Monthly Archives: June 2014
L.A. Beer Bloggers Summit No. 11
On Sunday afternoon the L.A. Beer Bloggers held their LA Beer Bloggers Summit No. 11 with tours of two of L.A.’s newest production craft breweries; Pac City Brewery in Pacoima and MacLeod Ale Brewing Company in Van Nuys.
Pac City Brewery had their ribbon cutting was held at the end of April and since then they have been brewing up a storm, including the first beer ever named after me; Lloyd’s Hazel Nuts. While the beer was only a few days old it was pretty tasty, especially if you enjoy hazelnuts. I look forward to trying it again in a couple of weeks.
Because of the type of license Pac City Brewery has they cannot sell their brews at their tasting room, but they can give it away if having a function that is a fundraiser for a 501(C)(3) organization. So, while they work on getting the word out that Pacoima now has a craft brewery they have been displaying their beers by holding fundraisers such as their Beer Nights with Pac City which is being held Saturday, June 21 from 6:30-9:00. The $40 entry fee gets you full pint pours of whichever beer you desire, good music and Pac City tri-tip chili. A major portion of the monies raised will go to the LAPD Baker to Vegas running team. I sponsored Riverside Sheriffs a few years ago and went to photograph it; these guys are madmen. If you are interested, you can purchase tickets through Eventbrite. Pac City Brewery is located at 12780 Pierce Street in Pacoima. Continue reading
New bottles, brews and the Kings take two
These photos are from Saturday, June 7. Since it seems like I have not been around much lately I decided to make visits to Smog City Brewing Company, Monkish Brewing Company and King Harbor Brewing Company.
On Saturday, Smog City Brewing held their first bottle release, offering up their GABF award winning Coffee Porter and The Nothing, a double chocolate imperial stout for their first two releases. As could be expected, there were lines formed outside both entrances when Smog City opened their doors Saturday morning. I waited a couple hours to head over there so while there were no real lines left for bottle purchases the tasting room was packed as people took advantage of the wide selection of new brews that were available including the Vanilla Nothing, the Oaked Nothing, Smog City Witty and their Lavender Pils. It reminded me of when Smog City first opened in Torrance and every weekend there would be something new.
We then went around the corner to Monkish Brewing Company to try out their two newest beers, the Feminista and St. Simcoe. The Feminista is the Feminist with cucumber and it was served on cask. I was pretty surprised at how different the Feminista was from the Feminist; the cucumber came through quite well. The St. Simcoe is a pale ale and makes a lovely addition to their Galaxy Defender and Altar Boy pale ales. They may never brew an IPA but with beers like these there really is no need. Continue reading
Craft beers of New Orleans
Last week I spent a few days in New Orleans photographing a trade show; in my free time I decided to seek out locally brewed craft beers, preferably from New Orleans but anything brewed in Louisiana would do. For those of you familiar with the New Orleans area, I was staying by the New Orleans Convention Center which is about a mile from the French Quarter.
When I first arrived on Wednesday afternoon I met up with a couple of friends and we walked over to Crescent City Brewhouse, a brewpub that is across the street from the Jackson Brewery building. Apparently Jackson Brewery was once one of the largest breweries in the country; I did not make it inside. Crescent City Brewhouse offered five of their beers on tap; a Kölsch (my personal favorite), a pilsner, a Vienna lager, a Dunkel Munich Lager and a hefeweizen. All five were solid beers but there were no IPA’s and hoppiness was pretty much nonexistent; the ABV’s of all five were pretty low. Our server said they all range from 5% to 6% ABV; their Untappd information only lists the ABV of the Kölsch and shows it to be a 4.5%.
I had the Alligator Sausage Poboy sandwich which was pretty good. Since our server gave the impression that he was pretty knowledgeable about everything craft beer related in New Orleans I asked him for suggestions on other breweries or brewpubs in the area that I should visit. In fact, I specifically asked about NOLA Brewing and was told that they were solely a production brewery with no tasting room. I found out later that our server was pretty clueless about the craft beer scene in New Orleans or he intentionally misled me. It was hard to say. Crescent City Brewhouse is located at 527 Decatur Street in New Orleans. It is the only brewpub I found in New Orleans; the prices are fair, the food is okay and I would say that their beers represent the Louisiana style fairly well. They are open seven days a week and do have growlers to go. Continue reading