fundraiser

LA Beer Week 2015: Father’s Day

Sunday was day two of the 2015 LA Beer Week (#LABW7) and it was Father’s Day. As my daughter wanted to take me out for Father’s Day and I wanted to take my dad out, we decided that we would all go together. My dad enjoys his craft beer but I know I have brought things over to the house that he just was not into; so I asked him if he had ever tried a wild ale or sour beer. He had not, but was willing to give it a try, so we decided that we would head over to Phantom Carriage for their Father’s Day Brunch and Vinyl Sunday.

I brought Elvis Costello’s “My Aim is True” which they put on the turntable while Tanya and I enjoyed Beer-Mosas with their Brewers Breakfast. In the meantime I introduced dad to Muis; it wasn’t his thing and he asked if they had an IPA. I brought him a Hoppy Birthday and his eyes lit up. After learning it wasn’t brewed by Phantom Carriage he said he wanted to try something else by them; I should just surprise him. Well, apparently his palate warmed up and he truly enjoyed the Dolores Nitro I presented.

We got there when they first opened and it had a decent group; by the time we finished eating, drinking and visiting the place was packed. It is good to see that they are continuing to grow. Speaking of which, they now have growlers of Muis available; bottles of some of their other brews will be there before you know it. Continue reading

L.A. Brewers Beer Week 2015 Kickoff Party Photos

These photos were taken at the LA Brewers Beer Week Kickoff which was held Saturday afternoon, June 20 at Exposition Park. The kickoff was the official launch of LA Beer Week 2015 (#LABW7) and was a fundraiser with a portion of the proceeds being donated to L.A. Kitchen. The event featured more than 75 breweries pouring a reported 200+ beers, ciders and home brewed sodas. I did not count them but I can assure you there were so many outstanding options that it would have been virtually impossible to try them all in the five hours we had available. There were numerous times I headed off to try a beer that I wanted only to be distracted by something else on the way. I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the available options were brews I had yet to try.

In addition to the massive quantities of beer, there were eight food trucks, four bands, educational panels and a few games. There were about 3,000 people including attendees, volunteers and the breweries but there was very little in the way of lines. I think the longest line I saw was for people waiting to buy tote bags that were being offered there.

As it is Father’s Day and there are a lot of things going on, so I will go ahead and post the photos now and give an in-depth review later in the week. Suffice it to say, it was a great time with very little to find negative about the entire experience. The LA County Brewers Guild did a great job and is to be commended on putting on a great event. Of course, I am extremely appreciative of Absolution Brewing Company for sponsoring me at the LA Beer Week Kickoff. Cheers! Continue reading

Photos from the 4th Annual Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival

These photos are from Saturday at the 4th Annual Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival (FWIBF15) which was held at the Paso Robles Event Center. The festival included craft beer of 53 breweries from all over the United States, Europe and beyond. This was my first opportunity to attend and I did not attend as any type of “official media” so my experience was probably similar to that of any other first time attendee; except I probably waited in line longer to get in. On Friday night I had heard stories of lines just to get in reaching down the street and around the block, so I walked over to the event center and was there before 9:00 AM. If you are taking notes, the event did not start until noon and there was nothing to be gained by being among the first 20 to be there. If you get there at noon you will be fine.

To be honest, I was not aware that this was only the fourth Invitational and it is definitely run like they have been doing it a lot longer. I had the opportunity to speak with individuals that had attended multiple times before and the one thing that became obvious is that Firestone Walker listened to the feedback they received after each event. For example, in the beginning, attendees had to buy food and water. As the event evolved it now has free food from 26 restaurants and multiple free water stations with enough filtered water to hydrate the 3,000 plus attendees. Now, I have to say, I am not really sure how many tickets were sold but between comments I heard, articles I read and a personal guess, I would guess between 3,000 and 4,000. The thing is, the location can hold a lot more than that and when you divide them between 80 booths there was not much in the way of lines. Naturally, there were some breweries like Three Floyds and Alchemist that had long lines all day; and when breweries like Beachwood or The Bruery had their special pours people started waiting; but most of the lines that I experienced moved rather quickly. Continue reading

Photos from the 2nd Annual Bite at the Beach

These photos are from the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce’s 2nd Annual Bite at the Beach which was held Saturday at the MBS Media Campus in Manhattan Beach. The event was a fundraiser benefiting the StubHub Center Foundation and the LA Galaxy Foundation and featured 23 craft breweries and one winery paired with foods from 24 restaurants. Most of the breweries brought two different beers and the restaurants did likewise.

