These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Museum of Latin American Art, in Long Beach, where Obscura LB and Craft Beer LB held their 4th Annual Halloween Hootenanny. The annual event featured craft breweries, cideries, wineries and kombucha makers, as well as a “Macabre Marketplace” featuring 15+ creepy arts & collectible vendors, numerous food trucks, and live entertainment.
Craft breweries in attendance included Altar Society, Ambitious Ales, Artisanal Imports, Beachwood Brewing, Beachwood Blendery, Cellador Ales, Common Space, Dutch’s Brewhouse, Everywhere Beer Co, HopSaint Brewing, ISM Brewing, Long Beach Beer Lab, Los Angeles Ale Works, Project Barley Brewing, Radiant Brewing, RIIP Beer, Smog City Brewing, Syncopated Brewing, and Tortugo Brewing. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday, October 5 at Rancho Los Cerritos Historical Site in Long Beach, where Craft Beer LB and Sake Secret collaborated to celebrate World Sake Day by hosting the Second Annual LB Sake Day. For those wondering, World Sake Day is actually held annually on October 1 and celebrates the start of the annual rice harvest and the beginning of sake production in Japan.
Saturday’s event featured literally gallons of sake, from numerous brewers and distributors, several food trucks and popups serving Japanese foods and snacks, Orion beer, and a traditional Japanese performing arts ensemble. It was another lovely day in Long Beach, and all the attendees and vendors seemed to be having a great time. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site, in Long Beach, where Craft Beer LB held their 3rd Annual Craft Beer LB Homebrew Invitational. The event featured a homebrew competition, a pro brewers area, food trucks, and live music. A portion of the proceeds from the event went to benefit the Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site.
The Pro Brewers Lounge provided beers from Altar Society Brewing, Beachwood Brewing, Cheech & Chong, Cycling Frog, Ficklewood Ciderworks, ISM Brewing, La Jara Brewing, Long Beach Beer Lab, Syncopated Brewing & Ten Mile Brewing. There were 40 homebrewers competing, with the winner getting to brew their recipe at Long Beach Beer Lab. Food was available from Shady Grove BBQ, Leaf Over Beef, and Torisho. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday, September 30 at Rancho Los Cerritos Historical Site in Long Beach, where Craft Beer LB and Sake Secret collaborated to celebrate World Sake Day by hosting the First Annual LB Sake Day.
The inaugural event featured literally dozens of different sakes, several Japanese food options, and a little Japanese beer. It was really just missing sushi to make it a perfect event. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday, September 16 at the Rancho Los Cerritos Historical Site in Long Beach, where Craft Beer LB held their 7th Annual Craft Beer LB Fest. The event featured plenty of craft beer from more than a dozen local breweries, sake, live music, and food for the approximate 1,000 attendees. It was a fun event that even the weather cooperated with.
I had to mention the weather because in the past I have mentioned how great the weather was, and frequently joke with festival organizer Dennis Trilles about how he seems to have a connection with the weather gods as no matter how sucky the weather might be prior to the event, it always seems to be nice on the day of the event. When I walked out of my house yesterday I could see that there must have been rain overnight. Having to utilize my windshield wipers on the way down to Long Beach I was beginning to wonder if I should have brought a windbreaker or not. While it was misting a little early on, the rain went away and the marine layer left everything comfortable in just a t-shirt. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon, April 29, at Rancho Los Cerritos Historical Site in Long Beach, where Obscura LB put on their second annual Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny. The fundraiser featured craft beer, ciders, kombucha, food, live music, and local vendors peddling everything macabre from books and art to chocolate.
Considering how flaky our weather has been so far this year, it was pretty cool how the weather gods smiled upon us with some amazing beer drinking weather. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site in Long Beach, where Craft Beer LB held their Second Annual Craft Beer LB Homebrew Invitational. The event featured brews from more than 40 homebrewers, a Pro Brewers lounge featuring local Long Beach breweries, food trucks, live music, games, a Kid Zone where parents could drop off the kids for a bit, and a bicycle valet for those that rode their bikes there. Proceeds went to benefit Rancho Los Cerritos.
The Pro Brewers lounge featured brews from Ten Mile Brewing, Syncopated Brewing, Ambitious Ales, Beachwood Brewing, Trademark Brewing, Ficklewood Ciderworks, Long Beach Beer Lab, and Altar Society Brewing. Continue reading
Well, it is that time of year again, when I try to recollect everything that happened in the craft beer world this year that I participated in. This is typically the most difficult article of the year for me to write because I go into it thinking, “What the hell did I do this year anyway?”
I know I went on my annual craft beer tour, I know I was able to put on the 8th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover, and I know there was at least one brewery closure in the South Bay. I used to end these recaps by predicting what I expect to happen in the following year, but the last two years have been really tough to predict. Unfortunately, there is a lot slated for 2023 that is not exactly positive, but I don’t make the news, I only report it. So, let’s look back at 2022, because I am sure I must have done something more that what I have already mentioned. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon, April 23, at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, where they hosted the 1/2 Way to Halloween Hootenanny craft beer festival, which was presented by LB Obscura, an event production company created by LB Craft Beer and Festival Obscura. The event is a fundraiser, with a portion of the proceeds going to support the Museum of Latin American Art. Perhaps unknown to most, this was also kind of a going away party for Martin Svab and Ryan Hughes; more on that later.
Regular readers will hopefully recall that last October I attended the inaugural Halloween Hootenanny at MOLAA; apparently it was such a success that it was decided that there was no reason to wait until next October to do it again (they will), and the 1/2 Way to Halloween Hootenanny was conceived. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the inaugural/first annual Craft Beer LB Homebrew Invitational, which was held at the Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site in Long Beach. If you noticed that I stuttered with whether or not to designate it as an inaugural event or the first annual, it is because while it was definitely an inaugural event, I am pretty sure that Craft Beer LB will be making this an annual event; I cannot think of one reason why they wouldn’t, it was that good.
To be honest, I do not think I have ever attended anything quite like this, even though I have attended a couple homebrew festivals and competitions, this was very different. Let me see if I can explain in fewer than 500 words.
First off, it was definitely a homebrew competition; this one had 45 competitors from around Southern California (everyone I spoke with seemed to be from the Long Beach area). There were several homebrew clubs represented, including LB Homebrewers, OC Mashups, QUAFF, So Cal Cerveceros, and Maltose Falcons. Continue reading
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