Torrance

Alpine Village Euro Bierfest Taplist Update & Coupon Code

1st bierfest attendees

Join us at Alpine Village’s 2nd Annual Euro Bierfest

As I announced about a month ago, Alpine Village in Torrance will be holding their 2nd Annual Euro Bierfest on Saturday, June 27 from 11:00 AM until 3:30 PM. According to the updated tap list, this beer festival will consist of craft beers from all over Europe, including Belgium, Germany, England, Scotland, Iceland, Italy, France, Austria, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

Some of the offerings will include Hell, Edel and Rose from ABK Beer, Aecht Schlenkerla Fastenbier from Schlenkerla Heller-Bräu Trum, Baladin’s Nora and Noel, Brasserie d’Achouffe’s Houblon Chouffe, La Chouffe and Chouffe Bok. Also included will be brews from Iceland’s Olvisholt Brugghus, France’s Brasserie De Saint-Sylvestre, as well as Austria’s Stift Engelszell and Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg breweries. Continue reading

Monkish Brewing Company CUP Modification Approved

Henry & Adriana

Monkish Brewing owners Henry & Adriana Nguyen

On Wednesday evening the Torrance Planning Commission heard a request by Torrance craft brewery, Monkish Brewing Company to modify their Conditional Use Permit issued in 2011 to allow extended hours and food trucks. Their application, MOD15-00004, was approved unanimously.

Monkish Brewing Company was the first production brewery in Torrance to get a Conditional Use Permit to open a tasting room, even though Strand Brewing opened a couple weeks before them. Back in 2011 when Monkish first appeared before the Planning Commission the craft beer landscape was significantly different in the South Bay than what we have today. There was Monkish and Strand in Torrance with El Segundo Brewing in El Segundo. As it was a new scene and no one really knew if craft beer was going to take hold this time (it tried 15-20 years ago with little success); in fact, when Monkish first requested to open the tasting room it was described as a “small accessory” to the brewery itself. As a consumer, I kind of figured that the three brewery owners got together and said, “Let’s open Thursday through Sunday and see what happens.”

Well, the times have changed; Torrance is now a craft beer destination. Instead of having two production breweries and one brewpub (Red Car) in Torrance, we now have five production breweries with a second brewpub (HopSaint) scheduled to open within the next two months. With the addition of each new production brewery and tasting room has come the request for longer hours and the ability to have food trucks. When Strand Brewing Company got the Conditional Use Permit for their new location, they made sure to request the ability to have longer hours and food trucks. Last night’s approval essentially leveled the playing field for Monkish Brewing giving them the ability to be open essentially seven days a week including special events. Continue reading

Photos from Strand Brewers Monster Brew at Monkish Brewing

These photos were taken at a Monster Brew put on by the Strand Brewers Club and hosted by Monkish Brewing Company. While this was a Strand Brewers Club event, home brewers from Crude Brew Crew, Pacific Gravity, Maltose Falcons and Long Beach Homebrewers were also in attendance.

For those unfamiliar with a “monster brew”, typically, a brewery will create wort then sell batches of it to home brewers who will take it home and add their own preferred yeast and additional malts, extracts, hops or whatever they desire. Since Monkish Brewing does do Belgian-style brews I was not surprised to hear that Belgian-style pale ales were a popular goal for many.

The grain bill consisted of:

78% Domestic 2-Row Malt
12% Flaked Oats
5% Vienna Malt
4% Acid Malt

The goal was a 1.051 OG wort at 25 IBUs. I did not hear how close they were, but I suspect it was very close if not dead on.

As you can see by the photos, they had a very large turnout; I left before they finished doling out the wort so I am not sure if they had extra or not. I have seen times that gallons had to be dumped because it wasn’t all sold. The point is, if you are just getting into home brewing you should watch out for these events. Getting the wort right is the toughest part, so if you can get 5-10 gallons done professionally you have a great start to a good homebrewed beer. If you are a homebrewer and haven’t joined one yet, seek out a homebrew club in your area, you will find a community of people with a willingness to help you be the best you can be as a home brewer. Cheers! Continue reading

Alpine Village 2nd Annual Euro Bierfest Promo Code

UPDATE: Effective June 1, online prices for tickets has increased to $45. Use the NEW PROMO CODE: EURCBGA to save $7.50 per ticket. This expires June 26

1st Euro Bierfest

Join us at the 2nd Annual Euro Bierfest

On Saturday June 27, The Alpine Village Inn in Torrance will hold their 2nd Annual Euro Bierfest. This beer festival will consist of craft beers from all over Europe, including Belgium, Germany, England, Scotland, Iceland, Italy, France and the Czech Republic. If you attended last year, you know what a good time it was; if you didn’t, you don’t want to miss two in a row.

