The Craft Beer Guy Recap of 2024

ISM Brewing Grand Opening

As 2024 draws to a close (it’s New Years Eve) it is time for me to write my recap of the craft beer scene, at least from my perspective. As I get older, and my grandchildren do the same, I missed several events due to health issues or the grandkids performing in a play or something. But enough of that, what did I see and do this past year?

January

Yeah, 2024 brought us our first local South Bay brewery closure, this time being Strand Brewing Company. This news was part of a broader reflection on the changes in the craft beer industry as discussed in the 2023 recap. The year would see more closures before it ended.

January was not all bad though, as ISM Brewing opened their doors at the former Beachwood Brewing location in downtown Long Beach. The very well attended event featured their ribbon cutting, food and drink specials, live music provided by Laura Wiley and lots of delicious ISM brews.

The month continued at El Segundo Brewing Company, where they held The Meltdown, their annual can release of Power Plant Triple IPA and Nuclear Power Plant, their quadruple IPA.

The month culminated with the Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Company 5th Anniversary which featured food specials, live music, and a couple can releases.

February

February was another active month, which included another of my craft beer can exchanges. I held a few can exchanges in 2024, but after four years, I think I may be done with them; we shall see.

Super Bowl Can Exchange

February also saw the one year anniversary celebration of Project Barley Square.

The month ended with TrustedGut Brewing celebrating their grand opening at the former King Harbor Brewery and Taproom in Redondo Beach. The event featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony, live music, food trucks, games, and a Guinness World Record attempt for stacking beer cans. The family and pet-friendly celebration was well-attended by the community.

March

March was a pretty busy month, beginning with Brouwerij West celebrating their eighth anniversary, and Hermosa Brewing Company celebrating their sixth anniversary.

Los Angeles Ale Works saw friends, fans, and family gather to celebrate 7ish years of brewing beer in Hawthorne. The reason they called it the “7ish” anniversary is that they actually had their grand opening in February of 2017, but as co-founder Andrew Fowler explained, moving the party back a few weeks will usually result in better weather; it did this year.

March continued in Long Beach where Craft Beer LB held their 3rd Annual Craft Beer LB Homebrew Invitational. The event featured a homebrew competition, a pro brewers area, food trucks, and live music. A portion of the proceeds from the event went to benefit the Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site.

Upshift Brewing also began closing their doors in March.

April

Smog City 13th Anniversary

April found me at Firestone Walker’s Venice/Marina del Rey location, The Propagator, where they celebrated The Propagator’s 8th Anniversary with a “Block Party” featuring beer and food specials, live music, a sensory challenge, and the release of their Gen-8 IPA.

The following weekend I was back in Torrance, where hundreds of friends, family, and fans gathered to celebrate Smog City’s 13th Anniversary. If you have ever attended a Smog City anniversary celebration in the past, you know that this was another very fun event.

April continued with my attending the 2024 El Segundo Beer, Wine & Spirits Festival, which was presented by The Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum and the El Segundo Rotary Club. The charitable event featured local craft beer, wines from a couple wineries, spirits like vodka and tequila (that’s what I noticed anyway), and food from probably a dozen local eateries. There was also live music, a wandering magician, and a silent auction. Sadly, Zimmerman’s closed their doors this year, so I am not sure what future plans are as far as this event is concerned.

April ended for me at Common Space Brewery, where they were joined by several hundred fans as they celebrated their sixth anniversary. It was a very pleasant afternoon which included not only nice weather, but several food popups, live music, a DJ, some very nice beer, and lots of doggies.

May

I started off the month in Anaheim, where I met a couple friends for visits to Brewery X and Bottle Logic Brewing. This was my first visit to Brewery X, and the first time in almost 10 years that I had visited Bottle Logic. I will say that I never imagined just how massive Brewery X is, and Bottle Logic has grown a lot in the last 10 years.

First Visit to Brewery X

The next day I headed over to Three Weavers to celebrate Cambodian New Year. The event featured a lot of Cambodian foods, including barbecued meats and a surprisingly large amount of sweets. One of the featured food popups was Battambong BBQ, aka The Cambodian Cowboy, with whom Three Weavers did a collaboration brew called Cambodian Cowboy IPA.

Beginning 10 years ago I would always mention in my recap of the year that Port Town Brewing should be opening soon; last year’s recap I said I wasn’t even going to bother mentioning them as it was taking forever to jump through the hoops to get open. Well, they finally opened in May 2024. You should check them out; the venue is very cool.

