These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Los Angeles Ale Works (LAAW), in Hawthorne, where they celebrated their second anniversary with an 80s themed block party featuring several food trucks, DJs, live music, pop rock beer slushies, candy necklaces, Micheladas, a laser light show, a double juicy IPA can release, and lots of other L.A. Ale Works beers.
I arrived about an hour after the official start time and the block party was already filling up with LAAW fans along with their families and dogs. DJ Sundy was providing music and food was being served up by Bartz BBQ, Kogi Korean BBQ, Hustle & Dough, and Scoops on Tap.
Inside the tasting room, there were at least 25 beers on tap, including the two beers featured in their can release, Lazer Star and Night Beams. There was an outdoor bar set up for their Reserve Beers, featuring options like Celestial Blüme Berliner with tea, Channel Conditions Brett Saison, and Olivera Blanc and Olivera Noir, their beer/wine hybrids. Also available were the 2017 and 2018 Rush’n Attack Imperial Stouts, Heavy Impulse Barleywine, and Sled Dog Imperial Stout. The outside bar is also where you would go for the pop rock slushies and Micheladas. Continue reading
These photos were taken Friday afternoon at El Segundo Brewing Company, and Friday evening at Tortilla Cantina, home of the 5th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover. Friday was day one of El Segundo Brewing’s release of their Power Plant Triple IPA, which included a synchronized release with about 20 other locations in Southern California; one of which was Tortilla Cantina.
This is the time of year that triple IPAs start finding their way up and down the state of California, probably due in large part to the fact that for the last 15 years Russian River Brewing has released their Pliny the Younger Triple IPA on the first Friday of February. El Segundo Brewing has been releasing Power Plant at about the same time for the last five years. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Trustworthy Brewing Company in Burbank, where they celebrated their second anniversary. The first few photos were taken at House of Billiards in Sherman Oaks.
After attending the R&D Tasting Experience at Firestone Walker, Daniel Drennon of Beer Paper LA and I drove out to Burbank to visit Trustworthy Brewing and help them celebrate their second anniversary. As House of Billiards was on the way, Drennon asked if we could stop by to pick up some stuff. House of Billiards will be celebrating their 40th anniversary this Thursday at 7:00 PM. If you read Beer Paper LA you probably noticed that House of Billiards was featured in the January issue. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon, when I made my first visit to Inglewood’s second craft brewery, Tortugo Brewing Company.
If you happened to read my review of 2018, you might recall my saying that I kind of feel like a slacker due to my inability to keep up with the local craft beer growth stating that there were at least two breweries in the South Bay that I had yet to visit; Tortugo Brewing was one of those two.
Tortugo opened at the end of June and definitely stands out as you drive down the street towards it. It is a 6,600 square foot building that appears even larger with its bright orange and blue highlights paint job. As founder Joe Kovach put it, there has been nothing new on the street in a couple decades; the color makes it pretty tough to not notice something new on the street. The color scheme is meant to represent a bright sunset (the orange) over the ocean (the blue). Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday evening at the King Harbor Brewing Company production brewery and tasting room in Redondo Beach, where they held their Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. The event featured Slater’s 50/50 and Due Mani Pizza food trucks and lots of great King Harbor brews.
King Harbor Brewing Company has three locations in Redondo Beach; 2907 182nd Street, 132 International Boardwalk, and 1719 S Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach. All three locations are open seven days, offer beer to go, and are dog friendly. Cheers! Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Absolution Brewing Company in Torrance, where Absolution held their annual Holiday Party. The event featured a visit from Santa Claus for those that still needed to turn in their wish lists, live music by ‘Tremors’, prizes for the most festive holiday outfits, and probably most importantly, an introduction to Absolution Brewing’s new head brewer, Erik DeBellis.
For those unaware, Absolution’s former brewer, Bart Bullington left Absolution a month or so ago for family reasons. Shortly after that, Erik DeBellis left the brewery he was head brewer at, Ximix Craft Exploration.
Absolution Brewing Company MUG Club members were treated to DeBellis’ next new beer for Absolution, a Brut IPA they are calling Chateau Absolution. If you have spent any time at Absolution over the last four years, you are definitely going to notice that this is entirely different than what we have become accustomed. Continue reading
These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at El Segundo Brewing Company and Main Street in El Segundo, where the El Segundo Chamber of Commerce presented the 55th Annual El Segundo Holiday Parade. The parade featured marching bands, floats, classic cars, a life size Hot Wheels Car and more. This year the Grand Marshal was El Segundo’s Citizen of the Year and father to El Segundo Brewing co-founder Rob Croxall, Dick Croxall.
One of the main floats, in my biased opinion, was presented by El Segundo Brewing Company and featured the “The Stocking Stuffers” along with The Angry Elf and Merry Manders. Continue reading
These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Strand Brewing Company in Torrance, where they held a viewing party of the 2018 Classic Tetris World Championship, featuring seven time world champion Jonas Neubauer, who also happens to be the taproom manager for Strand Brewing.
The Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) was established in 2010, and Jonas has won every year except 2014, when Harry Hong defeated him. Sunday’s competition would include Hong as well as a new star in the game, 16-year-old Joseph Saelee. The interesting back-story on Saelee is that he learned Tetris strategy by watching Jonas play online. Saelee is also the first player to ever reach Level 31 in Classic Tetris. It was set to be an intense match. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Strand Brewing Company’s 3rd Annual Backyard Barbecue which was held at Strand’s production brewery and tasting room.
As I mentioned in my last article, Saturday had several events going on. While the music was just getting started at Absolution, Strand had live music going on all day and the tasting room was jumping with lots of families, with their dogs and kids; and several sub-parties going on at the same time.
In addition to the 12 Strand Brewing beers that were available, the Chefs in Shorts food truck was there providing the barbecued goodies; local live music was provided by Snake Oil Salesmen, Gilbert Louie Ray, South Bay All-Stars, and Ryan Collazo. It is safe to say that a good time was had by all. Cheers! Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Absolution Brewing Company tasting room, where they held their Mid-Summer Party 2018. The event featured an all-you-can-taste firkin session, a live DJ set, live music, and a couple food trucks.
There are times during the year that it seems the weekends are non-stop craft beer events; this past Saturday was one of those days. Since there is only one of me, I am forced to split my time between events, and like Saturday, sometimes I have to skip an event or two.
When I have multiple events happening at the same time, I typically attend the one furthest from home, and work my way back; which meant that I went to Absolution Brewing first. Continue reading