Lloyd Brown
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
Common Space Brewery 4th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne, where they held their 4th Anniversary. The day included live music, food trucks, live art painting, a couple DJs, and the release of four new beers.
I arrived early with my buddy Phil, the refrigeration guy to the stars, and secured a good parking spot as well as prime seating at the bar. We were there for the first three hours, so that is what you will find in the photos.
There were about four food trucks there, with everything from burgers to oysters to tacos. The music was provided by the Del Ray Jazz Band. 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
Dust Bowl Brewing Releases Taco Truck Lime
Taco Truck Lime – Now in cans!
“The lime variation has always been a great seller in our taprooms on draft, so it just seemed like a natural decision to put it in cans and add it to the popular Taco Truck line-up,” shares Don Oliver, Brewmaster. “The addition of lime and sea salt creates a flavor profile that resonates with Mexican lager fans. The initial response has been impressive and we’ve already ordered another truckload of cans after just a few weeks in the market.” Continue reading
Karl Strauss Welcomes New Year with Release of Two New Brews
Karl Strauss Releases Two Brews for 2022
With a planned collaboration in the works for nearly three years, Karl and Burgeon finally came together to do what they do best: brew the cleanest, most hop-forward West Coast IPA fathomable. Inspired by the secrecy surrounding the innovation process, Bohemian Grove was aptly chosen as the name to represent this tropical and pine-forward hop bomb. With four R&D brews in the books, both breweries are confident the final release was brewed to absolute hoppy perfection.
“Our admiration for Burgeon has been long standing. We have a great deal of respect for their meticulous approach to brewing, recipe creation, and their quality control process. Additionally, their team is well known for brewing some of the tastiest IPAs in San Diego, so when we decided to lock in our 2022 collaborators, we knew immediately we wanted to create something together.” – Paul Segura, Brewmaster, Karl Strauss Brewing Company Continue reading
HopSaint Commissions Street Art
These photos were taken at HopSaint Brewing Company in Torrance over the course of four visits, beginning January 20 and ending today, January 27. The artwork was done by Nicolas Thollot-Arsac, also known as bottl3man on Instagram.
Anyone that has gone to HopSaint in the afternoon and sat at one of the community tables, facing away from the bar, is well acquainted with Sports Harbour’s white wall and the blinding glare it can throw out when the sun is heading towards the Pacific. It is no secret, it has been an issue from the beginning; the question was what to do about it. On January 19 I was looking at HopSaint’s Instagram page and saw that they had commissioned an artist from France to paint said wall using only beer bottles. Of course, I had to go check it out. Continue reading
Ribbon Cutting at Eureka Brewing Company
These photos were taken Wednesday evening at Eureka Brewing Company, where the City of Gardena officially welcomed Eureka to the city with a ribbon cutting that was combined with Gardena’s employee’s Christmas party.
Okay, you are right, Eureka Brewing has been open a year now, ribbon cuttings typically coincide with grand openings, but as we all know by now, not much about 2020 was what one might consider “typical.” Continue reading
Winter Beer Dinner at Ballast Point Photos
These photos were taken Friday evening at Ballast Point Long Beach; where I participated in something I have not been able to do in over two years, attend a beer dinner. A four course meal curated by Ballast Point R&D Brewer Chris Takeuchi, combined with the fact that I had yet to visit Ballast Point’s Long Beach location, made it a pretty easy decision to accept their invitation. Together with my friend Alexis, sales rep for Eureka Brewing Company, we braved the Friday night traffic for what would be a fun and tasty evening.
So, getting first impressions out of the way first, their parking lot is massive which should probably give you an indication of what to expect inside. With a little patience we ended up with one of the best parking spots short of having a handicapped placard.
When we entered I was pretty surprised at just how massive the place is. The fact of the matter is that I never even made it upstairs so it is literally twice as big as what I observed. On top of that they have an outdoor patio which I am sure is nice most of the time; last night would not have been a good time for outdoor dining (too cold). Continue reading
Long Beach Beer Lab 4th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Long Beach Beer Lab, where they celebrated their fourth anniversary and Oktoberfest. The festivities included live music by The Bodleys, face painting by Liza May, one liter steins of their Oktoberfest beer, and soft pretzels from Long Beach Bread Lab.
I ran into Long Beach Beer Lab founder/Chief Investigating Scientist Levi Fried shortly after I arrived and had to comment on how much growth there had been since my last visit; Levi responded that they had been busy the last two years. I knew it had not been two years since my last visit, but admittedly my last couple of visits had been for to-go purchases so I had not seen just how much they have grown. 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
Archives