microbrewery
Business & Beer May gathering at Smog City Brewing Company
The Business & Beer networking group returned to Smog City Brewing Company on Thursday evening to the delight of all that attended. It was a nice group with people coming and going throughout the evening. It was almost like a reunion event as we had several members that we have not seen in a while return, and several of them brought guests. Smog City had a wide variety of brews available so that whether it had been a week or six months, there was definitely something new to be tried.
Last night it was mentioned by one attendee that Business & Beer seemed to be more about beer than business, so I would like to address that publicly. I have been attending trade shows for well over 10 years and I used to think that the trade show floor was where the business was being done; I eventually figured out that was not the case at all. The real business was being done at the suite parties or circle bar. Business relationships are built with people you know, and not all business deals are impulse buys. In fact, I may never have need for your particular product or service, but chances are I will know someone that does. Word of mouth is the best advertising and relationships bring referrals. I will never forget the guy that came to his first meeting as a guest; he did stained glass windows and figured the likelihood of someone at the gathering needing a stained glass window was pretty slim. To his surprise, another member needed just that. So come to Business & Beer and start building your potential referral list.
Business & Beer meets on the second Thursday of every month at a different craft beer tasting room or brewpub in the South Bay area. It is free and has no rules about how often you must show up or limiting the number of people in a certain field. It is very casual and the time was set up so you can bring your significant other if you wish. If you are a small business owner or networking is an important part of your job description, Business & Beer is the most fun way to accomplish your goal. You can follow Business & Beer on Facebook or sign up to their mailing list so that you know when and where the next gathering is. In June we will return to El Segundo Brewing Company. Cheers!
The Dudes’ Brewing Company approved for tasting room
The Dudes’
There were a couple conditions that need to be met before The Dudes’ can actually open the tasting room, but Humes seemed confident that they should be open by July at the latest. I think the commission might know how long we have been waiting as the permit is only good for one year; so it looks like Torrance will soon have another tasting room in our midst. Congrats to The Dudes’ Brewing Company and cheers!
King Harbor Tap Takeover at Cork’er and a Proposal
These photos were taken Friday evening when Redondo Beach’s first production brewery, King Harbor Brewing Company, had a tap takeover at Cork’er, a new Irish pub/cafe in Redondo Beach. King Harbor brought out two versions of The Quest Pale Ale, Rakau and El Dorado; and their Abel Brown and Vanilla Abel brown ales to accompany the various dishes available at Cork’er. In addition to the good beer and food, King Harbor Brewing provided glassware to the first group of attendees and raffled off a King Harbor Brewing growler (with a free fill) as well as one of their hats. Cork’er raffled off tickets to an upcoming Dodgers vs. Giants game and $50 in cash.
Cork’er is owned by Larry Killian, for former owner of Killian’s in Torrance. The one thing that really sets Cork’er apart from other local businesses is that they really go to the limit when it comes to supporting other local businesses. The beer is almost all from our local craft brewers, their furniture was bought from a local furniture store just down the street from their location, the art on the walls is from local artists and Larry spends a lot of time at local farmers markets purchasing ingredients for the meals they prepare at Cork’er. There is no doubt that Cork’er is a local business that supports other local businesses. If you want to support their business, Cork’er is located at 2810 Artesia Boulevard in Redondo Beach and is open seven days a week from 7:00 AM until 10:00 PM. Continue reading
Taking a self-guided craft beer tour of California Highway 99
This particular self-guided craft beer tour will be a five (5) part series that covers a visit to 22 production breweries and brewpubs between Los Angeles and Santa Rosa. Let there be no mistake, there are far more than 22 craft breweries in that geographical area but we had a set amount of time. It was another of those “so many beers, so little time” situations. When I set out from LA there were three basic routes to take; I could drive Interstate 5 which is definitely the fastest route but the desert is a barren wasteland when it comes to craft beer. Taking US 101 up the coast takes significantly longer than I-5, but there are barrels and barrels of beer all along the way and if time is of any importance, there are far too many distractions. The third option and the one I opted to take was California Highway 99. When I opted to take 99 I knew the drive would take a little longer, but I also know that I would be able to find some craft beer along the way. This particular route was set going northbound, but you can easily reverse the map provided below and plug in your own starting point.
