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Common Space Brewery: From the Beginning
Hawthorne now has their second craft brewery, Common Space Brewery, and these photos document their build since I started visiting their location in July of 2017 up through their soft open which ended Wednesday evening. The production brewery and tasting room are massive, utilizing a 24,000 square foot warehouse with 27′ high ceilings and a 1,000 square foot outdoor patio. The beer is pretty good too.
Founded by South Bay local Brent Knapp, Common Space brought on former Speakeasy Ales & Lagers Head of Brewing Operations, Kushal Hall, which means Common Space is starting off with a brewer that is well-versed in brewing large amounts capable of distributing. As you look through the photos you can’t help but notice how large the brewhouse is and they have plenty of fermentation vessels to keep the South Bay and beyond satiated with Common Space brews. Continue reading
State Brewing Company Ribbon Cutting Photos
These photos were taken Thursday evening at the State Brewing Company ribbon cutting, which was held at the production brewery’s tasting room in Gardena. The event was attended by several members of the Gardena City Council, as well as representatives from the California state assembly and congress and other various City of Gardena representatives.
As I was going through my notes I realized that State’s soft open began about three months ago, but there were a couple cosmetic changes that had to be made before they could officially open; I have to say, the tasting room looks great now. Continue reading
Canning Expatriate at Three Weavers Brewing
Last week I was asked to meet a potential client at Three Weavers Brewing Company in Inglewood; since I don’t seem to get out there enough, I agreed and intentionally arrived a little early. It wasn’t long before Three Weavers Production Team Member, my buddy and all round nice guy Jared Gonzalez noticed my presence and offered to take me on a little tour of the production facility since I had not been there in a while.
Three Weavers has grown a lot as far as production capacity is concerned; including something like five new 90 bbl fermenters that were recently obtained. I did not have my camera with me and mentioned that I wanted to return to photograph this for comparison, if nothing else. It was then that Jared asked if I had seen the new canning line; I had not.
I guess this is where the geeks separate from the crowd; as I looked at the idle canning line and heard that it is capable of filling 250 cans a minute with its 30 head Innofill Can DVD can filler, I was impressed. However, it was when I turned around and saw the Ska Fab Can-i-Bus Depalletizer that I knew I wanted to come back and watch this thing in action. I did that Wednesday morning and these are the photos I took of the process. Continue reading
7th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle Results
These photos were taken Monday afternoon at the Beachwood Blendery in Long Beach, where employees, friends, and family gathered for the drawing of the raffle tickets sold for Beachwood’s 7th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle which is done in memory of a long time Beachwood friend, Tony Carbone who passed away in 2008 from stage 3 melanoma.
This morning, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing held their drawing for the 7th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle at their Long Beach Blendery location. To enter the contest, one could purchase a ticket for $5.00 for a chance at a full pint of the 2018 Pliny the Younger. This year Beachwood raised over $10,000 from the ticket sales; which means they have raised over $85,000 over the past seven years for the beneficiary of the raffle, the Melanoma Research Foundation. The drawing was streamed live via the Four Brewers podcast and like last year, 200 winners were picked. Continue reading
Los Angeles Ale Works 1st Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Los Angeles Ale Works, where Hawthorne’s first craft brewery celebrated their first anniversary with a couple hundred close friends. The tasting room itself was pretty packed, so the overflow congregated on the patio or the parking lot, which they shared with multiple food vendors and other local artisans. LA Ale Works also marked the event with a can and bottle release.
LA Ale Works has grown since my last visit as was evidenced by the 20+ beers available. Judging by the size of the crowd this has not gone unnoticed by the locals.
Los Angeles Ale Works is located at 12918 Cerise Avenue in Hawthorne and are open seven days a week. They are dog friendly and offer beer to go in growlers, crowlers, bottles and cans. Cheers! Continue reading
Boomtown Brewery 3 Year Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Boomtown Brewery’s three years anniversary celebration. The event featured multiple food vendors, several DJs, and 17 Boomtown Brewery beers, including about three special beer releases. Later in the evening (after the kids and I had left) there were three performances of a burlesque show.
If it seems impossible for Boomtown to be open that long, one must think back to their beginning. The production brewery opened three years ago, but it took two years to satisfy the City of Los Angeles to the point that they could open their tasting room which occurred in February of 2017.
Although I have tried a half-dozen of Boomtown’s brews at various events and craft beer bars, this was my first visit to their facility, located in the Arts District area of Los Angeles; in a word, the place is huge. Continue reading
Pints with Purpose at Smog City Brewing
Towards the end of 2017 I started noticing that Torrance’s Smog City Brewing Company was holding a Pints with Purpose fundraiser every Thursday. After speaking with Smog City co-founder/owner Laurie Porter about it, I discovered that, being the socially conscious brewery that they are, they were donating 10% of their sales every Thursday of each month to a different non-profit. In the past they raised funds for such organizations as Food Forward and the Keep a Breast Foundation.
Since the Porter family was busy in January, they took the month off and restarted it again last night; for the month of February, every Thursday 10% of their sales goes to Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles. These photos were taken at Smog City, where Marine Mammal Care Center had brought their Mobile Visitors Center. Continue reading
Photos from the 2nd Annual LA Beer & Food Festival
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
A Visit to Kern River Brewing Company
These photos were taken Wednesday afternoon at Kern River Brewing Company in Kernville, and Lucky Luke Brewing Company in Palmdale. I needed to do someone a favor in Gorman, and since that was 75 miles of a 175 mile drive, I decided it was time for me to make my long overdue visit to Kern River Brewing Company (KRBC).
As I drove along the Kern River I thought back to the days that I used to ride up to Kernville with my buddy Gary; it was then that I realized that it had to be close to 40 years since the last time I was up in that area. I wondered if I would even recognize the few landmarks that I remembered from our exploits of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Continue reading
Chad’s Beer Cellar V Bottle Share Photos
These photos were taken Thursday evening at a Christmas Bottle Share benefiting the Richstone Family Center, which was held at the King Harbor Brewing tasting room.
In what has become a Christmas tradition in the South Bay, local craft beer aficionado and beer hoarder Chad Hazen, held the fifth in a series of bottle shares benefiting Richstone Family Center.
The first of the bottle shares was in December of 2014 when Hazen decided he wanted to quit drinking beer for a year while he trained for a marathon. As he travels a lot for work he had built up quite a collection of craft beer and he felt it would be too much temptation to have all that beer around while he trained. He got together with King Harbor Brewing Company, he is one of the investors, and they decided they would have a bottle share benefiting Richstone Family Center. Continue reading