To keep up withe L.A. beer scene, you sometimes have to hit two unvisited breweries in one day. I pointed south and hit a pair in Carson and Gardena recently and here is the 1st Visit report….
On Main Street near Honest Abe’s cider (more on that later) is Hōkūle’a which is the third brewery that Jeff Parker has helped to found in L.A. First was Strand Brewing and then The “Dude’s” Brewery.
#3 is in a nice big surfboard adorned industrial park neighborhood. Big windows look out onto a busy street which negates a bit of the island vibe on the inside. There are two ginormous tanks which you don’t normally see in a start-up brewery. Alas, they are for production of a new line of Honest Abe ciders.
There were three beers on tap on their soft open weekend. Gremmie’s Pilsner had a rough entry into the world with a glycol chiller that iced the beer. Parker had to go back and reverse engineer the now much higher ABV beer back to regular strength. It still tasted strong to me but wasn’t bad. Had an Imperial Pilsner feel to it which was fine.
The Key Lime Pai had both lime and lactose forward. There was a good tartness to cream balance. But the lime sort of loses out to the creamsicle aspect. I can see this being a favorite though. Lastly was the Keiki IPA which was grassy, green and dank. Classic West-Coast style IPA.
Parker is looking to add Hawaiian fruit focused Cerveza Frescas as well as a Kona coffee IPA in the future. Also upcoming is food service and the opening of the second level seating area.
Next stop, Gardena and Ximix Craft Exploration. Bit of a long name but the logo and branding seems retro space cool.
Ximix is near-ish to State Brewing but without the personality. It was dark and everything seemed gray from the tabletops to the stools. On the far end was an open window with bars which gave off a bit of a correctional feel. And there was not much in the way of continuing the theme on the inside. Unless you count multiple TV’s as a space theme.
The menu board had the “Big Batch” side and the “Small Batch” side. I went with the weirdly named Crangis McBasketball hazy IPA. There was some pineapple notes but it was not super juicy and probably too hoppy for the style and too clear.
Maybe this was just a slow Sunday and I will need to re-visit when crowds are there.