The locations visited on this leg of the self-guided craft beer tour were Lengthwise Brewing in Bakersfield, Full Circle Brewing Company in Fresno and Dust Bowl Brewing Company in Turlock. You can find the photos of the three locations at http://craftbeerguy.com/lengthwise-full-circle-dust-bowl-brewing/.
Photos of the Absolution Brewing Company Ribbon Cutting
On Friday afternoon Torrance’s newest production craft brewery, Absolution Brewing Company (ABC), held their official grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The ribbon cutting was attended by Mayor Frank Scotto and several members of the Torrance City Council as well as the Torrance Chamber of Commerce and assorted other officials. After the ribbon cutting and presentations the beer flowed with the addition of three new brews to the extensive Absolution Brewing tap list with their Holy Cow milk stout, Wanderin’ Possessed Easter Candy English porter and their Cloistered red ale. The Creative Eats food truck was on-hand with a special menu that was paired with the various ABC brews.
As you can tell from the photos, it was a very well attended event. In fact, I left after an hour or so and came back a couple hours later to what seemed to be an even larger group than before. It is probably safe to say that Absolution Brewing Company is a very welcome addition to the local craft beer scene. Absolution Brewing Company is located at 2878 Columbia Street in Torrance. Cheers! Continue reading
Taking a self-guided craft beer tour in Orange County
For the second installment of my mapped self-guided craft beer tours, I will map out a beer tour I made of Orange County back in January. If you would like to see photos of the locations visited on this tour, you can find my photos and comments here. For the uninitiated, please be aware, there are a lot more craft breweries in Orange County than these; in fact, there are new locations that have opened since I wrote the initial article in January. I chose to visit those locations simply because I had never been there before; I chose the order for a couple of reasons. The first is that individual one day tours are going to start and end at home, so I always try to make the journey circular. You should be able to plug in your own home address and create your own circle by using the same order I have them laid out in; even if you start with Location C instead of Location A. The second thing I take into consideration is food; so I try to include at least one brewpub and I do my best at avoiding two in a row.
The locations visited were Bootlegger’s Brewery in Fullerton, TAPS Fish House & Brewery in Brea, Noble Ale Works in Anaheim, Tustin Brewing Company in Tustin and Brewbakers in Huntington Beach.
Photos from the Pac City Brewery ribbon cutting
Tuesday afternoon I took advantage of the great Earth Day weather and rode out to the Los Angeles suburb of Pacoima to attend the ribbon cutting and soft opening of Pacoima’s first production brewery, Pac City Brewery. Pac City Brewery is a three (3) barrel microbrewery that will not have a tasting room in the foreseeable future but plans on working closely with local eateries and drinking holes to ensure their beers are readily available to those seeking it out. While they cannot have a tasting room, they will be able to hold events that include their beers on the spacious property that their brewery is located on.
The Pac City Brewing team is made up of CEO and head brewer Robert Cortez, Miguel Duran, Fernando Palacios and Robert’s brother Art Cortez. The ribbon cutting was attended by several friends and family members as well as the LA City Council, the Chamber of Commerce, LAPD and several representatives of the local craft beer scene.
After a short speech the ribbon was cut and guests were invited in to sample four of their brews, their Caramel IPA, Not so Amber Ale, Toasted Oat American Wheat Ale and their Chocolate Raspberry Coconut Porter. They also offered ginger ale and tea that are brewed on-site as well as pizza and sandwiches. Judging by the smiles, everyone had a good time. I will be sure to let you know when I hear about any special events that are open to the public. Pac City Brewing is located at 12780 Pierce Street, Unit #5 in Pacoima. Congratulations and good luck to Robert and all the team. Cheers! Continue reading
Taking a self-guided craft beer tour of the South Bay
Hi there, thanks for visiting. I just wanted to point out that this article was written in April of 2014, the South Bay only had seven craft breweries then. You can find a more current list of breweries at http://craftbeerguy.com/list-all-south-bay-breweries/ (it was written December 2016).
Cheers!
I am a firm believer that if one person suggests something, there is a good chance that dozens of others are thinking the same thing. Since I have had many people tell me that I should include maps of the craft brewery tours I write about, I have decided to add a new feature, maps of the various breweries and their relationship to each other. I have decided to use MapQuest since they allow you to plug in your starting point; Google Maps seems to eliminated that feature, so we will use MapQuest until something better comes along.
