Music, Friends, and Fun: Ashley E Norton and Marcia Claire Celebrate Their Special Day at Meet the Brewers with Smoking Cannon Brewery

About 100 people were in attendance at the Par Lounge to enjoy the Par Lounge’s first Meet the Brewers event and help Ashley Norton celebrate her birthday. Norton chose a pink theme for the evening because in the movie “Mean Girls” there’s a quote, “On Wednesdays, we wear pink.” Norton added, “I have a lot of pink in my wardrobe.” Many attendees and her followers dressed in pink outfits; some wore pink heels, boots, cowboy hats, and wigs. Norton played Americana music for the guests.

She shares a birthday with her bass player, Marcia Claire, from their band Dolly’s Revenge—formerly The Lady Psychiatrist’s Booth. Their drummer, Amanda Alvin, played with them, along with a couple of guest musicians who played a few songs. Norton expected the event to be crowded because they invited friends from down the hill, plus the Ramona crowd.

Norton has played at the Par Lounge every Wednesday night for the last few years unless she is on tour or out of town. She plays music for everyone, including country, rock, folk, and music from different periods. She also plays covers and her original music. “Ashley is pretty amazing,” says Front of the House Manager, Colleen Doulgeropoulos. “She is always on the go.” Norton’s birthday happened to fall on a Wednesday and happened to be the same day as the Meet the Winemaker event at the Par Lounge. Doulgeropoulos asked Norton what she would like to do, and she said, “Let’s do something a little different and feature a brewery.” Norton chose Smoking Cannon because she loves their beer and plays at their venue.

The Smoking Cannon Brewery is owned by Mike Nelson and Natalie Phillips. Nelson has been homebrewing since the 1990s, and together, they established a brewery to serve their local community. The brewery features a Civil War theme inspired by Nelson’s hobby of designing working-scale models of cannons. All of the beers are named after Civil War cannons.

Nelson and Phillips both have a love for brewing. “Our flagship beers are always on tap,” says Phillips. She adds that a lot of people like beer, and she enjoys socializing with the community. She likes to educate people about craft beer and welcomes tours at her brewery for anyone who asks.

The brewery itself has won 25 awards and 117 brewing awards. They use all-natural ingredients, and there are no extracts in the beer or the root beer they make. “We dice, slice, and chop everything at the brewery,” says Phillips. “We collaborate with Julian Beer Company. We pick berries at 6 am and make beer that day.”

Smoking Cannon served four types of beer at the event:

• Walker, New England Hazy IPA, 6.2% ABV, fruity and juicier than a West Coast hazy.
• Joslyn, German Chocolate Cake Milk Stout, 5.8% ABV, won five awards from multiple contests.
• Juniper Flats Sahti, 8.00% ABV from Finland, is a Finnish-style beer.
• Bellona, a traditional Irish Red, 5.1% ABV, has won three awards.

The Chef’s Special of the night, presented by Chef Ben Peterson, was a Mixed Sausage Grill that included smoked brisket burnt end sausage, Spanish Linguisa, Southside Market Jalapeno Cheddar, coleslaw, and beans. “Beer goes with sausage,” said Peterson. He wanted to balance sweet and spicy.

The final notes of Norton’s performance faded into the night, and the birthday celebration and Smoking Cannon collaboration provided guests with an unforgettable evening of local brew and song.

If you want to know where to see more of Ashley E Norton, visit Ashleyenorton.com or rma.bio. She has a lot of shows lined up for the rest of the year in Ramona.

Event photos by Heather McGhee. Brewers photo courtesy of Smoking Cannon Brewery. Video courtesy of Trish Arellano.