These photos were taken Friday, February 3 at Cellador Ales new blendery location at Smog City Brewing’s Wood Cellar, where I met up with Cellador’s sales manager, Alex Ourieff, to discuss what is new with Cellador Ales since they closed their tasting room in North Hills at the end of last year.

Those of us into sour ales were saddened last June when Kevin and Sara Osborne announced that their brewery/blendery and taproom would close at the end of 2022. According to Kevin’s announcement, it was a combination of Covid related “financial issues, lease issues, personal life changes, and more.”

A couple weeks ago I started seeing posts on Cellador’s Facebook page that suggested they were blending again, this time in Torrance. As the photos seemed to indicate they were taken at a very well-known Torrance brewery, I decided to reach out and see what I could discover. Alex responded to me and I headed over to Cellador’s new blending location, Smog City’s Wood Cellar, which is the building across the parking lot from the Smog City tasting room.

In a nutshell, this is what I found out:

Essentially, Cellador Ales in under new management but is retaining the name and the same beer philosophy. By that I mean that they will continue to get their wort from MacLeod Ales and they will continue to produce 100% oak barrel-fermented craft ales.

As I have already mentioned, blending and barrel aging will be done at Smog City’s Wood Cellar.

Distribution is still to be determined, but apparently you can still pick up bottles at their Van Nuys warehouse.

They are currently seeking a new tasting room, and while Torrance would be a lovely location as far as many of us are concerned, they are not limiting their search to Torrance.

I was able to get sample pours of a couple brews that are relatively new to the barrel-aging process and all I can say is I cannot wait until they have had time to spend enjoying their oak homes. Cheers!

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