Category: LA Craft Beer Events

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One Night Stand

I love Meet the Brewer nights but a much better name has been devised by Beer Belly in Koreatown, A Series of One Night Stands, the first of which is starting February 22nd, 2012

“Behind every craft beer is a story, and starting in February we’re bringing the story to you.

We all love craft beer, that’s a no-brainer…but just how well do we know the stories of the beers we drink?

This year the Beer Belly family is going straight to the brewer and bringing back the stories of local brewers to share with you and the Beer Belly community.”

What this means for you:
-Throughout the month stay tuned-in to our Facebook and Twitter for news, stories, and specials…starting with this video from our visit to Hangar24:
-Mark your calendars (see below) and join us for our One Night Stand community nights where we’ll feature a variety of beer styles from the featured brewery
-Meet and greet fellow craft beer lovers, brewers, and more

The One Night Stand schedule:
2.22: Hangar 24 Anniversary Party (ONS Kickoff)
3.21: Golden Road Brewing
4.18: Bootleggers Brewery
5.16: Coming Soon
6.20: Coming Soon
7.18: Coming Soon

This is a labor of love for us and we really hope that you’re able to join and be a part of this craft beer passion project.

Follow the beer,

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The return of the Winter colLAboration!


Here is the full info on the re-scheduled Winter colLAboration event.

“Winter ColLAboration is back on! The mobile craft beer garden (from the brains behind Tony’s Darts Away/Mohawk Bend/Golden Road Brewing, Verdugo Bar/Surly Goat, Blue Palms and 38 Degrees) will be revived in the form of a weather-proof, indoor late-winter wonderland on Sunday, February 26th at the Belasco Theater in Downtown L.A. – located conveniently near the Metro Blue Line. 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

As previously planned, the garden will feature a selection of winter brews and favorites from: Anchor Steam, Avery, Bootleggers, Bruery, Beachwood, Cismontane, Dogfish Head , Eagle Rock Brewery, Eel River, Firestone Walker, Hangar 24, Golden Road Brewing, Lost Abbey, New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Russian River, Sierra Nevada, Smog City, Stone, TAPS and many more.

Food will be available onsite.

Limited-edition Winter Fest Steins are $15 while supplies last. Any 2011 ColLAb glasses can be used for admission; most beers will be $5 to $6.”

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Old Guardian 2012


The 2012 version of the classic barley wine from Stone will be hitting shelves in two days but even better, tomorrow at the World Bistro and Gardens, starting at 11am, you will have the opportunity to try this year’s model as well as the the previous 12 vintages. And that includes the VERY LAST CASE of ’99. The old century’s barley wine is almost history.

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Libertine returns

Fresh off the release of their anniversary beer, Deuce, the Eagle Rock crew will be bringing Libertine back in a release party tomorrow night.

Here are the details…..”Yay! Libertine is coming back online after a long long wait! Our Belgian Amber Wit is made with honey and is the perfect Valentine’s Day treat for you and your hunny bunny to share… Or if you don’t like to share, then get a growler for each of you!

Whether you’re having it for Valentine’s Day or not, hurry up and get some because it won’t last long!

@iHeartPies will be onsite as well, to feed you some amazing treats (and gift ideas?)

It’s also TRIVIA NIGHT, so come test your brains against our Trivia Hosts…ones MIT, one drives things on Mars. Three rounds per night, and your welcome to join in at anytime. Each round you and your team (no more than 4) can win the best prize off all, FREE BEER. The nights overall winner gets some ERB swag to go with their already great night. What more could you ask for?”

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Citra returns to El Segundo

As opposed to the fuss and muss involved in PtY, I spent part of my Saturday in El Segundo with a double dry hopped citra pale ale that has returned (for as long as it lasts) to taps in Los Angeles.

It poured a lovely orange color and the aroma introduced itself proudly. Big lemon and citrus notes. The bitterness really hung with me and coated my palate. Which I learned may have been influenced by me eating something sweet beforehand. Good to know. The more I drank the more grapefruit notes came through.

I heard from reliable sources that the previous night a keg went really quickly and to ensure some beer karma. I just had the one glass. But I look forward to having it again the next time the two of us meet.

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TAPS @ Congregation Alehouse in Pasadena

On Thursday night, I ventured two towns over to Pasadena to the bustling Congregation Alehouse in Pasadena. (The newest chapter of the three strong alehouses) for TAPS night with brewmaster Victor Novak in the house.

Here are some photos of the night…..