The breweries represented included Wolf Creek, Eagle Rock, MacLeod Ale, Saint Archer, The Dudes’, Stumblefoot, Mission, Lagunitas, Firestone Walker, Coronado, Aftershock, ABK Beer, El Segundo Brewing, Strand Brewing, Sapporo, Samuel Adams, Traveler Beer Company, Port Town Brewing, San Pedro Brewing, Bootlegger’s, King Harbor, Absolution Brewing, Phantom Carriage and Ballast Point. Strand Brewers Club was also in attendance with Pacific Gravity.

With foods coming from places such as Pitfire Pizza, Simmzy’s, Tin Roof Bistro, Little Sister, Sushi Akatora, Manhattan Beach Creamery, Cake Bakeshop, Rubio’s and Silvio’s there was literally everything from pizza to sushi, ceviche to beef skewers and bread pudding to ice cream sandwiches. There really was something for every palate; if you left hungry that was a personal decision. Music was provided by Vox DJs and The Lucky Ones. Continue reading

2nd Annual Bite at the Beach May 16: Promo Code

beerfest

Come join your friends at Bite at the Beach, May 16

On Saturday May 16, the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce will host their 2nd Annual Bite at the Beach at the MBS Media Campus in Manhattan Beach. Bite at the Beach is a fundraiser benefiting the StubHub Center Foundation and the LA Galaxy Foundation. This event is a little different than most beer festivals you may have attended in that it is a food and craft beer pairing event; with 24 craft breweries being paired with dishes from 24 local eateries. I did not attend last year’s event but heard nothing but good things about Bite at the Beach, so when I heard it was coming around again, just in time for American Craft Beer Week, I knew I wanted to become involved.

The breweries scheduled to appear include ABK Beer (they have been brewing for over 700 years), Absolution, The Brewery at Abigaile, Aftershock Brewing, El Segundo Brewing Company, Firestone Walker, Strand Brewing, San Pedro Brewing, Port Town, King Harbor and many more. The foods will come from such places as Simmzy’s, Tin Roof Bistro, Little Sister, Sushi Akatora, Manhattan Beach Creamery, Cake Bakeshop and Paul Martin’s American Grill. Music will be provided by Vox DJs and The Lucky Ones. As you can tell, there is definitely going to be a wide variety of foods to go along with the beer options; it sounds like a very fun event. You can see a list all of the breweries, restaurants and sponsors on the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce website. Continue reading

Crawl 4 Nepal in the South Bay

On April 25, the village of Barpak in the Gorkha district of Nepal was hit with a severe earthquake with a magnitude ranging from 7.8 to 8.1. The earthquake was the most severe to hit Nepal since 1934 and killed upwards of 8,000 people with more than 14,500 injured. The quake literally flattened villages and left hundreds of thousands homeless. The earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, which killed at least 19, making it the deadliest day on the mountain in recorded history. Needless to say, when I opened up my Facebook and Twitter feed that morning Nepal was definitely trending, to use the vernacular of the day.

To be honest, I am not really sure where I saw it first, or whose suggestion it was, but someone in the local craft beer community suggested that the beer community should do something to raise monies to help the relief efforts in Nepal. It was not long before Kelly Erickson and Nick Gingold of Craft Media Solutions teamed up with Global Giving and more than 30 craft breweries, brewpubs, gastropubs and bottle shops to form Day of Action: Crawl 4 Nepal OC/LA. Each location had a selection of beers that you could purchase with a portion of the proceeds being donated to the Global Giving account.

