Torrance
Business & Beer Pays Visit to Strand Brewing Company
On Thursday evening the Business & Beer networking group paid one of its final visits to the Strand Brewing Company tasting room with a handful of attendees. The reason I say it was one of their final visits to the Strand Brewing tasting room is that Strand Brewing should be moving over to the Ale Triangle section of Torrance before too long. For those unfamiliar with the area I just described as the Ale Triangle, that is the part of Torrance that Smog City, Monkish Brewing and The Dudes’ are located; over by Western and Del Amo. I will have more information on that move as it becomes available and I am allowed to disclose it.
After the poor showing at last month’s Business & Beer networking event, the question arose; “Has Business & Beer run its course? Should we continue?” Between the handful of people that came to Strand Brewing for the event and those Strand customers that were curious enough to come over and talk to us about the group, it was decided that the group shall continue; at least for the time being.
One of those that came over and asked about the group was Nikki of Nikki’s Atomic Oven. She does meal preparations and came bearing gifts, some really delicious cookies. Hopefully Nikki will be able to join us at future gatherings. Continue reading
A Craft Beer Valentine’s Day in the South Bay
As I sat down to write this, I asked Tanya what we did last year for Valentine’s Day. Neither of us could recall off hand but after a little research we discovered that we may be becoming creatures of habit with traditions we did not realize we had.
Anyway, this year Smog City Brewing re-released their Death By Hops DIPA so we decided to start the day off there. They had a brisk business going on with many beerlebrity sightings as hop heads from near and far came to check out the latest release; they would not be disappointed. Regular readers of Craft Beer Guy have probably noticed that I do not do beer reviews on this site (you can visit my Untappd account if you want those) but I will say that this batch is amazing. If you enjoy a good in-your-face hop bomb you will want to get over there before it is all gone. One thing that came to mind as I enjoyed it was just how lucky we are to live in an area that turns out so many great brews and the double IPAs. When you stop to think about Smog City’s Death By Hops, Strand Brewing’s White Sand, El Segundo Brewing’s Hammerland, and The Brewery at Abigaile’s Beetlejuice, to name but a few, the South Bay is turning out some of the best brews around.
After enjoying a beer at Smog City and speaking with a few people we headed down Western to Mulligan Family Fun Center to race go-karts. They have gas powered karts and governors equipped to prevent them from going very fast but it was still a lot of fun. No photos of this part of the day are available because I have yet to figure out how to race and work the camera at the same time. Continue reading
Photos from the Torrance Craft Brewery Walk
On Sunday afternoon, we held the second of what will hopefully become a series of walks and, possibly later, bicycle rides between the craft breweries located in the South Bay area. If you will recall, last Saturday we had our first walk, the Super Bowl Warmup Brewery Walk. That walk started off at Smog City Brewing Company before walking to Monkish Brewing then The Dudes’ Brewing before heading back to Smog City. For our first walk we had a very nice turnout, with close to 20 participants and two dogs. Yesterday we had 10 participants and four dogs. We also reversed the route to mix it up a little by walking from Smog City to The Dude’s before moving on to Monkish and back to Smog City.
Last week I polled a few of the people that joined us and I knew ahead of time that many of the people that came last week would not be able to make it this week; as it turned out only three of us have participated in both walks and we have people coming in from as far away as Echo Park and El Monte so this was a first time visit to our local tasting rooms for several in our group. I would, once again, like to thank everyone that came out yesterday; it was a lot of fun.
