Brewpubs
Photos from Hermosa Brewing’s 1st Anniversary Shindig
These photos were taken Friday evening at the Hermosa Brewing Company taproom in Hermosa Beach, where Hermosa Brewing kicked off their three day, 1st Anniversary Shindig. In addition to the 12 taps of Hermosa Brewing’s beers, the event features live music, and food and beer specials, including beer mocktails.
I arrived rather early in the evening, and while it was not very crowded when I first got there, it did not take long for the place to begin filling up. The live music, performed by Zeal Levin, began at 6:30 was pleasant and not overpowering; although I guess he did take up a couple spots that would have otherwise been used by the attendees. No one seemed to mind; it was nice to be able to be close to the music without having to yell over it. Continue reading
A Visit to Hermosa Brewing Company
These photos were taken Friday evening at Hermosa Brewing Company, a relatively new taproom in Hermosa Beach. It is literally around the corner from The Brewery at Abigaile, so I headed there after attending Abigaile’s Meet the Brewer event.
Regular readers may recall that in my review of 2018 I said that there were a couple breweries in the South Bay that I had yet to visit; one was Tortugo Brewing, which I took care of a few weeks ago, the second was Hermosa Brewing Company. While I had visited Hermosa Brewing back in August, it was pretty much to choose a couple of their beers for the 4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover. This was my first visit with customers. Continue reading
Photos from Meet the Brewer at The Brewery at Abigaile
These photos were taken Friday evening at Alta House, formerly known as Ocean Bar, which is the upstairs area of Abigaile and The Brewery at Abigaile. The event was hosted to introduce The Brewery at Abigaile’s new brewer, Josh McCombs.
A question that I have been asked pretty frequently lately is, “What’s going on at Abigaile?” It was a legitimate question since their last brewer that I was aware of, Mitchell Riser, left several months ago and since they are licensed as a brewpub, they need to be brewing beer. That issue was resolved at the beginning of January when Josh McCombs came onboard as their new brewer. Continue reading
Burnin’ Daylight Soft Open Photos
These photos were taken Thursday afternoon at the soft open of Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Company, a brewpub in the City of Lomita. As you can tell from the photos, the long anticipated opening was very well received.
The doors officially opened at 3:00 PM; I arrived by 3:30 and there was already a line out the door. By the time I got done taking my first batch of photos, the line had doubled in length. You would think that the staff at Burnin’ Daylight had been doing this for years, as the wait was never more than 13 minutes when the line was the longest I saw (I was in it). It was pretty obvious that the customers were enjoying the brews, and the few I spoke with about the food said it was very good; the inside seating area sure smelled good with the spices from the chicken wings wafting through the air. Continue reading
Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Company: From the beginning
These photos were taken between June 23, 2017 and January 18, 2019 of the construction of Lomita’s first brewpub, Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Company. While it has been a long journey, your patience is about to be rewarded.
It was April 18, 2017 when Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Company had their Conditional Use Permit granted by the Lomita City Council; it took the changing of some laws, but Lomita really wanted to get in on the craft beer craze going on in the South Bay. Two months later I started stopping by to take photos of the build. There would be periods with lots of change and some that seemed nothing was happening, but the Lake family, Head Brewer Brendan along with mom and dad Shannon and Bob, kept plodding along and are now ready to announce the soft open of Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Company. Continue reading
Melvin Brewing San Diego Soft Open
These photos were taken Thursday afternoon at the soft open for the new Melvin Brewing which is opening in the East Village area of San Diego.
Melvin Brewing is a Wyoming-based brewery that is known primarily for their IPAs. I don’t think I was aware of them before I attended the 2017 Great American Beer Festival; but I think it would be difficult to not have noticed them if you were an attendee. The two years that I have attended, Melvin’s booth was an old school bus, which co-founder Jeremy Tofte apparently lived in for a year. Their booth included a DJ during each GABF session, and had WWE Hall of Fame wrestler “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan hanging out at the booth to shake hands, take photos and sign autographs. I seem to recall they had impromptu parades during a couple of the sessions that included their representatives in costume.
They were more than just a show though, as they walked away with the Brewery Group and Brewmaster of the Year award, along with a pair of gold medals for American-Style Strong Pale Ale (Hubert MPA) and Fresh or Wet Hop Ale (Wet Hop Melvin). So when I was invited to attend their VIP soft opening it seemed like a no-brainer as San Diego is significantly closer to me than anywhere in Wyoming. Continue reading
Hōkūle’a Brewing Company Soft Open Begins
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Hōkūle’a Brewing Company, when they officially opened their doors to begin their soft open, which will go on for a few weeks.
Although I arrived shortly after Hōkūle’a opened their doors, they already had 15 or 20 people seated trying the three Hōkūle’a brews that were available on day one; as well as the ciders from Southern California Cider Company (who shares the spot with Hōkūle’a), and a mead from Honest Abe’s.
Hōkūle’a’s three brews included their Gremmie Pils, Keiki IPA (a session IPA), and Key Lime Pai, a kettle sour. I think I enjoyed the Keiki IPA the most, but Key Lime Pai was definitely a crowd favorite when I was there. Continue reading
Hokulea Brewing: From the Beginning
The long awaited opening of Hokulea Brewing Company is upon us as it was announced today that Hokulea will begin their soft open Saturday, August 18. These photos show the build of Hokulea from when I first visited the location back in June 2017, through today.
Hokulea Brewing combined forces with The Honest Abe Cidery to create a brewpub with a brewery, cidery, and poke bar with 40 taps. Since they are a brewpub, they can sell beers from other breweries which is the plan is while Hokulea builds up its tap list of in-house brewed brews. You may notice the two very large fermenters in the photos; those are for the cider side of the house.
The soft open begins Saturday, and will continue daily until they have their official grand opening sometime in September. In the beginning, they hope to be able to offer food tastings, with the kitchen opening full time as soon as possible. Continue reading
Media Preview of 6th and La Brea
These photos were taken Wednesday evening at the soon to be opened, 6th and La Brea; the newest brewpub opened by the Artisanal Brewers Collective, a restaurant group co-founded by Tony Yanow, formerly of Golden Road Brewing.
If you are unfamiliar with the Artisanal Brewers Collective, do not feel too bad; I may have heard the name mentioned a time or two, but the brewpubs and gastropubs they have opened and are opening from Los Angeles to San Diego are names that I have heard mentioned pretty frequently lately. These include Bluebird Brasserie in Sherman Oaks, The Stalking Horse in West LA, The Bell Marker in San Diego, as well as a number of other current and pending locations.
6th and La Brea is a very nice, 8,400 square foot location with a spacious patio for those that want to enjoy to Southern California climate while dining on menu offerings created by Chef Jihee Kim, or enjoying house brews crafted Director of Brewing, Noah Regnery. Continue reading
Photos from The Propagator Turns 2
These photos were taken early Saturday afternoon at Firestone Walker Brewing Company’s, The Propagator Turns 2! celebration, held at the Venice, with a Marina del Rey mailing address, location. These photos are primarily from the VIP session which was held from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
It is hard to believe it has been two years already, but that could be because it was almost eight months after The Propagator opened before they were able to make The Propagator the R&D brewery it was intended to be.
Ticket holders to the sold out VIP session received a brewhouse tour, several tastes of Propagator and/or Barrelworks beers, light bites to eat and a crowler of Propagator brew to take home. Several of people were also able to take part in a taste comparison of three different hazy IPAs brewed with same recipe but fermented with different yeast strains; we were given samples of what each tasted like prior to being dry hopped and after being dry hopped. It was interesting how much difference the yeast made, both before and after being dry hopped. Continue reading