These photos were taken Tuesday, Christmas Eve 2019, at The 4th Horseman in Long Beach. The 4th Horseman is a pizza and beer bar that opened in November of 2018; they specialize in craft beer, fine wine, and apocalyptic pizza. The primary reason it is even on my radar is that two of the four founders are Martin Svab and Ryan Hughes, previously of Carson’s Phantom Carriage Brewery. The other two founders are Jeremy Schott of The Dark Art Emporium, and Chef Adam Schmalz who helped open Gabi James in Redondo Beach and used to run the kitchen at Phantom Carriage.
While The 4th Horseman has been open for a little more than a year, this was my first visit. While I am not really a pizza guy, I could not help but notice the accolades they have been receiving in the press over the last several months, as well as some amazing photos I have seen friends post on Facebook and Instagram. When The 4th Horseman first opened, they did not open until 4:00 PM and driving to Long Beach from the South Bay at that hour just didn’t make sense. Well, they now open at 11:00 AM, and since they were having a Christmas Eve special going on I headed out, confident traffic would not be an issue. Continue reading
These photos were taken Monday afternoon at Beachwood Blendery in Long Beach, where they held the drawing for their 8th Annual Pliny Fights Cancer Charity Raffle. As you are most likely aware, the beginning of February is when Russian River’s triple IPA, Pliny the Younger is released. It is highly sought after and usually requires trying to find a place that received a keg from Russian River, then figuring out the day it will be tapped and dealing with the inevitable lines. Beachwood BBQ & Brewing decided to do it a little differently. For eight years now they have been selling raffle tickets to get a 16oz pour for $5.00 with the proceeds going to the Melanoma Research Foundation in memory of a long time Beachwood friend, Tony Carbone who passed away in 2008 from Stage 3 Melanoma.
Like past years, the drawing was streamed live via the Four Brewers podcast and like last year, 200 winners were picked. This year, the raffle collected more than $7,000, bringing the total raised since the beginning to close to $93,000! Continue reading
These photos were taken Friday evening at Phantom Carriage Brewery in Carson, where friends and co-workers of Phantom’s co-founder Martin Svab and his girlfriend, Ryan Hughes, gathered to say “until we meet again” to the pair that helped create Phantom Carriage, as Friday was their last official day of handling the day-to-day operations of running the brewpub.
As was announced last week, Martin is relinquishing control of daily operations while retaining his ownership in Phantom Carriage; he will act as a consultant during the transition period.
While Martin and Ryan may be departing from Phantom Carriage, they are not leaving the local craft beer scene, as they plan on continuing putting on events like Festival Obscura, a fundraiser that they put on back in July for Sunnyside Cemetery. Their immediate plans also include owning a bottle shop in Long Beach. Continue reading