El Segundo Brewing Company
South Bay Collaboration Brew at Smog City Brewing
These photos were taken Friday morning at Smog City Brewing, where brewers and owners of 21 of the South Bay’s breweries and cideries met to brew an anniversary beer to commemorate the 5th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover which will be held Thursday, September 5 at Tortilla Cantina in Old Torrance.
A couple months ago I got the idea that since this was the 5th anniversary of the South Bay Tap Takeover that perhaps participating breweries might want to each do an anniversary collaboration with CraftBeerGuy.com. I had spoken with a couple breweries that hinted they might be interested when I went to State Brewing and their head brewer Rob Scott and he suggested that perhaps we could do a collaboration that included all the participating breweries. I immediately knew this would be a much better option so I started thinking about which local brewery would be big enough and central to everyone. To me, the logical choice was Smog City Brewing, so I approached Porter about it; he readily accepted. Continue reading
L.A. Beer Week 11 Continues with Pizza and Beer
These photos were taken Wednesday evening at The Slice and Pint in El Segundo, where they held a pizza and craft beer pairing, Pizza & Beer – Things We Knead. The LA Beer Week 11 event featured pizza and beer pairings suggested by seven Certified and Advanced Cicerones and the head chef of The Slice and Pint.
The Cicerones participating included Tom Kelley of El Segundo Brewing Company and The Slice and Pint, Cindy and Hal Mooney of LA Beer Hop, Jace Milstead of Craft LA, Jonathan Porter of Smog City, Greg Bechtel of Simmzy’s Restaurants, and Blanca Quintero of Firestone Walker. The Slice and Pint’s Head Chef, Matt Ranney, also included his favorite pizza and beer pairing. While most of the pizzas were paired with beer from El Segundo Brewing Company, The Slice and Pint has several guest taps, three of which (Smog City, Oxbow Brewing Company, and Cellador Ales) were also included in the pairings. Continue reading
11th Annual L.A. Beer Week Kickoff Festival Photos
These photos were taken Saturday at the LA Beer Week Kickoff Festival which was held at the Los Angeles Center Studios in Los Angeles. This event marked the beginning of the 11th Annual L.A. Beer Week and featured more than 90 independent local craft breweries, pouring a reported 250 brews.
Similar to last year, it was a pleasant, mostly overcast day, which sure beats the 100+ temperatures of years past. I did not even notice the sunburn on my face until Sunday.
The annual event also featured games, a DJ, live music, a panel discussion, and food trucks and popups from Slice and Pint, Simmzy’s, Bartz Barbecue, Cousin’s Maine Lobster, Baby’s Badass Burgers, Angry Pig, and Street Kitchen. Continue reading
11th Annual L.A. Beer Week Begins June 15
Don’t miss the LA Beer Week Kickoff Festival
The Brewers Kickoff Festival is definitely the event you want to attend as it will feature 90 independent craft breweries showcasing more than 250 unique beers, local food vendors, and live music. VIP ticket holders get in at noon, with General Admission beginning an hour later. There is no guarantee tickets will be available at the door, so buy your tickets today on Eventbrite Continue reading
Photos from the 6th Annual South Bay Beer and Wine Festival
These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at the 6th Annual South Bay Beer & Wine Festival which was held on Sunday at Ernie Howlett Park in Rolling Hills Estates. Presented by the Rotary Club of Palos Verdes Peninsula and Rotary Club of South Bay Sunrise, nearly 100% of the proceeds from this year’s charity fundraising event will allow Rotary Clubs of the South Bay to support a multitude of community outreach programs and projects.
This was the fifth year I have attended and I have to say that the event just seems to get better every year. This year there were close to 50 craft breweries represented, along with a couple dozen restaurants, and a other couple dozen wineries, as well as numerous other vendors offering spirits, treats, and artwork. For the second year running, the weather was perfect; not too hot and not too cold with just enough May Gray to prevent the standard sunburn I usually get. Continue reading
Photos from the El Segundo Brewing 8th Anniversary
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the El Segundo Brewing Company tasting room, where they celebrated eight years of brewing their hopcentric ales. The celebration was spread over three days with a bottle release on Friday, the anniversary party on Saturday, and a Michelada party on Sunday.