Next week we are going to do something a little different by increasing the distance on our next walk. The first two walks were just a little over one mile in total; the walk between King Harbor Brewing and Absolution Brewing is 2.5 miles each way. There are very few hills; in fact I would not really consider any portion of the route to be hilly. Each direction should take about an hour, so figure four hours in total between drinking and walking. Please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1406342963000228/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular for more details and to let us know if you will join us. At this time we have five people that have said they are walking; I do not really expect a bigger group, but it would be nice. I have mentioned to a few people that I would like to develop this into a charity walk, so I am testing some mobile apps that we can use to track our mileage and make donations accordingly. If you have suggestions, please don’t hesitate to tell me about them. Continue reading
Photos from the 1st Super Bowl Warmup Brewery Walk
At the end of 2014, my girlfriend Tanya decided that she was going to start doing some extensive walking. We already walk twice a day, every day for a little over a mile each time; but she wanted to do some distance walking, with hills to build up the strength she lost because of years of a misdiagnosed illness. She decided she was going to walk to the beach every day. Now, the beach is only about three miles from here, but there are some pretty steep hills involved so an indirect route is a little longer but the hills are not as intense; it also ends around Naja’s Place by the Redondo Beach Pier. A couple weeks ago we attempted to get people to join us for an eight mile round trip walk to Naja’s and back; I wasn’t too surprised when we ended up walking it by ourselves.
In the meantime I started noticing articles discussing the craft beer boom in the South Bay; some even included inane suggestions of potential “pub crawls” that could now be done in the Torrance area. Perhaps I was reading “pub crawl” too literally, but a pub crawl to be has always meant to walk between the locations; it was pretty obvious to me that the authors were not all that familiar with the Torrance area and had not bothered to use Google Maps to see how far apart some of the breweries are from each other. Since I am from the area and well-familiar with where the breweries are in relation to each other I knew a brewery crawl could be done as long as we picked the right breweries.
I posed a question on the Craft Beer Guy Facebook page about a week ago asking if there was any interest in participating in a realistic South Bay Brewery Crawl; I must admit, I was a little surprised at the number of people that said they would be interested. As a result I scheduled the first in what will hopefully become a weekly series of craft beer walks; we had our first walk on Saturday afternoon. Continue reading
Infinite Wishes and Finite Bottles
Anyone that goes to Smog City Brewing Company on even rare occasions has noticed the oak bourbon barrels that have lined the walls for the past year or so. In them we have seen such wonders as Goldie, their bourbon barrel-aged Belgian Golden Strong Ale and today they released Infinite Wishes, a bourbon barrel-aged version of The Nothing Imperial Stout. If you got to Smog City by 2:00 PM you may have been lucky enough to purchase a bottle; if not, sorry. They sold the bottles out quickly and it really should be no surprise. The Nothing is an amazing imperial stout and to age it in bourbon barrels can only serve to make it better, and it did. While the bottles of Infinite Wishes sold out in about two hours, they still had it on tap; at least they did when I left. If you enjoy bourbon barrel-aged beers and will be in the South Bay area Sunday, I suggest stopping by Smog City and trying it before it is gone. By the way, there is a new batch of Infinite Wishes in the bourbon barrels for next year’s release.
While the Infinite Wishes was probably the main draw, they also re-released bottles of The Nothing. This is going to be a seasonal release and they still had plenty of bottles the last I saw. They have both the 2014 and 2015 versions of The Nothing on tap so you can use the opportunity to compare the difference after a year of aging. If you still have a bottle of the 2014 version of The Nothing you can start building your vertical. Unfortunately, I opened my bottle a couple months ago without realizing it was my last and not going to be replaceable; oh well.
For those that have not been to Smog City, they are located at 1901 Del Amo Boulevard in Torrance. You have a good reason to head over there this weekend with these limited release brews. Cheers! Continue reading
Business & Beer Begins 2015 at Smog City Brewing
The Business & Beer business networking group returned to the Smog City Brewing tasting room on Thursday evening for their first networking event of 2015. The group of attendees included a couple of first timers as well as a number of people that have been attending since the group’s inception in July of 2012. As Business & Beer enters its third year we look forward to seeing additional growth for this informal group of like-minded business people.
In addition to the business networking and beer, co-founder Tanya Martin provided some of her locally renowned cookies and crackers that were made with flour she made from some spent grains provided by Smog City. While her two versions of crackers were well-received, the homemade peanut butter cookies were definitely a crowd favorite.
