Anaheim
A Visit to Brewery X and Bottle Logic
These photos were taken Friday afternoon in Anaheim, where I met a couple friends for visits to Brewery X and Bottle Logic Brewing. This was my first visit to Brewery X, and the first time in almost 10 years that I had visited Bottle Logic.
I was joined by my friends Jay and his bride, Diana, who I have been friends with long before I became The Craft Beer Guy. In fact, I consider Jay one of my success stories in that when we first met, he was all about Coors Light; now he visits breweries on a regular basis and I even spotted them at a craft beer festival a few years ago. Jay and I have been talking about meeting up for a while now; we finally made that happen on Friday. Naturally, I brought Roxy with me. Continue reading
Bruery Terreux Now Open
These photos were taken Thursday afternoon at a preview of the new Bruery Terreux tasting room that is opening to the public at noon Friday. From this point forward they are open daily from 12:00-10:00 PM.
If you will recall, it was June 2014 that The Bruery announced that they were going to open Terreux (pronounced terr – ooh) as the location where they would concentrate on their wild ales and sours without risking the quality of the other fine brews The Bruery was turning out in Placentia. Because those pesky Brettanomyces really fly, they took no chances and opened the second facility three miles away in Anaheim; that and the City of Anaheim seemed really anxious to have them.
Bruery Terreux hoped to open their tasting room last summer, but I think we have all watched enough tasting rooms open around here to guess that wasn’t going to happen; permits, permits, permits. Anyway, it only took two years, which is not bad and it was worth the wait. 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
Beer festival season: Upcoming events for August
It is hard to believe that it has been over a month since the last beer festival I attended, but the break is over as there are three local beer festivals coming up between now and the end of August.
The first up will be Beers Summer Fest which will be held Saturday, August 15 at The REEF, Chair Parking Lot, 1933 S. Broadway in Los Angeles. This event will feature 10 breweries; Anchor Brewing, Wicks Brewing, Absolution Brewing, The Great Brewing Company, Solarc Brewing, Mission, Figueroa Mountain, Fireman’s Brew, Escape Craft Brewery and The Dudes’.
Presented by BEERS Magazine, this inaugural event is a little different in that it costs $10 to get in, but if you want to drink beer you will have to purchase one of their commemorative pint glasses. The glasses are $25 at the door, or you can purchase them in advance via Eventbrite for $20. I am told that the entire $10 from the admission price will be donated to the beneficiaries, RISE – Reaching and Improving Society with Education and Smiles for M.I.L.E.S. Foundation.
There will be food, games and music in addition to the beer. You can get more information at http://beersfest.com/. Continue reading
Visits to Bottle Logic, Pacific Plate and Pac City Brewing
Saturday afternoon I decided to check out a couple relatively new production breweries that I had not visited yet and pay a return visit to the only craft brewery that has seen fit to name a beer after me. The tasting rooms I visited were Bottle Logic Brewing, Pacific Plate Brewing and Pac City Brewery; with a stop by Lucky Baldwin’s Delirium for a bite to eat.
Our first stop was Bottle Logic Brewing in Anaheim. Bottle Logic opened in February of this year and while this was my first visit to their tasting room, I did have an opportunity to try a couple of their beers at The Bruery’s Sucréversary event back in May so I had a fairly good idea of what to expect as far as their brews were concerned; I was not disappointed. On the day of our visit they had about 14 beers on tap, with the tap list being broken up to their five “Constants” which make up their flagship beers; and their six “Variables” which consist of their seasonal beers. There were also a few others that are experimental and one-offs. We started off with a flight of their Constants and their Lucky Panda; my fiancee really enjoyed their rice lagers, Hanamichi and Lucky Panda. For me, the Double Actuator Double IPA was my favorite, by far. I then tried the Dr. Strangematter Imperial Saison and immediately requested a bottle to go; it is delicious.
Bottle Logic founder and president Steve Napolitano gave me a little tour of the brewhouse and I have to say that for a brewery that is only six months old they have a pretty impressive setup with room to grow. Included in the growth plans is a barrel program that will soon include sours, which will require an additional brewhouse to avoid cross-contamination. I look forward to visiting them again in a few months to see how much they have progressed. Bottle Logic Brewing is located at 1072 N. Armando Street in Anaheim and is open Thursday through Monday. Continue reading
Photos of The Bruery’s 6th Anniversary – Sucréversary
On Saturday afternoon, members of The Bruery’s Reserve and Hoarders Society and their guests gathered at The Phoenix Club in Anaheim to join The Bruery and many of the best local craft breweries to celebrate The Bruery’s Sucréversary, or 6th Anniversary. The proceeds from the event were to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Ana.
Since this was a private event I was a little surprised at how many attendees there were; this beer festival easily rivaled any of the local beer festivals I have attended in recent memory both in the number of people attending and the breweries represented. I got there a little early and even though they were not yet pouring beers, there were four very long lines as The Bruery had scattered three booths and a beer truck around the venue and their fans took advantage of the beer map to get in line for their favorite Bruery offering. To say there was a lot to choose from would be a definite understatement as The Bruery brought such ales as their Griffon Bruxellois, Oui Oui, Premiere, Batch #50, Confession, Sucré – Tawny Port, Grey Monday, Hottenroth, ORB, Grey Monday and many others. They even brought out some special beers such as Three Floyd’s 2013 Dark Lord.