As I look through the partial list of breweries scheduled to be represented I see Chimay, Silly, Het Anker, Einstok, Orkney, Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan and Courage Brewery included. While this event will definitely be light on IPAs there will be lots of ciders, sours, Pilsners, stouts, porters, guezes, tripels, quads and various bocks to try. The first Euro Bierfest provided about 50 brews to 300 attendees and it was a very fun event. If history has proven anything, this 2nd Annual Euro Bierfest will be bigger and better than last year. To help make things a little easier at the door, this event will begin at 11:00 AM.

Prost!

Join us on June 27 for the 2nd Annual Euro Bierfest

Continue reading

Smog City Brewing Company 2nd Anniversary

These photos were taken at the Smog City Brewing Company’s 2nd Anniversary party which was held at their tasting room on Saturday afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, at this time of year there are a host of beer events going on just about every weekend and even some mid-week. It makes it difficult to attend every event that I would like. This, combined with the fact that for some reason I thought Smog City was open until 9:00 PM when the reality is they are only open until 8:00 PM on Saturdays, resulted in my very late arrival to the festivities. To be honest, when we arrived the parking lot was still packed so it did not really dawn on me that it was close to closing time.

Entering the tasting room, things were still in full swing even if some of the specialty brews that had been available were tapped out and several of the bottled beers were sold out. If you did not get a chance to visit Smog City on Saturday you might want to head over there today to see what you can grab before it is gone. Smog City Brewing is open until 6:00 PM on Sundays and is located at 1901 Del Amo Boulevard in Torrance. Congratulations to the entire Smog City family/team; you have been a great addition to the local craft beer scene and I know I speak for many of us when I say we cannot wait to see what develops over the next year. Cheers! Continue reading

LA Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest Photos

These photos are from the inaugural L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest that was held Saturday afternoon at the Alpine Village Restaurant in Alpine Village located in Torrance. As hinted by the name, this event featured craft beer brewed in Los Angeles County and artisanal food vendors from the Los Angeles area. I would venture to say that there were close to 500 attendees which far exceeded the expectations of Alpine Village, but for the most part things went smoothly, all things considered.

The last update that I had received suggested that there would be 31 craft breweries represented but by the time the map/program was printed only 29 were listed and not all of them were available. To say that there was some confusion would be putting it mildly. I am not going to pretend to know what arrangements were made, but it was my understanding that Alpine Village had purchased the beers rather than relying on donations from the breweries. The end result was that some of the breweries sent representatives to be on-hand to pour and some did not. Some of the beers did not even make it onto the floor until the event was half over. The breweries that I saw, or at least heard from reputable sources were there, included California 101 Cider House, Absolution Brewing, Eagle Rock Brewing, Strand Brewing, Phantom Carriage, Santa Monica Brew Works, Timeless Pints, Smog City, Wolf Creek, Hand-Brewed, Enegren, Bravery Brewing, Boomtown Brewing, Three Weavers, Solarc Brewing, Cosmic Ales, The Dudes’, King Harbor Brewing, Golden Road, Monkish, Ohana, San Pedro Brewing Company and Congregation Ale House. I am not saying others were not there, I just never spotted them. On a personal level, it was good to see Enegren Brewing represented as I have not visited them in well over two years and it was nice to finally meet the guys from Hand-Brewed and having the opportunity to try one of their brews (Deez Nuts Brown Ale). Continue reading

Business & Beer returns to The Dudes’ Brewing Company

On Thursday evening the Business & Beer networking group held their April gathering at The Dudes’ Brewing Company tasting room in Torrance. This was Business & Beer’s first return to The Dudes’ since their meeting last August and quite a lot has happened with The Dudes’ in the past eight months. They have gone through a couple assistant brewers, expanded distribution and had to deal with a grain mill that broke down.

I had a brief conversation with head brewer Jeff Parker and he informed me that their issues with equipment have been resolved and that we should begin seeing more experimental brews coming from their pilot system. One example would be their OrganiWeisse which was made available on Thursday evening.

To be honest, the turnout for Business & Beer was not very good which I am not sure the cause; families are gone for Spring Break and tax season is ending. As Parker mentioned; “You can’t pack the house every time.” Continue reading

Bourbon O.E. & Goldie Bottle Release at Smog City Brewing

These photos are from Smog City Brewing Company’s Bourbon O.E. Barleywine and Goldie Golden Ale bottle release that was held Saturday afternoon at the Smog City tasting room. I got a somewhat late start, not arriving until a couple hours after they opened, but photos I saw on my Facebook feed indicated that there was a line of Smog City fans waiting outside when they opened. By the time I got there the tasting room was still pretty crowded but the lines moved quickly for those that came for bottles to go, and for those that wanted to try the new releases.

