6th Annual BAM Fest Coming October 10 – Promo Code

BAM Fest attendee

Join the fun at BAM Fest 2015

It is that time of year again; the 6th Annual Beer, Art & Music Festival (BAM Fest) will be held Saturday afternoon, October 10, in Santa Monica at the 18th Street Arts Center. The 18th Street Arts Center is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization and is the beneficiary of all the proceeds from this fundraiser.

This will be my fourth time attending BAM Fest and all I can say is that if you enjoy craft beer, live in the Los Angeles area and have never attended BAM Fest, you are doing yourself a disservice. From the first time I attended in 2012 I have been nothing but impressed; and the event just seems to get bigger and better every year and 2015 appears to be no exception.

The current list of beer and cider vendors totals 38, with six food trucks available to pair with your favorite beer and live music provided by three groups. Continue reading

Business & Beer at Smog City Brewing

These photos were taken at the September 2015 Business & Beer which was held at Smog City Brewing Company on Thursday evening. There was a pretty decent turnout considering how hot it has been around here lately; plus Back-to-School Nights have been going on, so that might have influenced the overall turnout. Those that attended had a great time and were able to enjoy a couple new Smog City Brewing brews, including Cuddlebug and California Love.

The next meeting of Business & Beer will be held October 8, 2015 at El Segundo Brewing Company from 6:00-8:00 PM. This is Business & Beer’s first return to El Segundo Brewing Company since they expanded their tasting room, so if you have not been there lately prepare to be surprised. It is probably three or four times bigger than the last time we were there. Please check the Business & Beer website or their Facebook page for more information. Cheers! Continue reading

Smog City Beer Dinner at Jimmy’s Bar & Grill

These photos were taken at the Smog City Beer Dinner which was held Wednesday evening at Jimmy’s Bar & Grill in Redondo Beach. I want to begin this by stating that over the past few years I have attended quite a few beer dinners but I am not sure that I have ever attended one that had such obvious thought put into the pairing of the food and beer as what we experienced last night at Jimmy’s. Marc Dix is the chef/partner at Jimmy’s and he is one of the owners of Barley Hops Grill, a popular food truck frequently seen at various tasting rooms. Regular readers have probably picked up on the fact that I don’t usually pay much attention to the food trucks I run across at various events, preferring to leave the food choices to Tanya. After experiencing our meal last night and speaking with attendees that assured me that Barley Hops Grill is one of the best food trucks in the area, I am sure I will give more input when Tanya asks what I want to eat.

I live around the corner from Jimmy’s and have been here for 30 years, so I have seen lots of businesses come and go from that location. A few years ago a sports bar, 20/20, opened there, but did not last long. We had checked them out as a possible location to have a Business & Beer gathering but were left unimpressed. It was not long before I noticed 20/20 was closed and a lot of remodeling was being done. A short time later, Jimmy’s Bar & Grill was opened. I suppose I was misled by the “bar & grill” portion of Jimmy’s name as I had a preconceived idea that burgers and fries would be the main fare but last night’s menu definitely cleared up any misconceptions I may have had. Continue reading

Photos from the South Bay Tap Takeover at Flights

These photos are from the South Bay Tap Takeover that was held Thursday evening at Flights Beer Bar in Hawthorne. To say that this event was a success would be an understatement; some might suggest that it was too successful as there were times that the staff seemed overwhelmed with all the customers. The event officially began at 4:00 PM, but when I arrived at 3:30 people had already arrived and by 4:30 it was pretty well packed; and it stayed that way until about 11:30.

There were some delays in getting the beer served in the beginning because there were 40 new taps with beers that had never been poured there and many people were ordering flights. Flights brought in some additional help and eventually the beers were learned and things moved faster. The food situation was pretty much a no-win situation because while Flights could install a new walk-in to store beer, there was no way to increase the size of the kitchen. The food took a little longer to get out to us, but it was the same high quality that we have come to expect.

