Beer News
Photos of The Bruery’s 6th Anniversary – Sucréversary
On Saturday afternoon, members of The Bruery’s Reserve and Hoarders Society and their guests gathered at The Phoenix Club in Anaheim to join The Bruery and many of the best local craft breweries to celebrate The Bruery’s Sucréversary, or 6th Anniversary. The proceeds from the event were to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Ana.
Since this was a private event I was a little surprised at how many attendees there were; this beer festival easily rivaled any of the local beer festivals I have attended in recent memory both in the number of people attending and the breweries represented. I got there a little early and even though they were not yet pouring beers, there were four very long lines as The Bruery had scattered three booths and a beer truck around the venue and their fans took advantage of the beer map to get in line for their favorite Bruery offering. To say there was a lot to choose from would be a definite understatement as The Bruery brought such ales as their Griffon Bruxellois, Oui Oui, Premiere, Batch #50, Confession, Sucré – Tawny Port, Grey Monday, Hottenroth, ORB, Grey Monday and many others. They even brought out some special beers such as Three Floyd’s 2013 Dark Lord.
Joining in the celebration were guest breweries Almanac Beer Company, Ballast Point, Beachwood Brewing, Bootleggers, Bottle Logic, Cismontane, Eagle Rock, Firestone Walker, Golden Road, Hangar 24, Kern River Brewing, King Harbor, Lost Abbey, Modern Times, Monkish, Noble Ale Works, Pizza Port – San Clemente, Smog City, Societe, St. Archer, Stone Brewing Co., TAPS, The Rare Barrel, Tustin Brewing and Valiant Brewing. The price of admission included a lunch catered by Beachwood BBQ; Chunk-n-Chip Cookies provided dessert. Continue reading
Beer Paper LA celebrates One Year Later at Beachwood
On Wednesday evening, craft beer fans headed to Beachwood BBQ & Brewing in Long Beach to join Beer Paper LA as they celebrated their one year anniversary. Beer Paper LA is an online and monthly print paper that dedicates its pages to the local breweries and gastropubs in the Los Angeles, Orange County and Inland Empire areas of Southern California. As they had their launch party last year at Beachwood it made sense that they return for the anniversary party.
As anyone that frequents Beachwood knows, in addition to the fine beers Beachwood brews they always have a stellar guest tap list. Last night was no different with a selection of crafted brews from local craft breweries from central California to the Mexican border including The Brewery at Abigaile, Ladyface Ale Companie, TAPS Fish House & Brewery, Smog City, Strand Brewing, Noble Ale Works, Firestone Walker, Ohana Brewing Company, Pizza Port San Clemente and many more. It was a night to remember with many fine beers available.
Congratulations to Beer Paper LA on completing their first year and becoming practically a household name in the local craft beer scene. Cheers! Continue reading
Brew Dogs taping at Golden Road Brewing
Scottish “beer evangelists” and Esquire TV’s hosts James Watt and Martin Dickie showed up at Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles last night for a taping of their television show Brew Dogs. The premise for last night’s taping was a brewing competition between Watt and Dickie, who normally brew together, but were paired with a couple local homebrewers. The two homebrewers, Dana Cordes and Andy Ziskin, are active members of one of, if not the oldest homebrewing club in the country, the Maltose Falcons. The challenge was to brew a beer that best reflected the Southern California craft beer scene using designated ingredients.
Dana Cordes was paired with Martin Dickie and they prepared a Double IPA that included several types of citrus and an avocado. Andy Ziskin teamed up with James Watt to create a Saison using sage, peppercorns and an avocado. Their entries were judged by an esteemed panel of experts; Sarah Bennett of Beer Paper LA, noted chef and owner of Father’s Office, Sang Yoon, and Golden Road Brewing owner, Meg Gill. Members of the audience were also given an opportunity to try the two brews and even though our vote did not count, it seemed that the audience agreed with the unanimous decision of the judges. I could throw in a spoiler and tell you who won, but you should probably watch the Brew Dogs episode to find out for yourself. Consult your local listings for when the program airs in your area. Cheers! Continue reading
Joel Elliott rides 328 miles for Hannah’s Voice
Joel Elliott completes 328 miles in 26.5 hours
The 328 miles represents the approximate number of days that his daughter has been a student without the proper support. While Elliott set a goal of completing this ride in 24 hours, taking time off for bathroom breaks, changing his socks and some leg massages he actually completed the ride in less than 26.5 hours. Actual saddle time came close to 24 hours so he was pretty darn close in accomplishing his goal. After the ride Elliott was understandably a little worn, but he came into the Strand Brewing Company taproom to thank everyone for their support claiming that this was a group effort.
