On Saturday, July 27, the Orange County Soccer Club hosted their second annual Beer, Bourbon and Bacon Festival. The festival united beer lovers and soccer lovers as a way to bond before the OCSC vs. Sacramento Republic FC game.

With about three hours before game time, OCSC opened their stadium doors to the Orange County community to enjoy unlimited beer tastings from about 20 local breweries. As you walked in the stadium entrance, you received your own souvenir mini pint glass. This glass was your golden ticket for all the tastings the breweries had to offer. As you walked through the field of brewery tents, you watched as fans played cornhole or compared OCSC jerseys. The energy was upbeat as strangers became friends, and community members became fans.

Now let’s talk beer and bourbon! Everyone attending the event received a bourbon taster. The quick shot of bourbon was the perfect start or end to everyone’s beer journey. Local breweries came in full force with the best and newest beers for the community to try. Each brewery provided at least two beers for everyone to taste, offering a variety of options for any fanatic beer lover or beer tasting novice. For example, Firestone Walker Brewery went the extra mile and brought their newest product, Rose Beer. This new beer was light and mimicked the taste of your favorite summer wine in beer form. My favorite beer from the day was the Tauva Guava from Laguna Beach Brewery. This one was the perfect light summer beer that brought the fruity flavors of guava to life. For those who were not beer fans, breweries such as 2 Towns CiderHouse came in tow with fun flavored ciders and hard seltzers for people to try. My favorite cider of the day was CiderHouse’s Pacific Pineapple Cider. It was crisp and refreshing and could be enjoyed by the beach or by the soccer field.

With all this beer, we needed to add some bacon in the mix! Along with all the brewery tents, there were also food trucks hot and ready to serve bacon-filled treats. The food truck Lets Meat Up was a one-stop-shop for my bacon journey. They were serving bacon, loaded fries, burgers and sandwiches. I went for the bacon loaded fries, which combined my three favorite things: cheese, french fries and bacon. For those who were not bacon lovers, other food options included personal pizzas from California Pizza Kitchen, grilled cheeses and bacon-less burgers. From all the bacon, I was in desperate need to satiate my sweet tooth and the food truck Sweet Life was there for me. They offered kettle corn, ice cream sandwiches and candy to help balance out everyone’s bacon intake. The Jay-Z sandwich was my choice for the day. It was snickerdoodle cookies filled with strawberry ice cream and topped with Captain Crunch cereal. It was the perfect end to my food tour for the day.

The best part of about this event was that it allowed you to stay and watch the OCSC vs. Sacramento Republic FC game after. Besides my short-lived AYSO career as a kid, this was my first experience at a professional soccer game. The 90 minutes flew by as the two teams battled it out. The OCSC fans were passionate as they chanted songs and limericks. During half-time, they even provided the opportunity for young soccer stars to hit the field and play a small pick-up game. I thought that was a great way to not only involve the community in the game but it also allowed these young soccer hopefuls to achieve their dreams that maybe one day they could be playing on that field. Even though the game ended in a 0-0 tie, the community’s enthusiasm for the team was obvious. I am excited to follow the team and see how the rest of their season goes.

The second annual Beer, Bourbon and Bacon festival was a great event that brought together new and old fans of OCSC. The event was a great way to bring awareness to a team that is still a hidden gem in our Orange County community. If you were unable to attend this year, make sure to put this event on your calendar for next year. It is one that you cannot miss! I mean, who doesn’t love beer and sports?

OC Soccer Club’s next home game is Saturday, August 17 vs. Las Vegas Lights FC.

Tickets can be purchased here.

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