Microbreweries
Strand Brewing Celebrates 8th Anniversary
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Strand Brewing Company’s 8th Anniversary Party. The event featured live music, food by Chefs in Shorts Catering, and 12 Strand Brewing beers on tap. As fate would have it, it was also Strand Brewing Company co-founder Rich Marcello’s 50th birthday, so everyone had even more reason to celebrate.
Congratulations to Joel Elliott, Rich Marcello and the entire Strand Brewing Company team on your success; and happy birthday to Rich.
Strand Brewing Company is located at 2201 Dominguez Street in Torrance; they are open Tuesday through Sunday, sell cans, bottles and growlers to go and are dog friendly. Cheers!
State Brewing Company: From the Beginning
Arguably, one of the most awaited tasting room openings in the South Bay has been that of State Brewing Company in Gardena. These photos have been taken at State Brewing, periodically since June of 2016 and through today, November 10, 2017; the official day of the beginning of State Brewing Company’s soft open.
When I first started going to State Brewing, they had a different brewer and a different idea of what kind of beers they would brew. At the beginning of 2017, State said farewell to their original brewer and welcomed Robert Sanchez and Rob Scott, both formerly of Kinetic Brewing, and things immediately changed. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2017: Louisiana
These photos were taken Saturday, October 21 at the Great Raft Brewing 4th Anniversary, in Shreveport, Louisiana.
As I spent the previous night in Vicksburg, which is on the east side of the Mississippi, and Louisiana is only a couple hours wide from the Mississippi border to Texas, I was going to have to plan this well if I wanted to visit any breweries in Louisiana. Fortunately, a name that kept coming up in conversation east of the Mississippi was Great Raft Brewing. Great Raft is located in Shreveport which is almost on the Louisiana/Texas border. Since it was a 2 1/2 hour drive from Vicksburg to Shreveport, and Great Raft opens at noon on Saturdays, I figured I would be able to arrive at Great Raft close to opening time, making it easy to try a few beers and snap some photos prior to moving on to Texas. I have to admit, I was pretty surprised when I arrived shortly after they opened only to discover their parking lot was full and I was going to have to park at a second lot down the street. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2017: South Carolina
These photos were taken over the course of two days; October 17 in Columbia and October 18 in Charleston, South Carolina.
When I left Charlotte, I set my sights for Blythewood, South Carolina where I would be spending the night with my brother Steve and his wife. A few weeks back I asked Steve if he had any favorite breweries we could visit; he responded that he had shared a flight once, with our dad, back in 2010. We were going to have to go another route.
Fortunately, Steve has friends that do know craft beer and we were directed to Conquest Brewing in Columbia. Conquest Brewing is a microbrewery that has been open about five years and is Columbia, South Carolina’s first production craft brewery. Continue reading
Rob Rubens One Year Spirits & Beer Anniversary
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Rob Rubens Distilling & Brewing, when they held their Rob Rubens One Year Spirits & Beer Anniversary party. Now, if it seems like I just covered a one year anniversary at Rob Rubens, you would be correct; back in June they held an anniversary party to celebrate one year of brewing beer. As spirits take longer than the typical craft beer to ferment, Rubens launched by brewing beer, following shortly thereafter with the distilling of spirits.
Currently, Rob Rubens is bottling Rob Rubens Rye, Single Malt, and Wheat whiskies along with their American Vandal Vodka, Eighteenth Amendment Gin, Hideaway Whiskey, Mickey’s Beach Rum, and Rob Rubens Bourbon along with their numerous beers which range from a Gose and Kolsch to a Russian Imperial Stout and a Belgian Quad, and everything in-between. Continue reading
Paddle and Pour and Doughnuts at King Harbor Brewing
These photos were taken Saturday morning at King Harbor Brewing Company’s Waterfront Tasting Room where they held another in their continuing series of Summer Party Crew 2017 events; this week being their Paddle & Pour (+ Donuts).
The morning began with a dozen or so attendees renting stand up paddle boards for an hour out on the water. After they worked up their appetites, everyone headed to the Waterfront Tasting Room for a pairing of King Harbor Brewing Company beers and Blue Star Donuts.
The pairing began with a pour of Future Waves IPA paired with a Blueberry Bourbon Basil doughnut. The mellow grapefruit bitterness went well with the sweetness of the blueberry. Continue reading
Craft Beer Backyard Barbecue and Summer Fun Feast
These photos were taken Saturday at Strand Brewing Company’s Backyard Barbecue (first three pages); and King Harbor Brewing Company’s Summer Fun Feast, as both production breweries celebrated summer with craft beer, barbecues, and games.
The Backyard Barbecue at Strand Brewing featured 15 taps spread out over two bars, food from Chefs in Shorts, and live music by Bill Benzel and Jim Earp, Jim Kimo West, Ryan Collazo, and Big Bad Rooster. With all the kids, dogs and families in attendance, as well as the aroma wafting from the grill, it really did feel like a backyard barbecue. Continue reading
Photos from Rob Rubens Distilling & Brewing One Year Beerversary
These photos were taken Saturday at Rob Rubens Distilling & Brewing in El Segundo, where they held their One Year Beerversary Party. If it seems hard to believe that they have been open for one year already, that may be because the actual anniversary is June 17, but I think they held it a little early to avoid competing with LA Beer Week for their anniversary party.
The celebration included several special release beers, music by Mark Righteous and Double Batch Daddy, and food from Son of a Bun and Macheen.
While Rob Rubens Distilling & Brewing’s beers are a different style than other local craft breweries, what really sets them apart from anyone in Los Angeles is their still . . . and the spirits they distill. Continue reading
Smog City Brewing Celebrates 4th Anniversary
These photos were taken Saturday at Smog City Brewing Company where several hundred of Smog City’s fans gathered to help Jonathan and Laurie Porter celebrate four years of brewing at their Torrance location.
It has been a lot of fun watching Smog City grow since their soft open; not only in the number of beers and styles that they turn out, but the massive growth of the brewery itself and the fact that they now have their satellite SteelCraft location in Long Beach. If you look at the photos of the brewery from the soft open the brewery and tasting room were vast; compare it to the photos from Saturday and you can see that it has almost become a forest of stainless steel. According to Jonathan, there is even more to come. Continue reading
Photos from the King Harbor Brewing 3rd Anniversary
These photos were taken Saturday at the King Harbor Brewing Company 3rd Anniversary celebration. The event featured three bands, three food trucks and over 30 variations of King Harbor Brewing’s craft beer which was enjoyed by well over 500 attendees.
To give you an idea of how much progress King Harbor has made since they opened their doors in 2014; on their opening day they had two variations of The Quest, and two variations of Abel Brown. On Saturday they had three variations of their King Swirly the 3rd anniversary ale.
In addition to the music, food and King Harbor brews that were available, there were games like corn hole, giant beer pong, a dunk tank and Jenga. There was also an Employee Beer Contest which consisted of six beers that were created by teams made up of King Harbor’s employees. The beers included Guava Lava Gose, One Night in Brussels Belgian Strong Ale, Muffin Top Sour, Just a pHaze Pale Ale, The Real Slim Hazy NE IPA, and Ruby Redondo Rye IPA. Attendees voted on their favorite which gives the brewers bragging rights; the winner has not been announced at the time of this writing. Continue reading