I do not know how many people showed up last night but I do know that we had 200 t-shirts to give away and I would venture to guess that at least as many people did not get shirts as those that did, so I don’t think estimating a turnout of at least 400 people would not be a stretch. Continue reading

40 Taps of South Bay Craft September 3 at Flights Beer Bar

tap-takeover

40 Taps of South Bay Craft! September 3 at FLIGHTS!

As I announced almost a month ago, and have tried to continually remind you on my Facebook page, this Thursday, September 3, Flights Beer Bar in association with CraftBeerGuy.com will hold their first ever 40 Taps of South Bay Craft Tap Takeover. I have to admit, there are a couple things about that opening line that I would like to point out. The first is, I am unaware of any prior event in the South Bay that has ever dedicated 40 taps to 10 South Bay craft breweries, so it isn’t just their first ever, I am pretty sure it is the first ever. Secondly, I was not sure if I should call it their inaugural event or 1st Annual because there is already talk of making this an annual event; these comments are coming from participating breweries and the owner of Flights, who has gone to the extreme for this event. Let me give you a couple examples.

First off, the beer. When I was approached about the idea of having a “Craft Beer Guy” party I immediately knew that I wanted to showcase the South Bay’s breweries. I also knew that 40 new kegs was quite an order so I was pleasantly surprised when Flights owner Jerry Jamgotchian didn’t blink an eye and said that 40 kegs was not a problem. A couple people asked me, “But where is he going to keep all that beer?” It was a great question that only had one solution; he was going to need a bigger cold box; so that is what he did. He had a second, bigger cold box added.

A couple weeks ago someone suggested maybe having a few shirts made and raffle them off; buy a beer, get a ticket. I brought it to Jerry for some input and his response was, “How about we make hundreds and give them to everybody?” Well, that is what he did; there will be free t-shirts for the first couple hundred people that ask for one (as supplies/sizes last). Continue reading

Photos of the So Cal Brew Fest After Hours

These photos were taken at the So Cal Brew Fest After Hours, which was held Saturday afternoon at the Farmers Park Market located at the historic Anaheim Packing District. This particular beer festival was a fundraiser with the beneficiaries of this event being the Anaheim Homeless Collaborative and Project Hope Alliance.

I have to say, this was a pretty nice event with a nice variety of beers from local favorites such as Phantom Carriage, Bootlegger’s, Absolution Brewing, Backstreet and Wicks Brewing as well as the larger breweries such as Ballast Point, Lagunitas and Sierra Nevada. Ciders were represented by County Cider, Troy Cider and California 101 Cider House. I had read that Mike Hess Brewing was going to be there, but I never spotted them if they showed up.

In addition to the nice selection of beer, the price of admission included food from Umami Burger, Bronx Sandwich Company, Brandy’s Sweets and street tacos from a company whose name escapes me. There was music provided by a DJ and lots of games including cornhole, hula hoop, Jenga and even Bocce Ball. There were a couple drawings, including one for a $75 gift card from Total Wine and More. Continue reading

San Fernando Brewing Ribbon Cutting: The Valley is Now a Destination

On Friday afternoon the San Fernando Valley officially became a craft beer destination when San Fernando Brewing Company held their grand opening, making them the third craft brewery in the San Fernando Valley (SFV) with a tasting room. The accompanying photos are from their ribbon cutting which was attended by friends, family, various representatives of the City of San Fernando including the mayor and chief of police as well as lots of craft beer fans.

San Fernando Brewing Company is definitely a family operation with brothers Vic (the brewer) and Joe Chouchanian heading up things but you could tell that there were lots of family members involved, including mom. The tasting room was quite welcoming, not only in its clean appearance and setup, but they are one of the only brewery tasting rooms I can remember visiting that actually has air conditioning. Considering it was well over 100 yesterday, and even hotter the day before when one of the A/C units failed and had to be replaced.

