El Segundo Brewing Company

2nd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival Coming May 3

botanic garden

A beautiful outdoor venue

I recently crossed paths with Beer Paper L.A.’s head writer and man-about-town, Daniel Drennon, who suggested that I might want to help promote the upcoming South Bay Beer & Wine Festival that is going to be held at the South Coast Botanical Garden in Rancho Palos Verdes. I had seen flyers posted at various tasting rooms around town, but it was not until I visited the South Bay Beer & Wine Festival website that I realized what a great event was being planned literally right up the street from me.

The 2nd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival is hosted by Toyota and South Bay Equity Lending and sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of El Segundo, Palos Verdes Peninsula, and South Bay Sunrise. Proceeds from this event will go to support the humanitarian programs of the El Segundo Rotary Club, Palos Verdes Peninsula Rotary Club, and South Bay Rotary Club. The Rotary Club supports community programs focused on health and nutrition, high school Interact and leadership, education and literacy, vocational training, and community space restoration and renovation. They also support international projects such as worldwide eradication of polio, clean water projects, and wheelchair purchases and distribution. Continue reading

L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest Update: New Promo Code

Beer fest attendees

Alpine Village’s Beer Festivals are fun for all

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Alpine Village will hold their inaugural L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest on April 18, 2015 at the Alpine Inn Restaurant in Torrance. This craft beer festival will be unlike any others held at Alpine Village in that all the breweries and food vendors featured will be located in Los Angeles County.

While the current list of breweries is still incomplete and is subject to change, because sometimes things happen, it is shaping up to be a very fine event. The breweries that have confirmed attending as of this date are Absolution Brewing Company, Alosta Brewing, Angel City, Bravery Brewing, Claremont Craft Ales, Congregation Ale House, Cosmic Ales, Eagle Rock Brewery, El Segundo Brewing, Enegren Brewing, Golden Road Brewing, Hand Brewed Beer, Kinetic Brewing, King Harbor Brewing, Ladyface Ale Companie, MacLeod Ale, Monkish Brewing, Ohana Brewing Company, Phantom Carriage, Red Car Brewing, Santa Monica Brew Works, Smog City Brewing, Solarc Brewing, Strand Brewing, The Dudes’ Brewing, Three Weavers Brewing, Timeless Pints Brewing and Wolf Creek. There are a few LA area breweries that have yet to respond but there are high hopes that they will before it is too late. Some breweries just do not have enough beer on hand to participate, so we will have to wait until next year for them.

beerfest attendees

All Local Craft Beer

The L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest will be held at the Alpine Inn Restaurant in Torrance on April 18, from noon until 4:00 PM. General admission is $40 at the door, however if you purchase your ticket online and use PROMO CODE: LALOCCZ you will receive $5.00 off each ticket! You can purchase your tickets through Admit One Products or Eventbrite; be advised that Eventbrite has a little higher service fees so you might want to use Admit One Products. You should also know that Designated Drivers get in free, but they can purchase food tickets and non-alcoholic beverages. Continue reading

Day One Hammerland at El Segundo Brewing Company

In early February, El Segundo Brewing Company’s Hammerland DIPA was chosen as best in show at the 15th annual Double IPA Festival at the Bistro in Hayward, California. El Segundo Brewing Company had already planned on bottling Hammerland but with the awarding of their first ever medal they decided to turn the bottle release into a party.

They opened early Friday for those that had the day off and the tasting room began filling up as soon as the doors opened. They had a big party scheduled for Friday evening, which was undoubtedly a great time but I already had other plans so I headed down there early.

There is still plenty of Hammerland DIPA available, so head on down to El Segundo Brewing Company this weekend to try some; it is delicious. Congratulations to the entire crew at El Segundo Brewing. Cheers! Continue reading

L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest: Promo Code

**ATTENTION: NEW PROMO CODE FOR ONLINE PURCHASES BETWEEN APRIL 1 AND 18 IS NOW: LALOCCZ – SAVE $5.00 PER TICKET**

Alpine Beer Festival attendees

Join your friends at L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest April 18

Alpine Village in Torrance has announced the next in their continuing series of craft beer festivals, with this one concentrating solely on the Los Angeles area craft breweries and featuring a wide variety of artisanal foods made locally. Appropriately named the L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest, this event will be held Saturday, April 18, 2015 in the Alpine Inn Restaurant in Torrance and is expected to include more than 30 L.A. area craft breweries and more than a dozen food vendors all included in the price of admission.

