It is always heartening to see a brewery reach he ten year mark and at the end of the month, Hand-Brewed Beer will celebrate their decade with both real and temporary tattoos as well as beer.
Hand Brewed at Ten
Encino9
Hand-Brewed Beer is cruising towards their 9th anniversary and are throwing the traditional party along with special brew for the occasion, an Encino DIPA for the community.
Give Them a Hand
Hand-Brewed Beer Co. have reached that magical age of 8 and they have teamed with the LA County Brewers Guild to add oomph (in the form of more breweries) to the party.
The event will be on Sunday, October 16 in Chatsworth alongside a selection of local food trucks, and a local artist bazaar! Tickets include a commemorative glass and unlimited tastings.
October 2019 Brewery Anniversaries
Going in order this month…
1st Visit – Hand-Brewed Beer
Inexorably, I am catching up to the goal of visiting all of the Los Angeles area breweries. Still have a few in Long Beach and one up Newhall way, but first is Hand-Brewed Beer in Chatsworth.
A long time ago in a galaxy, far, far away: I sampled some Hand-Brewed beers but the road to a taproom has been long for this brewery. Three months in, I headed to De Soto Avenue to see the space.
It is a nice set-up. A good amount of seating, warm with wood fencing on the wall and the HB logo emblazoned on it. The beer list is on a TV and is easily read with a good amount of information on it. A good solid space with attentive and easy to talk to staff.
Of the four beers I sampled and another that I sipped, the quality is still on the way. The Santa Susanna Saison was my favorite but even it was an overall mid-ranker. The Nitro Latte Brown was fine but thin with very little coffee taste. Of the two IPAs, the Brumeux was the better. A DIPA by name, it didn’t taste very strong and the hop quality faded quickly. The 4th Anniversary beer was all over the map. Made with honey, it was a little sweet, a little bitter and a little astringent and honestly smelled a little funny.
If I was to rank, I would slot the 8one8 brewery higher in terms of beer and atmosphere. Hand-Brewed has worked hard to get to this day and I hope that the beer continues to grow.
Randall Hand
Hand Brewed Beer finally got their taproom through the paperwork hurdles and are now open. And if you are looking for when to visit, how about Wednesday?
Why? Every Wednesday their head brewer, Damien breaks out the beer randall and runs a different beer through it.
A quick randall re-cap, the device infuses fresh fruit or other foods into beer as it passes from the keg to the tap. One Hand Brewed example was their Bridge to Nowhere IPA infused with jalepeno and grapefruit.
So pick a Wednesday and head to Chatsworth for a unique beer experience.
Pulls Have Been Stopped
The City of Los Angeles would probably have a much higher number of breweries if the government knew how to handle permitting a brewery. In my 8 years of blogging about beer in L.A., that has yet to happen. There is either no political will to do so or the inertia is just too much.
To counter that indifference that borders on hostility, breweries have been liberal about pulling temporary permits. It is a loophole that has been used in DTLA but apparently somewhere in the bowels of the city, someone noticed a spike in these permits and grew wise to what was being done.
That is my best guess. The optics for a municipal government to drop the hammer and appear pro-active rather than letting things slide by are obvious. Especially when it comes to alcohol. I had a bad feeling that if it was done too much that this would happen, but perhaps this can be the impetus for change because both Cellador and Hand Brewed are in craft beer areas that are underserved and they deserve better for their hard work.
Yes, even more Kickstarting
Looks like the San Fernando Valley is tired of having to drive either N-S-W for their local beer. We have another Kickstarter in process from Hand Brewed Beer. And before you think it is one of those bespoke type of monikers. One of the principals does have the last name of Hand.
I had the opportunity to talk to the Hand, as it were, with the rest of the L.A. Beer Blogger group on Sunday and I can’t urge you enough to kick in because their campaign is almost up and they are still needing some funding. And I think they are worthy. They have a Maltose Falcons pedigree and some solid backing and a consumer base that could use a local brewery or three.
A couple of their beers caught my eye and should get you to pony up some coin to help outfit their (in the future) tasting room in the Chatsworth area.
The Vanilla-Raspberry-Bourbon VRB was a smooth and creamy beer with a nice spirit kick in the back. Like a raspberry creamsicle with a splash of bourbon. I also enjoyed their Erudite Wit which was bright and clear and is one of the better Wit’s that I have had recently.
They have a nut brown ale, an IPA and a pale in the rotation as well. And if you are into spice, they have a serrano pepper infused IPA that I thought was too much on the pepper and not enough IPA.
