Microbreweries
Creature Comforts LA Soft Open Photos
These photos were taken Friday afternoon at Creature Comforts new Los Angeles location, located close to the Garment District area of L.A. Friday was day three of their soft open, which will last about a month.
For those unfamiliar, Creature Comforts is an Athens, Georgia based brewery. Because of weird laws in Georgia, they decided it made more sense to open a location in California than another in Georgia; so I guess we win.
To be honest, I had planned on going Wednesday, but they didn’t open until 4:00 and I cut it too close and hit the freeway just as rush hour started. My GPS estimated arrival time just kept climbing and I wasn’t making any progress so I made the call to wait until Friday or Saturday when they opened at noon.
I had been invited to join some people at Monkish at noon, and I had a feeling my buddy Joe “Dastardly Brews” Jupiter would be joining us, and I knew Joe was looking for something special for his 100th brewery, so I figured I would invite him along. It didn’t take too much convincing; so we finished our brews and headed to Creature Comforts. Continue reading
Far Field Beer Company 2nd Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Far Field Beer Company, in Lawndale, where they celebrated their second anniversary at their brewery/tasting room. The event featured live music, food popups, vendors peddling their wares, a photo booth, games, raffles, brewery tours, and about 19 tap offerings, including a couple anniversary brews (depending on who you talked to).
It was a lovely afternoon in the South Bay, and at least 100 people showed up (while I was there) to enjoy the mellow weather and join in the festivities with their families and four-legged friends. Continue reading
Five Point Five Brewing Company Grand Opening Photos
These photos were taken Friday afternoon at Five Point Five Brewing Company in El Segundo, when they officially opened their doors to the public, bringing El Segundo’s craft brewery count back up to four, joining El Segundo Brewing, Upshift Brewing, and Boardroom Brewery. Five Point Five is at the location previously occupied by Surfridge Brewing, and is now owned by the brewer for Surfridge, and his family.
Friday was their official Grand Opening, and while I arrived within the first couple of hours of their opening the doors, it was very well attended, not only by friends and family, but they also had attendees from El Segundo Brewing and Upshift, which is always a good sign, in my opinion. Continue reading
Blow a Glass at Scholb Premium Ales
These photos were taken this past Friday evening at Scholb Premium Ales, in Torrance, where they hosted Blow a Glass, a mobile operation that teaches glass blowing. Friday evening they set up shop in Scholb’s tasting room to display several of their glass water pipes and offered classes to those wanting to create their own glass.
I have to admit, I was hoping that there would be more in the way of demonstrations on how they create the intricate water pipes, but this was more for teaching people how to make their own drinking glasses. Since there was a lot of twirling of molten glass by newbies, I stayed out of the way which means I was unable to get the photos I was hoping for. Continue reading
Introducing Five Point Five Brewing Company
UPDATE: Five Point Five Brewing Company will officially open Friday, August 11.
These photos were taken Friday, August 4 at Five Point Five Brewing Company, the latest craft brewery to open in El Segundo. You may recall that four months ago Surfridge Brewing in El Segundo closed their doors; Five Point Five Brewing Company, headed by Surfridge’s former head brewer Jeremy Montemagni, will replace Surfridge.
Starting at the beginning, before Surfridge closed, owners Steven and Jennifer Lieberman moved to Connecticut and opened a new Surfridge location, and had their brewer, Jeremy, flying back and forth across the country to brew at both locations. As one can imagine, that was a pretty hectic schedule and really was not sustainable; that brought about the close of the El Segundo location. It was then that Jeremy and his wife Melissa decided to team up with the talented members of Melissa’s family and together they bought the old Surfridge equipment and got their own lease for the location. Continue reading
Boardroom Brewery Now Open in El Segundo
These photos were taken over the course of three years, beginning with my first visit in January 2020, a follow-up visit in January 2023, and ending with my visit on Memorial Day 2023 to Boardroom Brewery, El Segundo’s newest craft brewery.
So yeah, this tale begins back at the end of 2019 when Brouwerij West co-founder Dave Holop asked me if I knew anything about what was to be El Segundo’s fifth craft brewery. I was given an address and started dropping by every time I went to El Segundo. On January 8 I lucked out and showed up on a day that Forchi, the owner, happened to be there, having lunch as I recall. I introduced myself, and got permission to grab some photos. At that point in time Forchi knew he wanted to open a brewery; he was pretty much waiting for approval from the City of El Segundo and did not even have a name picked yet. If he did, he was holding it close to the vest. Continue reading
Photos from the El Segundo Brewing Co. 12th Anniversary
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon, May 13, at El Segundo Brewing Company in El Segundo, where they held their 12th anniversary. The low-key event featured the release of two high-octane brews and food provided by Gochu Gang Korean BBQ.
So yeah, I initially described the event as low-key, but it might better be described as a reunion of long time ESBC fans. While they may not have had multiple food trucks and live music, they did have 20 high quality El Segundo Brewing beers on tap, including their two high-octane anniversary brews; Greetings From El Segundo TIPA (11% ABV) and Lost in the Mail QIPA (13.2 ABV), which were also released in cans. Continue reading
Syncopated Brewing 2nd Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon, May 6, at Syncopated Brewing Company in Lakewood, where they were celebrating day two of their three day celebration of their second year anniversary and the birthday of Jason Van Fleet, one of the co-founders of syncopated brewing. The day featured food, live music, games, and a beer release.
While I was there, food was provided by Big Brian’s Meats. Music was provided by assistant brewer Elic Evans and his wife Mel. As I was preparing to leave The Bodleys were setting up; I was tempted to hang out later, but I try to avoid traffic. Continue reading
Smog City Brewing 12th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Smog City Brewing Company brewery and tasting room in Torrance where Smog City celebrated 12 years of brewing beer. The event featured multiple food trucks/popups, live music, a charity dunk tank, raffles, games and an anniversary beer to accompany the other 26 brews that were on the menu.
It is no secret that Smog City Brewing knows how to throw an anniversary party, and Saturday was no exception. Food was available from Pasta Selvatica with their handmade pasta created before your eyes, Proudly Serving was back with their delicious smash burgers, and All About the Cinnamon with their hip-hop influenced cinnamon rolls. Buddha Boy Tacos was setting up as I was leaving, so I am not exactly sure what else was available during the evening portion of the event. Continue reading
Photos from the Dudes’ Brewing 10th Anniversary
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at The Dudes’ Brewing Company Torrance location where they celebrated their 10th anniversary of brewing in Torrance. The event featured live music, games, a food popup, and vendors selling clothing, plants, chocolates and coffee. Naturally, there was plenty of Dudes’ beer available for the attendees.
To be honest, I think this was the first anniversary party put on by The Dudes’, and I am not sure why they did not publicize this more, but the end result of the lack of publicity is that there were not very many people there. Luckily, since I had advertised it, I ran into several friends and Craft Beer Guy followers. Continue reading