tasting room
El Segundo Brewing 11th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at El Segundo Brewing Company, in El Segundo, where they celebrated their 11th anniversary. The day featured an anniversary beer, a couple can releases, and the Something Good LA food truck. Coincidentally, it was also the ninth anniversary of the launch of CraftBeerGuy.com.
It was a pretty hot day at the beach, and the throngs that came to help celebrate El Segundo Brewing’s milestone took full advantage of any shady spot they could find. Continue reading
A Visit to Border X Brewing
These photos were taken Friday afternoon, April 22, when I took a drive out to Bell to visit my friend, Robert Sanchez, who is the brewer at Border X Brewing. If Robert’s name sounds familiar, it is probably because he has been involved in the Greater Los Angeles craft beer scene since 2014. I first met him in 2014 when he brewed at Ohana Brewing Company, followed by stints at Kinetic Brewing, State Brewing, and Ximix Brewing.
Border X Brewing is a Chicano and woman owned brewery with two locations; the Bell location I visited and their original location in San Diego. The San Diego location had a 5-bbl brewhouse, with the Bell location housing an expanded 10-bbl brewhouse which now produces beer for both locations. If memory serves, the San Diego location opened around 2013, with the Bell location opening in March of 2019, just in time for the COVID shutdown a year later. When they shut down, the original Border X brewers left and Robert came on when things opened up last year. Continue reading
Photos of Kristie’s Going Away Party at Smog City
These photos were taken Friday evening at the Smog City Brewing tasting room in Torrance, where friends and coworkers gathered to wish Kristie Bjorklund a fond farewell as she said goodbye to the South Bay to pursue new adventures in Central California.
I was trying to think just how long I have known Kristie; I think it has been about 10 years. She has worked at Sierra Nevada Brewing, King Harbor Brewing, and most recently, at Smog City, primarily at their Steelcraft location. With her move comes a new job, this time with Firestone Walker in Paso Robles; so if you are going to the Invitational, be sure to tell her hello as she will be working. Continue reading
Photos from the Smog City 11th Anniversary
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Smog City Brewing Company’s brewery and tasting room in Torrance, where several hundred fans gathered to celebrate Smog City’s 11th anniversary. The event featured food trucks, live music, a dunk tank for charity, a mini market, games, and beer; lots of delicious Smog City beer.
While I was there, seafood was available from Anarchy Seafood, with burgers from Heavy Handed LA; after I left Baserriko Peppers came onboard with their sandwiches and churrasco.
There was live music provided by Fuzzy Logic, and a beer garden market village was set up featuring Macetas Plants LA, Gogoma Bakes Dog Treats, D’s Cookies, and local illustrator Evan Clark. Continue reading
Brouwerij West 6th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Brouwerij West in San Pedro, where they celebrated day two of their six year anniversary. The day featured live music, a couple anniversary beers, and a few food trucks.
During my time there, live music was provided by Sentry Dogs, Mor Flowrs, and Moldy Roses. There were three other bands that were scheduled to play after I left.
For their anniversary, Brouwerij West released their Six Times Six Times Hazy IPA, and their Dead Water Imperial Pastry Stout as well as a barrel-aged version of Dead Water. Continue reading
Portland Craft Beer Tour 2021
These photos were taken Tuesday and Wednesday, November 16 and 17, in Portland, Oregon, where I joined some friends for a 36 hour whirlwind craft beer tour. The breweries we visited included Von Ebert Brewing, Deschutes Portland Public House, Backwoods Brewing, 10 Barrel Brewing, Upright Brewing, Rogue Eastside Pub & Pilot Brewery, Cascade Brewing, and Deschutes Brewery PDX. As half of our crew had never been to Portland before, there were also some tourist stops, such as Pine State Biscuits, Voodoo Donuts, The Big Legrowlski, Kelly’s Olympian, and Poet’s Beach.
So yeah, this trip was a little (okay, a lot) different than 99.99% of the articles I have written about my travels, because this time I had zero say in what we did or where we went. My only decisions for two days were what beer I wanted, and what did I want to eat. I have not had so little responsibility since I was 17. Continue reading
Craft Beer Guy Visits Huntington Beach
These photos were taken Friday in Huntington Beach, where I did a small craft beer tour with my friends, Jeff and Yurany. We visited Riip Beer Company, Flashpoint Brewing, and Beachwood Brewing.
Those of you that were following my Craft Beer Tour 2021 may have noticed that it had a pretty abrupt ending; as a result, I decided that instead of driving thousands of miles to visit new breweries, I would try to fit in a few day trips to breweries that were a little closer. As Jeff and Yurany had the day off, we decided to venture out together to Huntington Beach. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2021: Medford, OR
These photos were taken Thursday evening, September 30, day 16 of my Craft Beer Tour 2021, when I visited Medford, Oregon. My reasons for visiting Medford were pretty simple; I do not really enjoy driving in the dark when on these trips for the simple reason that I cannot see and appreciate the country I are driving through, this pretty much guaranteed I would be spending another night in Oregon. Since I had already visited Grants Pass in 2018 I decided that Medford would be my home for the night.
I don’t know if you have ever visited Medford, but it is not an easy town to navigate for a first time visitor; at least in my opinion.
As I have mentioned before, when I do these trips I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants, and Medford was a perfect example of that as I had zero clue where I would be staying and the name of one brewery that may, or may not, still be open according to rumors in Eugene. Since I really had no idea what else to put in my GPS, I aimed for Opposition Brewing Company. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2021: Yakima, WA
These photos were taken September 25, day 11 of my Craft Beer Tour 2021, and I must admit, I was looking forward to what this day would bring. Actually, I had a very good idea of what this day would bring because I was headed to Yakima, Washington; home of Bale Breaker Brewing Company, one of only two breweries I consider to be one of my destination breweries.
A destination brewery to me, is one that if I am within 200 miles of it, I must do all I can to get there. As I was staying a mere 193 miles from them, I don’t see that I had much of a choice in the matter. I knew I was going to find fresh hop beers there. Continue reading
El Segundo Brewing 10th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the El Segundo Brewing Company tasting room, where El Segundo Brewing celebrated their 10 year anniversary. The event included the release of their Hüftgold Festbier and VollerKOLSCHster, as well as the re-release of their 10th anniversary triple IPA. The Slice and Pint provided bratwursts and sauerkraut, and Röckenwagner Bakery provided their giant pretzels. Live Bavarian polka music was provided by Hammerstein Band (their singer had a beautiful voice).
This was a very fun event, and very well attended; I heard several people mention that is almost seemed like the pre-COVID days. With all the smiles and a tap list boasting more than 20 available brews, I have to agree. Continue reading