microbrewery

Upshift and Surfridge Celebrate Three Years

These photos were taken Saturday, November 5, at Upshift Brewing Company and Surfridge Brewing Company, both of which are located in El Segundo and coincidentally, were both celebrating their third anniversaries. Both events featured food trucks and live music.

I started my day off at Upshift Brewing, for no particular reason (at the time) other than it was the only anniversary party I knew was happening. They had a ticketed VIP hour, but I showed up after that. There were a couple dozen people there when I arrived, but it did not take long for the inside and outside seating to begin filling up. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2022 – ByGeorge Brewing and Rusted Spoke Brewing

These photos were taken Monday, October 10, day six of my Craft Beer Tour 2022. As I mentioned in the last article, my sister Ruth wanted to visit the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore so we set the GPS for Munising to check it out. We then visited ByGeorge Brewing (also in Munising) and Rusted Spoke Brewing in Mackinaw City.

While I figured that Pictured Rocks must be pretty photogenic, as we approached Munising I started having some concerns because virtually every billboard or sign that I saw mentioning Pictured Rocks seemed to include kayaks or boats; I was wondering how easy it was going to be to photograph this place from land. The GPS was not being very helpful either since dozens of places had “Pictured Rocks” in the name. Eventually we happened upon a helpful Park Service Ranger that told us we wanted to go to Miners Castle and gave us directions to get there. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2022 – Yoopers and the Great Lakes

These photos were taken Sunday, October 9, day five of my Craft Beer Tour 2022. Ruth wanted to visit the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, so we set the destination of Marquette and reserved a hotel room so we would be sure to have somewhere to stay. As a result, we ended up visiting Beards Brewery in Petoskey, Biere de Mac Brew Works in Mackinaw City, and Barrel + Beam in Marquette.

So, for those that do not know what a Yooper is, it is a self-given nickname given to the residents of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. If you look at a map, which I never did until two weeks later, you will notice that these next three breweries were about as “upper” as you can get on the Michigan Upper Peninsula. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2022 – Right Brain Brewery and Hop Lot Brewing

These photos were taken Friday and Saturday, October 7 and 8, days three and four of my Craft Beer Tour 2022. As I mentioned early on, my sister (Ruth) was in a major train accident back in June and was pretty jacked up, so Friday, before we did anything else, I had to take her to get more x-rays. After that we headed up to her cabin in Dublin. On Saturday we visited Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City and Hop Lot Brewing Company in Suttons Bay.

Ruth’s appointment was around noon, and she knew there was a craft beer bar fairly close to the medical center that I could hang out at while she did her thing. She sent me to HopCat, a craft beer bar with numerous locations, this one in Grand Rapids and only sold beer brewed in Michigan. Okay, that is not exactly true; they also sell a wide variety of food, and some hard seltzers. They had about 40 options available.

I have to admit, I was a little bummed that Ruth’s doctor visit only lasted an hour, because I could have had a great time there. I had just finished my Hoplicated Imperial Pale Ale from Odd Side Ales when I was trying to decide between the Bark Lord Imperial Stout from Transient Artisan Ales and a 2018 Founders CBS, when I got the message it was time to pick her up. Bark Lord was phenomenal, but my server offered me a small crowler of the Founders to-go, so that is what I took with me. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2022 – The Mitten Brewing Co

These photos were taken Wednesday afternoon in Grand Rapids, Michigan as I started my annual craft beer tour. Wednesday found me at The Mitten Brewing Company, a microbrewery/pizzeria that opened in November 2012.

For over a year now, my sister Ruth and I have been planning a fall craft beer tour through the northeast as I have very little experience there and it would be cool to visit breweries and watch the leaves change colors. Unfortunately, my sister happened to be a participant in the Amtrak train derailment in Missouri this past June. To say she got jacked up in it would be an understatement (26 broken bones above the waist), but she wanted me to come visit, so we decided we would venture around the state for a week or so. Continue reading

A Visit to Border X Brewing

These photos were taken Friday afternoon, April 22, when I took a drive out to Bell to visit my friend, Robert Sanchez, who is the brewer at Border X Brewing. If Robert’s name sounds familiar, it is probably because he has been involved in the Greater Los Angeles craft beer scene since 2014. I first met him in 2014 when he brewed at Ohana Brewing Company, followed by stints at Kinetic Brewing, State Brewing, and Ximix Brewing.

Border X Brewing is a Chicano and woman owned brewery with two locations; the Bell location I visited and their original location in San Diego. The San Diego location had a 5-bbl brewhouse, with the Bell location housing an expanded 10-bbl brewhouse which now produces beer for both locations. If memory serves, the San Diego location opened around 2013, with the Bell location opening in March of 2019, just in time for the COVID shutdown a year later. When they shut down, the original Border X brewers left and Robert came on when things opened up last year. Continue reading

Brouwerij West 6th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Brouwerij West in San Pedro, where they celebrated day two of their six year anniversary. The day featured live music, a couple anniversary beers, and a few food trucks.

During my time there, live music was provided by Sentry Dogs, Mor Flowrs, and Moldy Roses. There were three other bands that were scheduled to play after I left.

For their anniversary, Brouwerij West released their Six Times Six Times Hazy IPA, and their Dead Water Imperial Pastry Stout as well as a barrel-aged version of Dead Water. Continue reading

Craft Beer Guy Visits Huntington Beach

These photos were taken Friday in Huntington Beach, where I did a small craft beer tour with my friends, Jeff and Yurany. We visited Riip Beer Company, Flashpoint Brewing, and Beachwood Brewing.

Those of you that were following my Craft Beer Tour 2021 may have noticed that it had a pretty abrupt ending; as a result, I decided that instead of driving thousands of miles to visit new breweries, I would try to fit in a few day trips to breweries that were a little closer. As Jeff and Yurany had the day off, we decided to venture out together to Huntington Beach. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2021: Medford, OR

These photos were taken Thursday evening, September 30, day 16 of my Craft Beer Tour 2021, when I visited Medford, Oregon. My reasons for visiting Medford were pretty simple; I do not really enjoy driving in the dark when on these trips for the simple reason that I cannot see and appreciate the country I are driving through, this pretty much guaranteed I would be spending another night in Oregon. Since I had already visited Grants Pass in 2018 I decided that Medford would be my home for the night.

I don’t know if you have ever visited Medford, but it is not an easy town to navigate for a first time visitor; at least in my opinion.

As I have mentioned before, when I do these trips I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants, and Medford was a perfect example of that as I had zero clue where I would be staying and the name of one brewery that may, or may not, still be open according to rumors in Eugene. Since I really had no idea what else to put in my GPS, I aimed for Opposition Brewing Company. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2021: Eugene, OR

These photos were taken Thursday afternoon, September 30, day 16 of my Craft Beer Tour 2021, when I revisited Eugene, Oregon. This time I spent my time at Hop Valley Brewing Company and Manifest Beer Company. I had planned on leaving Oregon City on Wednesday, but my presence was an asset for my friends, so I hung out another day.

I set my sights for Eugene as I wanted to visit a friend I had not seen since my visit in 2018; our plans were to meet for lunch and a beer at Hop Valley Brewing. When I pulled into their parking lot I noticed a text message suggesting I would be doing this visit solo due to illness. Continue reading

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