Smog City Brewing

A Visit to the Torrance Microbreweries

I have always felt pretty fortunate to live in the South Bay with its great weather and lack of natural disasters, but the recent explosion of craft brewers in the area has made living here that much better. Earlier in the month, Torrance Mayor Scotto even cited craft beer as a new growth industry for Torrance. I will do all I can to help Torrance craft brewers succeed and look forward to the day that a tour of Torrance microbreweries will rival anything San Diego County can offer. Torrance currently has three microbreweries with tasting rooms, Strand Brewing Company, Monkish Brewing Company and Smog City Brewing. On Saturday my girlfriend Tanya and I had gone out to photograph flowers at the South Coast Botanical Gardens, which just happened to be around the corner from Strand Brewing Company, so we made a stop on the way home.

Strand Brewing Company is one of the original two microbreweries here that has a tasting room. While the tasting room has only been open for little over a year, Strand Brewing has been in business since 2009, supplying local establishments that serve craft beer. Probably best known for their 24th Street Pale Ale and Atticus IPA’s, Strand Brewing’s owner/brewmaster Joel Elliot has been releasing a few different styles including some outstanding Double IPA’s, with White Sand being a personal favorite. Their Second Sleep Imperial Stout is another standout. Strand has recently started bottling beers so it is becoming easier to take my favorites home and have them last longer than what growler can provide.

Tanya was getting a little hungry, so we decided to head over to Monkish Brewing Company because they seem to always have a food truck there on Fridays and Saturdays. Saturday they had Andy’s Cart, a gourmet hot dog and sausage cart. We tried their Chicago dog and a Reuben sausage sandwich; they were pretty good.

Monkish Brewing Company opened their tasting room about the same time as Strand Brewing and specializes in Belgian style ales. It has been a pleasure watching Monkish grow as owner/brewmaster Henry Nguyen expands his list of available beers. The first time I visited Monkish they had four taps available; their Oblate, Anomaly, Red Table and Feminist. When we stopped by Saturday there were a total of 10 taps pouring including his new lager, a Dubbel and a Tripel. Barrel aged is next on tap. Continue reading

Business & Beer welcomes Smog City Brewing

These photos are from the Business & Beer networking event which was held at Smog City Brewing Company on Thursday evening. While Smog City just had their grand opening last Saturday and are still figuring out what days and hours they are going to be open, they were gracious enough to experiment with the idea of being open on Thursdays, at least for now. We had a pretty nice turnout last night with this being the first time trying Smog City beers for most; judging by the number of flights being purchased, most were eager to try out the various options available. In addition to the great beer, Urban Pie, a mobile pizzeria was there with their word burning oven and four variations of pizza available; I think their Bee Stinger (named so for the honey they drizzle over it) was my favorite. I may have to start adding honey to all my pies; it was good stuff at a fair price.

For those of you that live or work in the South Bay and find business networking to be important to your business growth, you are invited to join the Business & Beer networking group. We have been around since July 2012 and meet every Thursday at a different microbrewery, brewpub or gastropub in the South Bay area. There are no dues, no mandatory meetings and no restrictions on joining us. Just show up when you can. The upcoming schedule can be found on the Business & Beer website, BusinessNBeer.com. There you can sign up for the mailing list or Like on Facebook to be sure you are kept in the loop for our upcoming gatherings. Next week will be at The Rockefeller gastropub in Hermosa Beach. It is a fun place with lots of great craft beer to choose from. Continue reading

