For a week long in June, Homage Brewing and its two location will be celebrating their 8th anniversary.
“You can expect BIG strawberries, BIG tunes, RARE bier on draft, food, wines and new merch.”
An Homage to Ocho
Time for Timbo
Mark your calendar, Highland Park Brewery’s Timbo Week 2022 kicks off this year on June 10th with a canned release of Timbo Pils plus more pils-y fun.
Bob Kunz and crew are busy making as much as they can since last year they whipped through the stock in three days. To make it last longer they are brewing up a batch at the teeny tiny original location too. Last time they did that was back in 2018!
Homage – Chinatown
The long awaited and much anticipated opening of the Homage Brewing Chinatown happens today.
Obviously delayed by, you know that sinkhole that swallowed 2020, it is great to see them join Highland Park to make this section of LA a beer destination to reckon with.
HP5
The brewery that started teeny-tiny at the Hermosillo has grown considerably in five years, now occupying a grand space near the Chinatown Gold Line stop.
Now Highland Park Brewery is celebrating 5 years….
” We’re turning 5!!!
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Save the date, Sunday March 24th, as we celebrate our 5th anniversary with a rad party!
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We couldn’t celebrate without our brewery friends so expect a killer beer list to be announced soon!”
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Tickets go on sale this Friday but keep an eye out for more info on what breweries will be here & where to purchase your tickets.
Mixed Culture and Pils
One of the side benefits of Firestone Walker bringing brewers to Los Angeles for their Pils & Love Fest is that those same brewers are in town and bring more beer with them.
Case in point: Highland Park – Chinatown will have two special events that might have you riding the Gold Line two evenings in a row….
Thursday July 26th is a Mixed Culture tap takeover with our friends visiting from out of state as well as some California locals.
Friday July 27th is our Lager tap takeover with Burial Beer featuring the same group of rad breweries from the night before.
Last Month on Food GPS
For those of you who haven’t noticed, my writing on Food GPS has morphed from once a week to now every other week or so. The pieces are a little longer, the format is a bit different, a bit of a refresh for 2018.
So if you missed March entirely, here you go…
# 1 – Coolships in Los Angeles. READ
# 2 – Food Halls and Craft Beer. READ
# 3 – Highland Park Brewery in Chinatown. READ
Angeleno Wine Company
First a park, then a restaurant, then a brewery and now, logically, a winery. Angeleno Wine Company is joining the Majordomo, Highland Park Brewery and the Los Angeles Historic Park. Returning wine to its past roots in the city.
Here are three of the wines that caught my eye that you will be able to try when they open later this year:
Alonso Family Vineyard Tannat
“Of all the magic that is the Alonso Family Vineyard, the crown jewel is the Tannat. Tannat is a grape that originates from the Southwest of France, areas like Irouléuy and Madiran, where it typically makes a rough tannic wine that can sometimes take years to mellow out. However, here in north Los Angeles County, the terroir is such that the wines come out softened, delicate and elegant and a nose that is vibrant with herbs and red berry fruit.”
Rio Del Mar Vineyard Pinot Noir
“Just east of Santa Cruz, pressed up next to Highway 1 and 3/4 of a mile from the coast, lies Rob Marani’s Rio Del Mar Vineyard. Just under 5 acres in size this is one of the closest, if not the closest vineyard to the coast in California. Planted to 100% Pinot Noir, the wine from this vineyard is cloaked with aromas of spice and brush. It is super velvety on the palate and thanks to the cool climate has plenty of acid to give it structure and life.”
Bike Path
“Made from 100% Los Angeles County fruit grown in Agua Dulce at the amazing Alonso Family Vineyard, Bike Path is a mellow, thirst quenching, silky red blend of Tempranillo and Garnacha.”
1st Visit – HPB Chinatown
Highland Park Brewing snuck in their Chinatown branch opening into the weekend of March 10th.
I snuck in on weekend # 2 and boy do I like it.
The location is across the street from the Historic State Park with its walking trails where you can watch the Gold Line trains heading into Union Station one way and Pasadena the other.
There is outdoor seating, barstools, tables and tall tables. There is even a dedicated cans, bottles and crowler order area. The inside is bright with light (almost opposite the dark interior of the Hermosillo). The long empty former warehouse has a sloping bar on one end and bright red tile. Everything is just light and open.
There is a short but fun little food menu so you can drink and eat right next to the tanks that are making the beer. So far, Good Smooth DIPA, 90 Hour Weeks Hoppy Pils and Four Pillars IPA have been brewed at the new place with Timbo Pils on the way.
This is just the type of place that I like and I am sure it will become very popular.
HPB in Chinatown
If you have seen the brewery tucked into the Hermosillo that outputs the fantastic beer from Bob Kunz at Highland Park Brewery, both beer lovers and claustrophobics will be heartened to hear that the time drawing closer for when the brewery will break ground on their 2nd location in Chinatown.
A location that will be very close to the Gold Line on Spring Street in the iconic LA neighborhood will house the new brewing facility, bar + and outdoor patio.
Once the ground is broken, it will probably be around 9 months before the new location opens making it a prime candidate for most anticipated of 2017.
Review – #LABW6 in Chinatown
This year’s L.A. Beer Week signature festival moved both temporally and geographically. From Union Station to Chinatown. From End to Beginning and from Sunday to Saturday.
Here are my thoughts on the festival in it’s new regeneration run by the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild.
The weather gods smiled on the crowd of beer lovers and the brewers pouring in Chinatown for the sixth go-round of the L.A. Beer Week festival. A week earlier and everyone would have roasted beet red.
I will leave the review of the fest in general to a later time. This post shall focus on the beers tried and the beers missed. And the beer that missed the mark.
I shall start with the middle option. When I refer to missed. It was not due to a beer running out which I didn’t see happen by the time I left at 6pm, an hour before the fest was due to close.
Vulcanizer from Beachwood and Drakes was there for the taking but I never sauntered over to that booth with an empty glass. I missed Timeless Pints and the Brewery at Abigaile’s entirely. I got a taster of Chandelle from Hangar 24 but did not taste the new Pro-Am beer. Bad me.
On to the more fun topic of what I did taste, I have one word, Monkish. Hem and Haw and Arrivant were spectacular. I told multiple people to get those beers at all cost. The other brewer with two winners was King Harbor. I had been waiting to try their ode to ice cream, Swirly, for awhile. I was not disappointed at all. A not sweet mixture of chocolate and vanilla. Their “50 Cent” grapefruit Belgian was also a treat. Very juicy without being too acidic.
There were a couple beers that fell into the “I was hoping would be better” category First was the Mai Tai HopTonic and the Longevity Baltic Porter. Both from breweries that I rarely find fault in. The Eagle Rock Baltic porter I will chalk up to the end of day dead palate issue but it was bland to me. Not that I was expecting fireworks from that particular style but for it to be a Pro-Am winner, I expected something that wowed beer judges. The Mai Tai from Smog City was too sweet and too coconut for me. The IPA portion was buried. I wished the base was a tripel or saison instead.
All in all, I wish there was a dinner break and then another couple hours to try the remaining beers that I wanted. It is the sign of a good festival when you leave full but wanting more.