Will Ferrell Pub Crawls San Diego

Grid View

• Will Ferrell
• Outside Blind Lady Ale House
• Will Powered Cancer for College Craft Beer Bus and Jumpsuit Jubilee
• Automatic Brewing Co.'s Will Powered IPA and commemorative glass
• Autographing auction items
• More cowbell
• Will Ferrell's Super Sexy Hot Tan Sunscreen

Actor Will Ferrell was in San Diego on Saturday for his third official Cancer for College Pub Crawl, a benefit for the local non profit organization that provides college scholarships to cancer survivors. The annual event is usually held in April, but organizers decided to fit in one more fundraiser this year before Ferrell begins his busy 2013 shooting schedule.

Wearing a Clem's Bottle House shirt — before changing into a regulation red jumpsuit bearing a Nipsey Russell name tag and boarding the bus that would ferry him and 155 fellow drinkers around to three San Diego craft beer landmarks, Blind Lady Ale House, Tiger!Tiger! and Hamilton's Tavern — Ferrell sat down for a pre-crawl chat with Eater San Diego.

Ferrell copped to preferring IPA's and stouts and offered Eater a taste from his glass of Will Powered Oatmeal IPA, a limited edition release made by Lee Chase, Automatic Brewing Co.'s brewmaster and the co-owner of Blind Lady Ale House and Tiger!Tiger!.

As for other local San Diego beers he likes? Ferrell answered Schlitz, which prompted Eater to ask the reasoning behind his irreverent ad campaign for Old Milwaukee beer. (See some of the ads that Eater has compiled here.) He replied it was a "poor business decision" on his part, since he hasn't been paid a dime for his participation, but the appeal was that he was "given creative freedom to revive a brand and shoot crazy fun commercials." Ferrell went on to say that "Old Milwaukee makes a product to get you drunk; it's good in eight or nine or ten samplings, you can't just enjoy one."

When the conversation turned to food, Ferrell said that he admired neighborhood places like Normal Heights' Blind Lady Ale House for bringing people together over craft beer and good food and suggested that it was "new identity for San Diego to capitalize on". Emil Wohl, a friend and former USC fraternity brother, lives nearby and first brought Ferrell into the restaurant. Ferrell, Wohl and their other college buddy, Craig Pollard, a cancer survivor and founder of Cancer for College, said that they created the San Diego pub crawl event in part to relive their frat house days.

Ferrell also mentioned that he'd just checked out the new Laurel Hardware in West Hollywood, and named Susan Feniger's global kitchen, Street, as one of his family's favorite Los Angeles restaurants.

As the official spokesperson for Cancer for College, Ferrell is also lending his name to a Crowdrise campaign that's raising funds for the charity until January 11; donors will receive a bottle of Ferrell's eponymous Super Sexy Hot Tan Sunscreen and be entered to win a signed cowbell.

And when asked about the upcoming Anchorman sequel, Ferrell promised that there would be some kind of San Diego connection. Super classy.

· Cancer for College [Official Site]
· All Will Ferrell Coverage on Eater [Eater National]