Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

Posted on

6th & La Brea

Mark 2 off of my ABC list, first I got the preview treatment at The Stalking Horse and next is 6th & La Brea.

BUT….

The beers from this teeny, squeezed into the back brewery….

…were not quite ready, so the assembled media crowd had the choice between Bell Marker or Stalking Horse beers (or both)….

…the Hoppy Couple and De Alcala were my two favorites though I think the glass was even cooler with the mall map “You Are Here” emblazoned on it.

And for the second time in less than a few weeks, I was able to hear about the ABC vision from Tony himself….

A review of the house beers and Bluebird Brasserie will be coming later.

Posted on

Hand Brewed and Now Open!


Finally! Hand-Brewed Beer has broken through all the red tape and typical build out delays to get their taproom open. I remember the L.A. Beer Bloggers group making a trek to try out the Beers even before their brewery location was even chosen.

Congratulations on your patience and a first visit to the Chatwsorth brewery is being planned.

Posted on

1st Visit – The Stalking Horse

I headed down to Pico recently to test drive the Stalking Horse beer menu and see what their take on British beer is like.

The night brought many samples from their 9 strong list of beers. Of those, I sampled six including a full pour of the English Style Pale Ale, West Pico.

From that group, I was most impressed by Shark Sandwich a nice ESB that really sparkled and had a bigger than usual hit of hop bite to it. The Happy Hour Cream Ale will be a big hit. Simple and unassuming and pairs well with the food offerings on the menu.

I had the chance to talk to Brandon Edwards who is a Pizza Port alum and it sounds like he and head brewer Noah Regenery have a good rapport as well as ease from switching from Stalking Horse and brewing on the Westside and then being at Bluebird Brasserie in the Valley with Belgian beer and communicating from wherever they may be, which includes a third brewery that is coming soon that doesn’t have a style restriction on it.

PS – I also had my first taste of Impossible burger and was frankly cool with it. I was expecting a fakey taste but was pleasantly surprised. Or the beer was that good.

Posted on

1st Visit – 14 Cannons


Way at the back of the same industrial park as Westlake Brewing is where 14 Cannons has put their taproom and they have cleverly branded t-shirts using “Beermuda Triangle” as their slogan, promoting themselves, Westlake and Five Threads which all have taprooms within very short walks of each other.

Wicker lighting and ship reminiscent wood on the walls
Really nice weathered and round bar with metal accents.
Fire in the Hole slot games. Couches on one wall and there is fun blue lighting on the tanks giving them an otherworldly vibe. 14 Cannons has really gone for the theme. It almost looks like a stage set.

Their flight of four comes in wine glasses. With the NON hoppy menu to left, hoppy to right. Below are my bullet reviews of my taster flight:

Patient Pilsner
Nice. Got a bit of a metallic bite to it.

Marooner Marzen
Spicy malt nose to this one. Light but still substantial.

One Cannon – Mosaic
Rotating hop series. Good citrus aroma. Comes on strong and isn’t really a hop showcase to me.

Wreck Yo Ship
Seems initially lighter than the One Cannon. But it is teetering toward Barleywine. Fits with the taproom theme though

Posted on

Still to Visit L.A. Brewery # 3 – 14 Cannons


Up north of us, 14 Cannons is a hybrid showroom and brewery. The Westlake Village location “showcases the industry’s leading vendors while also producing beer by award winning brewer Nic Bortolin.” Basically, they can get you started in your building a brewery process with actual brewing going on.

Here are my initial taster tray choices:

Spice Island Chai Tea Brown Ale
“a traditional English style Brown Ale. Brewed with a
Maris Otter base malt and old-world Brown malt for a great biscuit flavor and rich toasty mouthfeel. We then brewed fresh Chai Tea and added that to the finished beer. Fragrant aromas of ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, clove and black pepper transport this beer across continents and will make you swear you’re sitting in an ancient royal tea house.”

Patient Pilsner
“Pilsner is a centuries old obsession for brewers and beer drinkers alike. 14 Cannonshas boldly and patiently added a true to style Czech Pilsner to their core line-up. Patient Pilsner is brewed with 100% Czech ingredients. First, our reverse osmosis water is engineered to matched to the soft water profile of Pilsen, Czech Republic the birthplace of the modern-day pilsner. Next, floor malted barley is flown halfway around the world to create the classic pale color and clean malt taste. Kazbek hops provide the classic noble spice of a Czech pilsner with refreshing lemon peelovertones. Finally, the beer is laid to rest in our lagering tank, where it rests andtests one’s patience and isn’t served until absolutely ready.”