May also found me at El Segundo Brewing Company, where they were celebrating 13 years of being the South Bay’s most hopcentric brewery. The day featured food from Buddha Boy Tacos, the White Dog of the Year finals, a dog adoption put on by SPCALA, and a tap list offering 22 selections, including their anniversary brews, Greetings from El Segundo TIPA and Lost in the Mail QIPA.

Of course it would not be May without the 11th South Bay Beer & Wine Festival. Presented by the Rotary Clubs of Palos Verdes Peninsula, San Pedro and Southbay Sunrise (Torrance), all proceeds fund community outreach programs within the South Bay and Harbor cities of Los Angeles. It is always a good time.

The end of May/beginning of June saw the opening of Sugar Monkey Brewing, at the Sugar Monkey Social Club, in El Segundo, Sugar Monkey Brewing took over the old Upshift Brewing location. They have made a lot of changes; you should check them out if in the neighborhood.

June

June was a slow month for me, but it started off at the Trademark Brewing fifth anniversary. The event featured a couple food trucks (Shady Grove BBQ and Arenita), line dancing lessons, a mechanical bull, and the release of their anniversary beer, 5th Rodeo; a triple dry-hopped West Coast IPA. This was my second visit there; with the first time being the COVID lock down so it was nice seeing the space as it was intended.

Bull riding at Trademark Brewing

The month ended at Far Field Beer Company, in Lawndale, where they held their anniversary celebrating three years of brewing. Their celebration included a food truck and the release of four beers, including the release of their 2024 edition of Strange Addiction; their imperial stout.

July

In July I headed to Sage Regenerative Kitchen, home of Sage Brewing, in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles. It was my first visit to Sage Brewing, and coincidentally they were holding a 4th of July pre-party for people in the craft beer industry. The brewhouse is a bi-level brewhouse, meaning that the first floor is where the magic happens, but the fermenters are below in the “basement.” They have a four bbl brewing system, with (as I recall) six 8 bbl fermenters down below. It is a cool, little spot.

I also attended the Absolution Brewing Company 10th anniversary, but I wasn’t having a very good day, so I didn’t take any photos or write about the event. They had a beer release, food, and live music.

August

August found me at Five Point Five Brewing Company in El Segundo, where dozens of their fans gathered to celebrate Five Point Five’s One Year Anniversary. While I was there, the day included raffles, 10+ beers on tap, Micheladas, and hard seltzers; they also had smash burgers from Cuzzi Burger as well as their Pi LA pizzas.

October

October was a pretty busy month for me.

Slice and Pint Redondo now open

October saw the opening of El Segundo Brewing’s, The Slice and Pint – Redondo. Like the El Segundo location, the menu features numerous pizza options, as well as sides like fancy olives, cheesy bread, meatballs, garlic knots, chicken wings, a couple different sandwiches and salads; pretty much something for everyone. Also like the El Segundo location, the service is fast and efficient. Oh yeah, they also have lots of good, clean, independent craft beer, primarily from El Segundo Brewing Company but they also have several guest taps.

I returned to Rancho Los Cerritos Historical Site in Long Beach, where Craft Beer LB and Sake Secret collaborated to celebrate World Sake Day by hosting the Second Annual LB Sake Day. The event featured literally gallons of sake, from numerous brewers and distributors, several food trucks and popups serving Japanese foods and snacks, Orion beer, and a traditional Japanese performing arts ensemble.

A week later I went to the Museum of Latin American Art, in Long Beach, where Obscura LB and Craft Beer LB held their 4th Annual Halloween Hootenanny. The annual event featured craft breweries, cideries, wineries and kombucha makers, as well as a “Macabre Marketplace” featuring 15+ creepy arts & collectible vendors, numerous food trucks, and live entertainment.

Halloween Hootenanny

The following weekend I was at Four Points by Sheraton at LAX, where about 150 members along with their significant others, gathered to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Maltose Falcons Homebrew Club. Established in 1974, The Maltose Falcons are America’s oldest homebrew club.

The event featured a dinner, with hors d’oeuvres and cake, a couple videos recalling The Falcons history, a panel discussing the days of lore, a silent auction, and live music provided by the Maltose Falcons Band. Oh, and beer. There was lots of beer.

As soon as I got the photos from the Maltose Falcons event posted, I packed my bags and loaded the car to embark on my Craft Beer Tour 2024. This year I headed back to the Pacific Northwest, but not before stopping in Novato where I met up with my aunt and uncle. While there, I took them to dinner at Moylan’s Brewing Company, a brewpub. I happened to meet the owner, Brendan Moylan, who showed me around and informed me that he also owns Marin Brewing Company, which closed a couple years ago, but he is trying to keep the name alive by brewing/pouring it at Moylan’s.

