWA Vice President Derek Kurtti, P.E. (Black & Veatch). “Thank you for being part of an event that celebrates the reality of reuse as a reliable, resilient source of clean drinking water for our communities. Cheers to reuse and more future events!”

And we can’t miss recognizing our home brewers, who absolutely killed it again this year:

Daniel Roberts (Dan Roberts Architect); Martin Dix (Orange County Sanitation); Eric Strickland (Black & Veatch); Matt Baldwin; Michael Putt (Ninyo and Moore); Franklin Ruiz (Ninyo and Moore); and Matt Harrell (Ninyo and Moore).

Among the evening’s offerings, tasters enjoyed American Stout, American Red Ale, American IPA, Hazy Juice IPA, German Kolsch, Oatmeal Stout, and Hop Tea.

As part of the evening’s festivities, there was a beer naming contest. Winners included: American Stout: From Stool to Stout; American Red Ale: Al-E-Poop; Hazy Juicy IPA: Juicy Squirts; German Kolsh: Mein Bier; Hop Tea: Hop Along; and American Light Lager: Second Chance Lager.

Our evening went off without a hitch thanks to these amazing volunteers who made this whole thing possible:

Jill Zander, CF APMP, Shipley BDC (Michael Baker International); Cindy Sevilla Esparza, PE (MKN); Greta Vasiliauskaite, EIT (Black & Veatch); Alec Barker-Aguilar (Black & Veatch); and Abigail Kuan (Irvine Ranch Water District).

The evening would have been unthinkable, and quite dry, without the staff at OCWD who helped provide us with water: Bob Philips, Maintenance Manager; John Souza, Operations Mechanic; Ryan Cornell, Maintenance Mechanic; Jonathon Mok, Plant Operator; and Brian Manning, Utility and Maintenance Technician.

Finally, we owe a great debt of gratitude to the OCWA Board, who have been tremendous supporters for this event: President Candice Espinoza, PE (City of Anaheim); Treasurer Dave Jones (Hazen and Sawyer); Secretary Taryn Kjolsing, P.E. (South Coast Water District); Director Michelie Little (MKN); Director Todd Dmytryshyn, PE (Moulton Niguel Water District); and Director Sarina Sriboonlue (Municipal Water District of Orange County).

Plans are already in the works for next year’s event. We hope even more will join us for a remarkable evening of extraordinary home brew tasting.