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bottle shops, pubs and breweries
As more and more folks get vaccinated, normalcy is slowly returning. But, if you, like me have not gotten your shot yet but want that sound of a bar in your home, well then ….
…then head to I Miss My Bar and hear what we all have been missing.
One could argue that now is a great time to open a brewery. California is re-opening so a new taproom won’t have to rely on 4-packs to go. Maybe that is why an uptick is happening south of us in Orange County with Dueling Ducks Brewing Co. …
..who opened last month and Juniper & Morgan who premiered this month…
..which means quite the epic Orange County trip will need to become planned.
Count me as a fan of The Heights Deli and Bottle Shop and now there will be a second outpost, this time on San Fernando Boulevard in the Glassell Park neighborhood.
According to my intel, they will be taking over from the previous liquor store tenant. Look for the same blue color and The Heights font on the building. The big clue is the #2 that you will also see painted on the facade.
I will pass on more info when available, the best news is that the “when will you open?” question has changed in recent days from a shrug emoji to, we are open.
Ground has been broken for Benny Boy Brewing…
…and the fingers crossed / everything goes to plan opening date is September. Knowing the City of LA and the then (hopefully) after effects of pandemic times, I would say October or November might be closer.
Either way this freeway adjacent, five lanes of traffic away from the Brewery Blocks brewery and Cidery should be an excellent outdoor spot to re-acclimate oneself to drinking at a new brewery instead of the four-pack and flee method currently in place.
Updates to follow.
Being an expat Portlander and not being able to return home to try Oregon beers has been trying to say the least and the New School Beer + Cider blog is not helping by posting a rundown of new breweries coming to the state. I strongly encourage you to check out the full list but below are the breweries (and contract brewery) that struck me as places to visit.
A brewery, in a formerly church with a gorgeous bar like that. What a great drinking environment.
A new Japanese and food based brewery is a really nice addition to the beer scene.
Contract brewing has always needed more facilities and more people focused on smaller breweries. Back Forty ticks both of those boxes and does distilling too.
That is one wicked cool logo and the fact that they will focus on the wild side of beer is even cooler.
Beer Clubs can be fun. Lots of breweries have them but I was intrigued by the spin that Progress Brewing has on their version…
The 10 pint can allocation includes:
This allows the members to not only get the next new thing but also keeps the standards in rotation as well. I love the side by side idea especially since I saw they had a Gin & Tonic inspired version.
The Glendale Tap is a flat out great space for craft beer in Los Angeles, also quite dark inside so when I visited recently, I didn’t even try to take a photograph though I wanted to because the bar, it is leaning into its new existence as basically a bottle shoppe. And I mean bottles literally. They have a lot of glass inside.
The above photo from their Facebook page shows some of the large format bottles that they have. You could stock a beer cellar in one stop. For me, I was in the market for a special birthday beer. After five minutes of looking, I had three strong choices and after another five minutes (I was on the clock, I don’t stay inside anyplace for long) I had another couple added to the list, making my final choice harder.
They also have the hip IPAs of all sub-styles in a cooler, so your trend beer buddies will be happy too. I say venture over to San Fernando and get ready to find a special beer of your own.
If you missed this post on the Instagram, well, you still have a couple days to prep for another new L.A. brewery opening….
All Season Brewing looks to be starting up down on South La Brea. More news and reviews to follow later this month.
Angelenos have a new spot for cider tucked away near Hollywood in the enclave known as Virgil Village. Alma’s Cider & Beer, like everyone else, is to-go for now but peruse their menu HERE, maybe you will find a nice sparkling cider for New Years.
Readers of the blog will know that I love clever ideas and if they are simple too, even better. I would drink in one of these. And that is saying something since I am avoiding gatherings of people.