As home to the biggest and longest running (almost 50 years) Oktoberfest this side of the Mississippi River, there is no doubt that Alpine Village has long been known as having one of the South Bay’s best selections of German and Czech biers; what has not been realized is what an outstanding selection of American craft beers they have. After their 2012 Alpine Bier Fest, which had almost as many craft beers to choose from as attendees, Alpine Village General Manager Otto Radtke confided to me that his intention was to make his craft beer festival grow into an internationally recognized beer festival. To that end he has had two more American craft beer festivals and last July they had their first Euro Bierfest. The L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest will feature Los Angeles area craft breweries and local artisanal food vendors. Continue reading

Brewtopia at Abigaile Restaurant Photos

These photos are from the Brewtopia Beer Garden which was held at Abigaile Restaurant and the Ocean Bar & Lounge located in Hermosa Beach. This was the second “beer garden” event held at Abigaile in the last four months that showcased LA Brewers Guild breweries and this time it featured a few breweries that came from out of the area.

The breweries that I noticed in attendance included Mammoth Brewing Company, Bootlegger’s, Hangar 24, Bravery, Kinetic, El Segundo Brewing, Monkish, Smog City, Taps Fish House, The Bruery, Three Weavers, Absolution, Golden Road, Eagle Rock, Coachella Valley Brewing, King Harbor and Noble Ale Works. Included in the price of admission was all the food you could get your hands on from Chef Tin’s grill which appeared to be quite popular; I just wish I had three hands so I could hold food and beer while still taking photos.

While this event seemed to be as well attended as the prior Novem-BEER-Fest as far as beer drinkers, the faces behind the breweries were not very well represented. Beerlebrity sightings while I was there was limited to Nigel Heath from Absolution Brewing and Brian Brewer, former brewer for The Brewery at Abigaile and brewer for the soon to be HopSaint brewpub that will be opening in Torrance. I also noticed several Craft Beer Guy followers, and I always personally appreciate that. Continue reading

Craft Beer Guy Contest Winners at El Segundo Brewing

Back in December, El Segundo Brewing Company held their Crude, Cocoa and Donuts Christmas Party along with their Second Annual Ugly Sweater Contest; I happened to take third place, winning a tour and tasting for four. I knew I wanted to use the prize to help promote El Segundo Brewing Company; I just wasn’t sure how I would do it. Ideally, I would be able to bring four people there as first time visitors.

In January Beachwood BBQ & Brewing announced that they were going to hold their 4th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle and I decided that I would add some incentive for my followers to buy a ticket. All you had to do was take a photo of your ticket(s) and then tag Craft Beer Guy on Facebook or Instagram. Two winners would be chosen and each could bring a guest. On the day that Beachwood held their raffle I utilized an online number randomizer and picked the winners to my contest. The winners were Jessica Casey of Long Beach Hopheads and Dan Parker, a homebrewer and member of the Strand Brewers Club.

These photos are of the tasting and tour that we were given last night by El Segundo Brewing Company taproom manager, Pete Crowner. As luck would have it, Jessica and her husband, while somewhat familiar with El Segundo’s beer, had never visited the tasting room before. Dan had been there once before, briefly, so I was pleased that I was able to introduce new faces to the tasting room. Continue reading

Brewtopia at Abigaile: Sunday, March 8

Novem-BEER-Fest attendees

Join the Fun at Brewtopia – March 8, 2015

Next Sunday, March 8, Abigaile Restaurant and Ocean Bar in Hermosa Beach will hold their inaugural Brewtopia Beer Garden, featuring 23 of Los Angeles’ finest craft breweries and food prepared by Abigail’s Chef Tin who will be providing his latest barbecue grill creations. This is the second beer garden event hosted by Abigaile, with the last one being their Novem-BEER-Fest which was held in the middle of last November. If you did not make it to Novem-BEER-Fest you missed a great event that featured some very good brews and lots of really tasty foods. Brewtopia will have even more breweries represented with more food at the same price as Novem-BEER-Fest.

The breweries scheduled to attend include Absolution, Alosta, Angel City, Beachwood, Bootlegger’s, Bravery, The Bruery, Eagle Rock, El Segundo, Golden Road, Kinetic, King Harbor, Ladyface, Monkish, MacLeod, Noble, Phantom, Progress, Smog City, Strand, Timeless Pints, The Dudes’ and Three Weavers. The food menu includes short-ribs, skewers, sliders, garlic knots and a lot more. If you have ever been to an Abigaile event you know the special treats that Chef Tin comes up with; if you have not, you are in for a special treat. I could tell you that the skewers will be made up of Katsu glazed salmon or Korean beef coconut or curry chicken sate; or that there will be Chilled Peanut Somen Noodle but the names, as exotic as they are, will fall short in describing the tasty foods you will experience if you show up at Brewtopia.

