Whitty vegan tees welcome: Eat Drink Vegan hits LA this weekend

Los Angeles takes pride in being a vegan-friendly destination, touting some of the best high-end and wallet-friendly vegan eating in the country. This Saturday, May 27, the annual Eat Drink Vegan festival (formerly the Vegan Beer & Food Festival) will bring all the best vegan eats (and drinks) to one place.

But isn’t beer vegan anyways? Most beers are, but not all. The most obvious example of non-vegan beer styles are milk stouts, which contain lactose. Some Oyster Stouts actually contain oysters. Guinness isn’t vegan either. Of course, all of the 250+ drinks pouring at this weekend’s festival are 100% vegan.

The festival features around 80 breweries curated by Jimmy Han of Beer Belly. There are plenty of local Los Angeles breweries to check off your list, new and old. Los Angeles Ale Works returns to the fold after opening its Hawthorne brewery earlier this year, bringing along a new, experimental brew Blüme Berliner Weisse. Homage Brewing and Cellador Ales are both VIP access only, but both will be pouring some amazing sour beers. If you’re following the hazy IPA trend, there will be a few of those!

Not a fan of beer? There’s also wine, kombucha, craft soda, cold brew and tea. Six of the breweries are cideries offering dry and fruited options – both of which will pair well with this So Cal spring weather.

Food lovers will unite over, well, pretty much anything on the list – you don’t have to be vegan to enjoy these incredible dishes (some of which you wouldn’t ever guess was vegan).

Eat Drink Vegan festival takes place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena this Saturday, May 27. Ticketholders receive entry at 2:00pm (12:00 noon for VIP tickets), with the last pour “around” 7:30 pm. Bring a blanket and/or a lawn chair to enjoy the food and plenty of live music on stage.

Tickets are still available here!