Tag: grand opening

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1st Visit – Border X

Mark visiting a brewery in the City of Bell off my list as last weekend, I made my 1st visit to Border X Brewing.

Right across the street from the Bell House is the expansive corner space of San Diego born, Border X Brewing. The brewery opened this weekend with a slate of festivities from political speakers, a blessing ceremony, some serious drumming skills and big crowds.

The big space has a large balcony a long bar stacked with branded merchandise and lots of great art on the wall.  There is actual parking in back too as well as some unfinished sections of the space.

There were 13 taps flowing at the start and only one was an IPA.  But there was Horchata, hibiscus, pepino, agave and a laundry list of ingredients that you don’t normally see in beer and certainly not in one space outside of say, Pacific Plate.

I should have ordered the taster tray of four.  The tray was well constructed and gave a bridge effect.  I went straight for the Biere de Garde since I so rarely see that style then went back and waited in the slow moving opening day line for the Horchata Golden Stout.  Below are my little capsule reviews:

Biere de Bohrder

pours orange, Big sweet agave notes, Caramel, notes of nuttiness, ABV kicks in with each sip

Horchata Golden Stout

Cinnamon, spice, Big ABV tasting, Not as sweet as expected, A bit silky. 

I look forward to seeing their beers on tap around town and to sampling a wider range of their beers.

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State Brewing Grand Opening

In between a belated Valentine’s Day brunch and an early birthday pie celbration, I moseyed down to Gardena for the “official” grand opening of State Brewing.

Here are some photos and beer notes:

One of the tanks inside the brewery.

The brewery is growing their Gardena footprint but are also very cognizant of regulating the growth and also maximizing how they use the R&D – Pilot System they have. Some wild beers are in the plans for the future as well to add to the multiple hop offerings and stout Project lines.
The Opening menu.

I tasted the Can’t Flocc, Won’t Flocc which was solid as well as the Family Julius which was very much a creamsicle beer. That silken orange flavor. My favorite was the Raindrop Pils that had Huell Melon hops. Really crisp with a hint of the bitter to it. And I had to try a Project beer, so I had a taster of the S’mores.
Dark Side – Light Side

Cheers to more State beers!

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Has Been Open, Now Grand


State Brewing’s Gardena tap room has been open for a bit of time now but that won’t stop them from throwing an “official” Grand Opening party.

18+ beers will be on offer (which includes some specialties) on Saturday, February 17th from Noon to Midnight.

Then, the next week starts with the new hours starting on Tuesday, February 20th.
Tues-Thurs: 4-10
Fri: 3-11
Sat: 12-11
Sun: 12-6

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1st Visit – Lincoln Beer Co.

Two nights ago, Lincoln Beer Co. unveiled their new taproom digs as well as taps of their beer.

Here is the 1st Visit report…

This was one of the first taproom openings that had a literal line out the damn door! A combination of people not knowing what beers to order since many beers were new and also due to kinks being worked out for a first day of business led to long wait times and no place to sit.

But the room looks really nice. Fun lighting, bar seats and communal tables. TV’s that were tucked away from the bar. There was even a bit of greenery outside the restrooms. It reminded me of Boomtown. Maybe they took some visual cues from that DTLA space.

There was a good amount of beer on tap for the night including a nitro tap. The tap signage looked good and the beer names were nice and visible, but the box space allotted for the style name and ABV were in too fine a print. If you were feeling lucky, you could order up based on the name alone. Or wait for a less crowded time and take a closer look without worrying about the people behind you waiting.

I went with the Revenge IPA. I often choose an IPA because the hops should cover any flaws and also to see where the brewery measures in a popular and hard to break through category. This effort was so-so and the more I drank, the more I had wished that I had ordered the milk stout or Irish Red instead.

LBC will require a second visit where I can order a taster tray and sample a wider variety of the tap offerings. Look for that later.

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Ten Mile Brewing- Coming Tomorrow


Dan and Jesse Sundstrom will be bringing local beer to the Signal Hill area starting tomorrow.

Ten Mile Brewing is named after a tributary in the Sierra Nevada’s where the family vacationed for generations and something in the water there must be good because when you look at their beer page of their website you see Blue Ribbon, Silver medal, division winner and gold medals in home brew competitions for….

Segway to Munich – Helles Munich Lager
Citrallenial – American Pale Ale
Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged – Russian Imperial Stout

…just to start.

Review to come…

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Boomtown Grand Opening


A negative side effect to being “softly” opened or “event” opened for an extended period of time can lead to a lack of excitement for an actual grand opening party.

But Boomtown Brewing will unveil the fully complete / brand new tasting room on February 4th and there will be a full line up of Boomtown beer, the requisite food trucks + DJ’s with the music and games to play.

Follow their social media to get more details as we get closer to February. Or you can keep your Boomtown soft open vibe going and travel to DTLA on Thursday 2/2 and Friday 2/3 and get there beer too.

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First Look – Brouwerij West

Grand Opening day finally arrived for Brouwerij West and I ambled down to the former Navy warehouses in San Pedro to taste the beer and see the sea.

First on to beer # 1 which was Sour Orange A witbier that was redolent of wheat with a slight orange kiss to it. I wouldn’t call it sour by any stretch of the imagination. Though the sour is present in the aroma more than the taste. The Seville orange flavor (marmalade-ish) grows as it warms. Nice but mis-named.
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I checked my notes and I was here basically a year ago. It is still just a cavernous space. Even with brewing equipment, tables and a crowd, it is still has plenty of elbow room. With the cargo doors opened you get rectangles of light but the interior is cold but it becomes less dark due to the strings of light in the rafters which are more than just Instagram decoration. Sorta wish there was a bit of history of the building somewhere. Some naval nod. There was a pretty big crowd outside in the sun. The grand opening was strong on organization. IDs checked at one station. Tickets at the next. Beer inside with ticket takers on one side of the table and pour volunteers on the other. Makes for fast delivery.
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Next I had to go with the Super Orange – now this is tart. Sour right at the front followed by the orange. Seems a bit lighter than the regular orange. More of the peel than the regular orange.
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It is a lovely space and perfect for drinking beer. I will be back to get a taster during normal hours. Have to see what the rest of the new and expanded tap list is like plus taste the old favorites that have been missing from shelves.

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Revved Up

Well, that was fast.  It didn’t take long for Rev Brewing to rev up.  (OK, no more use of the word Rev).

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It will be fun to see what new twist this new brewery brings to the L.A. table.  The organic niche is one that could be really exploited (in a good way) here in Los Angeles.