Tag: Dope & Dank

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Crown of Hops

Dope & Dank are taking a big step.  With assistance from BrewDog and the Scottish brewers Development Fund, the duo of Teo Hunter and Beny Ashburn who many of us in Los Angeles have run into at festivals or had their collaboration beers with the likes of El Segundo Brewing, are going into the beer business.

Crowns & Hops will be their new beer brand based in Inglewood but with BrewDog brewing their roster of pilsner, stout and (of course a dank) IPA.  The line-up will be produced in both the Columbus, Ohio facility (the closest BrewDog is to LA) and oddly in Scotland as well. 

D&D are also going to crowdfund $75,000 with a campaign set to premiere on March 6th. It is an interesting time to enter the brewing game with growth slowed and even more interesting to enter in Inglewood which is experiencing some real real estate problems with the forthcoming NFL stadium project making land expensive and scarce not to mention two breweries already in town, one of which has Canarchy Collective ties to draw on.

Now they just need to make beers as dynamic as they are and I am sure that will draw crowds.

UPDATE: The crowdfunding has started and seems to be more slow and steady climb. Perhaps crowdfunding fatigue is real. Will be interesting to see how this campaign unfolds over the next 31 days.

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#LABW10 – Week+ Recap Part 2


It just so happened that the Beer Belly – Koreatown One Night Stand landed in LABW and so ONS had a local bent with Mumford as the headliner with taps from Homage Brewing and State Brewing as well. This was originally billed as Mumford and East Coast Brewers like Interboro. The winning beer of the night in my (hop)inion was a Watermelon Agua Fresca lager from State that balanced the fruit and the malt very well. The two hazy options that I also tasted were fine. But didn’t pop for me.

I quickly popped down to the nearby Southland Beer to try the Unity IPA on cask. On cask, the hop notes are softer, with a little more citrus. The beer poured a clear orange though I detected a trace of a little buttery character. It was Unity simple and stripped down..

I took a night off to watch the NBA Draft (thanks for nothing Portland) and then on Friday, I headed to DTLA and Mikkeller for a Fonta Flora Brewing night. I immediately picked a sampler tray consisting of…

Beets, Rhymes and Life – beet saison – pretty pink color. Dusky, earthy. Salad like.
Southern Saison – black tea and lemon – bit of spice kick here. Pretty light underneath.
Whippoorwill Wheat – orange, coriander, earl grey tea – EG comes through. Spice again
Wolf Spit – Baltic Porter with hickory bark

I also tasted a Brut IPA from Alvarado Street Champagne Hopi that was really good, but the beet beer was my winner. Even though I detest actual beets.

Finally on Saturday, I headed to Craft Beer Cellar for a local taplist and for Dope & Dank who hosted the party with a DJ on site. I tried a new Arrow Lodge beer Arrow Sol and tasted my local Brewyard’s well-named Loch Ness Maltster.

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In the Tap Lines for March 2018

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Even when L.A. gets cold weather, it isn’t nearly as cold as other parts of the country. But that should not stop you from trying a wide variety of beers

~ e-visits to three breweries from the South.
~ special featured reviews of Special Warehouse Collection beers from Angel City
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your March started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) March 2nd – Dope & Dank & El Segundo IPA Release
2) March 17th – Enegren Irish Fest