The group was also treated to a tour of the Smog City Brewing operation by Assistant Brewer Chris “Sour” Walowski, who not only explained the brewing process but also told us a little of Smog City’s future plans as well as his own personal preferences when it comes to beer. Everyone that took the tour seemed to appreciate the insight; thank you Chris. Continue reading
Wanderin’ Star Bottle Release at Absolution Brewing
On Sunday evening, members of Absolution Brewing Company’s MUG Club were invited to Absolution’s first bottle release; the Wanderin’ Star Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Porter. Muggers were treated to pours of the newly released brew along with various snacks and sweets to snack on as they enjoyed their beers.
The limited release Wanderin’ Star Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Porter comes in individually numbered 750ml champagne bottles and are available at the Absolution tasting room for $18.00 each. They also have gift packages that include Absolution Brewing Company glassware for $30.00 at the tasting room. You can reserve yours by emailing nigel@absolutionbrewingcompany.com. This would make a nice Christmas gift for the beer geek in your family.
While at Absolution you might ask them about their ABC MUG Club; an exclusive membership for fans of Absolution Brewing Company and comes with many perks, including discounts and invitations to private parties like this bottle release. It really is a great deal and would make a wonderful Christmas present. Cheers! Continue reading
Business & Beer Closes out 2014 at Monkish Brewing Company
On Thursday evening, December 11, the Business & Beer business networking group returned to the Monkish Brewing Company tasting room in Torrance for their final gathering of 2014. While the return to Daylight Standard Time combined with chilly weather has caused smaller turnouts in the past, it seems that the Belgian-style ales provided at Monkish were just what the doctor ordered for many; the Magnificat, barrel-aged and otherwise were pretty popular with the natural warmth they provided. We had a couple people that had not visited Monkish in quite a while primarily because they are hop heads that really enjoy their IPAs. When they were introduced to the St. Simcoe Belgian Pale Ale they found the hop profile to be just what they needed to satisfy those hoppy desires.
In addition to the wide variety of Belgian-style ales provided by Monkish, Vella Pizza was there with their brick oven pizza and Tanya brought in a couple varieties of cookies that she prepared using spend grains we obtained previously from King Harbor Brewing Company. Just hearing that was enough to cause even those that do not have a sweet tooth to give them a try; the cookies were quite well received. In the midst of the tasty brews and foods real business was being done, which still surprises some people. Continue reading
Movember Shave-Off at The Dudes’ Brewing Company
As most of you are probably aware, the month of November has been designated by The Movember Foundation as Movember; the month for raising funds for and awareness of mens health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer. As part of the month-long campaign, men around the world were encouraged to grow a mustache for the month. I participated in this fundraiser in 2010 but my mustache grows so slow that I have decided to just keep it and participate in the fundraising efforts via other avenues. Local craft brewery, The Dudes’ Brewing Company, participated by holding a Movember Celebration and Shave-Off over this past weekend.
Over the course of the weekend they donated $1.00 from every Double Trunk DIPA sold in the tasting room to the Movember Foundation. On Saturday they had raffles throughout the day and a Best Mustache Contest with the first place prize being a $100 gift certificate, second place receiving a case of The Dudes’ brew and the third place winner receiving a growler and fill. I am afraid I missed Saturday’s festivities so I cannot tell you who won that contest. Continue reading
3rd Annual Alpine Kraft Bierfest Photos
When Alpine Village held their first Alpine Kraft Bierfest in the big tent back in 2012 they had almost as many beers as they did attendees. I suspect it had something to do with the timing in that it was held the week before Oktoberfest, so some people may have just thought the ads were for Oktoberfest rather than the American craft beer event it was intended to be.
In 2013, the 2nd Annual Alpine Kraft Bierfest was moved into the Alpine Inn, more breweries and beers were added, a little more advertising was done and the attendance level more than doubled.
For 2014 it was decided that the event would stay inside the Alpine Inn, but the event would be held over the course of two sessions; one on Friday evening with the second session being held Saturday afternoon. To avoid the possibility of the best brews running out during the first session, Alpine’s event coordinators decided to split up the beers by day and put up a schedule of appearance for the brews so people could choose which day would have the most beers that they wanted to try. It seemed to work pretty well. Continue reading