Tortugo Brewing Company
5th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover Photos
These photos were taken Thursday, September 5, at Tortilla Cantina Taco Bistro and Sports Bar in Torrance, where they hosted my 5th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover. This year’s event featured beer, cider and mead from 26 of the South Bay’s best breweries and cideries, and live music featuring Ashleigh Correa. For the first time, there were two anniversary brews commemorating five years of putting on the South Bay Tap Takeover.
One of the anniversary beers was Better Weather Sweater IPA, which was a collaboration beer brewed at Smog City last month with 20 South Bay breweries. Better Weather Sweater came out amazing; it is very well balanced and with a 5.9 ABV, it is perfectly crushable for this heat we are going through. Better Weather Sweater will be released today (Friday) at all the Smog City locations and at several brewpubs throughout the Los Angeles area. It is perfect for those that complain about IPAs being “too hoppy” as that is not going to be a complaint from anyone. The second anniversary beer was 2nd Cold War Russian Imperial Stout, a collaboration I did with Zymurgy Brew Works back in April. As Zymurgy was sold to Smog City, this was officially the last Zymurgy beer to be commercially available. Continue reading
5th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover Coming September 5
Better Weather Sweater Collaboration Brew Team
If you have attended any of the previous four tap takeovers, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect; if you have never been I can summarize with at least 25 South Bay breweries/cideries pouring from 50 taps.
When I started this in 2015, we had 10 South Bay breweries with 40 taps; in 2016 there were 15, and in 2017 we had 18 South Bay breweries with 40 taps. In 2018 there was a change of management at the original venue (Flights), and they decided they wanted to do their own thing. I wished them luck, and then approached Rick Gomez of Tortilla Cantina to see if they would be interested in hosting the 4th annual tap takeover. I approached Rick for three reasons; I knew he was a big supporter of the local craft beer scene, every South Bay brewery owner I spoke with knew and really liked Rick, and I knew he had 48 taps. I do not think Rick really knew what he was in for, but he went all-in and the 4th Annual South Bay Tap Takeover ended up featuring 22 local breweries participating, and with the help of a jockey box, 49 taps of craft beer! Continue reading
Photos from Small Town Feel at Burnin’ Daylight
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Company in Lomita, where they held their Small Town Feel Summer Beer Festival. Like their grand opening of a few months ago, they took full advantage of their parking lot and ability to pour guest taps by utilizing several pouring stations to provide 20 different brews, including several collaboration brews.
The tap list showcased just how busy Burnin’ Daylight co-founder and head brewer Brendon Lake has been over the last few months. Burnin’ Daylight brews included their Brewtiful Blueberry Blonde, Strawberry Lemon Lager, Raspberry Lime Grove, Small Town Feel DIPA, Nana’s Porter with Peanut Butter, Rolling Pils, Switchgear Imperial Stout aged bourbon barrels, Bourbon Daylight, Dark Harbor Coconut on Nitro, and Peach Sour Dry Hopped with Citra. Continue reading
Photos from the Burnin’ Daylight Grand Opening
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Company, a brewpub that is the first for the City of Lomita, where they celebrated their long-awaited grand opening. The event featured a ribbon cutting (that I missed) and a beer garden featuring live music, a DJ, a silk screener, food from the Burnin’ Daylight kitchen, and unlimited pours of dozens of beers.
The grand opening was a ticketed event for those attendees that wanted to go out back to the parking lot that was set up as the beer garden. For the price of admission, attendees received a commemorative tasting glass and unlimited pours of Burnin’ Daylight’s brews, as well as the collaboration brews they had done with El Segundo Brewing. Since Burnin’ Daylight is a brewpub, they are able to have guest taps; they took advantage of this by including brews from El Segundo Brewing, Riip Beer, Smog City, Three Weavers, Beachwood, Stone, Tortugo, and HopSaint. If you did not want to go to the beer garden, you were able to buy full pours in the brewpub. Continue reading
A Visit to Tortugo Brewing Company
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon, when I made my first visit to Inglewood’s second craft brewery, Tortugo Brewing Company.
If you happened to read my review of 2018, you might recall my saying that I kind of feel like a slacker due to my inability to keep up with the local craft beer growth stating that there were at least two breweries in the South Bay that I had yet to visit; Tortugo Brewing was one of those two.
Tortugo opened at the end of June and definitely stands out as you drive down the street towards it. It is a 6,600 square foot building that appears even larger with its bright orange and blue highlights paint job. As founder Joe Kovach put it, there has been nothing new on the street in a couple decades; the color makes it pretty tough to not notice something new on the street. The color scheme is meant to represent a bright sunset (the orange) over the ocean (the blue). Continue reading
Lomita Alehouse Craft Beer Festival and Anniversary
These photos were taken Saturday evening at Lomita Alehouse, where they celebrated their second anniversary by holding Lomita’s first ever craft beer festival. The event featured beer and cider from about a dozen craft breweries and one cidery. Oaxaca on Wheels made food available, and live music was provided by Prime Livity. A portion of the proceeds from the event went to the Keep a Breast Foundation.
Participating breweries included long time local favorites like El Segundo Brewing, Smog City, King Harbor Brewing, Three Weavers, and The Dudes’, as well as the new guys on the block like Zymurgy, Yorkshire Square, and Ximix Craft Exploration. They even had a tap from Inglewood’s newest craft brewery, Tortugo Brewing Company. 101 Cider House, Hangar 24, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, and Karl Strauss were also in attendance. Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.