I decided to visit three of the South Bay locations that were participating, beginning with Phantom Carriage in Carson. Phantom Carriage tapped a one-off keg of Muis, their 100% Brett wild blonde, with organic blood oranges. When I was talking with Phantom Carriage co-owner, Martin Svab and Assistant Brewer Brendan Lake they both relayed the same story to me in that the day before they were not sure how the blood oranges were going to work as the flavor just was not coming out the way they hoped. By Saturday morning the flavors had settled and it was delicious with subtle blood orange flavor at the finish. It was so good that the keg tapped out in a couple hours; 100% of the proceeds from this keg were donated to Crawl4Nepal. Continue reading

Photos from the 2nd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival

These photos were taken at the 2nd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival which was held at the South Coast Botanical Garden in Rancho Palos Verdes on Sunday afternoon. This outstanding event was hosted by Toyota and South Bay Equity Lending and sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of El Segundo, Palos Verdes Peninsula, and South Bay Sunrise. 100% of the proceeds from the event will go to support the humanitarian programs of the El Segundo Rotary Club, Palos Verdes Peninsula Rotary Club, and South Bay Rotary Club. Live music was provided by Detour.

While this was the 2nd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival it was the first one that I attended, so I cannot compare it to last year’s event other than to say that I overheard a couple people that suggested that yesterday’s festival was bigger than their inaugural event. As a first time attendee I have to say that the stars must have been in perfect alignment as it appeared that Sunday’s event went off flawlessly.

I do not know how many people were in attendance, but when divided up between almost 30 breweries, close to 10 wineries and more than 20 restaurants lines were pretty much non-existent. There were not even lines for the restrooms. Continue reading

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

Photos from King Harbor Brewing Company’s 1 Year Anniversary Party

On Saturday afternoon King Harbor Brewing Company (KHBC), Redondo Beach’s only production brewery, held their one year anniversary party at their tasting room. King harbor used the celebration to raise funds for the Richstone Family Center in Hawthorne. And when I say celebrate let there be no mistake, King Harbor pulled all the stops with this event.

While the tasting room remained open for the general public to join the party for free, the parking lot was transformed into party central for those that wanted to attend the fundraising portion of the event. Included in the price of admission was access to many cask and one offs brews including their Single-Barrel Anniversary Ale and a Belgian style pale ale that King Harbor did in collaboration with Telegraph Brewing Company. Live music was provided by local musicians Nick Shattuck, Dankrupt and The Thirsty Crows. There was also a dunk tank that featured local celebrities and a couple craft beer celebs such as Beer Paper L.A.’s Daniel Drennon and yours truly. Everyone that came to the parking lot portion also received a nice commemorative mug and a bottle of their Sh!ft 1 Anniversary Ale, an Imperial Brown Ale aged in Corsair Whiskey Barrels with graham crackers and cacao nibs. Food was available for purchase from Fill R Up Gastro Garage and Los Angeles Fry Company. Continue reading

2015 Taste of Brews’ Twilight Tasting Photos

These photos are from the Taste of Brews’ Second Annual Twilight Tasting that was held at Lyon Air Museum on Saturday evening. I have to start off by saying that this was one of the coolest, most photogenic locations for a beer festival that I can remember attending. As we walked in the door I told Tanya, “I will have to try to find some time to have a beer while I am here.”

While Lyon Air Museum was billed as a World War II museum, the first vehicle we were greeted by was a 1922 Ford Model T Roadster and it just got better from there. A beautiful 1931 Buick and the 1930 Cadillac V-16 Roadster were among my favorite cars; but there were military vehicles of all types and beautiful motorcycles. When you added in the aircraft it was pretty difficult to concentrate on the beer. But to be honest, I am not sure that craft beer was the number one thought of the attendees at this fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Orange County/Inland Empire, The Little Red Dog out of Tustin and Ocean Education Outreach out of Newport Beach. I think it was one of those fundraisers that was priced so that it was more about the charity than the buzz. I don’t know, it just seemed a little classier than the standard local beer festival.

They did have some good food provided by Stonefire Grill, Rubio’s and Sol Agave; and some pretty tasty desserts from Nothing Bundt Cakes and Paradise Bakery to go with the various wines I saw being poured, so maybe that had something to do with it. So while I may have stayed for the cool museum pieces, I came for the beer. Continue reading

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