Joining in the celebration were guest breweries Almanac Beer Company, Ballast Point, Beachwood Brewing, Bootleggers, Bottle Logic, Cismontane, Eagle Rock, Firestone Walker, Golden Road, Hangar 24, Kern River Brewing, King Harbor, Lost Abbey, Modern Times, Monkish, Noble Ale Works, Pizza Port – San Clemente, Smog City, Societe, St. Archer, Stone Brewing Co., TAPS, The Rare Barrel, Tustin Brewing and Valiant Brewing. The price of admission included a lunch catered by Beachwood BBQ; Chunk-n-Chip Cookies provided dessert. Continue reading
Taking a self-guided craft beer tour in Orange County
For the second installment of my mapped self-guided craft beer tours, I will map out a beer tour I made of Orange County back in January. If you would like to see photos of the locations visited on this tour, you can find my photos and comments here. For the uninitiated, please be aware, there are a lot more craft breweries in Orange County than these; in fact, there are new locations that have opened since I wrote the initial article in January. I chose to visit those locations simply because I had never been there before; I chose the order for a couple of reasons. The first is that individual one day tours are going to start and end at home, so I always try to make the journey circular. You should be able to plug in your own home address and create your own circle by using the same order I have them laid out in; even if you start with Location C instead of Location A. The second thing I take into consideration is food; so I try to include at least one brewpub and I do my best at avoiding two in a row.
The locations visited were Bootlegger’s Brewery in Fullerton, TAPS Fish House & Brewery in Brea, Noble Ale Works in Anaheim, Tustin Brewing Company in Tustin and Brewbakers in Huntington Beach.
A visit to Orange County microbreweries and brewpubs
At the beginning of the month I paid a return visit to Anaheim Brewery during which time I happened to get into a conversation with a couple that came into the tasting room. While our conversation naturally began with discussing the beers we were sampling, it did not take long for it to switch to our favorite local craft breweries. It was during this discussion that it dawned on me that I had barely skimmed the surface when it came to how many craft breweries in Orange County I had visited. This past weekend I decided to do something about it by visiting a few production breweries and brewpubs in the OC.
Tanya and I started off at Bootlegger’s Brewery, a production microbrewery located in Fullerton, CA. I must admit, I was a little surprised when we pulled up to the tasting room because it appeared to be extremely small from the front. When we went inside I saw close to 20 beers available on tap; it was then that I figured out that the brewery and the tasting room were at two different locations. Since I knew we would be making several stops over the course of the day, we opted to share a flight of four for a very reasonable $6.00. The flight consisted of a Sucker Punch IPA, Miss Double D Pale Ale, Double Dry Hopped Palomino Pale Ale and a Spiced Black Phoenix on cask. Bootlegger’s Brewery is open seven days a week and have bottles and growlers to go. While they are a production brewery they do not offer food, but you are welcome to bring food in. I noticed a pizza place next door. They have a very large patio area and there was a private party going on in one section so I think it is safe to say that if you want to have a party there, it can be arranged. The Bootlegger’s tasting room is located at 130 S Highland Avenue in Fullerton.
After enjoying Bootlegger’s we headed out to Brea and Taps Fish House & Brewery. As can be guessed by the name, Taps is a brewpub; in fact, it is a huge brewpub. The first thing I noticed, besides the large number of guests, was the number of awards that Taps Brewery has on the walls. Apparently Taps opened in 1999 and it looks like they have been consistently winning medals for their beers ever since. Since football was on, the place was packed and finding seating for two at the bar was not going to happen. We found a couple seats at one of the bars community tables and sat down to enjoy a Reuben sandwich and we split another flight. The flight was made up of an MJoe mead, Seaward Pale Ale, Azacca IPA and a Neo-Colonial Stout. I am becoming a big fan of Azacca hops, that is for sure. Taps Fish House & Brewery is located at 101 E Imperial Highway in Brea and they are also open seven days a week. Continue reading
Anaheim Brewery: A craft brewery with history
It was a year ago that I first stumbled upon Anaheim Brewery, a microbrewery located at 336 S Anaheim Boulevard in Anaheim, CA. I had attended the Easyriders Bike Show at the Anaheim Convention Center and noticed that they were virtually around the corner from Disneyland and the convention center; so I made the inevitable stop. On that visit, January 5, 2013, I had the opportunity to meet the owners and discovered that they were into motorcycles so we chatted for a while before they had to leave. The six beers they offered on tap were good and I made a mental note to stop by again on a future date. As it turns out, I do not really have a lot of reasons to travel to Anaheim; so when I found myself at the Easyriders Bike Show again on Saturday I knew I would have to stop by again to see what was new there.
Anaheim Brewery was initially established in 1870 at a different location in downtown Anaheim; pre-Disneyland. Actually, this is the 4th location for Anaheim Brewery, due in part to Prohibition which resulted in a 90 year closure. This most recent location was opened in 2010 and is on the site of the former Packard Building, a 1920s structure within the city’s Historic District.
Anaheim Brewery offers six different beers on tap at any one time. Their four flagship beers are their Anaheim Gold, Anaheim Hefeweizen (truly delicious), Anaheim Red and their steamed style beer, Anaheim 1888. They have two seasonal taps, one of which is usually an IPA. As I mentioned, this was my second visit and both times were in January, so I suppose the seasonals have a reason to be similar. The first time I went there their seasonal taps were Anaheim Chocolate Porter and Old Pacific IPA. On my most recent visit the seasonal taps were Mocha Porter and Coast to Coast IPA. The IPAs both have essentially the same description (Columbus hops and California grown barley) so I am not really sure what the difference might be other than the name. Both were tasty and smooth. I spent some time talking with Alisha, their Tasting Room Manager and she informed me that they would soon have a Scottish Ale available. When I looked at their Untappd history I noticed they have had several different varieties of beers available, so I guess it might pay to stop in a little more frequently. Continue reading