Brewtopia Beer Garden featuring 23 local craft breweries

Brewtopia Beer Garden featuring 23 local craft breweries

Continue reading

Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle at Beachwood BBQ & Brewing

This morning, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing held their drawing for the 4th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle at their Long Beach location. To enter the contest, one merely paid $5.00 for a chance at a full pint of the 2015 Pliny the Younger. This year Beachwood raised about $11,600 from the ticket sales which equates to about $40,000 being donated over the course of four years to the beneficiary of the raffle, the Melanoma Research Foundation. The drawing was streamed live via the Four Brewers podcast and 140 winners were picked; to my surprise, I actually was one of the winners and I rarely ever win raffles.

For those that were unable to watch the Four Brewers Podcast, the winning raffle ticket numbers have been posted on the Beachwood BBQ website. Winners will also be contacted via telephone and/or email so you will want to check your email today and be sure to answer your phone, even if you do not recognize the calling number. Winners must collect their pint of Pliny between Tuesday February 24 and Thursday March 5, 2015. You must bring your raffle ticket with you and redeem it at the location designated. Unfortunately, where you bought the ticket may not be where you will have to go to redeem it (100 will go to the Seal Beach location and the other 40 will redeem their winning ticket at the Seal Beach location). If you do not claim your pint of Pliny by March 5 it will be considered donated to the staff of Beachwood and they thank you from the bottom of their collective hearts. Continue reading

4th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Raffle Ticket Sales Begin

pliny fights cancer

Tickets on sale from January 20 thru February 21

Last month at this time, kids around the world were getting excited for the upcoming Christmas festivities; for craft beer aficionados the excitement builds for the release of Pliny the Younger, the seasonal triple IPA released by Russian River Brewing every February. A couple weeks after that, a few kegs are sent out to select Russian River accounts. One of those accounts is Beachwood BBQ and Beachwood BBQ & Brewing.

For the past four years Beachwood has been having a charity raffle for chances to win one (or more) of the 130 pints they will have available between their Seal Beach and Long Beach locations. The beneficiary of 100% of the monies raised goes to the Melanoma Research Foundation done in memory of a long time Beachwood friend, Tony Carbone who passed away in 2008 from Stage 3 Melanoma.

Pliny raffle tickets

I bought the first two tickets!

The process is simple and if you read this through to the end, there is a special offer for you. Raffle tickets are $5.00 each and there will be 130 winners. Tickets are on sale at both the Seal Beach and Long Beach locations between January 20 and February 21, 2015 at 10:00 PM. All ticket purchases are cash only. The drawing will be held Monday, February 23 and will be streamed live via the Four Brewers webcast. Winners will be directed to which location they can get their pint and they must be redeemed between February 24 and March 5, 2015; you want to drink Pliny fresh. Continue reading

Phantom Carriage: Officially Open

On Saturday afternoon I decided to stop by Phantom Carriage to see how much has changed since my last visit in the middle of December for their industry/media soft-open. I have been watching the numerous updates Phantom has made on their Facebook page and it was obvious that progress was being made and I want to be sure you are kept in the loop.

The first thing that should be mentioned is that Phantom Carriage is now officially open. When asked when the grand opening would be held, I was informed that the grand opening is “now until early March.” Their hours are currently Thursday and Friday from 11:30 – 10:00 PM, Saturday from noon until 10:00 PM and Sundays are noon until 8:00 PM. The plan is be open six days a week and that should happen within the next few weeks.

The beer tap list has definitely changed since my first visit when they were offering five of their brews and three guest taps that seemed to be thanking local breweries Smog City, El Segundo Brewing and Monkish Brewing for helping them get their start in the days before Phantom Carriage found a location to call their own. When we stopped by yesterday they were offering four of their beers but their guest tap list had increased to eight and definitely reflected the type of establishment it is. Included were selections from Almanac, Firestone Walker, Cismontane and a collaboration between Ommegang and Boulevard among others. The selections complimented the saisons and sours brewed and blended by Phantom Carriage. For those that want something entirely different, there is a wide selection of bottled beers available with everything from a $6.00 Go To IPA to a $42.00 Eclipse. All bottles must be consumed on the premises. Continue reading

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