El Segundo Brewing Company
South Bay Breweries Valentines Weekend
Since we have been on the road lately, I decided that this weekend we would stick around and give a little love to the South Bay’s craft beer brewers for the Valentine’s Day weekend. Friday, Valentine’s Day, we headed over to The Brewery at Abigaile, a brewpub in Hermosa Beach. Since it was Valentine’s Day and we had not made any reservations we took advantage of their Happy Hour seating and grabbed a couple seats at the bar where we were able to enjoy a flight of their brews; including their 002 2nd Anniversary DIPA and Dark Matter a Belgian dark ale that can only get better with age. One of the best things about the release of the 002 DIPA is that it means the anniversary party for Abigaile must be coming soon.
On Saturday I headed over to Smog City Brewing where they were hosting a fundraiser for the LA Derby Dolls Enforcers. The Derby Dolls are a Southern California, all-female banked track roller derby league. The Enforcers are the referees for the league. The fundraiser consisted of a raffle for Derby Dolls and Smog City swag as well as beer floats in four different varieties and a pie versus cake sale. Between the people that came out specifically for the fundraiser, the various beer tour buses and those that just wanted to come have a beer, Smog City was packed to the brim. After sampling a couple beers and Tanya’s Death by Chocolate (The Nothing with chocolate ice cream beer float) we headed over to Monkish Brewing.
We got there about the same time as the LA Craft Beer Tours van, so we found Monkish to be almost as crowded as Smog City. When I think back to when we first started going to Monkish and compare it to today it is pretty obvious that the craft beer scene in Torrance is really exploding. People frequently ask me if there are too many breweries here; when I visit multiple local breweries like I did Saturday I can’t help but think how crowded these locations would be if there were only one or two available. Continue reading
El Segundo Brewing’s Standard Crude Tapping / Bad Sweater Party
On Saturday, December 14, El Segundo Brewing Company (ESBC) held their Standard Crude Tapping and Bad Sweater Contest at their brewery and taproom. The craft beer event was held to acknowledge the bottling of the 2013 Standard Crude and to introduce ESBC’s latest offering, Mayberry IPA which will be available throughout the winter, at least. To mark the release and tapping, they opened up the back and middle bars and brought in Larry’s Tacos who provided tacos and quesadillas. To say there was a brew for every palate would be an understatement as El Segundo Brewing pulled all the stops. The front bar offered Standard Crude 2013, Hyperion’s Vanilla Stout, Two 5 Left DIPA, Hop Tanker DIPA, White Dog IPA, Blue House IPA and a cask of Standard Crude on bourbon soaked oak.
The back bar offered Blue House Pale, Blue House Citra Pale, Blue House Amarillo Pale, Blue House Simcoe Pale, Schot in Het Donker, Smoky Hollow Scotch Ale and bottle pours of the 2012 Standard Crude. Getting a flight of all three Standard Crude options provided an excellent means of seeing what difference a year of aging can do for a big beer like Standard Crude. The middle bar provided the Mayberry IPA; a Mosaic™ hopped brew. I have to say, I am quickly becoming a fan of Mosaic hops.
Since it is only a couple weeks until Christmas and it was the warmest day of the month, it only made sense to hold a Bad Sweater Contest. Visitors to the taproom that wore Christmas sweaters had their photos taken by the ESBC staff which were immediately posted on the El Segundo Brewing Company Facebook page. The photos that get the most likes will be declared the winners. The grand prize is a new growler with 10 fills, with the runner up receiving a tasting for four people. Voting will continue until 5:00 PM on Sunday December 15; there are 14 contestants so feel free to head over to the ESBC Facebook page and vote for your favorite “bad sweater.” Cheers! Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving from the Craft Beer Guy
Just a quick note to say Happy Thanksgiving to each of you and your families. Today, Tanya and I will head over to my dad’s for dinner with my daughter and a bunch of siblings. There should be about 15 people there. Since Tanya has been experimenting a lot with her baking, she got put on dessert detail which resulted in three pumpkin pies made from scratch; she even used fresh pumpkin instead of that canned stuff. She also made up some vanilla whipped yams, so the food should be delicious. Naturally, I was assigned beer duty, so Wednesday I traveled around to a few of my favorite places.
I started at Beachwood BBQ & Brewing where I picked up a growler of Annihilator, a 12% American Barleywine. I then moved along to Monkish Brewing where I brought home a growler of Magnificat, a 10.1% Belgian Strong Dark Ale, spiced for Christmas. My next stop was El Segundo Brewing Company because no meal is complete without an IPA. I walked out with a growler of Two 5 Left, an 8.2% Double IPA. For dessert we headed to The Brewery at Abigaile where I picked up a growler of Coconut Imperial Red; a 9.4% Imperial Red Ale. I think everyone should be able to find something they will like.
