HopSaint Brewing Company

5th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover Coming September 5

collaboration brew

Better Weather Sweater Collaboration Brew Team

Clear your calendars; one week from today, Thursday September 5, I will be presenting my 5th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover at Tortilla Cantina in Old Torrance.

If you have attended any of the previous four tap takeovers, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect; if you have never been I can summarize with at least 25 South Bay breweries/cideries pouring from 50 taps.

When I started this in 2015, we had 10 South Bay breweries with 40 taps; in 2016 there were 15, and in 2017 we had 18 South Bay breweries with 40 taps. In 2018 there was a change of management at the original venue (Flights), and they decided they wanted to do their own thing. I wished them luck, and then approached Rick Gomez of Tortilla Cantina to see if they would be interested in hosting the 4th annual tap takeover. I approached Rick for three reasons; I knew he was a big supporter of the local craft beer scene, every South Bay brewery owner I spoke with knew and really liked Rick, and I knew he had 48 taps. I do not think Rick really knew what he was in for, but he went all-in and the 4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover ended up featuring 22 local breweries participating, and with the help of a jockey box, 49 taps of craft beer! Continue reading

Photos from Small Town Feel at Burnin’ Daylight

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Company in Lomita, where they held their Small Town Feel Summer Beer Festival. Like their grand opening of a few months ago, they took full advantage of their parking lot and ability to pour guest taps by utilizing several pouring stations to provide 20 different brews, including several collaboration brews.

The tap list showcased just how busy Burnin’ Daylight co-founder and head brewer Brendon Lake has been over the last few months. Burnin’ Daylight brews included their Brewtiful Blueberry Blonde, Strawberry Lemon Lager, Raspberry Lime Grove, Small Town Feel DIPA, Nana’s Porter with Peanut Butter, Rolling Pils, Switchgear Imperial Stout aged bourbon barrels, Bourbon Daylight, Dark Harbor Coconut on Nitro, and Peach Sour Dry Hopped with Citra. Continue reading

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

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

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 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

Cask’s Not Dead Fest 2018 Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Yorkshire Square Brewery in Torrance, where they held their inaugural Cask’s Not Dead Fest 2018. The invitational event featured 32 cask ales, provided by 29 local craft breweries, and one from Germany. In addition, there was live music provided by Whiskey Sunday and The Brilliant Gypsies, as well as food provided by Top Shelf Tacos and Stop Bye Cafe food trucks.

The Cask’s Not Dead Fest included a friendly competition between the 30 breweries. As most of the breweries do not typically provide cask ales the competition was broken down into two categories, Traditional Cask Ales and Abnormal Ales, with the Abnormal Ales being cask ales that were IPAs or included adjuncts such as cacao nibs, oak chips, vanilla beans, and such. Continue reading

4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover Photos

The photos were taken Thursday at Tortilla Cantina in Torrance, where they hosted the 4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover. While this was their first time for hosting this event, it was the largest collection of local craft breweries since I first started putting on the event in 2015; with 22 local breweries participating and 49 taps of craft beer!

Since this was the fourth tap takeover, I have become accustomed to last minute issues coming up, resulting in either a brewery not getting the beers to the venue on time, or a mislabeled keg. As I have read that this is fairly common with even the most efficiently run craft beer festival, I just kind of grin and bear it as most of the time the attendees never even notice. While I was putting out proverbial fires at 10:30 Wednesday night, by the time Thursday morning rolled around everything somehow was falling into place. Continue reading

4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover to Feature 22 Local Breweries

tortilla-cantina

4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover, Thursday, September 6 at Tortilla Cantina

I hope you saved the date as the 4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover will be held this Thursday, September 6, at Tortilla Cantina in Torrance. This event will feature 22 local breweries, with more than 40 taps under one roof; not bad considering the first South Bay Tap Takeover started in 2015 with just 10 South Bay breweries. That should give you an idea of just how much the craft beer scene has grown around here.

The event will begin at noon and run until 11:30 PM, with happy hour pricing from noon until 7:00 PM. From 7:00-10:00, live music will be provided by Ashleigh Correa and Rock the Ashbah. Continue reading

4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover Coming to Tortilla Cantina

tortilla cantina

4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover – September 6, 2018

Please save the date, Thursday, September 6, 2018, as the 4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover is returning; this year the event will be hosted at Tortilla Cantina, in Torrance.

The first time I put on this event, in 2015, it consisted of 40 taps from 10 of the South Bay’s best craft breweries. This year we have 19 breweries currently confirmed as attending; the number of taps we will have has yet to be determined, but Tortilla Cantina’s owner Rick Gomez informed me that he has the ability to provide up to 50 taps, so we shall see.

The breweries scheduled to attend, in alphabetical order, are Absolution Brewing, Brouwerij West, Common Space, El Segundo Brewing, Hermosa Brewing Company, HopSaint, King Harbor Brewing, LA Ale Works, Phantom Carriage, Scholb, Smog City, State Brewing, Strand Brewing, The Dudes’, The Honest Abe Cidery, Three Weavers, Ximix, Yorkshire Square, and Zymurgy Brew Works. Continue reading

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