Photos of Kristie’s Going Away Party at Smog City
These photos were taken Friday evening at the Smog City Brewing tasting room in Torrance, where friends and coworkers gathered to wish Kristie Bjorklund a fond farewell as she said goodbye to the South Bay to pursue new adventures in Central California.
I was trying to think just how long I have known Kristie; I think it has been about 10 years. She has worked at Sierra Nevada Brewing, King Harbor Brewing, and most recently, at Smog City, primarily at their Steelcraft location. With her move comes a new job, this time with Firestone Walker in Paso Robles; so if you are going to the Invitational, be sure to tell her hello as she will be working. Continue reading
Photos from the Smog City 11th Anniversary
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Smog City Brewing Company’s brewery and tasting room in Torrance, where several hundred fans gathered to celebrate Smog City’s 11th anniversary. The event featured food trucks, live music, a dunk tank for charity, a mini market, games, and beer; lots of delicious Smog City beer.
While I was there, seafood was available from Anarchy Seafood, with burgers from Heavy Handed LA; after I left Baserriko Peppers came onboard with their sandwiches and churrasco.
There was live music provided by Fuzzy Logic, and a beer garden market village was set up featuring Macetas Plants LA, Gogoma Bakes Dog Treats, D’s Cookies, and local illustrator Evan Clark. Continue reading
Farewell Izzy Can Exchange Photos
These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at King Harbor Brewing Company’s tasting room on 182nd Street, where a couple dozen Craft Beer Guy followers and fans of King Harbor’s own beertender/quiz master extraordinaire, Izzy, gathered for another of my Covid Can Exchanges and to wish farewell to Izzy whose last official day was Sunday.
As Izzy said, I guess people were happy to see him go as this was the largest turnout we have had in the 13 can exchanges we have had since I started doing them, with 23 participants, providing 46 4-paks to choose from. We did have two duplicate beers show up, but I planned for this possibility and brought an extra to swap out; we ended up with 45 different beers to choose from. While it did take a little longer to choose our beers, everyone I talked to seemed very pleased with their picks. Continue reading
Common Space Brewery 4th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne, where they held their 4th Anniversary. The day included live music, food trucks, live art painting, a couple DJs, and the release of four new beers.
I arrived early with my buddy Phil, the refrigeration guy to the stars, and secured a good parking spot as well as prime seating at the bar. We were there for the first three hours, so that is what you will find in the photos.
There were about four food trucks there, with everything from burgers to oysters to tacos. The music was provided by the Del Ray Jazz Band. Continue reading
Craft Beer LB Homebrew Invitational Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the inaugural/first annual Craft Beer LB Homebrew Invitational, which was held at the Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site in Long Beach. If you noticed that I stuttered with whether or not to designate it as an inaugural event or the first annual, it is because while it was definitely an inaugural event, I am pretty sure that Craft Beer LB will be making this an annual event; I cannot think of one reason why they wouldn’t, it was that good.
To be honest, I do not think I have ever attended anything quite like this, even though I have attended a couple homebrew festivals and competitions, this was very different. Let me see if I can explain in fewer than 500 words.
First off, it was definitely a homebrew competition; this one had 45 competitors from around Southern California (everyone I spoke with seemed to be from the Long Beach area). There were several homebrew clubs represented, including LB Homebrewers, OC Mashups, QUAFF, So Cal Cerveceros, and Maltose Falcons. Continue reading
Brouwerij West 6th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Brouwerij West in San Pedro, where they celebrated day two of their six year anniversary. The day featured live music, a couple anniversary beers, and a few food trucks.
During my time there, live music was provided by Sentry Dogs, Mor Flowrs, and Moldy Roses. There were three other bands that were scheduled to play after I left.
For their anniversary, Brouwerij West released their Six Times Six Times Hazy IPA, and their Dead Water Imperial Pastry Stout as well as a barrel-aged version of Dead Water. Continue reading
Dust Bowl Brewing Releases Taco Truck Lime
Taco Truck Lime – Now in cans!
“The lime variation has always been a great seller in our taprooms on draft, so it just seemed like a natural decision to put it in cans and add it to the popular Taco Truck line-up,” shares Don Oliver, Brewmaster. “The addition of lime and sea salt creates a flavor profile that resonates with Mexican lager fans. The initial response has been impressive and we’ve already ordered another truckload of cans after just a few weeks in the market.” Continue reading
South Bay Beer & Wine Festival Returns- Promo Code Inside
South Bay Beer & Wine Festival Returns May 22
Billed as the 9th Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival (the 7th and 8th being the cancelled years), there will be a few changes this year, the primary ones being that only 600 tickets will be sold (half the usual number), and every ticket will be a VIP ticket. This means that everyone gets in at noon (an hour early), and the VIP tent has been removed, so the spirits (hard alcohol) are available to all. VIP parking will be available for all as there will be no shuttles this year.
While there are some changes, there is plenty that is not changing. For example: Continue reading
Karl Strauss Welcomes New Year with Release of Two New Brews
Karl Strauss Releases Two Brews for 2022
With a planned collaboration in the works for nearly three years, Karl and Burgeon finally came together to do what they do best: brew the cleanest, most hop-forward West Coast IPA fathomable. Inspired by the secrecy surrounding the innovation process, Bohemian Grove was aptly chosen as the name to represent this tropical and pine-forward hop bomb. With four R&D brews in the books, both breweries are confident the final release was brewed to absolute hoppy perfection.
“Our admiration for Burgeon has been long standing. We have a great deal of respect for their meticulous approach to brewing, recipe creation, and their quality control process. Additionally, their team is well known for brewing some of the tastiest IPAs in San Diego, so when we decided to lock in our 2022 collaborators, we knew immediately we wanted to create something together.” – Paul Segura, Brewmaster, Karl Strauss Brewing Company Continue reading
HopSaint Commissions Street Art
These photos were taken at HopSaint Brewing Company in Torrance over the course of four visits, beginning January 20 and ending today, January 27. The artwork was done by Nicolas Thollot-Arsac, also known as bottl3man on Instagram.
Anyone that has gone to HopSaint in the afternoon and sat at one of the community tables, facing away from the bar, is well acquainted with Sports Harbour’s white wall and the blinding glare it can throw out when the sun is heading towards the Pacific. It is no secret, it has been an issue from the beginning; the question was what to do about it. On January 19 I was looking at HopSaint’s Instagram page and saw that they had commissioned an artist from France to paint said wall using only beer bottles. Of course, I had to go check it out. Continue reading
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