soft open

ISM Brewing Soft Open Begins

These photos were taken Wednesday, November 29 at ISM Brewing, the newest brewpub in Long Beach, day two of the ISM Brewing Soft Open.

First things first, ISM Brewing is pronounced iz-uhm, not eye-ess-em, and the letters are actually the initials of the owner/brewer, Ian S. McCall.

Secondly, ISM Brewing has taken over the former location of Beachwood Brewing’s brewpub on 3rd Street, which is where Ian cut his teeth in the craft beer world. 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

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

Two Coast Brewing Soft Open Photos

These photos were taken Thursday afternoon/evening at Two Coast Brewing Company, in Gardena, where the latest addition to the South Bay’s craft scene held their soft open. Their tap list consisted of eight German style brews including their Pilsner, Kolsch, German Pale Ale, a Dunkelweizen, Hefeweizen, Cream Ale, and a couple fest biers.

I arrived about 30 minutes after they opened and they already had a small group assemble, by the time I got ready to leave they were almost at capacity; it was obvious that co-founders Roger and Jan were enjoying watching their tasting room fill up. Continue reading

Soft Open of Hermosa Brewing in Torrance Photos

These photos were taken Thursday evening at the soon to be open Hermosa Brewing Company in Torrance, where they held a friends and family soft open in preparation of their grand opening, which should happen within the next couple of weeks.

The event featured burgers from Proudly Serving, live music by Righteous and The Soul, and of course, plenty of Hermosa Brewing Company beer, with 11 taps available. Continue reading

Far Field Beer Company Soft Open Photos

These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Far Field Beer Company, in Lawndale, where they opened their tasting room to the public for the first time with a soft open.

For the soft open, Far Field offered seven brews, including their Two Wheeler Berliner Weisse, All-Terrain Cream Ale, Common Misconception California Common, Feller Pilsner, Nebula Session IPA, Field of View Hazy IPA, and Home Range West Coast IPA. Corner Joint, a local restaurant literally around the corner had a wide variety of pizzas available for those wishing solid food. Continue reading

Crac Brewery and Grub: From the Beginning

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

SoCal Vibes Soft Open Photos

These photos were taken Saturday evening at SoCal Vibes Co. in Carson, where they celebrated Leap Day with the kind of official soft open. The event featured DJs, special pricing on food from their kitchen, and special Honest Abe cider releases.

SoCal Vibes is located at the same location of the now defunct Hokulea Brewing Company. If you will recall, Hokulea shared the spot with Southern California Cider Company, aka SoCal Cider. When Hokulea closed up, SoCal Cider/Honest Abe Hard Ciders owner Spencer Chambers was determined to keep the location open. It is almost one of those “if life gives you lemons” stories. Continue reading

The Brews Hall at Del Amo: From the Beginning

I guess it was the end of 2018 that I started hearing rumors that a new brewery was coming to Torrance. The details were vague, but I heard it was going to be over by the Del Amo Shopping Center and it was being opened by Mike Zislis, the man behind such local favorites as Brewco Manhattan Beach, Rock & Brews, and Rock’n Fish. I figured there were only a couple spots at Del Amo that could fit a brewery, so I made a mental note to drive by whenever possible to see if I could figure out the new location. One afternoon I noticed a building that used to house a cross-fit gym that had the familiar Notice of Application to Sell Alcoholic Beverages; I knew I had the location correct.

On February 19 I happened to be at Brewco in Manhattan Beach for the Pliny the Younger release, when Mike Zislis, Dave Furano (Co-founder at Rock & Brews), and George Lopez came in and sat at the table next to me. Naturally, I used the opportunity to confirm that my research matched up with the rumors I had heard; it did. I also used to opportunity to get the okay to photograph the build, which was granted. I started photographing the location on February 28 and the photographs end today, November 4 as they are now in the soft open phase. Continue reading

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