Day 6 of American Craft Beer Week 2013

beer menu

Smog City Beer on Tap

Saturday was day six of the 8th Annual American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) and to be honest, it was a day that I had been waiting for like a kid at Christmas; Smog City Brewing Company finally had their grand opening. It is not like the South Bay is lacking in microbreweries, but Smog City is geographically the closest to me (by about two blocks) and Jon Porter(owner/brewer, goes by Porter) brews the widest variety of beers for miles. On their tap list Saturday, they had Smog City XPA, Groundwork Coffee Porter, Sabre-Toothed Squirrel(Red Ale), Quercus Circus (Sour), Bourbon Red (Barrel Aged), Penumbra Stout, Amarilla Gorilla (IPA) and Weird Beer (Saison). The plan is to eventually have 20 beers available on their taps, so in my opinion, Smog City Brewing is a great addition to the South Bay craft beer scene. Oh, and Porter won a gold at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival for his Groundwork Coffee Porter.

beer taps

Every party should have 15 taps

After leaving Smog City I headed over to a birthday party for the president of one of the local home brewing clubs, Strand Brewers Club. I felt it appropriate that I include was able to include a home brewers gathering in this celebration of American craft beer. It seems that every biography I read about a respected brewer includes science and/or engineering and being a home brewer. In fact, Porter of Smog City started off as a home brewer and was a member of the Pacific Gravity home brewers club and won many competitions as a home brewer. The host of the Strand Brewers Club party was Rives Borland, the current president, because it was his birthday. A look around Rives living room shows he has several ribbons and plaques from brewing competitions under his belt, so you never know; someday I may be writing about his new brewery, only time will tell.

You can see all the photos from day 6 of the 2013 American Craft Beer Week on GotBaddog.com.

American Craft Beer Week, Day 5

San Pedro Brewing Company

San Pedro Brewing Company

Friday was day 5 of the 8th Annual American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) and I am fortunate enough to have two award winning brewers within a few miles of my home. The first being San Pedro Brewing Company and the other being Smog City Brewing.

As legend has it, in the beginning there were three microbreweries in the South Bay; Manhattan Beach Brewing Company, Redondo Beach Brewing Company and San Pedro Brewing Company. Manhattan Beach Brewing gave up on brewing and became a gastropub (Brewco Manhattan Beach), preferring to sell a wide variety of craft beers brewed by others. Redondo Beach Brewing Company continues to brew at their Riviera Village brewpub, but they do not experiment much and the beer recipes seemed to stay the same, batch after batch; it is a good entry level brewery to visit, but nothing exciting. Rumor has it that they will be discontinuing brewing there soon, preferring to go the route of Manhattan Beach Brewing. Of the three, San Pedro Brewing Company continues to brew and is opening a subsidiary of sorts, Port Town Brewing which has already won numerous awards.

Smog City Brewing

Smog City Beer on Tap

San Pedro Brewing Company (SPBC) is a brewpub that has been at their current location for 13 years. They have won more than 43 medals in local county fairs, commercial beer competitions and international beer festivals. In addition to award winning beers, they have some pretty good food. SPBC gives tours on Friday afternoons, so if in the area, you might want to check it out. I was given a mini-tour and have to admit, I was quite surprised at the quantity and quality of beers they brew with such a small operation. When I was taken downstairs I fully expected to see a massive operation; as you can tell by the photos that was far from being the case.

While there I tried a flight of all seven in-house brewed beers that were available: Bruin Blonde Ale (2012 Silver Medal, California Commercial Beer Competition), Longshoreman Lager (2009 Gold Medal American Style Lager, Los Angeles County Fair), Port Town Hefeweizen, Mai Bock Spring Lager, Iowa Battleship IPA, Beacon Street Barleywine (2012 American Style Barleywine, Los Angeles International Beer Competition) and Sunken City Imperial Stout.

When I left San Pedro I headed over to Smog City Brewing as they just got their growlers in and I wanted to be among the first on my block to own one. While there I had a Quercus Circus Sour and an Amarilla Gorilla IPA; we picked up a growler of the 2012 Great American Beer Festival gold medal winner, Smog City Groundwork Coffee Porter. Smog City’s grand opening was held on Saturday, so that will be the subject of my ACBW day 6 report. All my photos from day five of American Craft beer Week will be found on GotBaddog.com.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Archives