Full Belly Files | Back to the Botanic Garden’s Beer Garden

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Botanic Garden Beer Garden advisory committee | Credit: Carly Otness Photography

A tropical lager with yarrow and sagebrush. An IPA with redwood tips. A bretty saison with wooly blue curls. A “botanicale” with mugwort, sagebrush, and hummingbird sage.

Juniper bratwrust by Dutch Garden at Botanic Garden Beer Garden 2025

Juniper-spiked bratwurst. Kabocha tortelloni with black sage. Bangers and mash with white sage and bay laurel. Potato salad lifted by wood mint.

These are just eight of the 40-plus fermented and culinary creations served by more than two dozen vendors at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden last Saturday, where the nonprofit institution’s annual Beer Garden stretched through all the distinct corners of the historic property. There was papaya salad by the poppies, albacore crostini under the redwoods, smoked tri-tip next to the waterfall, yellow dal amidst the manzanita.

It was my third time in attendance, coinciding with my third stint on the event’s advisory committee, where I’ve helped bring some new chefs and producers to the ranks. This year, I was also the co-chair, meaning that I got to give a quick speech during the Grand Cru VIP hour.

I confirmed that, before wine became much of my life and career, beer was my first love, cultivated over the Isla Vista kegs and then about a decade of home brewing in downtown Santa Barbara.

Due to wildfire rules in the Mission Canyon neighborhood, attendance is capped at just 400 people every year, and the tickets sell out in about 15 minutes. That’s made it our committee’s primary challenge to raise more money each year, all without boosting the basic ticket prices beyond what feels appropriate. We’re proud to report that we succeeded in that goal for 2025, and are already brainstorming how to do so again in 2026.

[Click to enlarge]: From left: A beer cocktail poured by the Good Lion Hospitality team; Helena Avenue Bakery’s delicious treats at the Beer Garden; Matt with the upside down hang loose sign welcoming sponsors to the Botanic Garden Beer Garden fundraiser

Here’s a list of all the food & drinks served, not counting the Grand Cru bites and bevvies served up by Acme Hospitality’s multiple restaurants, the Good Lion Hospitality’s mixologists, and BrewLAB’s best beers.

Click here for a gallery from the 2025 S.B. Botanic Garden Beer Garden fundraiser. All the photos are by Carly Otness Photography.

Here We Come Costa Careyes

It’s spring break week for Santa Barbara public schools, so we’re off for some steady beach time in Mexico. After spending the past couple spring breaks in New Orleans and Charleston and Savannah (two cities, same trip), my daughter really just wanted to sit on a beach.

I spent a little bit of time looking into all-inclusive options, and found that there are basically two forms: relatively cheap, for which you get a relatively cheap, cookie-cutter experience (we had a taste of that in Playa Mita a couple years back, which was great for a big group, though not what I’m looking for with my kids); and then the all-inclusive that’s incredibly expensive, which I’ve only ever experienced on other people’s budgets.

So I web-sluethed some more, scouring over maps and searching for things like “undiscovered beaches” and so forth. That led me to Costa Careyes, a colorful development that remains somewhat under the radar. Located on the Costalegre, a joyously named stretch of coast that goes from Puerto Vallarta south to Manzanillo, Careyes will be our home for the next few days.

Among other things I’ll be tracking down is tuba, a sort of coconut wine introduced by Filipino sailors in the 1500s, and tuxca, which is the regional agave spirit currently in the midst of a controversy over labeling.

As usual, you can follow along with our photos on Instagram at @mattkettmann. Expect a report in the next couple weeks, unless I plan to keep it a secret.

Bar Lou’s NOLA Lunch Fridays

Bar Lou, the Montecito bistro-meets-tavern concept that the Lil Dom’s Seafood team opened a few months ago on Coast Village Road, is starting a New Orleans–inspired lunch menu on Fridays. The rotating menu of creole dishes reflect chef/co-owner Brandon Boudet’s NOLA upbringing.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Friday, Boudet and company will be serving such classics as Gumbo Ya-Ya and pan-roasted trout with crawfish meunière — those are both being served today, March 21 — with shrimp deviled eggs, fried oyster salad, and vermillion snapper to come on forthcoming Fridays. The drinks are also priced to satisfy: $10 for martinis, $12 for spritzes and margs; $5 for half-pints.

Make your reservation here. And here was my feature on Bar Lou in case you missed it, as well as Full Belly Files on bar-hopping Coast Village Road.