Attendees on Saturday had 20 El Segundo brews to choose from, including their anniversary beer, Ochos Locos DIPA on draught and a hazy cask version done with vanilla beans. In addition to the quality brews we have come to expect, Bartz Barbecue was there with their special offerings along with Churro Garage with their tasty desserts.
Entertainment was provided by Beer & Magic who delighted attendees with their close-up magic and slight-of-hand. I am not sure, but there may have been some wizardry involved as well. Kids that were too short to watch the magic entertained themselves with cornhole and Jenga. Continue reading
Bertcast at El Segundo Brewing Company
These photos were taken Wednesday afternoon at the El Segundo Brewing Company taproom, where they hosted a live podcast starring comedian Bert “The Machine” Kreischer. The Machine was joined by El Segundo resident, comedian, and “Chef to the Headliners”, Dave Williamson, founder and creator of The Gundo Comedy Festival which is celebrating its 5th Annual Gundo Comedy Festival this week in El Segundo.
The free to attend event was pretty crowded, considering that it was held at noon on a Wednesday. This was the fifth year Bertcast was held at El Segundo Brewing, meaning El Segundo Brewing was hosting the event before Kreischer became the big name star he is today. El Segundo Brewing co-founder Tom Kelley told me that former employee Gordon Whelpley is the one that turned him on to Kreischer. During the podcast Kreischer revealed that he never enjoyed the IPA style of beer until coming to El Segundo Brewing, and it was El Segundo’s beertender/brand ambassador Brandon Ortega that introduced him to his first enjoyable IPA; it was all about the grapefruit.
While this was my first time attending the event, it was obvious that several of the attendees had attended some of the previous events. Of course, the El Segundo Brewing beer and free Bartz Barbecue probably contributed to filling up the taproom. Continue reading
Photos from the Burnin’ Daylight Grand Opening
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Company, a brewpub that is the first for the City of Lomita, where they celebrated their long-awaited grand opening. The event featured a ribbon cutting (that I missed) and a beer garden featuring live music, a DJ, a silk screener, food from the Burnin’ Daylight kitchen, and unlimited pours of dozens of beers.
The grand opening was a ticketed event for those attendees that wanted to go out back to the parking lot that was set up as the beer garden. For the price of admission, attendees received a commemorative tasting glass and unlimited pours of Burnin’ Daylight’s brews, as well as the collaboration brews they had done with El Segundo Brewing. Since Burnin’ Daylight is a brewpub, they are able to have guest taps; they took advantage of this by including brews from El Segundo Brewing, Riip Beer, Smog City, Three Weavers, Beachwood, Stone, Tortugo, and HopSaint. If you did not want to go to the beer garden, you were able to buy full pours in the brewpub. Continue reading
The Meltdown – Power Plant Release Photos
These photos were taken Friday afternoon at El Segundo Brewing Company, and Friday evening at Tortilla Cantina, home of the 5th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover. Friday was day one of El Segundo Brewing’s release of their Power Plant Triple IPA, which included a synchronized release with about 20 other locations in Southern California; one of which was Tortilla Cantina.
This is the time of year that triple IPAs start finding their way up and down the state of California, probably due in large part to the fact that for the last 15 years Russian River Brewing has released their Pliny the Younger Triple IPA on the first Friday of February. El Segundo Brewing has been releasing Power Plant at about the same time for the last five years. Continue reading
Photos from The Slice and Pint Soft Open
UPDATE: Soft open to the public begins Thursday, January 24 at 5:00 PM
These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at the soft open of El Segundo Brewing Company’s, The Slice and Pint, a new restaurant featuring craft beer, local wines, and a variety of pizzas, salads and appetizers including such items as chicken wings, meatballs, Garlic Knots and calamari.
The event was limited to friends, family, and craft beer industry types, but was very well attended; even with the Rams game on. Of course, those that wanted to watch the game were able to do so as The Slice and Pint had six or seven large screen televisions placed strategically so that you would have to go out of your way to avoid seeing one. Continue reading
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