Beer Paper L.A.

Trustworthy Brewing Turning Two Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Trustworthy Brewing Company in Burbank, where they celebrated their second anniversary. The first few photos were taken at House of Billiards in Sherman Oaks.

After attending the R&D Tasting Experience at Firestone Walker, Daniel Drennon of Beer Paper LA and I drove out to Burbank to visit Trustworthy Brewing and help them celebrate their second anniversary. As House of Billiards was on the way, Drennon asked if we could stop by to pick up some stuff. House of Billiards will be celebrating their 40th anniversary this Thursday at 7:00 PM. If you read Beer Paper LA you probably noticed that House of Billiards was featured in the January issue. Continue reading

5th Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival Coming May 20

4th South Bay Beer & Wine Fest

5th Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival – May 20

The 5th Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival will be held on Sunday, May 20 from 1:00-5:00 PM at Ernie Howlett Park in Rolling Hills Estates.

Presented by the Rotary Club of Palos Verdes Peninsula and Rotary Club of South Bay Sunrise, a major portion of the proceeds from this year’s charity fundraising event will go to support the Pediatric Therapy Network and Wounded Heroes of America.

If you have attended any of the previous South Bay Beer & Wine Festivals, you know what a great time will be had; but if you have not, let me clue you in. Continue reading

Craft Beer Tour 2017: North Carolina

These photos were taken at Bond Brothers Beer Company, Heist Brewery, and The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery on October 16 and 17 as my Craft Beer Tour 2017 continued into North Carolina.

When I first decided I was going to take this trip I only had five specific destinations; GABF, Three Floyds, Grand Rapids, MI, Charleston, SC and Yuma, AZ. Everything else would just happen, sort of.

Shortly before I left for GABF I was talking to Beer Paper owner (formerly Beer Paper LA), Daniel Drennon about my plans. Since he knows people around the country, I thought he might have a couple of ideas for stops. He handed me a bundle of the latest issue of Beer Paper and asked me to deliver it to his friend Whit Baker, the Certified Cicerone Brewmaster at Bond Brothers Beer Company in Cary. Continue reading

4th Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival Photos

These photos were taken Sunday at the 4th Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival which was held at Ernie Howlett Park in Rolling Hills Estates. This annual fundraising event was presented by the Rotary Clubs of El Segundo, Palos Verdes Peninsula and South Bay Sunrise; the event featured about 30 craft breweries as well as 15 wineries and food from close to 30 local restaurants. All proceeds fund the community outreach programs of Rotary Clubs within the South Bay and Harbor cities of Los Angeles.

The beer portion of the event was curated with the assistance of Beer Paper L.A.’s own Daniel Drennon, which has caused some to know the festival as the Daniel Drennon (DFD) Invitational. The list of breweries pouring was pretty much an A to Z list of craft with everything from Absolution Brewing and Arts District Brewing to Yorkshire Square Brewery and Zymurgy Brew Works. Of course, the selections were not limited to Los Angeles area breweries as we were joined by Avery Brewing and Ska Brewing from Colorado, as well as such California powerhouses as Sierra Nevada and Firestone Walker. Continue reading

A Class of Beer Graduation Party

A couple weeks ago I told you about the UCLA Extension course being taught by taught by local beerlebrity and writer for Celebrator Beer News and Beer Paper L.A., Tomm Carroll. The course, A Class of Beer: An Overview of the Craft Brewing Renaissance, covered the history of beer from ancient times to today’s craft beer explosion. Students learned about different styles of beers as well as how to differentiate between a flawed beer and a good one. Essentially, by the time they completed the eight week class, attendees should be well on their way to being capable of pursuing a rank from the Beer Judge Certification Program or to begin the Brewers Association’s program to be certified as a Cicerone.

Well, last week was their final class and Monday evening, Carroll invited his students to the infamous Trux Stop for some camaraderie and to enjoy some food and good beer outside of the classroom setting. I used the opportunity to talk with some of the students I missed when we were at Select Beer Store. Continue reading

Photos from the 3rd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival

These photos are from the 3rd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival, which was held Sunday afternoon at Ernie Howlett Park in Rolling Hills Estates. Presented by the Rotary Clubs of El Segundo, Palos Verdes Peninsula and South Bay Sunrise this charity event featured almost 40 craft breweries as well as 15 wineries and food from about 36 local restaurants. In addition to the beer, wine and food, music was provided by Detour.

Moving the festival to Ernie Howlett Park was a smart move as it is much more spacious than the South Coast Botanical Gardens, where the event was held last year, as there were probably 10 more breweries than last year and it allowed them to sell more tickets. When I asked how many attendees came out, I was told they sold about 1,400 tickets, which was almost double from last year. The additional space made it really difficult to judge the number of people in attendance because it was so spread out. The main thing is that there were no lines that had more than four or five people in them. Continue reading

A Class of Beer at Select Beer Store

For those that think I made a typo in the title, I didn’t. A Class of Beer: An Overview of the Craft Brewing Renaissance is a class that was offered this spring through UCLA’s continuing education program; UCLA Extension. The class, taught by local beerlebrity, beer hoarder and writer for Celebrator Beer News and Beer Paper L.A. Tomm Carroll, explored the history of beer from ancient times to today’s craft beer explosion. With Carroll leading the class, students learned about different styles of beers as well as how to differentiate between a flawed beer and a good one. Essentially, by the time they completed the eight week class, attendees should be well on their way to being capable of pursuing a rank from the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) or to begin the Brewers Association’s program to be certified as a Cicerone.

