Absolution Brewing 8th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Absolution Brewing Company, in Torrance, where they held a party to celebrate their 8th anniversary. The celebration included an anniversary beer release, food, live music, and games.

In addition to their standard tap list, their anniversary beer, 1/8th Anniversary IPA was available on tap as well as cans. Food was available from SouthBay Comfortz (formerly known as Smokin’ Sandos) and Chiky Pancakes. Live music was provided by Nasty Bad Habit, and Taylor Killam Music. For the athletically inclined, cornhole and table shuffleboard were also available. Continue reading

Craft Beer Guy Visits 8bit Brewing Company

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon, when I visited 8bit Brewing Company, a brewpub located in Murrieta, California.

So, Saturday afternoon I left the mild clime of the beach (71 degrees) to head out to Murrieta (low 100s) to watch a play that my number one grandson and favorite granddaughter were performing in. Since traffic out there can be very unpredictable, I left a few hours early hoping traffic wouldn’t suck too much and I might be able to visit one of the breweries out there that I had yet to visit. Luckily, it only took a couple hours to get there, so I had time to stop by 8bit Brewing Company. Continue reading

Photos of Claudia’s Birthday Party at King Harbor

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the King Harbor Brewing Company’s tasting room in Redondo Beach, where several dozen friends and family of Claudia, of Claudia and Juan fame, gathered to celebrate Claudia’s birthday.

Guests were treated to plenty of King Harbor Brewing’s tasty brews, wine, all you could eat tacos from El Chiapas Tacos, ballads, dancing, and birthday cake. It was pretty obvious that a fun time was had by all.

Happy birthday, Claudia; I hope you have a great year. Cheers! Continue reading

Platinum Jubilee Celebration at Yorkshire Square

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon, June 4, at Yorkshire Square Brewery in Torrance, where they held their Platinum Jubilee Street Party celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years as the monarch of England.

The free event featured live music, beer and food specials, a special wine list, and fun activities happening throughout the day. The special food menu included Platinum Pudding, the dessert created by Fortnum and Mason especially for the Queen’s Jubilee. The festivities included beer specials, including eight cask ales and a Jubilee Ale in cans to go.

I have to admit, I was a little surprised how busy it was, but the beertenders made short work of the lines. Continue reading

9th Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival Photos

These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Ernie Howlett Park in Rolling Hills, where the Rotary Club of Palos Verdes Peninsula and Rotary Club of South Bay Sunrise presented their 9th Annual South Bay Beer and Wine Festival, their annual fundraiser which was brought back after a two year hiatus due to a global pandemic that you may have read about.

Sponsored by Beer Paper, Suzy Zimmerman Insurance Agency, Matson & Southwest Port Services (who also kept the beer cold), VEFA, and armanio, the day featured local craft beer, food, wine and spirits from close to 100 vendors, as well as live music from the TAPS drum ensemble and Detour, as well as a beautiful spring day; it would have been tough to have planned a nicer day. Continue reading

12th Annual IPA Festival at Naja’s Place Photos

These photos were taken Thursday afternoon at Naja’s Place, on the International Boardwalk, where day one of their 12th Annual IPA Festival was held. As usual, the event featured IPAs of every type, from Sessions to Quads.

The weather was a typical, slightly cool, May Gray day, which may have accounted for the slow start to the event, but my Instagram and Facebook feeds seemed to indicate that as working stiffs got off work, Naja’s seemed to get a little more crowded.

Thursday was the kickoff event, with today (Friday) being their Locals Collaborations day, and Saturday being Pizza Port day which will feature a special IPA brewed for Naja’s Place. The event runs through the 25th. Continue reading

El Segundo Brewing 11th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at El Segundo Brewing Company, in El Segundo, where they celebrated their 11th anniversary. The day featured an anniversary beer, a couple can releases, and the Something Good LA food truck. Coincidentally, it was also the ninth anniversary of the launch of CraftBeerGuy.com.

It was a pretty hot day at the beach, and the throngs that came to help celebrate El Segundo Brewing’s milestone took full advantage of any shady spot they could find. Continue reading

Dust Bowl Brewing Enters Hard Seltzer Market With Thirty Three Hard Seltzer

thirty-three-hard-seltzer

Now Available from Dust Bowl Brewing

Last week Dust Bowl Brewing Co. announced the launch of Thirty Three Hard Seltzer, a new brand and new product category for the Northern California company. Rolling out in Cherry Lemon Lime flavor, the new product line distinguishes itself with an 8% ABV, a higher alcohol level than most hard seltzers. Thirty Three Hard Seltzer comes in 19.2oz single-serve cans and draft, and is targeted for sales in local retail chains, C-Stores and on-premise accounts.

“We produce a broad spectrum of beers and tend to be known for our higher strength offerings,” comments Don Oliver, Brewmaster. “We chose to play to our strengths and set our seltzer apart from the mainstream with a higher ABV and focus on the single-serve and draft packages. The Cherry Lemon Lime recipe was popular with our brewing team and very well received in our taprooms.”

The “Thirty Three” branding refers to 1933, the year prohibition ended. The eye-catching but simple label features the tagline, “Celebrating Repeal Day Every Day” as an added layer of brand messaging for the seltzer. The Cherry Lemon Lime flavor comes from a hand-crafted blend of cherry and Meyer lemon juice concentrates coupled with natural flavors. The result is a light, refreshing hard seltzer with just a hint of pink color in the beverage. Continue reading

Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon, April 23, at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, where they hosted the 1/2 Way to Halloween Hootenanny craft beer festival, which was presented by LB Obscura, an event production company created by LB Craft Beer and Festival Obscura. The event is a fundraiser, with a portion of the proceeds going to support the Museum of Latin American Art. Perhaps unknown to most, this was also kind of a going away party for Martin Svab and Ryan Hughes; more on that later.

Regular readers will hopefully recall that last October I attended the inaugural Halloween Hootenanny at MOLAA; apparently it was such a success that it was decided that there was no reason to wait until next October to do it again (they will), and the 1/2 Way to Halloween Hootenanny was conceived. Continue reading

A Visit to Border X Brewing

These photos were taken Friday afternoon, April 22, when I took a drive out to Bell to visit my friend, Robert Sanchez, who is the brewer at Border X Brewing. If Robert’s name sounds familiar, it is probably because he has been involved in the Greater Los Angeles craft beer scene since 2014. I first met him in 2014 when he brewed at Ohana Brewing Company, followed by stints at Kinetic Brewing, State Brewing, and Ximix Brewing.

Border X Brewing is a Chicano and woman owned brewery with two locations; the Bell location I visited and their original location in San Diego. The San Diego location had a 5-bbl brewhouse, with the Bell location housing an expanded 10-bbl brewhouse which now produces beer for both locations. If memory serves, the San Diego location opened around 2013, with the Bell location opening in March of 2019, just in time for the COVID shutdown a year later. When they shut down, the original Border X brewers left and Robert came on when things opened up last year. Continue reading

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