These photos were taken Wednesday afternoon at the new Sugar Monkey Brewing, at the Sugar Monkey Social Club, in El Segundo, where they opened their doors for day one of their soft open. For those wondering, yes, Sugar Monkey Brewing took over the old Upshift Brewing location.

For those paying close attention, yes, I did mention the Sugar Monkey Social Club; which I will do my best to explain. The back of Sugar Monkey Brewing has a nice tented area, with plenty of seating, and that section is the Sugar Monkey Social Club, with the taproom being Sugar Monkey Brewing.

When I first arrived I saw a gentleman that seemed like he was kind of busy setting stuff up, but to be honest I wasn’t sure if he was setting up things outside, or if he was setting up the large, mobile pizza oven. It turned out he was doing both. After introducing myself I found out I was talking to Sugar Monkey’s brewer, Jason Eich. As it turns out, Jason also owns ‘The Best Umbrella’ pizza; which was the food truck for the day. He assured me that it was a lot of work to handle both the pizza and beer, so don’t expect to see him with his pizza more than once a week.

If Jason’s name, or face, seems familiar, it is probably because he was the head brewer at The Dudes’ for their last seven years.

So, on to the important stuff. When I was there they had eight beers on tap to choose from; a Japanese lager, a Mexican lager, a combination of the two, a pilsner, wheat beer, a cold IPA, a hazy IPA, and a cold DIPA. As I suggested to Jason, it is a tap list that any brewer would be proud of. I predict more ales within the next few months.

I started with a flight of their Sneaker Pimp Japanese lager, Monkey Si Mexican lager, Pour Attendance Pilsner, and The Fun Lovin’ Criminal cold IPA. I finished off with a pour of the Monkey Deux DIPA. To be honest, they were all better than average, except maybe the Mexican lager, which was maybe too true to style for me since I am not really a fan of them.

Sugar Monkey Brewing/Social Club is located at 339 Indiana Street in El Segundo. For the time being their hours are advertised as Monday through Thursday from 3:00 to 9:00 PM, Friday from 3:00 to 11:00 PM, Saturday from noon until 11:00 PM, and Sunday from noon until 9:00 PM. They are definitely dog friendly, and judging by the crayons, they are kid friendly too.

The soft open continues today at 3:00 PM. From what I could tell, the soft open just means you can’t carry a tab, pay after every beer; not really a big deal. You should check them out; it is a nice location with good beer.

Congratulations to Tommy and Jason, you should do well. Cheers!

[Show as slideshow]

1 2 ►