These maps will be set up to show the easiest way to visit each of the breweries visited and will usually form a circular pattern so you are not bouncing around from one end of town to another and back again. I am beginning with the South Bay area of Southern California for a couple reasons. The first, and most logical, is because that is where I live. The second being that there has been such an explosion of microbreweries around here that I know people from other areas would like to know the easiest way to see all that the South Bay offers. Whenever possible, these tours will begin with one freeway close location and end with another freeway close destination. If you are a first time visitor to any of these locations I recommend a purchasing a flight so you can sample what each brewery offers.
Business & Beer returns to Monkish Brewing Company
Thursday evening, April 10, the business networking group Business & Beer returned to Torrance production brewery, Monkish Brewing Company. Monkish Brewing is the South Bay’s source for fresh Belgian-styled ales of which there were 13 available to us last night. There was a nice group of people that at least stopped by for a while to say hello and join the large group of Monkish Brewing fans that were in attendance. Vella Pizza was there with their mobile brick oven; for the first time that I recall, they actually sold out of pizzas.
If you live or do business in the South Bay and enjoy craft beers and networking you might want to consider checking out the Business & Beer networking group. It is an informal networking group that meets at a different craft beer tasting room or brewpub in the South Bay area on the second Thursday of every month. Rapidly approaching their two year anniversary the group has built solid business relationships for some and is constantly putting possible business connections together. There are no dues and no mandatory meetings; just come down and join the group. Everyone is friendly and a fan of good beer so you know you will have at least a couple things in common with everyone there. You can find the schedule of upcoming meetings on the BusinessNBeer.com website or by following them on Facebook. The next gathering will be May 8 at Smog Brewing Company in Torrance. Cheers! Continue reading
Temecula: It isn’t just about the wine any more
While it may not be as well-known as the Napa-Sonoma wine region of California, the Temecula Valley area of the Inland Empire has at least 35 wineries and has gained considerable respectability with the wines they provide. Like Napa-Sonoma has exploded with craft breweries, the same can be said for Temecula and the Inland Empire; even if not to the same extent. This past weekend I headed out to Temecula and spent a little time checking out the craft breweries that have popped up since my last visit in 2012.
Wiens Brewing Company, as it turns out, opened a couple weeks before I did my 2012 brewery tour. My son lives in the area and he told me about a special anniversary ale that he had heard great things about. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was all gone. I guess that is to be expected with a limited release. If the Wiens name sounds familiar, it could be because they also own Wiens Family Cellars, a Temecula Valley winery. Wiens had about 11 different beers on tap so we opted for a flight to do a major sampling. At $1.00 each for their flagship beers, it was a great deal. We sampled their Front Street Lager (nice maltiness), Far Post brown ale, Stout, Red Ale, Millennium Falconers IPA, Type 3 IPA (probably my favorite), Insomnia IPA and Descend Black IPA. For dessert we tried their Niflheim Russian Imperial Stout. All the beers were solid brews with the IPAs being my favorite. They offer a few other big beers so I am going to have to plan an overnight trip to Temecula so I can walk back to my hotel after experimenting more. Wiens does bottle many of their beers, so we did pick up one or two to try at home. Wiens Brewing Company is located at 27941 Diaz Road in Temecula.
When we were driving to Wiens some of the street names sounded familiar so I knew we had to be close to Black Market Brewing Company, which we had visited in late 2012. While we were looking for places we had never visited before we had such a good time the first time we were there I was okay with making a return visit. Besides, after a year and a half there had to be some brews we had not tried yet. Black Market Brewing is in a word, huge; they also appear to have a nice barrel aging program. The first time we visited them we had a room at the La Quinta across the street so we were able to take advantage by getting each of the 10 beers they had on tap. By take advantage I mean, they were giving six ounce pours for $1.00 so I could order one of each. This time I was driving, so we limited ourselves to a flight of four; Espionage on Nitro, Rotating IPA, Quadrophenia and Embargo. In my opinion, their big beers really show off Black Market’s brewing skills. Luckily, they bottle and can so we bought a couple bottles to bring home for later. Black Market Brewing Company is located at 41740 Enterprise Circle North in Temecula. Continue reading
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