Chad Hazen

Photos from Chad’s Going Away Can Exchange

These photos were taken Saturday evening at the Craft Beer Reclamation Center, aka my house, where a couple dozen people gathered to say farewell to Chad Hazen (Bald Chad, Sofee Chad) with another craft beer can exchange. Chad has accepted a job with Boston Beer Company, so he is moving to Boston. I figured a can exchange would be a suitable way to send him off.

Of the close to 20 can exchanges I have put on since the Covid lockdown, this was definitely the largest turnout we have had, and I am sure Chad felt the love. In addition to the 40 four-packs that were involved in the can exchange, people brought literal gallons of beer, sake, and mead to share with attendees. Continue reading

Chad’s Beer Cellar V Bottle Share Photos

These photos were taken Thursday evening at a Christmas Bottle Share benefiting the Richstone Family Center, which was held at the King Harbor Brewing tasting room.

In what has become a Christmas tradition in the South Bay, local craft beer aficionado and beer hoarder Chad Hazen, held the fifth in a series of bottle shares benefiting Richstone Family Center.

The first of the bottle shares was in December of 2014 when Hazen decided he wanted to quit drinking beer for a year while he trained for a marathon. As he travels a lot for work he had built up quite a collection of craft beer and he felt it would be too much temptation to have all that beer around while he trained. He got together with King Harbor Brewing Company, he is one of the investors, and they decided they would have a bottle share benefiting Richstone Family Center. Continue reading

Chad’s Beer Cellar IV Photos

These photos were taken Saturday at the Chad’s Beer Cellar IV bottle share which was held at King Harbor Brewing Company in Redondo Beach. This event was the fourth and possibly final bottle share put on by local beer hoarder and King Harbor Brewing investor, Chad Hazen. All the funds from the event went to benefit the Richstone Family Center which is located in Hawthorne. The Richstone Family Center is dedicated to preventing and treating child abuse.

First off, I would like to personally thank everyone that showed up. While my involvement with the event was limited to getting the word out, the previous events never sold out, which I found incredulous considering the quality of the beers that were made available. I made it a personal goal to see that they did sell all 100 tickets this year, and it happened. While all the monies have not been tabulated yet, with ticket sales, raffles and the silent auction, over $8,000 was raised for Richstone. Of course, none of this would have been possible without Chad.

The first of these bottle shares was held in December of 2014 when Hazen decided he wanted to quit drinking beer for a year while he trained for a marathon as he felt his collection of beer was just a little too much temptation. He got together with King Harbor Brewing Company and they decided they would have a bottle share benefiting Richstone Family Center. Continue reading

Photos from Chads Rare Beer Tasting for Richstone Family Center

I am not going to say I told you so, but I was not kidding when I suggested that Chad Hazen’s prior beer tasting benefits for the Richstone Family Center were better than any beer festival I have attended; and that includes the Firestone Invitational. Yesterday’s rare beer tasting at the Steinhaus at Alpine Village was no exception; everyone had the same comment as soon as they walked into the area set aside for us, where do I start?

Shortly after the event started, a Craft Beer Guy follower walked up to thank me for promoting the event as he had had “Heady Topper, Westvleteren 12, Rare Barrel, and Dark Lord all in the first 15 minutes.” Try doing that at your favorite beer festival.

As you look through the photos you are going to notice lots and lots of great beer and lots of big smiles. People really could not help themselves; it really was like an adult version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, with all the attendees having won a Golden Ticket. Continue reading

Bottle List for Chad’s Rare Beer Tasting Released

As I announced last week, local craft beer hoarder Chad Hazen, in conjunction with King Harbor Brewing Company and Steinhaus Restaurant and Beerhall at Alpine Village, will be holding his third in a series of rare craft beer tastings with 90% of the proceeds going to benefit the Richstone Family Center in Hawthorne.

I have mentioned numerous times that Hazen’s prior events have been better than any beer festival I have attended to date; now I have obtained a list of the beers that will be there so you can see for yourself. Just take a look at Chad’s Beer Cellar Bottle List Continue reading

Chad’s Beer Cellar Fundraiser May 7, 2016

craft beer

Hundreds of rare beers at Chad’s Beer Cellar Fundraiser

Regular readers of this site have probably noticed that I promote quite a few craft beer events, with an emphasis on those that are fundraisers. Whatever the event the primary factor in determining whether or not I will promote the event is value. I do not want anyone to attend an event and not be glad they did. On May 7, Chad Hazen and King Harbor Brewing Company are holding their third in a series of rare bottle shares with the proceeds going to the Richstone Family Center in Hawthorne.

Ever since last December, I have been telling anyone that would listen that this event was coming up and it is not one to be missed. Actually, what I have been telling people is that this bottle share is better than the Firestone Invitational when it comes to the number of available beers and there are no lines since ticket sales are limited to 100 attendees!

The first of the bottle shares was in December of 2014 when local craft beer aficionado and beer hoarder Chad Hazen decided he wanted to quit drinking beer for a year while he trained for a marathon. As he travels a lot for work he had built up quite a collection of craft beer and he felt it would be too much temptation to have all that beer around while he trained. He got together with King Harbor Brewing Company, he is one of the investors, and they decided they would have a bottle share benefiting Richstone Family Center. Instead of attendees bringing their own bottles, Hazen provided about 80 from his collection to be shared with the 50 attendees that purchased tickets. As you can see from the list of beers, it was an amazing time. Continue reading

2nd Annual Holiday Bottle Share Benefiting Richstone Family Center

On Saturday afternoon, local craft beer hoarder Chad Hazen put about 150 bottles of his collection of rare craft beer up for his 2nd Annual Holiday Bottle Share Benefiting the Richstone Family Center; the event was held at the King Harbor Brewing Company’s tasting room. All of the monies raised went to the Richstone Family Center which is located in Hawthorne. The Richstone Family Center is dedicated to preventing and treating child abuse.

I tried making sure all of you knew about this event, but a relatively few showed up. There was a cap of 100 tickets being sold, but if they sold 50, I would be surprised. If you meant to go but forgot, you blew it. Take a look at the list of brews we had available to us:
Continue reading

Holiday Bottle Share at King Harbor Brewing

Suppose you had an outstanding collection of craft beer and you wanted to go on the wagon for a year, what would you do? Well, if you are anything like local craft beer aficionado and beer hoarder Chad Hazen you donate a large portion of it for a bottle share to benefit a local charity. As Hazen told me, he decided he wanted to quit drinking beer for a year while he trains for a marathon and his collection of beer was just a little too much temptation. He got together with King Harbor Brewing Company, of which he is one of the investors, and they decided they would have a bottle share benefiting Richstone Family Center which is located in Hawthorne. The Richstone Family Center is dedicated to preventing and treating child abuse and holding the event just before Christmas just seemed right to Hazen and King Harbor Brewing.

This bottle share was a little different than any bottle share I have attended previously in that attendees did not bring any bottles; the beers were all donated by Hazen from his personal stash; and what a stash it was. The published beer list would make any bottle shop proud: Continue reading

Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Archives