Brouwerij West

Brouwerij West: The Final Pour

The first two photos were taken March 4, 2015, with the balance being taken Sunday afternoon at the Final Pour for Brouwerij West, in San Pedro, as Sunday was the last day they will be open. This is a loss not only to the South Bay’s craft beer scene, but to San Pedro in general. Judging by the turnout Sunday and people I spoke to, Brouwerij West will be sorely missed.

But one must remember that before the San Pedro location, there was Brouwerij West, so I would not be too surprised if their brews are showing up on the shelves of your favorite bottle shop at some point in the future. Continue reading

Brouwerij West 8th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Brouwerij West in San Pedro, where they celebrated their eighth anniversary. The all day long event began with a pancake breakfast and concluded with a concert by Metalachi, the world’s first and only heavy metal mariachi band. There were also a couple food trucks, and the release of their anniversary beer, 8 Times 8 Times.

While I did not arrive for breakfast or stick around for the concert, I did bring my buddy Phil for his first visit to Brouwerij West and we had a couple beers. Considering the early hour and the weather, they had a pretty nice crowd. Knowing Brouwerij West the way I do, I am confident that they had an even larger group by the end of the evening. Continue reading

Brouwerij West 7th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Brouwerij West, in San Pedro, where they celebrated their seventh anniversary. The event featured a morning brunch, food trucks, live music, a DJ, a beer release and games. I probably missed something, but I was only there for a couple of hours, and while the event started at 10:00 AM, it lasted late into the night.

I got there around 2:00 which means I arrived well after the brunch was completed, but I was able to chat with a couple attendees that were still hanging out. Pancakes and stouts made up the primary part of the menu, which sounds like a pretty good way to start the day. Continue reading

Brouwerij West 6th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Brouwerij West in San Pedro, where they celebrated day two of their six year anniversary. The day featured live music, a couple anniversary beers, and a few food trucks.

During my time there, live music was provided by Sentry Dogs, Mor Flowrs, and Moldy Roses. There were three other bands that were scheduled to play after I left.

For their anniversary, Brouwerij West released their Six Times Six Times Hazy IPA, and their Dead Water Imperial Pastry Stout as well as a barrel-aged version of Dead Water. Continue reading

Photos of the 7th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover

These photos were taken Thursday at Tortilla Cantina in Torrance, where they hosted my 7th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover, featuring 28 of the South Bay’s craft breweries, with more than 50 taps pouring, and a couple brews that came in cans as keg space was becoming an issue.

I do not know what to say other than thank you to everyone that came out to enjoy the liquid gold provided by the participating breweries, cidery, and meadery. And thanks definitely have to be given to the servers who were kept pretty busy from noon until well after 10:00. The star of the day has to go to Rick who literally took things into his own hands when kitchen staff came up short. Continue reading

The Craft Beer Guy Recap of 2020

port-town-brewing

Port Town Brewing – progressing

Well, it is that time of year again. I usually call these articles a “review” of the prior year; but that would be a very short article. I give it two stars out of five, and would not recommend. Instead, this will be a recap of 2020; let’s see what happened.

January 2020

2020 started off mellow enough; little did we know what was in store for us. The highlight of the month, and possibly the year for some, was the Hop Culture Juicy Brews Beach Party Craft Beer Festival held at Brouwerij West. It was a very fun event featuring craft beer from more than 25 of the top breweries in the country.

The month ended with a going away party for Smog City’s taproom manager Jason “Breezy” Briseño as he and his bride prepared to move to Australia; I think COVID put a temporary damper on those plans. Continue reading

Photos of the 6th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover

These photos were taken Wednesday at Tortilla Cantina, where they hosted the 6th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover. This annual event took a little more to accomplish this year, but Tortilla Cantina, our local breweries, and hundreds of their fans made this possible “last hurrah” of 2020 a great success.

My first tap takeover was held on the first Thursday of September in 2015, and as the craft beer scene around here grew, there started to be overlaps when it came to craft beer festival dates and brewery anniversaries, and everyone started changing dates of their events to avoid conflicts. The fact of the matter is that there was just too much going on out there, so I set it in stone that all subsequent South Bay Tap Takeovers would be held on the first Thursday of September; that worked out okay until COVID-19 struck and the State of California and the County of Los Angeles decided restaurants, breweries, and bars had to discontinue in-person dining. Continue reading

South Bay Breweries To-Go / Delivery Options Revisited

UPDATE: June 24 – Most local breweries now have some sort of dine in service, however, in my opinion this is still far too fluid for me to spend the hours to update manually, so please follow the links provided to see what the updated hours might be.

Phantom Carriage is now open for limited beer pickup.

It is hard to believe it has been more than two months since I wrote my initial South Bay Breweries To-Go and Delivery Options article; but here we are. The fact of the matter is that my initial article is getting cluttered with updates, and some links have been changed by the breweries. This update should be good through the Memorial Day weekend; I will update this as necessary.

Like the original article, this is solely a reference guide, so all breweries will be listed in alphabetical order for your ease and mine. Hours subject to change, be sure to contact the brewery directly. Continue reading

Brouwerij West 4th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Brouwerij West in San Pedro, where the production brewery celebrated their fourth anniversary. The event included new beer releases, food trucks and live music.

Saturday was a very busy day in the South Bay with can releases, a soft open, and the Brouwerij West 4th Anniversary celebration. Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out how to be in multiple places at the same time, so I have to settle for being at one event at a time. To accomplish this I begin at the event furthest from my home and work my way back. That means I had to start at Brouwerij West first, which meant I got there long before the live music began. Continue reading

Photos from the 2nd Annual Brewmo Pseudo-Sumo Showdown

These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at the Three Weavers Brewing Company parking lot, where they hosted their 2nd Annual Brewmo Pseudo-Sumo Showdown as the after-party to the 2019 Los Angeles Beer Week. Sponsored by BSG CraftBrewing, Prospero, and Stradling Attorneys at Law, the event featured action-filled sumo wrestling by more than a dozen LA Brewers Guild member breweries, a beer garden, food trucks, a mariachi band, a DJ and lots of dogs.

The participating breweries included Absolution Brewing, Arrow Lodge Brewing, Bravery Brewing, Brouwerij West, Common Space Brewery, Eagle Rock Brewing, Firestone Walker – Propagator, HopSaint Brewing, Imperial Western Beer Company/Arts District Brewing, King Harbor Brewing, Lucky Luke Brewing, Pacific Plate Brewing, Simmzy’s – Burbank, The Dudes’ Brewing, LA Ale Works, and Three Weavers. Continue reading

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