To help offset some of the costs the Elliott family has incurred in their battle with the school district a donation jar was available as well as I Am Hannah’s Voice t-shirts. Continue reading
King Harbor Tap Takeover at Cork’er and a Proposal
These photos were taken Friday evening when Redondo Beach’s first production brewery, King Harbor Brewing Company, had a tap takeover at Cork’er, a new Irish pub/cafe in Redondo Beach. King Harbor brought out two versions of The Quest Pale Ale, Rakau and El Dorado; and their Abel Brown and Vanilla Abel brown ales to accompany the various dishes available at Cork’er. In addition to the good beer and food, King Harbor Brewing provided glassware to the first group of attendees and raffled off a King Harbor Brewing growler (with a free fill) as well as one of their hats. Cork’er raffled off tickets to an upcoming Dodgers vs. Giants game and $50 in cash.
Cork’er is owned by Larry Killian, for former owner of Killian’s in Torrance. The one thing that really sets Cork’er apart from other local businesses is that they really go to the limit when it comes to supporting other local businesses. The beer is almost all from our local craft brewers, their furniture was bought from a local furniture store just down the street from their location, the art on the walls is from local artists and Larry spends a lot of time at local farmers markets purchasing ingredients for the meals they prepare at Cork’er. There is no doubt that Cork’er is a local business that supports other local businesses. If you want to support their business, Cork’er is located at 2810 Artesia Boulevard in Redondo Beach and is open seven days a week from 7:00 AM until 10:00 PM. Continue reading
Tomm Carroll’s birthday party at Chloe’s at Golden Road
With the primary question being, “is there beer after 60?”, local beer celebrity and writer Tomm Carroll celebrated his 60th birthday Sunday afternoon with about 100 friends and family joining him at the exclusive Chloe’s at Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles. Chloe’s is a private, members-only club at the Golden Road Brewing pub that one must work in the beer industry to be invited to join. This was my first time to visit Golden Road, so it was pretty cool to be invited to join the festivities.
For those that think the name Tomm Carroll sounds familiar, there are a couple of good reasons for that. First off, there are about three guys named Tomm Carroll that are involved in the Southern California craft beer scene. This particular Tomm Carroll is a contributing writer for Celebrator Beer News with his regular column, Live and Drink in L.A. as well as Beer Paper LA where he has an entertaining series Los Angeles, BC (Before Craft).
The afternoon consisted of camaraderie, tasty snacks including crab cakes, sliders, pretzels and more, birthday cake and beer. In fact, lots of beer. In addition to the seven Golden Road brews they had on tap there was an amazing bottle share that featured a veritable who’s who of beer which such brews as a 2007 Dark Lord, Gueuze Cuvée René by Brouwerij Lindemans, a Mont des Cats by Abbaye Mont des Cats and even a 1993 Samichlaus to name but a few. Suffice it to say, there were more bottles than people to drink them so I think Tomm’s beer collection may have gained a few new members.
As far as the question, is there beer after 60? It seems safe to say that there is plenty of beer after 60. Happy birthday, Tomm. Cheers! Continue reading
Craft brewery space to re-open in Torrance
Craft Beer Real Estate Specialist
The 1,900 square foot space, which was pretty much used as a storage space for the last several years, is in the process of being cleared of extra walls and is now available for viewing by interested parties. The middle 450 square feet of the space has an 18′ ceiling which would accommodate fermentation tanks. The remaining space has a 10′ ceiling. Natural gas is available and there are numerous floor sinks and floor drains although their condition is currently unknown. There is a 110 square foot office in one corner and an additional 50 square foot room available that could be used for storing equipment or supplies.
