These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Smog City Brewing Company’s 10th Anniversary celebration held at the production brewery in Torrance. It was a nicely attended event that probably had about 100 people attending during the couple of hours I was there.
Yes, Los Angeles County is still abiding by COVID protocol, but we are in the least restrictive yellow tier which allowed Smog City to throw an actual in-person event for their 10 anniversary. Yes, things were toned down a little from previous anniversary celebrations, but Smog City’s fan base was not going to let that stop them.
To commemorate the occasion, Smog City had 26 brews on draft, including their 10th Anniversary IPA, eight special bottle pours, and an anniversary flight consisting of This Sour Future (2015), Benny and the Bretts volume 1, The Nothing (2017), Buzzworthy (2016), and BBA Coffee Porter (2017). Continue reading
These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Trademark Brewing, a production brewery with a tasting room in Long Beach.
I had first become aware of Trademark Brewing probably in the summer of 2019; in fact, I am relatively confident that I had made plans to visit them in July, but there had been some delay in the planned opening date; a rarity, I know. I was able to sample their brews for the first time at the third annual Craft Beer LB Fest. A few months later COVID hit and pretty much put a halt to my ability to go out and visit new breweries. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne, where they celebrated their third anniversary with an actual in-person event at the production brewery’s tasting room and patios setup outside.
Prior to today, the last time I attended a brewery’s anniversary was the Brouwerij West 4th anniversary in February 2020; that’s a long time considering how many brewery anniversary parties we have around here usually. Continue reading
These photos were taken Friday morning at Eureka Brewing Company, in Gardena. The reason for my showing up on a Friday morning is that Eureka is participating in the 4th Annual Pink Boots Brew. Essentially, Yakima Chief Hops and the Pink Boots Society come up with a hop blend that breweries can purchase and then create whatever beer they feel like brewing. The Pink Boots Society receives a percentage of the monies spent on the actual purchase of the hop blend itself.
Due to COVID protocols, this year’s blend was chosen via a global virtual hop selection. This year’s blend consists of Cashmere, Ahtanum®, Citra®, Loral® & Sabro® brand hops, creating a blend with tropical, herbal, citrus and woody aromatic qualities. Continue reading
The photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Craft Beer Reclamation Center (aka my house), where I held another in a series of what I call the COVID Craft Beer Exchange.
Those of you that read my recap of 2020 may recall that I mentioned that back in September Craft Beer Guy Facebook followers were being invited to participate in a craft beer exchange that I started holding. So far we have done it every month except February.
Yesterday we had our largest turnout, with 15 traders; it was also the first time that we had two people bring the same beers. We had lots of local breweries represented, including King Harbor, HopSaint, Common Space, The Crac Brewery and Grub, Project Barley, Brouwerij West, and Three Weavers. With a total of 27 craft beers to choose from, there were plenty of options available. Continue reading
These photos were taken over the last two and a half months at Eureka Brewing Company, in Gardena. They include photos of one of their first pilot brew days, the first day of canning, and day one of their “grand opening.”
I guess it is an understatement to suggest that the year 2020 has been a little tough on the local craft beer scene. The SpaceX Corridor took a double hit, beginning in February with the closure of State Brewing. About a month later LA County started getting hit with ridiculous rules that caused did nothing but cause hardships to our breweries, restaurants, and bars. It began our current period of “survival of the fittest” and a second brewery of the SpaceX Corridor, Ximix Craft Exploration, stopped production and closed up shop.
In the middle of August it was announced that King Harbor Brewing co-owner and head brewer Phil McDaniel was leaving; what may not have been common knowledge was McDaniel was opening his own brewery with childhood friend Adam Ansari. McDaniel and Ansari took over the former Ximix location, equipment and all, and changed the name to Eureka Brewing Company. Continue reading
These photos were taken Wednesday at Tortilla Cantina, where they hosted the 6th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover. This annual event took a little more to accomplish this year, but Tortilla Cantina, our local breweries, and hundreds of their fans made this possible “last hurrah” of 2020 a great success.
My first tap takeover was held on the first Thursday of September in 2015, and as the craft beer scene around here grew, there started to be overlaps when it came to craft beer festival dates and brewery anniversaries, and everyone started changing dates of their events to avoid conflicts. The fact of the matter is that there was just too much going on out there, so I set it in stone that all subsequent South Bay Tap Takeovers would be held on the first Thursday of September; that worked out okay until COVID-19 struck and the State of California and the County of Los Angeles decided restaurants, breweries, and bars had to discontinue in-person dining. Continue reading
These photos were taken at Carson’s newest brewpub, The Crac Brewery and Grub; the photos are of the construction I observed between November 4, 2019 and day one of their soft open, November 21, 2020.
It was Halloween 2019 B.C. (Before Covid), when Buddy and I entered King Harbor Brewing during our nightly walk. It was the one day a year that people would wear masks, and a masked cowboy addressed me by a nickname that most of you don’t know, but told me this cowboy must know me even if I couldn’t recognize him in his costume.
After doing a little recon with the beertender I figured out the masked stranger was Jeff Parker, so I went over to be a little more sociable. It was then that Jeff informed me that he was involved with the building of a new brewery in Carson; four days later I stopped by to take the first of my photos that would show the construction during the upcoming year. Continue reading
These photos were taken Wednesday, September 9 at Culture Brewing Company’s newest taproom, which opened last week in Manhattan Beach.
Last Friday, Culture Brewing Company of Solana Beach in San Diego County, opened a satellite taproom in Manhattan Beach. This marks the first time Manhattan Beach has had a brewery or brewery taproom since Brewco Manhattan Beach stopped brewing back in 2007 or 2008.
One might think that this is a weird time to open a taproom with to-go beers only, and I am pretty sure Culture Brewing would agree; the thing is, this has been in the works for two years now. Apparently it was one of the South Bay’s best kept secrets. To be honest, if it were not for a Craft Beer Guy follower on Facebook, I probably would not have been aware that they were opening up here. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday, May 30 at San Pedro Brewing Company, Scholb Premium Ales, and Absolution Brewing Company as breweries in the South Bay began reopening under Phase 2 of the COVID-19 lockdown.
On Friday it was announced that LA County was entering Phase 2 of the reopening of businesses from this lockdown; apparently two breweries, San Pedro Brewing Company and Scholb Brewing had been chomping at the bit waiting for permission to reopen as they were the first two craft beer establishments to begin in-house consumption of beer and food. I decided to visit the two of them to see how close my expectations were to our new reality. Continue reading