Have a safe day and appreciate all you have. Cheers! Continue reading
El Segundo Brewing Company Dueling DIPAs
El Segundo Brewing Company (ESBC), a hopcentric microbrewery nestled between the noise of LAX and the aromas of Standard Oil’s refinery, provides relief from the din and pollution with some of the South Bay’s most popular IPAs and ales. Last year at their one year anniversary, ESBC released their first Double IPA; Two 5 Left. With Simcoe, Citra, Cascade and Chinook hops combined with Two Row, Vienna, Crystal 15 and Crystal 40 malts it is easy to understand why it was so well received. It is delicious.
During LA Beer Week last September, El Segundo released their second DIPA, Hop Tanker. Using Two Row and Vienna malts with Nelson Sauvin and Citra hops this Double IPA was light in color and maybe a little smoother tasting, but the ABV jumped from the 8.2 Two 5 Left to a tasty 9.5 on the Hop Tanker. Once again, it was very well received and discussions around the taproom started being held over which DIPA was the best. It was actually a very valid question because El Segundo can only brew so much beer at a time, and it was time to brew a DIPA again; but which one?
On Saturday, November 16, El Segundo Brewing Company held a Dueling Double IPAs event at their taproom. Flights of Two 5 Left and Hop Tanker were sold and the drinker was given a vote which had a value of 50 points. They also used the volume of beer sold during business that day. All sales of pints, growlers, bottles and tasters of the DIPAs were tabulated with the winning brew to be started December 2 and would be ready after Christmas. Continue reading
The 2nd Annual Alpine Bierfest: A great success
These photos are from the 2nd Annual Alpine Kraft Bierfest which was held Sunday afternoon in the Alpine Inn at Alpine Village in Torrance, CA. For those of you that attended, thank you very much; for those of you that missed it, you really missed it. I will admit that I took special interest in seeing this event succeed because I went to the first Alpine Kraft Bierfest and I did not want to see a repeat of last year’s dismal attendance. I was aware of the vision Otto Radtke, GM Of the Alpine Village Center, to see his craft beer festival bloom and grow into an internationally recognized beer festival. Last year there may have been 200 attendees; this year there were closer to 500. With growth like that, Radtke’s vision may come to fruition before too long.
An event of this size is rarely going to come off trouble free, but whatever issues were encountered yesterday were relatively minor and everyone seemed to be having a great time. There were about 50 breweries represented with [I am told] 101 different beers to choose from. Probably the most difficult task was tracking down specific beers that I wanted to try because many of the breweries did not send representatives or signage. Luckily, the organizers put together a map to assist attendees locate their favorite brews. Then it was just a matter of figuring out where to start and in what order. One day I am going to sit down and figure out a game plan before the event begins; I have heard of people that tried doing that, although I have yet to meet anyone that was able to stick to their plan.
I would like to congratulate Radtke, Todd Worley and the entire staff of the Alpine Inn for a job well done and I would like to thank all the Craft Beer Guy followers that came up an introduced themselves; I truly do enjoy meeting you. I hope to see all of you next year at the 3rd Annual Alpine Kraft Bierfest. Cheers! Continue reading
Business & Beer returns to El Segundo Brewing Company
These photos are from our Business & Beer gathering which was held Thursday evening at El Segundo brewing Company. Business & Beer is a local business networking group in the South Bay that was founded in July 2012 by my girlfriend and me. For the first year we met weekly at a different microbrewery, brewpub or gastropub in the South Bay. In July of 2013 we changed the format from weekly to monthly because the attendance numbers had started to dwindle a little, so now we meet on the second Thursday of the month at a different craft brewery or brewpub in the South Bay. With the recent explosion of breweries around here it will not be long before we have a location for every month. If you find networking to be a valuable part of your business and you enjoy craft beer, you really should check out BusinessNBeer.com. It is a nice group of people that really do want to meet you.
We would like to thank El Segundo Brewing Company for hosting our event and many thanks to Brett & Travis for keeping their delicious brews flowing. If you have not visited El Segundo Brewing Company in a while, you really should. In addition to the pale ales, IPAs and stouts you are familiar with, head brewer Rob Croxall has included a saison, a lager and a Scotch ale to his ever expanding list of beer styles he is brewing. If you have never been, they are now open seven days a week; you will enjoy it. I suggest getting a flight. El Segundo Brewing Company is located at 140 Main Street in El Segundo, CA. Cheers! Continue reading
Alpine Kraft Bierfest brew lineup
Next Sunday, November 17, Alpine Village will host their 2nd Annual Alpine Kraft Bierfest in the Alpine Inn from 3:00-8:00 PM. This American craft beer festival is shaping up to be an outstanding event with at least 50 different breweries being represented, which means there will be at least 100 different beers to choose from.
According to the Alpine Village website, the craft beers scheduled to be poured are:
AleSmith Speedway Stout
Allagash Bourbon Barrel Black
Allagash Hugh Malone
Allagash Saison Rye
Almanac Biere de Chocolat
Almanac Golden Gate Gose
Almanac Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine
Almanac Honey Saison
Anchor Liberty Ale
Anchor Zymaster Continue reading
2013 International Stout Day
In case you missed it, last Friday, November 8, 2013 was the third annual International Stout Day. I guess that is one of the advantages of utilizing social media; you find out about this stuff on a regular basis. I am not sure how I missed it last year; perhaps I just do not remember it.
