Stella Rocks San Diego's Festival
The Party Is With the Big Pours Of Belgian Beers

By the end of the day, the party place at the Grand Tasting is at the Stella tent.

Large pours.

Free glasses.

A lively atmosphere brought on by beer. At a wine festival.

The Stella staff pours constantly for the duration of the event.

With their beers in hand, there's reason for the guys to be smiling.

With this setup, and all those souvenir glasses, the Stella tent is prepared to pour.

These elements help explain that whenever Stella Artios shows up at high-end food and wine festivals, it is among the most popular of all the areas at the events. And that is certainly the case at the largest such event in Southern California, the San Diego Wine & Food Festival, which in 2012 is Nov. 14-18, highlighted by the Grand Tasting Event on Saturday, Nov. 17.

The lines for the beers are the longest throughout the three-hour event. (It moves quickly, tho, just a few minutes and when it's really busy the staff brings beers out to people.)

This is a build-up of beers; it happens when the festival nears its end.

These ladies enjoy two Leffe Blondes and a Stella.

During the last hour, when people go from sipping and savoring to socializing, the Stella tent becomes the biggest party spot, the grand location at the Grand Tasting.

Like the wines, it's the quality of the product that provides the initial attraction.

In addition to Stella, taps pour the Belgian wheat Hogaarden and the potent Leffe Belgian Blonde.

Stella also helps enhance the party at Friday night's Reserve Tasting.

Here's another benefit to the presence of the Belgian beers: The Stella Girls!

Many people start out at the Stella tent, move onto the food and wines, then return. The wineries pour only about an ounce of their products; the theory is to savor the flavor. The people pouring the Stellas, Hogaardens and Leffes, however, fill up a souvenir glass, which gives people not only quality but also quantity.

Stella, Hogaarden and Leffe are also poured at Friday night's big Grand Tasting warm-up event, the Reserve Tasting.

The San Diego Wine & Food Festival, which has been going on for the past eight years in Embarcadero Park, is held annually the third weekend in November. It is a very popular festival and features 700 wines, dozens of chefs, spirits and, as pointed out here, lots of beer.