Beer and Hymns finds a home at Lido Live

Newport Beach bars and pubs were teeming Sunday with crowds watching football.

But it was Lido Live, a live-music venue in the city, that held four bands and hundreds of attendees belting out tunes and sipping pints of beer together.

They sang “Nothing but the Blood” and “Soon and Very Soon,” but mostly they sang traditional Christian hymns, like “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”

The occasion was a gathering of Beer and Hymns Orange County. The group was created a year ago when writer, blogger and Costa Mesa resident Kristen Howerton introduced the idea to the area.

Howerton had been at the Wild Goose Festival, a Christian gathering in Hot Springs, N.C., when she saw festivalgoers attending a Beer and Hymns event every night.

After watching people sing hymns while holding a drink, she wanted to create a local gathering of people who appreciate the sense of community mixed with religion — and a little libation.

She asked her musician friends, Tim Taber of Costa Mesa and Chad Markley of Irvine, to organize old-fashioned hymn sing-along in local bars. Their band, Creaky Floors, leads each concert, playing sounds evoking folk rock and alternative country.

It’s one of dozens of groups around the country, including in Nashville, Portland and New York City, that combine religious music with a pub atmosphere.

Howerton said everyone is welcome, and that there is no preaching, just singing — and an optional beer or two.

Concerts attract an eclectic crowd of various ages, backgrounds and beliefs, and the show combines country and religious music with a folk band of guitars, mandolin and bass.

And to help people who may not know the words, organizers either project the lyrics on a screen or have them written on paper. There’s also soda on hand for those who don’t want to imbibe.

“Our No. 1 intention is to have people come in and have a good time,” Howerton said. “We sing hymns that we knew from childhood. There’s no agenda.”

Since the group’s inaugural gathering at Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub, Beer and Hymns has had a gathering of 200 to 400 people each month and has performed at local venues, including The Harp Inn, Boathouse Collective, The Wayfarer and many others.

Sunday’s gathering doubled as the one-year anniversary of the group’s founding, and to celebrate, organizers hosted special guest Los Angeles-based bands, The Wilder Society, Pawnshop Kings and Eagle Rock Gospel Singers.

The audience, organizers said, is the choir.

“You guys have to sing if you’re in that back row,” Taber said to a packed house at Lido Live. “You’ve got it down.”

Beer and Hymns events developed around the nation when a small community of churches began combining worship and beer to attract people to boost their dwindling congregation.

According to a report by National Public Radio, some church groups are brewing the craft beer themselves, but the origin of beer history has been closely tied to Christian history, through the influence of the monasteries brewing their own beer for mass consumption.

Charlemagne, the Frankish king and ruler of the Holy Roman Empire during the 8th century, considered beer to be an important part of living, and is often thought to have trained some brewers.

And some brews today, such as Weihenstephan founded in 1040 AD and Leffe in 1240 AD, originated in medieval monasteries. Abbess Hildegard von Bingen was a brewer and is often credited for discovering that hops add preservative qualities to ale.

The return of beer during a fellowship over songs is a non-threatening way to spread Christianity beyond traditional church walls, attendees said.

“Just being apart of the camaraderie, making friends, being unified and singing great doctrine — I really like celebrating that,” said Christine Schick, 25 of Aliso Viejo, who attended the concert with her cousin, John. “It’s a fun and special time.”

For more information, visit beerandhymnsoc.com.