Stouts were actually my first journey into beers other than Budweiser when I was a kid; the beer of choice was always Guinness on tap, but back then bartenders had to know how to pour it right or they could not sell it. Stouts also happen to be a major favorite of my girlfriend. Even before she was able to join me when we found new breweries around the country, she always liked to sip on my stouts. She loved our visit to Dublin and St. James’s Gate. When I told her it was International Stout Day it did not take much convincing and I began searching for International Stout Day events in the area. Apparently it is not as big a deal as International IPA Day as I could find anything happening; I was going to have to create our own event.
There is not much question that if you want a wide variety of craft beers of tap in the South Bay, Naja’s Place on the International Boardwalk is going to have more than anyone else. It was nice out, so we headed over to Fisherman’s Wharf to see what stouts might be available. I was treated to a Speedway Stout by AleSmith Brewing Company and Tanya had a Campfire Stout by High Water Brewing. I think she has a new favorite stout. The other day I was given a blend of Campfire with Old Rasputin; if you like stouts, this is a great combination. Continue reading
BeerFest for BeerGeeks at Stout Burgers & Beer
Sunday afternoon November 4, Stout Burgers & Beer gastropub held their second BeerFest for BeerGeeks at their Studio City location. This beer festival was truly one for beer geeks and aficionados as Stout gathered about 20 different craft breweries from around the country and even a couple from Europe; each featuring barrel aged, sours or unique one-offs. There were about 38 different brews available to attendees. Due to constraints imposed by the city, only 200 tickets were available which meant that lines were non-existent and there were no concerns of running out of great beer. The timing of the event meant that some people had to choose between San Diego Beer Week (SDBW) and Stout’s BeerFest for BeerGeeks but SDBW goes on for 10 days and this beer festival was only a few hours long, so it was not a tough decision for me. A look at the beers available proves that the event at Stout easily compared with most events you will find in San Diego.
A few of the brews made available included Weizen Bam Bière by Jolly Pumpkin, A Hoppy Lovin’ Christmas by Mikkeller, Stone 11.11.11 Vertical Epic Ale aged In Red Wine Barrels, Total Crystalation by Ninkasi Brewing Company and White Pomeranian (White Dog W/ Pomegranate) by El Segundo Brewing Company. I could go on but suffice it to say, there was something for every palate no matter how advanced and a few that a beer newbie could easily enjoy; like American Dark Lager by Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company. Breweries represented included Almanac Beer Company, Ninkasi Brewing Company, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Shipyard Brewing Company, Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, New Belgium Brewing, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, Drake’s Brewing Company, Mikkeller, Stone Brewing Company, Allagash Brewing Company, Phantom Carriage, Rodenbach Brewery, Boon Brewery, El Segundo Brewing Company, Valiant Brewing Company and Wolf Creek Brewery.
In addition to the fine beers, Stout Burgers & Beer provided some tasty treats free for attendees and their restaurant was open if you desired a little more than snacks. After speaking with organizers Joey and Jimmy it was evident that they are doing this for the love of the beer and to give craft beer more exposure. An event like this would have to charge $100 per person to come close to being a profitable venture so from one beer geek to another; if you see me post about another of these events, you might want to take a closer look. This was a great time for everyone that attended. Cheers! Continue reading
BeerFest for BeerGeeks at Stout Burgers and Beer – 33% discount code
The other day I announced that this Sunday, November 3, Stout Burgers and Beer in Studio City was holding their second in a series of craft beer festivals, BeerFest for BeerGeeks. This beer festival will feature 20 different craft breweries from around the country, featuring some of our local breweries as well as a couple from Europe. Most breweries will be pouring two brews and all the beers will either be barrel aged, sours or unique one-offs. I have just been authorized to release a promotional code that will give you 33% off your online ticket purchase. You can order your tickets at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/7581507493/craftbeerguy and use promotional code ‘stoutpromo’ and your tickets will drop from $60.00 each to $40.00. With the list of breweries scheduled to attend, this is quite the deal.
Participating breweries include Almanac Beer Company, Ninkasi Brewing Company, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Shipyard Brewing Company, Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, New Belgium Brewing, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, Drake’s Brewing Company, Mikkeller, Stone Brewing Company, Allagash Brewing Company, Phantom Carriage, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Rodenbach Brewery, Boon Brewery, El Segundo Brewing Company, Rough Draft Brewing Company, Valiant Brewing Company and Wolf Creek Restaurant & Brewing Company. Ticket holders will receive unlimited two ounce pours, a souvenir glass and appetizer type foods. They have canceled the second session, so 1:00 – 4:00 PM will be the only session. I hope to see you there. Stout Burgers & Beers is located at 11262 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, CA. Cheers.