South Florida Hops Beer Festival at Bousa Brewing Includes 30-Plus Breweries

South Florida Hops, originally a Meetup.com group for like-minded people to attend beer festivals together, has grown into a 1,000-member base that also organizes its own beer fest.

Saturday, March 3, the group will host a block party at Bousa Brewing in Little River. The festival will offer beer tastings from more than two dozen breweries, live entertainment, and a homebrewing competition.

Stuart Skopit, owner and founder of SFL Hops, says, "The cool thing people should know is that this is like three events in one. A homebrew contest is a separate event and is lucky to have eight to ten entries, but we have 14 competitors; a bottle share is usually a separate event, but it will be a part of this event too; and of course it is a full-scale beer festival."

More than 30 breweries are expected to pour, including local favorites MIA Beer Company, Funky Buddha, Biscayne Bay Brewing, Bousa, Concrete Beach, Descarga, Due South, Gravity Brewlab, Hollywood Brewing Co., Holy Mackerel Small Batch Beers & the Garage Project, Islamorada Beer Company, Infected, LauderAle, Legacy Caribbean Craft Brewery, Lincoln's Beard, Lost City, Miami Brewing, the Tank, Tripping Animals, Unbranded, and Veza Sur.

In addition, attendees can enjoy live music from Spitfire Dave, access to food trucks such as Mr. PB & J and Tacolicious, beer games, and a vote for the people's choice in the homebrew competition.

Proceeds from the festival will go toward Animal Aid Inc., a pet adoption center in Oakland Park that takes in dogs and cats from various high-kill animal-control facilities. Animal Aid will be onsite with pups and kitties in case you're looking for a new furry friend. When purchasing your ticket on Eventbrite, you can also donate straight to the charity.

General-admission tickets cost $28 and include unlimited beer samplings from 2:30 to 6 p.m., access to food trucks, and live entertainment. VIP admission includes early entrance at 2 p.m., all the perks of general admission, access to specialty VIP beers that some of the breweries will prepare for the event, a special-release collaboration beer at Bousa after the event, and access to a post-event VIP bottle share.

South Florida Hops Beer Festival, Benefiting Animal Aid. 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 3, at Bousa Brewing Company, 7235 NE Fourth Ave., Miami; bousabrewing.com. Tickets cost $28 to $40 via eventbrite.com.