Category: LA Craft Beer Events

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Recap – Welcome to the Wood Cellar

I will be in Torrance for two straight Saturdays and the first stop is the Wood Cellar of Smog City as they blowout their barrel-aged beers.

Here is my report:
I had (5) tasters and it was tough choosing what to have. But I had two really great beers on contention for my Best Of 2018 list starting with…
Citra Quercus – Bright hop presence to this blended beer adds lemon notes to the sour creating a near lemonade taste that is fabulous.
Super Spittin’ and Cussin’ – Great spice character and heavy on the sour in this “Ice wine” styled brown with just a little bit of anise to add complexity.

The other three Wood Cellar beers were more interesting and fun but did not reach the heights of my “winners”…
Spiced Summer Saison – mild spice, little lemon, smooth
Moroccan Cuddlebug – very spice forward. Sour comes through but the fruit is lost
Enoki – earthy, funky, nutty

The other highlight was the tour of their wild area that included meeting Cesar, the barrel whisperer and Toby, the inoculator. Hopefully I will be able to glean more Wood and Wild notes from them at a less busy time. We also saw their extra hard work with persimmons.

As usual Laurie and Porter were great hosts. Going out of their way to make sure people were not only having fun and great beer but also being challenged and educated too.

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Fig(ure) 8


Not a week goes by without an anniversary around Los Angeles, and here’s a November party to plan on, at Figueroa Mountain in Buellton.

What caught my eye, more than the invite to dress in 1920’s style is the 8th Anniversary beer, a “small-batch, barrel-aged release developed to be reminiscent of an Old Fashioned cocktail with notes of oak, vanilla, caramel, orange, and cherry.”

8th Anniversary Ale will be available to-go in 22oz., wax-topped bottles, in limited supply for $15.99 at the event. You can also purchase the 7th Anniversary Ale beer which have been pulled from a secret supply for a double win.

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Cask’s Not Dead – Brewery List

Last month, I teased the next Los Angeles County Brewers Guild Event, Cask’s Not Dead hosted by the cask king himself, Andy Black.

Here is the brewery list with my guesses for Gold-Silver-Bronze winners…
Yorkshire Square Brewery (obviously)
Arts District Brewing Co.
Bagby Beer (GOLD)
Beachwood Brewing
Cellador Ales
Eagle Rock Brewery
El Segundo Brewing Co.
Fall Brewing Company
Figueroa Mountain Brewing
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Green Cheek Beer Co. (SILVER)
HopSaint Brewing Company
Inland Wharf Brewing Co.
Institution Ale Co.
Karl Strauss Brewing Company
Los Angeles Ale Works
MacLeod Ale Brewing Co.
Monkish Brewing Co.
Mumford Brewing
Pizza Port San Clemente
Riip Beer Company
Simmzy’s
Smog City Brewing
Stereo Brewing Company
Topa Topa Brewing Company (BRONZE)
Transplants Brewing Company
Trustworthy Brewing Co. (formerly Verdugo West)

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Fran and the Full Pint


The Full Pint folks just can’t seem to stop celebrating their 11th Anniversary. This Friday the 26th, the crew head to Highland Park Brewery in Chinatown to debut Franbo Pils, the Franny-ized version of Timbo Pils with 4-packs and their fancy 11th glassware.

The pils is dry hopped with Citra, Mosaic and Amarillo hops and the label is flat out cool.

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Sunset 7


Before the Highland Park 2nd location comes online, we need to celebrate the fact that the Sunset Beer Co. on Sunset is reaching the 7 year mark.

Saturday, October 27th is the celebration day. Expect a wide ranging and fun tap list as well as food and maybe, just maybe a special Sunset Beer beer from Arrow Lodge.

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Cask Competition


Yorkshire Square is adding a new fun feature to their cask ale promoting Torrance brewery, the Cask’s Not Dead Fest of 2018. On Saturday, November 17, 2018 from 12:30 PM – 6 PM, there will be a blind tasting of 25+ breweries to determine the best cask ale.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a judge to partake of the beers or the live music, or the food trucks. There will be a VIP session from 12:30-2pm followed by the General Session from 2-6pm. The list of breweries will be posted on the Yorkshire Square social media spots and you can get the tickets HERE.

This event is in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild.

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On the Corridor


It isn’t just me that has noticed that driving, biking, bus riding on San Fernando Boulevard can get you to many a great beer and now there is an official Beer Trail Guide for this stretch of LA road.

To launch the guide there will be Craft Beer Corridor Tap Takeover and Beer Trail launch party will be at Empire Tavern in Burbank (on San Fernando of course) on November 3rd @ 6:00pm. You will be able to Meet the Brewers and owners from all 8 featured breweries.

From top to bottom, the route is 17 miles though there will be detours since CalTrans has been working around the Empire Center for what seems a hundred years with no end seemingly in sight. So you will have to jog onto Victory Boulevard a bit but that does put you near a couple Burbank breweries.

Hit up the Hashtag #CraftBeerCorridorLA while on the trail and if you visit all 8 Breweries, you win a special glass. Which you should probably do sooner, rather than later, considering that more breweries might get added.

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SoCal Cerveceros


If you haven’t been to a homebrew club fest, then you need to add it to your bucket list. And speaking of, the SoCal Cerveceros, a Latino focused homebrew club will be presenting Dia de los Cerveceros y Cocineros: a homebrewed craft beer festival there will be 30 Latino homebrewers, plus food, art, DJ’s and more on Sunday, October 21st from 1pm-6pm at the Plaza De La Raza in Los Angeles.

Here is more beer information from the event: “Attendees can expect to taste a wide range of unique craft beer. Styles include an array of fan favorites from IPA, Hazy IPA, Hefeweizen, Lager, to Belgian Saison, Witbier and Golden Stout to name just a few. For drinkers looking to push their palate, there are some more off centered offerings including; mango habanero IPA, spicy tamarindo saison, café de olla stout, black saison coffee stout, and even a blueberry mojito IPA. For those who enjoy drinking cider, they have you covered too.”

The SoCal Cerveceros have partnered with Plaza de la Raza and El Centro de Ayuda and 100% of ticket sales will be donated.

Here is the ticket info:
$100 4-pak / $30 pre-sale / $40 @ door / $15 Designated Driver / Must be at least 21

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Colorful Collaborative Cans


Not a huge fan of returning to the ’80s but I do like the idea of having a West-Coast forward, 22oz bomber forward brewery teaming with a haze forward, crowler brewery to learn new tricks. All in a VERY colorful way.

State Brewing and El Segundo Brewing are going all Vice and Versa on October 13th, here are the beer details:
“It’s two breweries, one hop profile and two different styles of IPA. State showed us the way of the Hazy, we showed State the way of the West Coast and we’re each doing simultaneous can releases.”

Check their websites and social media for music, shuttle and food details.

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R&R


On October 4 from 5-8pm, Dry River Brewing will host a Beer Lab with their brewing team and release a Super, Duper rare beer Reishi Rosa “a wild ale aged with raspberries, reishi mushrooms and rose petals.” There are only 96 bottles available and the wild yeast was “foraged from an area now destroyed by wild fires. A VIP ticket to Beer Lab is the only way to pre-order a bottle, so get your tickets HERE.