To be honest, my main concern with my late arrival was that the bottles might be sold out; luckily, they bottled about 500 more of each than the last time and there were still bottles of both left when I left. Since Smog City is closed today, Easter Sunday, there might be some bottles available if you show up when they open their doors next Wednesday; I highly doubt they will last much longer than that.

If you do show up at Smog and they are out of bottles, do not despair as there is plenty on tap. They are not selling growlers but a bourbon barrel-aged flight would be highly recommended. They brought out last year’s Goldie to compare to the newest release and the difference is pretty noticeable right from the start with the nose revealing that the bourbon is going to be pretty forward. I believe Belgian Bourbon Candy was the phrase I heard most often. Continue reading

L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest Update: New Promo Code

Beer fest attendees

Alpine Village’s Beer Festivals are fun for all

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Alpine Village will hold their inaugural L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest on April 18, 2015 at the Alpine Inn Restaurant in Torrance. This craft beer festival will be unlike any others held at Alpine Village in that all the breweries and food vendors featured will be located in Los Angeles County.

While the current list of breweries is still incomplete and is subject to change, because sometimes things happen, it is shaping up to be a very fine event. The breweries that have confirmed attending as of this date are Absolution Brewing Company, Alosta Brewing, Angel City, Bravery Brewing, Claremont Craft Ales, Congregation Ale House, Cosmic Ales, Eagle Rock Brewery, El Segundo Brewing, Enegren Brewing, Golden Road Brewing, Hand Brewed Beer, Kinetic Brewing, King Harbor Brewing, Ladyface Ale Companie, MacLeod Ale, Monkish Brewing, Ohana Brewing Company, Phantom Carriage, Red Car Brewing, Santa Monica Brew Works, Smog City Brewing, Solarc Brewing, Strand Brewing, The Dudes’ Brewing, Three Weavers Brewing, Timeless Pints Brewing and Wolf Creek. There are a few LA area breweries that have yet to respond but there are high hopes that they will before it is too late. Some breweries just do not have enough beer on hand to participate, so we will have to wait until next year for them.

beerfest attendees

All Local Craft Beer

The L.A. Local Craft Beer & Artisanal Food Fest will be held at the Alpine Inn Restaurant in Torrance on April 18, from noon until 4:00 PM. General admission is $40 at the door, however if you purchase your ticket online and use PROMO CODE: LALOCCZ you will receive $5.00 off each ticket! You can purchase your tickets through Admit One Products or Eventbrite; be advised that Eventbrite has a little higher service fees so you might want to use Admit One Products. You should also know that Designated Drivers get in free, but they can purchase food tickets and non-alcoholic beverages. Continue reading

Strand Brewing Company to Relocate: CUP Approved

2201 Dominguez

Future home of Strand Brewing Company

On Wednesday evening, Strand Brewing Company owners Joel Elliott and Rich Marcello appeared before the Torrance Planning Commission to request that their Conditional Use Permit, CUP15-00004 be approved. The gist of the request is that Strand Brewing Company wants to move to a bigger facility, be open longer and to be able to host special or private events on the days that they are not normally open. They also asked for the ability to bring in food trucks that comply with Torrance’s rules and have all the required permits.

Joel Elliott presented the request to the Planning Commission and addressed an email correspondence from one Torrance citizen that was very animate that she was against the idea of a “bar” moving into the neighborhood with its noisy drunks wandering into people’s homes by mistake. He agreed that if this was the case he would not want it either; but anyone that goes to Strand Brewing Company or any local tasting room, knows this is not the case. Fortunately, there were six letters in favor of approval from neighboring businesses, customers, a charitable organization and a mix of all of the above. In addition, there must have been 10-15 supporters in the audience, four of us who spoke in favor of approval including Monkish Brewery owner, Henry Nguyen. Smog City Brewing owner Porter was in the audience in support of Elliott and Marcello’s request.

After I gave my prepared speech, Planning Commission Chair Steven Polcari mentioned that three or four had been sitting on the commission when Strand Brewing first applied almost six years ago. It was Commissioner Steve Skoll that asked the question everyone in the room wanted to know; “When are you opening?” Elliott said that he hoped for the end of May 2015, to which Skoll said he would tell everyone June. Elliott smiled and thanked him. The Conditional Use Permit was approved unanimously. Continue reading

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