Tag: Echo Park

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Sunset Beer Mug Club


The great beer store in Echo Park has reached it’s 1 year anniversary and they will be launching the first ever Sunset Beer Co. Mug Club in September!

Here are the details for this limited club….

** THE SUNSET BEER CO. MUG CLUB **
– No corkage on bottles….ever
– $1 OFF on all tap beers
– Get a custom, hand-carved (<-- not true) Sunset Beer Co. 17oz mug - Membership is limited to 60 people in the first year - Hear about limited release beers before everyone else does - Cost: $70/person / $50 to renew To sign up, call (213) 481-BEER (2337) or email info@sunsetbeerco.com

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LA Beer Week – Day Two – Echo Park Crawl


Night number two and on to Echo Park to walk and drink. Just not at the same time. Here are my thoughts on the Musical Beer Crawl…
which coincided with a beautiful SoCal night. I thought the passport idea was grand because you need one to navigate LA at times. You had your map and the specials in a handy pocket sized guide. And more importantly, I thought the walk and number of establishments was good. Too much more and the amount of walking and drinking would discourage people from doing the whole route.
My other beer bloggin’ friend Richard and I started at Sunset Beer since he had not visited the store before. Started with the Populist IPA from Eagle Rock (see above). At 6pm, we were some of the first crawlers.
We next went to Short Stop (a first time visit for me) where no one knew about the crawl despite being on the map and they certainly did not know about the special keg or special prices either. Though the barkeep did remedy the last part. This could have been avoided with a pre-visit to all the locations by the organizers. So we moved past Lot 1 which wasn’t open and on to El Prado where I had a Duvel Single (see above) and Richard had a $5 Angel’s Share. You read that right $5. El Prado is my kind of place. Chill with good beer choices. I will be returning there. (I totally forgot to give a shout-out to Two Boots Pizza. Two-for-One slices that were really good)
We hadn’t planned on visiting Mohawk Bend because our plan was to visit places we hadn’t been to before. We looked in on City Sip but we didn’t see any of the Stone beers that we thought were supposed to be on tap. So we headed back to a now busier Sunset Beer and had a nightcap.

Overall, this was a good way to introduce people to the craft beer in the area. It would have been better if crawl volunteers could have been posted along the route to assist and make sure events and kegs were working and/or some more signage delineating spots that were stops on the crawl. But for a first year event, pretty well done, and I didn’t even partake of the music.

Tomorrow is the epic DECONSTRUCTED dinner. Gotta pace myself.

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Mohawk Bend preview

Speculation has been rife on the interwebs about the exact opening date for Tony Yanow’s Mohawk Bend in Echo Park. The time is almost upon us. In less vague terms, Sunday the 24th of July. CORRECTION-THAT DATE IS INCORRECT. I WILL UPDATE WITH OPENING DATE WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE>

I along with a few others got to test drive Mohawk Bend on Tuesday night and here is what you need to be excited about….

Tony and Paige introduce the crowd to Mohawk Bend...

…and there is a lot to acquaint yourself with. This is a large space. With an outdoor seating area. A large communal table in the middle. A vegan and non-vegan kitchen that you can watch in action while you eat. Or you can gaze upon the craft beer on the other side of the room. Or pick a booth in the front. You can try a different spot each time you visit.
The many, many choices on the beer list...

…which includes 72 taps of beer. Two of which are cask. Primarily California brewed but each month a new “guest” brewery will be featured that may or may not be from the Golden State. If you like the beer list at Tony’s Darts Away, you will be quite happy here.
Cherries and goblets

The crafted in California extends to the spirits and cocktails, Keith Taylor is bringing in a mother lode of artisinal spirits. Obviously, I gravitate towards beer but the bottles Taylor has procured are the equivalent of the great beer list. And though the Mildred Pierce cocktail was quite tasty, I would suggest trying these gems straight-up first.
The fireplace in the Ramona room...

….named for the movie house that was on this spot 26 years ago. It is a sunlit room with that great big fireplace and two large indoor trees where you can sit and enjoy the great food like the dungeness crab and roast corn rolls or maybe a little casserole with your craft beer. Oh and pizza too. Who could resist a pie named Pig Newton?

For all of you who patiently waited, your reward awaits you.

Check out these other rave reviews:
Drink Eat Travel
Quarry Girl

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Sunset Beer Company – Interview

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with the driving forces behind a new and new kind of craft beer addition to the Los Angeles brew scene.

John Nugent and Drew Vonah took the time to speak with me about how to create an atmosphere for beer exploration, their plans for the Echo Park space and what kind of beer they drink.

Sunset Beer Company will be a 2,000 square foot craft beer store with a few tap handles in the revitalized beer area of Echo Park.

The seed that sprouted into this new venture starts with their other establishment, the Colorado Wine Company. This Eagle Rock shop is my go-to spot for wine tasting. It is comfortable and the wines chosen are invariably challenging to my beginners wine palate.

That same welcoming feel is what is being aimed for with the new space that is still under construction. They are looking to be a comfortable place to explore the 500 beers they plan on having. It will not be a loud, male-centric cave.

What I like though is that John and Drew are coming from a background in wine as a starting point. But they both have a love of beer and seem excited that the same passion for wine exists in the beer world. They are fans of Eagle Rock Brewing (as am I) and have that “beer da vivre” that I love to see.

The plan is to open next year on a date to be named later. In the meantime, visit the wine version and imagine what a great addition the Sunset Beer Company will be to the Los Angeles beer scene.

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Another Beer Store!

Not until spring of 2011 but still. This is great news. LA DOES have a craft beer thirst. All of these new ventures prove it. And as a bonus the Sunset is fairly close to me!

I have done wine tastings at the CoWineCo and they are well presented and with whimsy. They really do wine well there. It is the type of place that I have taken my parents, my younger sister-in-law and people inbetween. So I am optimistic that this place will have some of that same spirit with a beer spin.

Here are some of the particulars…“Sunset Beer Co. is a partnership between Jennifer and John of CoWineCo and Jenna and Drew VonAh. The concept will be quite familiar to you – a retail shop with a tasting area. But the retail shop will be twice the size of CoWineCo featuring many hundreds of bottles of beer from around the globe (all properly chilled of course), and the tasting area will have taps instead of rows of wine glasses (but for you grape-centric die-hards, yes there will be wine available as well).”