Photos from Absolution Brewing’s 5th Anniversary

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Absolution Brewing Company in Torrance, where the production brewery celebrated five years of brewing beer. The free-to-attend event featured about 20 Absolution brews, live music, karaoke, food trucks, and games. Attendees that purchased a VIP ticket also received anniversary glassware with a pour of their anniversary beer and a 4-pak of their anniversary beer.

As Absolution has recently begun canning some of their beers, they used their anniversary to release a canned version of their Floc-Ness Monster DIPA. On Saturday, the 4-pak cans were available on a 1-to-1 basis only, so I am not sure if they were all sold or not. You might stop by the tasting room and see what their new brewer, Erik DeBellis, has been doing. They have completely revamped from the Old World/New World theory.

While I was there, Nasty Bad Habit provided the live music, which was followed up with karaoke. There was another band that finished the evening, but I had left long before they came on. Food was available from Seafood Anarchy and Chow Down, with some cheese goodies from Spicy Mos. Continue reading

Photos from the 2nd Annual N’owt but Stout Festival

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Yorkshire Square Brewery in Torrance, where they held their 2nd Annual Now’t but Stout Festival, a fundraiser benefiting the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild, featuring dark beers from more than 25 Los Angeles area breweries, and a couple from San Diego.

N’owt but Stout may have been a little misleading as there were many Porters, a Black IPA, a Scottish Ale, and a Pub Bitter available as well; but to be honest, after a few stouts you have of need something to mix it up with. Beachwood’s Hoppa Emeritus Black IPA and Cellador’s Vacant Lot barrel-aged sour took care of that for me.

In addition to the numerous beer choices, the event featured the Slater’s 50/50 and Cena Vegan food trucks, live music from Vagrant Nation, and cornhole. Attendees were also given the opportunity to vote for the Peasant’s Choice Award for the Most Adequate Ale. Continue reading

Great Society Cider & Mead Closing Doors

UPDATE: Friday, March 15, 2:00 PM – The doors are officially closed

These photos were taken Monday evening at the Great Society Cider & Mead gastropub in Long Beach as they prepare to close their doors in the very near future.

If you have been waiting to visit Great Society, I highly recommend you do it now as they have are closing their doors in the near future; I cannot give an exact date, but if they stay open past St. Patrick’s Day I think everyone will be surprised. They are currently in escrow, which ends as soon as the transfer of the beverage license is complete; it will be soon and they could either be closed before this weekend or several days after. In the meantime, they are doing their best to sell the craft beer, cider and mead that they have on tap, so look for specials. Continue reading

Common Space Brewery 1st Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Common Space Brewery and Tasting Room in Hawthorne, where they celebrated their first anniversary with several hundred of their fans. The event featured their first can release, an anniversary beer, several food trucks, live music, and games that were enjoyed by adults and children alike. And there were dogs; lots and lots of dogs.

While I try to visit as many of the local breweries as possible, there has been so much growth around here that it just is not possible for me for me to visit everyone as much as I might like; Common Space would be one of those. One thing I noticed right away was that Common Space has become a very family and dog friendly taproom to visit. I think it would be safe to say that a large portion of the people attending had either a dog or a kid with them, and while I see a lot of whining on social media about kids and dogs at breweries, it was obvious that Common Space welcomes both with open arms. Continue reading

Brewtopia at Abigaile Restaurant and Brewery Photos

These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at the Brewtopia beer festival in Hermosa Beach’s Alta House, formerly known as Ocean Bar, which is the upstairs area of Abigaile and The Brewery at Abigaile. The event featured craft beers and ciders from The Brewery at Abigaile, 101 Cider House, Angel City, Zymurgy Brew Works, Firestone Walker, and Santa Monica Brew Works.

Admission to the event included unlimited pours from the above mentioned breweries and access to a special brunch menu.

Long time followers may recall that The Brewery at Abigaile had done the Brewtopia beer festivals back in 2015; Sunday’s event was a mini-version of the prior events, but the few dozen people that did attend had a beautiful Sunday afternoon to enjoy craft brews on the Alta House patio. Continue reading

State Brewing 1 Year Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon in Gardena, at the 1st Anniversary of the State Brewing Company tasting room. If it seems like you have been drinking State’s beer for longer than a year, there is a very good chance of that as they have been brewing since at least the beginning of 2016. It was not until last February that they officially opened their tasting room to the public.

