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San Diego Beer Week VIP Preview Party Photos
These photos were taken Thursday evening at Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens at Liberty Station, where the San Diego Brewers Guild presented a VIP preview of the 11th Annual San Diego Beer Week which will be held November 1-10.
The event began with a free Happy Hour consisting of appetizers from the Stone Brewing World Bistro kitchen, and beers from Stone Brewing, Amplified Ale Works, Burgeon Beer Company, North Park Beer Company, Second Chance Beer Company, and Thorn Brewing. There was also wine and sodas for those that didn’t want beer.
After an hour and a half of networking, eating and drinking on one of Liberty Station’s multiple patios, we were guided inside for a short presentation explaining why we were all there … other than the opportunity to network, eat, and drink some of San Diego’s craft beers. Continue reading
Photos from the Wild Beer and Cheese Pairing at King Harbor Brewing
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at King Harbor Brewing, in Redondo Beach, where Head Brewer Phil McDaniel hosted a wild beer and cheese pairing. The ticketed event had about a dozen attendees and featured pairings of King Harbor’s Radberry Wild, Ride the Wild, and Grand Cru wild ales with cheeses from Four Fat Fowl, Cyprus Grove, and Cheeseland.
It has been suggested that I am an anomaly in the craft beer world, in that I am not particularly fond of pizza or cheese. I discovered that I was not alone, as a couple of attendees confided that they were not really “into cheese” before this cheese pairing; by the end of the event I think we were all convinced that we just had not tried the right cheeses. I spoke with one person that was not a fan of wild ales at all, but the cheese paired with them made them quite enjoyable. Continue reading
Photos from the Project Barley Ribbon Cutting
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Project Barley ribbon cutting, Lomita’s first nano brewery. The event was well attended by friends, family, the Lomita Chamber of Commerce, and various representatives of the Lomita City Council, the State Assembly, State Senate, and the County of Los Angeles. And with that, Lomita became a craft beer destination, sharing the city with Burnin’ Daylight which is about a mile away.
The tap list consisted of their Witbier, Mexican Lager, Pacific Cream Hwy Creme Ale, Parkers Milk Stout, Neverland IPA, Marine Layer Hazy IPA, and Blonde Kettle Sour. There was a hotdog and brat station provided by The Standing Room, whose owner is one of the owners and co-founders of Project Barley. Live music, while I was there, was provided by Barclay Roach; music continued through the day with performances by three other soloists and duos.
The Grand Opening weekend continues when they open at noon Sunday. After that, Project Barley is scheduled to be open seven days a week. Continue reading
Project Barley: From the Beginning
These photos photo-document the build of Lomita’s newest craft brewery, Project Barley. It took a couple modifications of Lomita’s laws to make it happen. In April of 2018, the City of Lomita Planning Commission paved the way for Project Barley to brew beer in Lomita; in May the Lomita City Council granted them the right to have a tasting room. In June of 2018 the build process began, and that is when I started stopping by to take photos of the build. 14 months later the build was complete, and Head Brewer Rives Borland began brewing.
The brewhouse consists of a 3bbl brewhouse with four fermenting vessels. Co-founder Brent Reger spent a lot of time using wood from an old basketball court to top the bar and decorate the walls. If one looks closely, everything from the logo on the bar and tables to the light framing over the brewhouse is shaped to resemble a stem of barley; it came out looking pretty nice. 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
The Road to Barstow
These photos were taken June 27 and 28 at in Barstow, and Claremont Craft Ales in Claremont. A couple years ago one of Oggi’s prior PR companies had reached out to me about covering a beer release they were having at their some of Oggi’s 15 locations. Unfortunately, none of those locations were local or convenient for me to visit. Last month, my buddy Steve and I drove to Las Vegas to see Aerosmith; it was then that I decided we should stop in Barstow and check out Oggi’s Sports Brewhouse Pizza since you never want to get to Las Vegas before 3:00 PM.
I guess Oggi’s has been around about 20 years, but I never really paid much attention to is since I only ever saw it in Barstow, and stopping in Barstow for more than gas or an Egg McMuffin never made much sense to me. Since Steve and I based our drive on missing as much traffic as possible while not getting to Vegas prior to check-in time at the condo, a stop in Barstow for a couple beers made perfect sense. Continue reading
A Visit to Long Beach Beer Lab and Ten Mile Brewing
These photos were taken Friday, June 14, at Long Beach Beer Lab and Ten Mile Brewing; both of which are located on Willow Street in Long Beach and Signal Hill, and opened in late 2017. This was my first visit to Long Beach Beer Lab since they opened, and it was a return visit to Ten Mile Brewing.
I had an appointment of sorts in Long Beach at around 5:30, and traffic from the South Bay to Long beach just sucks at that hour, so I figured I could visit a few of the newer Long Beach craft breweries beforehand thus beating traffic. The main problem I had was the expectation that since it was a Friday, most of the breweries would be open around noon. It turned out that the only one in the neighborhood that did was Long Beach Beer Lab, so that is where I started. Continue reading
Shelby’s Baby Shower at Tortilla Cantina
These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Tortilla Cantina, in Torrance, where local craft beer aficionado Paul Quintana held a baby shower for his daughter Shelby, and her boyfriend Zach, to help welcome his first grandchild into the world.
While you may not find a lot of baby shower photos on this site, Paul and his daughter both follow Craft Beer Guy, either via this website or its Facebook or Instagram pages; or all of the above. Combine that with the fact that they were holding the event at Tortilla Cantina, the new home of the South Bay Tap Takeover, and it was an invitation that would be hard to turn down; in retrospect, I am very glad I attended, it was a fun event. 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