These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Mack Sennett Studios in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, where the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild held their second annual L.A. Beer and Food Festival.
The event featured 50 LA Brewers Guild member breweries and brewpubs, pouring at least 100 different beers; as well as a half dozen local eateries providing samples of their specialties.
One thing that going to events like this does, is emphasize how fast the brewing community around us is growing. When I first started visiting craft breweries, it was easy to keep current with growth; I even covered grand openings in Pacoima, San Fernando and Lancaster. These days there are probably more breweries in the brewers guild that I have not visited, than have. For the record, I have visited more than half of the breweries that were there Saturday. Continue reading
These photos were taken at the inaugural L.A. Beer and Food Festival, which was presented by the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild Saturday afternoon at the Mack Sennett Studios in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles.
I was going to say that for an inaugural event, the turnout was outstanding; but the reality is that they sold out 650 tickets, which is pretty outstanding whether it was the inaugural or 10th annual event. The reality is that the venue probably could not hold much more and remain comfortable.
With close to 50 breweries, all members of the L.A. County Brewers Guild, and at least 15 food vendors there was something for everyone. Although the photos may give the impression that the place was packed, there were virtually no lines for beer. Some of the food vendors may have had a little trouble keeping up with demand, but I heard no complaints because everything (that I tried anyway) was delicious. Continue reading
These photos are from the Pink Boots Society takeover of Three Weavers Brewing Company which was held Monday afternoon and evening at the Three Weavers Brewing Company brewery and tasting room in Inglewood. This second annual fundraising event featured craft beers from more than 20 production craft breweries.
While pouring brews from other breweries would normally be frowned upon by the likes of the ABC, Three Weavers turned over their tasting room license to the Pink Boots Society for a night of great beers and fundraising for a worthy cause. 100% of the proceeds from the event went directly to the Pink Boots Society Scholarship Fund. Continue reading
LA Beer Week 2016 (LABW8) started off in prime form Saturday afternoon by showcasing more than 45 of the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild breweries with almost as many special guest breweries, pouring more than 200 different beers; a few of the breweries represented used the LA Beer Week Kickoff Festival to release new beers.
The sold out kickoff festival was held at the Los Angeles Center Studios and in addition to the massive amount of beer there was live music, plenty of food trucks, and lots of water. Luckily, the heat wave that struck Los Angeles was kind enough to wait until the next day; that is not to say it wasn’t hot, but it probably wasn’t over 90. Luckily, the Los Angeles Center Studios is a pretty massive location so there was plenty of shade and somewhere to go sit if desired. Continue reading
This event will be pretty similar to their inaugural event in that all the beer and food will come from the Los Angeles area and you will get unlimited pours of beer and unlimited samplings. Just so there are no surprises, many of the food vendors make jams or sauces, so you get a spoonful. You are probably not going to fill up on the food, but there were some tasty items there. Continue reading
Back in July I told you that the Antelope Valley, about an hour northeast of Los Angeles, would soon become a craft beer destination; as of Saturday afternoon, I officially proclaim the Antelope Valley a bona fide craft beer destination when Transplants Brewing Company held their Grand Opening and ribbon cutting at their tasting room in Palmdale.
These photos were taken at the four craft breweries that are now open and brewing in the Antelope Valley. They include Transplants Brewing and Lucky Luke Brewing which are across the street from each other in Palmdale; and Bravery Brewing and Kinetic Brewing Company in Lancaster. The accompanying map is set up for doing your own self-guided craft beer tour of the Antelope Valley. Less than 10 miles separate Transplants and Kinetic which are at the far ends of the tour; they may catch up to Torrance at their current rate of expansion and after talking to a couple of the brewery owners, the owners would love it.
I started off at Transplants Brewing Company (Location A on map) for their ribbon cutting. I had visited the facility a couple times since July so I had a general idea of what they had in mind but was blown away by the visuals that immediately pounce on you. The mural is a work in progress but has so much going on; one could spend hours checking out all the intricacies of it. The artist, Brandon “BL” Singleton worked in collaboration with an artist he has worked with before and they do good work together. He worked on the front mural during the grand opening so visitors were able to watch his work progress. Continue reading
A couple of weeks ago I informed you of an upcoming craft beer event, Laughs By Volume, which is being held January 30, 2016 at LA Mother, located at 1627 N. Gower Street in Hollywood.
In my initial post I listed the participating breweries as Santa Monica Brew Works, Absolution Brewing, The Good Beer Company, Hand-Brewed Beer, Fireman’s Brew, The Bruery, The Great Beer Company, Four Sons Brewing, Kinetic Brewing Company, Congregation Ale House and Pacific Plate Brewing. I am happy to announce that the number of participating breweries has been increased to include Timeless Pints, Mission Brewery and The Dudes’ Brewing Company however, Congregation will not be participating.
I also mentioned that everyone attending Laughs By Volume will receive a gift bag with products, discounts and special offers from all the participating sponsors; this too has been expanded and is now valued at over $300! Continue reading
Happy New Year, everyone; I have a feeling this is going to be a fun, beer-filled year. I would like to tell you about an upcoming craft beer event that will be held January 30, 2016. Laughs By Volume, presented by PINT Magazine will present a new twist on your typical local craft beer festival by including comedy from local comedians. Included in the price of admission is a souvenir PINT glass, three hours of unlimited tastings of at least 20 different brews, six comedy acts and an amateur comedy contest with a cash prize. So, if you get funnier the more you drink, you might want to enter the contest.
As far as the breweries represented, at this time they will have Santa Monica Brew Works, Absolution Brewing, The Good Beer Company, Hand-Brewed Beer, Fireman’s Brew, The Bruery, The Great Beer Company, Four Sons Brewing, Kinetic Brewing Company, Congregation Ale House and Pacific Plate Brewing.
Comedians scheduled to appear include Evan Wecksell, Sammy Obeid, Jason Love, Atsuko Okatsuka, Jonesy and Stevie Mack. These guys have been on everything from MTV to David Letterman so it should be pretty fun. Continue reading
There were several beer buyouts that seemed to dominate most other craft beer sites, but the craft world in my immediate domain only seemed to increase. Yeah, Golden Road got bought, but I only went there for special events and I guess that means there will be fewer of them there in the future. In the meantime, the reach of this site seems to be increasing. In the beginning people pretty much pigeonholed this site as covering the South Bay craft beer scene only. This year I covered various local beer events from the Antelope Valley to Orange County. Attendees have come up asking if I am now covering the west side, or wherever we might be. I guess the answer is yes; and I will expand my area as long as it is requested.
2015 in the South Bay ended pretty much as it started, with the soft open of a new brewpub. In January Phantom Carriage officially opened, and at the end of December HopSaint Brewing Company opened their doors. While they are open daily, the official opening of HopSaint will be January 1, 2016 when they will start serving lunch at 11:30 AM. Continue reading
It has been a real pleasure watching the evolution of this craft beer festival; the first one in 2012 had almost as many beers as attendees but attendance has increased every year since. In 2014 it was decided to hold the event over the course of two sessions and it worked very well. Last year each session had different special beers; this year both sessions will have every beer. When asked how they would ensure that certain beers were not tapped out on Friday, leaving Saturday’s attendees without, I was told that they would be monitoring lines and weighing kegs if that became an issue. Continue reading
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