More than 750 wandering hop-heads turned downtown Morgan Hill into a walking party for four hours Saturday afternoon as the Downtown Association kicked off its first Brew Crawl in front of the Granada Theater.
As patrons turned in tickets that ranged from $20 to $35 (depending when you bought a ticket), they were branded by a blue wristband on one hand while receiving a 16-ounce glass and map in the other. Once armed with these needed tools to accompany their thirsty palates, the crowd quickly dispersed to various shops and businesses along both sides of Monterey Road and its side streets with 21 labels beckoning a taste. Many of these labels came from local breweries within the Bay Area.
An estimated 600 tickets were sold to the event, which let patrons sample a wide variety of micro-brews, from El Toro Brewing Company, Morgan Hill’s brand, to lesser-known brands, such as Ninkasi Brewing from Oregon, and Kona Brewing in Hawaii, to the more common labels like Samuel Adams, Gordon Biersch, Widmer Brothers, and Sierra Nevada.
“For our first Brew Crawl, it’s been very successful,” said Noreen Nemec as she furiously handed out maps and glasses to the waves of thirsty patrons in front of the theater. Nemec, chairperson of the Brew Crawl and a member of the Downtown Association, said, “All day we have been asking for feedback, not only from the patrons, but the businesses as well, and so far it’s been really good,” she said.
Success could be seen and measured in crowded sidewalks. Every open shop downtown had someone with a blue wristband either wandering inside or gathered out front, some from as far away as Livermore, Sunnyvale and Salinas, all enjoying themselves.
“I’ve had a great time,” said Monique West, 32, of San Jose, with a beaming smile. “Having the tasting at all the local shops was a great idea. It got me to go inside and find out about them. I’m definitely going back into a few later.”
For others, the event marked their first time being downtown.
“This is fabulous,” said Michelle Francis, 36, from Morgan Hill. “I never come downtown so this has let me find some places I did not know were here. It’s been fun to go places I’ve never been to in ‘Mo Ho,’ especially with my neighbors.”
Tilting his head back and taking the final swig of beer from his glass, Mike Rodrigues, 39, and one of Francis’ neighbors who had accompanied her on the crawl added “I’ve been here three years, and this is the first time I’ve ever walked up and down downtown in its entirety. It even brought me into the stores.”
As Francis and Rodrigues prepared to move on, they handed their empty glasses to Eric Kenner, of Lagunitas Brewing Co. out of Petaluma, who was responsible for refilling the numerous thirsty patrons with his brewery’s beer.
“It’s been nonstop pouring,” Kenner said as he filled another thirsty patron’s glass with their India pale ale beer. “But it’s also been low-key and mellow. Have to say that it’s been a really smooth event and they definitely have something here to build off of, if they choose to.”
Local restaurants and shops had nothing but praise for the Brew Crawl as well.
That thought had already crossed Nemec’s mind even before all the kegs had been tapped and bottles poured.
“From everything I have heard and seen, this has been a great success,” Nemec said. “The Crawl was already a money-maker going into the weekend, and I think it will be a great complement to the stroll. I hope we can plan to have a Beer Crawl every fall and a Wine Stroll every spring.”
The Wine Stroll is an event similar to the Brew Crawl, however, local businesses showcase the local wineries instead.
One thing the Wine Stroll did was bring local shops new business. The Downtown Association was uncertain that the Brew Crawl would have the same effect, but those worries were quickly put to rest after it started.
“We got very busy for lunch,” explained Sarah Kastle, a waitress at Ricatoni’s, an Italian restaurant at 17385 Monterey Rd. “They even called me in early to help handle the rush of people we had. I don’t think we had an open table all during lunch.”
Restaurants were not the only benefactors of the large crowds. Local retail shops also found the doors to their stores constantly opened.
“It was a different kind of day in the store,” explained Melissa Murphy, owner of Murphy’s Mercantile, which sells antique furniture and home decor at 17375 Monterey Road.
As she and her sister, Honnie, rang up their line of customers, Murphy said, “We had a lot more foot traffic than we normally get, and the people who came in would not normally be the kind of customer we would normally get, but we had a lot of people telling us ‘Oh, I must come back later and get this or that’. Everyone I talked to was so nice.”
Overhearing the Murphys, Drew Ehrlich, the brewmaster from Strike Brewing Co. out of San Jose and was serving their light and dark beers, said, “I don’t think I heard one person complain about anything,” said Ehrlich. “In fact, everyone was extremely polite and cordial, even while waiting in line. I also think the beer is helping bring people together. It’s kind of cool to watch.”
