Family # 2

I will be heading north to Portland in July and one spot that is on the must stop list is the new Portland location of Salem-based craft cider producer La Familia Cider Company  The Hawthorne location, formerly the Portland Cider House, opened on June 5th. 

There will be 29 taps that will pour 15 ciders from La Familia and other producers, and the remaining 14 taps will serve craft beers. There will also be Cider cocktails plus a small menu featuring Mexican food made from locally sourced ingredients.

The Ditch

The Torrance Beermuda Triangle is gaining another tenant as HopSaint Brewing Company will be expanding to a location HopSaint @ The Ditch.  I would probably ditch that moniker to match up better with the delicious beers that HopSaint puts out.

I will follow up with news about when and where when opening is closer.

1st Visit – Long Beach Beer Lab Zaferia

It was an eventful first visit to the second Long Beach Beer Lab location in the Zaferia District of Long Beach. I had taken a couple sips of Brut IPA (you remember that sub-style right?) when that too familiar crunch sound made me swivel on mybar stool.

There was one car flipped over and one car with all air bags deployed. The fire and police departments were soon on the scene and attention could be turned back to the space and the beer and the pizza.

I have to say that the Wrigley location is more my speed but the more I thought, if this was in my neighborhood, I would be glad it was there. Yes, too many TVs but thankfully, most were about the brewery and bakery. And the cooler with mix and match and 4-packs is great.

And I did love the Brut (Brewte IPA) which was super dry but sweet with a pear note. So, thumbs up even for someone not from the neighborhood.

Two Owls Now

One of the cool places for beer on the Central Coast is the Ancient Owl Beer Garden. Big list of draft beers and beer to-go.

Now, you can Owl in San Luis Obispo too as they have opened their second location there this month.

There is not much better in craft beer life than perusing a bottle shoppe so each new one is a gift.

Pocock 2

Pocock Brewing up in the Santa Clarita Valley social media’d a rather big announcement.  They are opening a second location. Since I do not get out that way much, I will rely on the comments that the new location is Newhall but I will course correct if I learn that is not the case.  Whatever the location or the opening date is, congratulations to the Pocock team.

New Location Day – Paperback Exchange

Paperback Brewing is (with the City of Glendale’s help) going to see if they can breathe some life into the moribund side of the Exchange buildings with their beer and a selection of murals based on their beer labels.

It is slated as a pop-up on Artsakh Avenue in Glendale’s (so-called) Arts and Entertainment District for six months unless the response warrants staying.

It is under ten walking blocks from my HQ, so I will be visiting.

H2

The only bummer about my Christmas trip to San Juan Capistrano was that Heritage BBQ was also on vacation those days.

But I have a new reason to try again, this time in Oceanside at the second location of Heritage that also includes a brewery and they have a former Pizza Port brewer at the mash tun.

You can read all about it HERE from San Diego Beer News.