The next day I continued north to Oregon City and the Portland area, where I spent a few days with my friends. While there I made my annual visit to Oregon City Brewing, which is always a good time. While I was there I asked them about some local taprooms and bottle shops (locations I rarely, if ever, seek out.

I go to the Pacific Northwest this time of year because this is when you will find the most fresh hop beers, and if you work at it, there are usually lots of Citra fresh hop brews, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Upon recommendations of locals I ventured to Arch Bridge Taphouse in Oregon City; and Belmont Station and Great Notion Brewing Company – Alberta in Portland. Between those locations and another “liquor store” or two, I was able to build up my Citra stash pretty well.

A few days later I headed back up to Yakima, Washington to visit one of the two destination breweries on my list of favorite breweries, Bale Breaker Brewing Company. What you need to know about Bale Breaker is that it is a brewery built in the middle of a hop farm. During fresh hop season, breweries will brag how they are able to get their hops from the bine to the boil within 24 hours; Bale Breaker has some brews that take five minutes from bine to kettle. I remember El Segundo Brewing’s Rob Croxall commenting about how it was tough to compete with a brewery built on a hop farm.

After enjoying a couple Citra IPAs I headed over to The Outskirts Brewing Company, which conveniently was pretty much right between Bale Breaker and my motel.

Outskirts Brewing opened in May 2023 and is a combination brewery and restaurant; I guess you can call it a brewpub, but when you are in the brewery you kind of need to know that there is a restaurant in the next room as I never even smelled the food.

The next morning it was 35 degrees out so that was my sign to head back to the Portland area. Within hours of my arrival to Oregon City I suffered a catastrophic error on my external hard drive that caused me to call an end to my journey.

Bale Breaker Brewing

I spent the next day driving around town to different bottle shops in an effort to find more Citra, and then I headed back to Novato for a couple nights. During that visit, we paid a visit to Fieldwork Brewing Company in Corte Madera.

The Corte Madera location has a nice outdoor patio, as well as plenty of indoor seating. Their kitchen offered various pizzas, salads, and appetizers like fries, hummus, and goat cheese. I will say this; my aunt ordered the Black Diamond Detroit Style pizza and it was hands down the best pizza I have ever had anywhere.

I was home the next day. A trip that I wanted to last a month only lasted 12 days; at least I was able to bring home a lot of what I was looking for.

November

The only thing of note that I heard about was that The Crac Brewery and Grub was calling it quits. It was a slow month.

December

A week or so before Christmas, my friend Joe and I went to Three Weavers Brewing’s 10th anniversary. The anniversary celebration featured food from Battambong BBQ as well as treats from a couple other Cambodian vendors. While we were there, music was provided by DJ Quatre Cinq. Naturally, like any decent anniversary party, the day included specialty beer and seltzer releases, including Decennium, their double IPA anniversary beer.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we headed over to Tortugo Brewing were having their annual Mahalo Days Luau which meant they were roasting a whole pig and offering Hawaiian-inspired plates, including a pork plate, pulled pork tacos, macaroni salad, Hawaiian slaw and Cuban sandwiches. It was a convenient stop.

We ended the day at Cellador Ales in Torrance, where they were celebrating their eighth anniversary. The event featured $5.00 pours, guest taps, ice cream floats and a cellar sale. If you are into sours, I highly recommend Cellador Ales.

The month started off pretty good, but that didn’t last. Brouwerij West announced that barring a Christmas miracle they would be closing their doors. They are asking people to come drink beer to help keep them open. Not an ideal way to end 2024.

What to Expect in 2025

I know, for 10 years I said that Port Town Brewing will open soon, but I assure you, the new HopSaint at the Ditch on Del Amo Brewlevard will open soon; very soon.

HopSaint at the Ditch – Coming Soon

As far as the South Bay Tap Takeover is concerned, I guess I have to call that a wrap. I am going to slow down my can exchanges too, not because they aren’t fun, but if I wake up to a bad day I still have to pull it together

I am wondering if there will be a Craft Beer Tour 2025; it isn’t as much fun doing it solo, so we will see. Flying places is okay, but bringing back the treasures is tough.

Who knows, this may be the beginning of the end as far as this site goes. It’s been fun but my health issues makes even typing this out tough. It won’t kill me, but there is no cure and is only guaranteed to get worse with time, so we shall see. No matter what, it has been a great run.

I hope you have a great 2025 and I hope to see you around. Remember to support your local brewery. Cheers!

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