Travis from Congregation with Victor

My favorite beer of the night. Crystal Pils.

My second favorite of the night was the coffee aromatic Mocha Stout.

The TAPS barleywine.

Me with Travis.

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Eagle Rock’s 2nd Anniversary

Eagle Rock Brewery celebrated the Deuce yesterday. Both the anniversary and the anniversary beer. It was a bright sunny day with a big crowd ready to sample a wide spectrum of Eagle Rock’s brews.

Beer Buddy Richard and I waited in line and quickly grabbed our taster glasses and tickets. I started with Tarte Noir a lovely sour beer with big dark fruit tastes and then went bigger with the Deuce.

This anniversary edition (in bottles too!) is an amped up version of their classic Solidarity. Which has also spawned a vanilla bean nitro version which I also had a glass of too. It is big and defies easy adjectives. It isn’t super chocolately or roasty and it is almost more Belgian-y than English. Dark fruits and some light coffee notes.

Oddly enough, the biggest line was for the taps that housed Stimulus and Red Velvet instead of the new beer. Then I tried the Red Velvet which had been run through a randall and tasted why. It was lighter and less hoppy than I remembered the original award winner being and it had a lovely tea taste infused all the way through it.

It was my favorite even though I went back for seconds on the Deuce and bought a bottle later at the brewery.

Thanks to Jeremy and the hard working Eagle Rock crew who had to man the tap room right after the party. And also a big shout out to Ryan Sweeney and the Verdugo folks for hosting.

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Select Beer Store

Being a Portlander, I have been waiting for California versions of Belmont Station and Bier Cafe or Saraveza or BeerMongers down here.

So I was happy to see Sunset Beer open up last year and now it looks like another is joining the ranks. Select Beer Store!
Let’s look at the statistical breakdown. 12 taps. Over 300 bottles that you can take away or enjoy on premises (for a small corkage fee). That should be enough to get you down to Redondo Beach.

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Terrible Two’s

Can you believe it? Eagle Rock has entered the terrible two’s! It is amazing to think of the L.A. beer scene before and after. So, you had better be on the eastside next week….

“Come join us for our 2-year anniversary celebration at the brewery! We’ll be celebrating another amazing year by featuring many of our special beers on tap in the taproom and an outdoor beer garden (Sorry, no pets or children permitted.). Grill Em’ All and Mandoline Grill will be at the brewery to celebrate with us and serving up some of our favorite eats.

Need more of a reason? It’s only $12 for admission and all attendees get a commemorative taster glass to take home (while supplies last)! Come out and celebrate with us!”

UPDATE
The celebration has been moved to the Verdugo Bar. Same time and food and beer and good times too.

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Welcome to Canland!

Yesterday was a big day at the yellow building at Golden Road Brewery. Not only were the cans ready to be sold and taken back home to ‘fridges across the southland but four new beers made their debut yesterday.

But back to Canlandia for a moment. These are really well designed. The first and most important part is that they hold a full 16ozs. You are getting your full pint. Second, these have a lovely design that really says Los Angeles on it in a James Cain’s “Paradise” sort of way. Wistful and evocative of an earlier time in L.A. And I love the personal note from Jon on each can. I am a sucker for a well designed label and these are great but it wouldn’t matter all that much and I certainly wouldn’t blog about it if the beer inside wasn’t worthy of it. It is. Point the Way is a great session IPA that doesn’t over bitter the senses and still makes room for a strong malt taste. I heathenly had one straight out of the can and it tasted great. Nice and fresh. The hefeweizen is strong too. Especially on the banana flavor side. You can get both at the brewery or later this month at Whole Foods down here.

On to the new. There was a wide spectrum of styles unveiled. The oft-overlooked brown ale was represented by Get Up Off that Brown and there was an alternate world IPA called Lost its Way. Both of which I will have to sample another day because I went with the cheekily named Either Side of the Hill Strong Ale and the El Hefe Anejo. Either Side is like the hefeweizen in that it is very much on point style wise. It was strong with a raisin, plum and candi sugar swirl of flavors. And like the other Golden Road brews, isn’t at all harsh. Very controlled. A nice winter warmer. The El Hefe sounds like a weird idea. Put Hefeweizen into a tequila barrel. But it works. You get a strong vanilla flavor at first that blends into a banana taste. And then there is a hint of spice at the far back. It did not remind me of tequila but it was extremely tasty.

Thanks to Meg, Jon and Tony for throwing a great introductory party for the tallboys!