As we all know, sitting in a classroom listening to beer experts like Carroll, John Palmer, author of Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers; Devon Randall of Arts District Brewing; Rob Croxall of El Segundo Brewing, as well as various craft beer bar owners, homebrewers and judges is all well and good but until you can see, smell and taste the beer the talking can only go so far. To remedy this, Carroll has beer tastings of four different beers for each classroom session and arranged a few field trips to locations like Monkish Brewing to discuss brewing styles and yeasts; Mohawk Bend to learn about running a craft beer bar or brewpub; and this past Monday they visited Select Beer Store in Redondo Beach, where I caught up to them. Continue reading

3rd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival Coming May 15, 2016

South Bay Beer & Wine Fest

Join Us Sunday, May 15

The 3rd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival will be held on Sunday afternoon, May 15 from 1:00-5:00 PM at Ernie Howlett Park in Rolling Hills Estates. Proceeds from this charity fundraising event will go to support the humanitarian programs of the El Segundo Rotary Club, Palos Verdes Peninsula Rotary Club, and South Bay Rotary Club. The Rotary Club supports community programs focused on health and nutrition, high school Interact and leadership, education and literacy, vocational training, and community space restoration and renovation. A few of the organizations they support include El Segundo Teen Center, C.A.S.E. Food Pantry, Switzer Learning Center, Mychal’s Learning Place, Cancer Support Community, Caring House, ARC House, Norris Theatre and South Bay Mobile Medical Clinics.

The craft breweries were assembled by Beer Paper L.A.’s own Daniel Drennon; if you were there last year and thought he did a great job, wait until you see who is scheduled for this year’s event. On tap include Absolution Brewing, Anchor Brewing, Artifex, Avery, Ballast Point, Beachwood, Bottle Logic, Drake’s, Arts District, Brouwerij West, El Segundo Brewing, Firestone Walker, Fireman’s Brew, Founder’s, Ironfire Brewing, King Harbor Brewing, Ladyface, Mission Brewery, New Belgium, Phantom Carriage, Pizza Port Brewing, Red Car Brewery, Baja Brewing, Headlands, HopSaint, Sierra Nevada, Smog City, Stone Brewing, Strand Brewing, Tenaya Creek, Mother Earth, Ska and Three Weavers will all be providing brews to sample. Continue reading

Additional Photos of the Craft Beer Guy Birthday Party

A little over a week ago Absolution Brewing Company, along with El Segundo Brewing, Strand Brewing Company, Smog City Brewing, Phantom Carriage and King Harbor Brewing Company threw a birthday party for me at Absolution’s tasting room. Since I was the guest of honor, Tanya and I had decided that it would not be very polite for me to spend time taking photos instead of interacting with the guests that showed up. Tanya brought her camera, but we both knew that the photos would be rather minimal in comparison to what I would normally shoot if I was behind the camera, but hey, it was a party.

When we arrived at the Absolution Brewing Company tasting room, Absolution’s CTO (Chief Tasting Officer), Nigel Heath approached me and said, “You cannot take photos of your own party,” at which time he introduced me to one of the Absolution patrons, Luis Paredes, who just happened to be there with his big Nikon. Luis had offered to take photos in exchange for some free beer and food. I was more than happy to include Luis in the shindig.

Luis owns LP Photography and he can be reached via his Instagram page, https://instagram.com/luisparedesphotography/. These are some of the photos he took.

Thanks again to Luis, Absolution Brewing, Strand Brewing, Phantom Carriage, King Harbor Brewing, Smog City, El Segundo Brewing and everyone that came out. I hope you had as good a time as I did. Cheers! Continue reading

Photos from the 2nd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival

These photos were taken at the 2nd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival which was held at the South Coast Botanical Garden in Rancho Palos Verdes on Sunday afternoon. This outstanding event was hosted by Toyota and South Bay Equity Lending and sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of El Segundo, Palos Verdes Peninsula, and South Bay Sunrise. 100% of the proceeds from the event will go to support the humanitarian programs of the El Segundo Rotary Club, Palos Verdes Peninsula Rotary Club, and South Bay Rotary Club. Live music was provided by Detour.

While this was the 2nd Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival it was the first one that I attended, so I cannot compare it to last year’s event other than to say that I overheard a couple people that suggested that yesterday’s festival was bigger than their inaugural event. As a first time attendee I have to say that the stars must have been in perfect alignment as it appeared that Sunday’s event went off flawlessly.

I do not know how many people were in attendance, but when divided up between almost 30 breweries, close to 10 wineries and more than 20 restaurants lines were pretty much non-existent. There were not even lines for the restrooms. Continue reading

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