Angel City Brewery & Public House, a craft brewery located in downtown Los Angeles, just one-and-a-half miles from the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market, held an avocado festival Aug. 24 to introduce a new light brew, avocado ale, created by Angel City brewer Dieter Foerstner.

A guacamole-inspired beer, the avocado ale is Angel City's 100th batch in 2013.

Green Earth Produce of Los Angeles teamed up with the local brewery Gahl Crane and his wife, Danielle Crane, with festival attendees at the Angel City Brewery Avocado Festival. (Photo courtesy of Green Earth Produce)for the event in order to promote the company and its products and also to promote the avocado industry's message on the nutritional benefits and versatility of avocados, according to Gahl Crane, director of avocado sales.

"Residents of Los Angeles who attended the avocado festival sponsored by the Angel City Brewery not only got to taste the brewery's new avocado ale but were able to delight in fresh avocados in custom-made bags handed out to the participants at the booth run by Green Earth Produce of Los Angeles," said Crane, who operated the booth along with his wife, Danielle, and other Green Earth Produce staff members and is also a member of the Hass Avocado Board.

The day-long celebration was well-promoted and well-attended, with a couple thousand people present, exceeding the expectations of the organizers, Crane told The Produce News Aug. 26. "It was very crowded."

While many attendees were obviously there for the brew, Crane said that they were also very interested in avocados and ready to engage in discussions about them. "It was a good opportunity to promote Green Earth and reach a lot of people with one-on-one discussions about avocados."

Green Earth donated fresh Hass avocados for sale, with the proceeds going to charity. The company also passed out promotional materials, including stickers with the Hass Avocado Board's slogan, "Love One Today," which proved popular with the crowd, as well as bumper stickers.

Other exhibiters provided such products as avocado popsicles and avocado baked goods. A food truck offered sandwiches with avocados.

Festival activities included a guacamole recipe contest. Live music from an assortment of local bands and performers kept the crowds entertained.

"We held an avocado nutrition quiz, which really engaged the attendees. And with the great support of the staff of the Hass Avocado Board, we provided participants nutritional information about avocados as well as avocado slicers, recipe cards and other avocado promotional products," sad Crane in the written statement. Green Earth's contribution to the event was "telling the great story of this wonderful product," he added. "Kudos to Angel City Brewery for giving the avocado category a great opportunity to increase exposure with a large and diverse audience."

The avocado ale itself was actually made with Fuerte avocados, not Hass. According to Crane, the avocados used in the brew came from a southern California Fuerte grove owned by the brewer's grandmother.