The anniversary event, which is still going on as I write this, featured over 20 beers from State Brewing, some of them being very small batches, food from Hotville Chicken and Tacos Bravo, a can release of their Cherry Moon Disco IPA, a DJ and Los Angeles area rapper, Murs (he came on after I left). Continue reading

8th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle Results

These photos were taken Monday afternoon at Beachwood Blendery in Long Beach, where they held the drawing for their 8th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle. As you are most likely aware, the beginning of February is when Russian River’s triple IPA, Pliny the Younger is released. It is highly sought after and usually requires trying to find a place that received a keg from Russian River, then figuring out the day it will be tapped and dealing with the inevitable lines. Beachwood BBQ & Brewing decided to do it a little differently. For eight years now they have been selling raffle tickets to get a 16oz pour for $5.00 with the proceeds going to the Melanoma Research Foundation in memory of a long time Beachwood friend, Tony Carbone who passed away in 2008 from Stage 3 Melanoma.

Like past years, the drawing was streamed live via the Four Brewers podcast and like last year, 200 winners were picked. This year, the raffle collected more than $7,000, bringing the total raised since the beginning to close to $93,000! Continue reading

Photos from Matinee Meltdown at King Harbor Brewing

These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at the King Harbor Brewing Company tasting room in Redondo Beach, where they held their first in what is hoped to be a continuing series of monthly Matinee Meltdowns; an afternoon of live music, DJs, local art and, of course, King Harbor Brewing’s craft beer.

Matinee Meltdown is the brainchild of former King Harbor Brewing rep, Pete Mauch, who also happens to have a band called Doom Lodge, a self-described Doom Punk Trio out of Hawthorne, whose musical genre falls under Psych Rock. In addition to the live music, DJ Dan Kennedy aka ShoeBox spun records when Doom Lodge wasn’t playing one of their two sets. Continue reading

Photos from the 2nd Anniversary Block Party at LA Ale Works

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Los Angeles Ale Works (LAAW), in Hawthorne, where they celebrated their second anniversary with an 80s themed block party featuring several food trucks, DJs, live music, pop rock beer slushies, candy necklaces, Micheladas, a laser light show, a double juicy IPA can release, and lots of other L.A. Ale Works beers.

I arrived about an hour after the official start time and the block party was already filling up with LAAW fans along with their families and dogs. DJ Sundy was providing music and food was being served up by Bartz BBQ, Kogi Korean BBQ, Hustle & Dough, and Scoops on Tap.

Inside the tasting room, there were at least 25 beers on tap, including the two beers featured in their can release, Lazer Star and Night Beams. There was an outdoor bar set up for their Reserve Beers, featuring options like Celestial Blüme Berliner with tea, Channel Conditions Brett Saison, and Olivera Blanc and Olivera Noir, their beer/wine hybrids. Also available were the 2017 and 2018 Rush’n Attack Imperial Stouts, Heavy Impulse Barleywine, and Sled Dog Imperial Stout. The outside bar is also where you would go for the pop rock slushies and Micheladas. Continue reading

A Beer For The Times: Ska Brewing Presents Moral Panic Brut IPA

Moral Panic

Moral Panic – Now in cans!

Moral Panic, a Brut IPA from Ska Brewing, debuted at the brewery in cans on Friday, November 30 and hit the brewery distribution footprint beginning December 7. This refreshing, dry finishing IPA satisfies brewery Co-Founder and CEO Dave Thibodeau’s urge to name a beer Moral Panic and quenches palates gravitating toward this emerging trend.

“In sociology, moral panic is the process of arousing social concern over an issue, legitimate or not,” Thibodeau says. “On one hand we may be referring to Mods & Rockers, Satanism or Dungeons & Dragons, or the Haze craze — no matter what comes of the Brut IPA style, we certainly are enjoying drinking it right now.”

Over its 23 years in business Thibodeau and crew have witnessed its evolution and ultimate subcategorization. “We’re excited about this emerging Brut category because these beers are everything we love about IPA without any lingering bitterness, which makes them super approachable.” Continue reading

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