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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

Absolution Brewing 8th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Absolution Brewing Company, in Torrance, where they held a party to celebrate their 8th anniversary. The celebration included an anniversary beer release, food, live music, and games.

In addition to their standard tap list, their anniversary beer, 1/8th Anniversary IPA was available on tap as well as cans. Food was available from SouthBay Comfortz (formerly known as Smokin’ Sandos) and Chiky Pancakes. Live music was provided by Nasty Bad Habit, and Taylor Killam Music. For the athletically inclined, cornhole and table shuffleboard were also available. Continue reading

Craft Beer Guy Visits 8bit Brewing Company

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon, when I visited 8bit Brewing Company, a brewpub located in Murrieta, California.

So, Saturday afternoon I left the mild clime of the beach (71 degrees) to head out to Murrieta (low 100s) to watch a play that my number one grandson and favorite granddaughter were performing in. Since traffic out there can be very unpredictable, I left a few hours early hoping traffic wouldn’t suck too much and I might be able to visit one of the breweries out there that I had yet to visit. Luckily, it only took a couple hours to get there, so I had time to stop by 8bit Brewing Company. Continue reading

Photos from the Smog City 11th Anniversary

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Smog City Brewing Company’s brewery and tasting room in Torrance, where several hundred fans gathered to celebrate Smog City’s 11th anniversary. The event featured food trucks, live music, a dunk tank for charity, a mini market, games, and beer; lots of delicious Smog City beer.

While I was there, seafood was available from Anarchy Seafood, with burgers from Heavy Handed LA; after I left Baserriko Peppers came onboard with their sandwiches and churrasco.

There was live music provided by Fuzzy Logic, and a beer garden market village was set up featuring Macetas Plants LA, Gogoma Bakes Dog Treats, D’s Cookies, and local illustrator Evan Clark. 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

Aven Turns Four

These photos were taken Saturday, October 2 at King Harbor Brewing Company where they held a birthday party for AJ’s son, who turned four.

For those that are unaware, AJ is the manager at King Harbor Brewing Company and he is my nephew which makes his son my grand-nephew, and for that he gets his birthday party photos on my website.

Happy birthday Aven, I hope you have the best year yet. Cheers! Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2021: Yakima, WA

These photos were taken September 25, day 11 of my Craft Beer Tour 2021, and I must admit, I was looking forward to what this day would bring. Actually, I had a very good idea of what this day would bring because I was headed to Yakima, Washington; home of Bale Breaker Brewing Company, one of only two breweries I consider to be one of my destination breweries.

A destination brewery to me, is one that if I am within 200 miles of it, I must do all I can to get there. As I was staying a mere 193 miles from them, I don’t see that I had much of a choice in the matter. I knew I was going to find fresh hop beers there. Continue reading

El Segundo Brewing 10th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the El Segundo Brewing Company tasting room, where El Segundo Brewing celebrated their 10 year anniversary. The event included the release of their Hüftgold Festbier and VollerKOLSCHster, as well as the re-release of their 10th anniversary triple IPA. The Slice and Pint provided bratwursts and sauerkraut, and Röckenwagner Bakery provided their giant pretzels. Live Bavarian polka music was provided by Hammerstein Band (their singer had a beautiful voice).

This was a very fun event, and very well attended; I heard several people mention that is almost seemed like the pre-COVID days. With all the smiles and a tap list boasting more than 20 available brews, I have to agree. Continue reading

Paperback Brewing First Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Paperback Brewing Company in Glendale, where they not only celebrated their official grand opening, but their one year anniversary at the same time. So yeah, you read that right; it is their one year anniversary and they are just now officially open to the public. COVID strikes again.

If you will recall, last year the county let breweries open for a minute before they shut them down again; that is when Paperback was planning on opening to the public. Instead of filling their tasting room with customers like they had planned, they hooked up with a mobile canning unit and sold beer to go in cans and growlers. In fact, my first experience with Paperback was at a couple of the COVID can exchanges I have been putting on. When Paperback sent me a press release about their official opening to the public I decided to head over for what I discovered was also their one year anniversary. Continue reading

Doom Lodge at Eureka Brewing Company

These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Eureka Brewing Company, in Gardena, where they held their first live music event, featuring Doom Lodge, a self-described Doom Punk Trio out of Hawthorne, whose musical genre falls under Psych Rock. One of the trio is Pete Mauch, head sales rep for Eureka Brewing.

In addition to the live music, and Eureka’s brews, seafood chimichangas were available from the Margi Chimichangas food truck.

Eureka Brewing Company is located at 13723 1/2 Harvard Place in Gardena; that is one block east of Western at 139th Street. Their hours are Monday through Thursday from 4:00 to 8:00 PM, Friday from 3:00 to 8:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 7:00 PM. Cheers! Continue reading

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