One Cannon Single Hop IPA
“Hop head alert! Our brewers are notorious hop heads. One Cannon is a new rotating Single Hop IPA series. This is a great way for you and our overzealous brewers to learn about new hops. The first batch of One Cannon featuresIdaho 7 hops. This experimental variety of hops is from Wilder, Idaho.Aroma and flavor characteristics include pungent notes of orange peel and tropical fruit with a dank resiny pine finish.”

Slippery Deck Imperial IPA
“! Hold on to your senses, Slippery Deck Imperial IPA can
overwhelm even the most experienced IPA lover if they’re not prepared for a tropical-boozy- trip off the coast of New Zealand. This heavy hitter clocks in at 10.5% abv although it is deceptively easy to drink. Tropical aromas of pineapple and fresh crushed citrus, from the New Zealand hop Motueka, are expertly paired with a 100% pilsner malt body to create a dangerously drinkable IIPA. Resinous notes of pine on the finish are brought to you by the Zythos hops added to compliment the aroma.”

Posted on

Brewery Draconum

99.99% of the time, this blog is my personal opinion sandbox, but when it comes to breweries that are a bit of a driving stretch, that I have yet to visit, I need to hear from the people behind the project. With that in mind, here is an introduction to Brewery Draconum by Ben Law the owner and brewer of this kinda/sorta new brewpub in Newhall.

“We are Brewery Draconum ( latin – genitive plural of Draco translates to Brewery of Dragons). Family owned and operated brewpub in Newhall, small 10 BBL system. We have an amazing chef who put together an elevated pub style menu utilizing a lot of our beer in the food. We also have a 2500 sq ft beer garden with picnic tables Bocce ball courts corn hole, and eventually ping pong and foos ball.Our basic philosophy is that of creating a place for everyone in the community to come learn about and celebrate good beer and good food. Family friendly environment. I am lucky enough to be an owner brewer so we kind of brew whatever we want though we do have some core beers that stay on tap.Some of our more popular beers are Belgian Golden Strong – abvAF, west coast single hop Amarillo IPA – Siduri, Imperial Red ale dry hopped with Sorachi Ace and Amarillo – Gutterhead, and Our new Kolsch brewed and lightly dry hopped with Huell Melon hops – Melonkolschy.”

When I do make it up that way, I will give my usual un-biased review of the beers and atmosphere.

Posted on

Still to Visit L.A. Brewery # 2 – Wolf Creek


For round 2 of the L.A. breweries that I have not been to, yet. I do get points for having had a few Wolf Creek beers at multiple venues around Los Angeles. Just not at the brewery itself.

Here are what I would want to try (sometimes for the second or third time)….

El Lobo Amber Ale
“Mexican-style amber lager with a great malty flavor from Vienna malt & balanced with a touch of hops. Aged for six weeks for a smooth, refreshing beer.”

Golden Eagle Blonde Ale
“Our multi-award winning blonde ale has a clean malt flavor combined with mild hop bitterness. A refreshing, drinkable ale with a lot more flavor than mass-produced beers.”

Outlaw IPA
Is the new IPA that was on tap at the Beer Week Kick-Off
or
Desperado IPA
“Our West Coast India Pale Ale brewed with a touch of light caramel malt and hopped exclusively with Falconer’s Flight. We then dry-hop Desperado with a combination of Centennial, Columbus, and Falconer’s 7c’s. Lots of big citrus flavor balanced by just enough malt!”

Posted on

Still to Visit L.A. Brewery # 1 – Ximix


This month, since it is just about L.A. Beer Week time, I figured it would be time to focus on the breweries that I still need to visit and we start down near SpaceX way, where craft exploration is going on at Ximix.

Here are what I will be looking at adding to my initial taster tray….

Sach Trois – “Golden ale fermented with Sach Trois giving it a slightly fruity and acidic taste.”

The Lost Astronaut – “Dry hopped strong pale ale with Simcoe, Citra, Galena, and Glacier.”

Pale Belgian Strong Ale – “Our take on a pale belgian strong fermented with a classic yeast strain from a legendary brewery. Instead of using traditional sugar to dry the beer out, we used orange blossom honey to take this bad boy straight to 11.”

Pilonchillo Stout – “Dry stout brewed with pale chocolate malts and hit with a nice dose of pilonchillo mexican cane sugar. Notes of molasses, cinnamon, vanilla, and chocolate.”