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Naja’s Place 13th Annual IPA Festival Photos
These photos were taken Wednesday afternoon at Naja’s Place in Redondo Beach, where they held day one of Naja’s 13th annual IPA Festival. The seven day long event, as the name suggests, showcases IPAs from all over California, with a couple taps pouring IPAs from such faraway lands as Oregon.
Three of the seven days are themed, with Wednesday being “Locals Only”, Thursday being “Collaboration Day” and Saturday being “Pizza Port Brewing Invades Day.” Continue reading
Photos from the TrustedGut Soft Open Preview
These photos were taken Saturday and Sunday at the new TrustedGut Brewing location in Redondo Beach, where they held what was described as their “soft open preview” which will officially begin on Tuesday.
Saturday and Sunday were primarily open so TrustedGut could get a grasp on how things would go as well as an opportunity to complete some of the finish work to get the taproom ready for the throngs that have been waiting for the former King Harbor Brewing location to reopen. This included figuring out NFL Sunday Ticket, which was definitely a welcome addition. Continue reading
TrustedGut Brewing Soft Open Begins Today
These photos were primarily taken Thursday and Friday, October 5 and 6, at the new TrustedGut Brewing location in Redondo Beach, where I was given a sneak preview of the new TrustedGut. Since my post a couple days ago confused at least one person, TrustedGut has now officially taken over the old King Harbor Brewing Company location on 182nd Street.
For those unfamiliar with TrustedGut, they have been around for a couple years now, primarily known in the Long Beach area for their hard seltzers and kombucha. Word is that the Long Beach location will likely open in the next few months. In the meantime, beer will be produced and poured at their new Redondo Beach location. Continue reading
Photos of LB Sake Day 2023
These photos were taken Saturday, September 30 at Rancho Los Cerritos Historical Site in Long Beach, where Craft Beer LB and Sake Secret collaborated to celebrate World Sake Day by hosting the First Annual LB Sake Day.
The inaugural event featured literally dozens of different sakes, several Japanese food options, and a little Japanese beer. It was really just missing sushi to make it a perfect event. Continue reading
Creature Comforts LA Soft Open Photos
These photos were taken Friday afternoon at Creature Comforts new Los Angeles location, located close to the Garment District area of L.A. Friday was day three of their soft open, which will last about a month.
For those unfamiliar, Creature Comforts is an Athens, Georgia based brewery. Because of weird laws in Georgia, they decided it made more sense to open a location in California than another in Georgia; so I guess we win.
To be honest, I had planned on going Wednesday, but they didn’t open until 4:00 and I cut it too close and hit the freeway just as rush hour started. My GPS estimated arrival time just kept climbing and I wasn’t making any progress so I made the call to wait until Friday or Saturday when they opened at noon.
I had been invited to join some people at Monkish at noon, and I had a feeling my buddy Joe “Dastardly Brews” Jupiter would be joining us, and I knew Joe was looking for something special for his 100th brewery, so I figured I would invite him along. It didn’t take too much convincing; so we finished our brews and headed to Creature Comforts. Continue reading
7th Annual Craft Beer LB Fest Photos
These photos were taken Saturday, September 16 at the Rancho Los Cerritos Historical Site in Long Beach, where Craft Beer LB held their 7th Annual Craft Beer LB Fest. The event featured plenty of craft beer from more than a dozen local breweries, sake, live music, and food for the approximate 1,000 attendees. It was a fun event that even the weather cooperated with.
I had to mention the weather because in the past I have mentioned how great the weather was, and frequently joke with festival organizer Dennis Trilles about how he seems to have a connection with the weather gods as no matter how sucky the weather might be prior to the event, it always seems to be nice on the day of the event. When I walked out of my house yesterday I could see that there must have been rain overnight. Having to utilize my windshield wipers on the way down to Long Beach I was beginning to wonder if I should have brought a windbreaker or not. While it was misting a little early on, the rain went away and the marine layer left everything comfortable in just a t-shirt. Continue reading
Photos from Chad’s Going Away Can Exchange
These photos were taken Saturday evening at the Craft Beer Reclamation Center, aka my house, where a couple dozen people gathered to say farewell to Chad Hazen (Bald Chad, Sofee Chad) with another craft beer can exchange. Chad has accepted a job with Boston Beer Company, so he is moving to Boston. I figured a can exchange would be a suitable way to send him off.
Of the close to 20 can exchanges I have put on since the Covid lockdown, this was definitely the largest turnout we have had, and I am sure Chad felt the love. In addition to the 40 four-packs that were involved in the can exchange, people brought literal gallons of beer, sake, and mead to share with attendees. Continue reading
Far Field Beer Company 2nd Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Far Field Beer Company, in Lawndale, where they celebrated their second anniversary at their brewery/tasting room. The event featured live music, food popups, vendors peddling their wares, a photo booth, games, raffles, brewery tours, and about 19 tap offerings, including a couple anniversary brews (depending on who you talked to).
It was a lovely afternoon in the South Bay, and at least 100 people showed up (while I was there) to enjoy the mellow weather and join in the festivities with their families and four-legged friends. Continue reading
Five Point Five Brewing Company Grand Opening Photos
These photos were taken Friday afternoon at Five Point Five Brewing Company in El Segundo, when they officially opened their doors to the public, bringing El Segundo’s craft brewery count back up to four, joining El Segundo Brewing, Upshift Brewing, and Boardroom Brewery. Five Point Five is at the location previously occupied by Surfridge Brewing, and is now owned by the brewer for Surfridge, and his family.
Friday was their official Grand Opening, and while I arrived within the first couple of hours of their opening the doors, it was very well attended, not only by friends and family, but they also had attendees from El Segundo Brewing and Upshift, which is always a good sign, in my opinion. Continue reading
Blow a Glass at Scholb Premium Ales
These photos were taken this past Friday evening at Scholb Premium Ales, in Torrance, where they hosted Blow a Glass, a mobile operation that teaches glass blowing. Friday evening they set up shop in Scholb’s tasting room to display several of their glass water pipes and offered classes to those wanting to create their own glass.
I have to admit, I was hoping that there would be more in the way of demonstrations on how they create the intricate water pipes, but this was more for teaching people how to make their own drinking glasses. Since there was a lot of twirling of molten glass by newbies, I stayed out of the way which means I was unable to get the photos I was hoping for. Continue reading