Although the Alpine Village Complex has a Torrance mailing address, it is actually in an unincorporated portion of Los Angeles County. Alpine Village is essentially located at the intersection of the 110 and 405 freeways so anyone coming into the South Bay to check out the craft beer scene probably drives right by this location. Add to that the ample parking, the proximity to the Alpine Inn Restaurant and the eagerness of the Alpine Village Board of Directors to help this venture succeed you have a lot of great potential for a successful tasting room. Continue reading
Local craft brewers give back to the community
Torrance Education Foundation Donors
Since it was a Saturday and a beer sounded pretty good, I decided to make a visit to the Torrance tasting rooms to see what I could muster up. It was encouraging as I traveled from Smog City Brewing Company to Monkish Brewing Company to Strand Brewing Company to Absolution Brewing Company to answers that were always the same and with no hesitation; they would all be happy to contribute to the cause! While I was at Monkish Brewing, an LA Craft Beer Tours van pulled up so I asked Dale, a co-owner and driver that day, if they would be interested in participating. Again, the response was immediate; LA Craft Beer Tours was on-board. Since The Dudes’ Brewing Company and King Harbor Brewing Company did not have tasting rooms open yet, I contacted them over the next couple of days and both said they would contribute. Red Car Brewery had already been contacted by someone else from the TEF, so all the Torrance and Redondo Beach production breweries and brewpubs were now involved. Continue reading
Strand Brewing brings March Madness to Naja’s Place
It is that time of year again for collegiate basketball fans; March Madness is upon us. Now I have to admit, I do not really have the time to follow basketball of any type so “March Madness” really has little bearing on my life but when I heard that Strand Brewing Company and Naja’s Place were teaming up for a March Madness tap-takeover it did not take much convincing to get me over to the International Boardwalk to attend their event.
Now, I guess “tap-takeover” might be a little exaggerated since Naja’s Place has 88 beers on tap, but Strand Brewing Company brought eight beers on tap; Musashi Black IPA, White Sand DIPA, 24th Street Pale Ale, Atticus IPA, Batch 100 Stout, Harvest Ball Orange Wheat, Beach House Amber Ale and Black Sand DIPA as well as their White Sand DIPA with Chinook hops on cask. There was a large contingency of Strand Brewing Company fans on hand that made short work of the cask, but there were plenty of other Strand Brewing Company beers for them to enjoy.
Strand Brewing Company is located at 23520 Telo Avenue in Torrance and Naja’s Place is located at 154 International Boardwalk in Redondo Beach. Cheers! Continue reading
Photos from the 2nd Annual Froth Awards at Saint Rocke
Saturday afternoon, the Saint Rocke concert club in Hermosa Beach held their 2nd Annual Froth Awards: Craft Beer Experience and Gastropub Invitational featuring five of the South Bay’s finest craft breweries paired with dishes provided by four South Bay gastropubs. In addition to the beer and food pairings, there was live music provided by the Aaron White Band, the Get Down Boys and Johnny Jump Up. There were also raffles with prizes such as growlers, hats and other swag donated by the participating breweries and gastropubs and free pizza provided by Fresh Brothers Pizza. They even had a “Best Beard” contest which was won by yours truly.
It was a fun day of music, beer and food that consisted of five courses. The first course featured Strand Brewing Company’s White Sand Double IPA with marinated short rib tacos from The Rockefeller gastropub. This was followed by El Segundo Brewing Company’s White Dog IPA paired with tri-tip sliders from California Rancher. The third course featured The Dudes’ Brewing Company and their Kolschtal Eddy which was paired with a Tuscan white braised pork shoulder provided by Bouzy Gastropub. Our fourth pairing was The Brewery at Abigaile’s 002 2nd Anniversary Double IPA with waffles and chicken provided by R10 Social House. The final course introduced everyone to the two newest participants, King Harbor Brewing Company with The Quest (Rakau) Pale Ale and Saint Rocke’s own Kitchen 142.
It really was a lot of fun with great beer, good food and fun people. If there is a third annual Froth Awards you can be sure I will be there; you should too. Cheers! Continue reading
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