San Fernando Brewing has had a soft open for the past six weeks, but used their grand opening to release the latest of their five brews, Sonora Wheat, which was definitely a crowd favorite while I was there and was probably my favorite as well. Sonora wheat was used in this beer because it used to be one of the natural crops in the San Fernando Valley. The other four included their Wolfskill IPA, O’Melveny Red Ale, Royal Road Pale Ale and Stoney Point Stout. One advantage San Fernando Brewing has that is rather unusual is that the city of San Fernando gets their water from a well; this water really brings out the flavor in the Stoney Point Stout. Continue reading

Photos from the 2015 Taste of Brews Long Beach

These photos are of the 2015 Taste of Brews Long Beach which was held Saturday afternoon at Lighthouse Park in Long Beach. The event featured dozens of craft breweries, food trucks, live music, games and great weather. A portion of the proceeds from this event were donated to the Long Beach Marine Institute.

As you know, I attend a lot of beer festivals; and there is no question that some are a lot better than others. For me personally, I like to find the breweries and beers that I have never had before. With the number of beer festivals that are held around here every year, I have come to accept that this goal is going to be more difficult with each successive beer festival I attend. The thing about Taste of Brews Long Beach is that they could have the same beer every year and I would return just because it is a great venue to hold a festival.

Yesterday was my third time attending Taste of Brews and this event just keeps getting better. There were supposed to be between 60 and 70 breweries; I did not count them but there was beer enough for everyone. The food trucks were spread around evenly throughout the park and there were two stages for the live music which featured The Tomcats and RedEye Redemption. And then there was the beer. Continue reading

A Visit to the L.A. Arts District: Mumford Brewing & Angel City

If you have been following along you know that on Saturday I was at the BEERS Summer Fest in downtown Los Angeles. As the day approached I could see by the weather reports that it was going to be a hot day in DTLA, and unless The Chair parking lot, where the event was being held, had a lot of trees it was going to have to be a pretty entertaining event for me to stay long. Luckily, I knew that Mumford Brewing was just a couple miles away and I knew Angel City was walking distance from there, so I had a backup plan. If not for the BEERS festival, I was going to save my visit to the L.A. Arts District breweries for when everyone was up and running. I had heard good things about Mumford and I think Angel City’s location is one of the more interesting breweries to photograph so it did not take much convincing to head over to the Arts District for some exploring.

When we arrived at Mumford Brewing I was not really sure what I thought. The exterior of the building was brightly colored, but as soon as you see the door you are greeted by the face of a stern Mr. Mumford and the first seating looked like something found in a hip or hep coffee shop. As I turned my gaze to the left I noticed the familiar chalkboards listing the available brews and a room that looked more like the tasting rooms I am familiar with; lots of concrete and basic tables with stools. There were not very many people at the time when compared to what I see in the South Bay breweries, but they had a fair number of customers. By the time we finished our flight it seemed like most tables had suddenly become occupied. Continue reading

BEERS Summer Fest: Festivals only look easy to put on

These photos were taken at the inaugural BEERS Summer Fest, which was held Saturday at The REEF, Chair Parking Lot in downtown Los Angeles. As one might guess, I am approached on a regular basis to promote craft beer festivals; some are large, well established events and others are smaller inaugural events. Some inaugural events are bigger and more successful than expected and others are probably not going to have a second annual event. Since there are a lot of newer beer festivals that seem to get the beer donated and donate a very small portion of the proceeds to a charity so they can get the permit, I have decided to start asking questions about how much actually will be donated before I consider promoting the event. Of even more importance is whether or not I think I will go to it; because I am not in the habit of promoting events that I am not attending.

When I was first approached about promoting the BEERS Magazine BEERS Summer Fest I was taken aback when I saw the pricing structure. $10 to get in, all of which would go to the charity; then $25 for the pint glass that you would get your beer poured in. No glass, no beer. I could not recall any event that I have attended that used this method. There was a $5.00 discount if you pre-paid for your glass, but when I inquired about getting an additional discount for my readers I was told they could not do that. So I started to wonder how much they were paying for the glassware. Continue reading

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