Get tropical in Hawthorne as Los Angeles Ale Works will celebrate their 7th anniversary or thereabouts with all sorts of Tiki treats and a new IPA for the occasion.
L.A. Ale Works 7th Anniversary
Triple Tiki
The triple IPA deluge is continuing with a Thor Heyerdahl entrant from Los Angeles Ale Works, Kon Tiki.
“We took a different approach with this beer, using our hazy IPA yeast before spinning through the centrifuge. This preserves the complex, yeast-driven tropical aromas while keeping the body closer to more traditional IPAs. On the nose, Kon Tiki has loads of pineapple and mango, followed by subtle sweet notes of passionfruit, mango and ripe citrus.”
Wooden L.A.A.W.
Los Angeles Ale Works will arrive at their five year celebration this year and have events starting the 17th all the way through the 29th with the signature event being on…
March 19th – “THE BASH. 5 years is the celebration of wood and we’ll have lots to celebrate. Beer and glass releases, merchandise, food, music, expect the usual fun and festivities of past anniversaries!”
Action
Another way to show support to the BLM movement is in canned form from Common Space. Here is what the brewery says about the new beer, “This Citra IPA is brewed in support of the Black Lives Matter movement right here in our community. Common Space support BLM Los Angeles.”
1st Visit – Common Space Brewing
While visiting State Brewing earlier this month, I drove west on El Segundo to make a first visit to Common Space. I had only tried one of this new brewery’s beers so I was interested in tasting a flight and getting a better handle on how they are doing, early in the run. SO early that the version numbers are still in use and a whiteboard (better suited for a corporations meeting room) were still in effect.
The space is huge with a nice amount of seating inside and a large patio outside that buts right up to a dedicated food truck spot (which shows some forward thinking). There is a large brewing area and to the right seems just empty space punctuated by a few bags of grain.
For the beers, I tried the Pils, Jasmine Saison, Strong Saison and the new version of the IPA. All were very strong with my winner of the group being the Pils. I skipped over the Light Beer and Coffee Stout. Saving those for a future visit. The color palette was really nice and it is an overall strong start quality wise.
I am not a fan of the name or the interlocking circle motif. Both seem, well, common and don’t really scream Hawthorne or Los Angeles to me. Though you can argue that Space and Space X are matching but that seems a reach to me. Maybe the locked down versions of the beers will bear names that tie into the community.
1st Impression – Common Space Brewing
I made a mid-week trek to Hawthorne. Not to ride about a Space X Falcon rocket but to check out the beers from the upcoming Common Space Brewery.
Three beers were being poured at Eureka! Burger at the Hawthorne airport but by the time I arrived only the IPA was left of the three. Sixtels of the Saison and Coffee Stout were blown!
The small space was packed with people. A good response for a Wednesday night for sure. I was able to talk to one of the founders, Dave Childress for a few minutes while sipping of the latest iteration of their IPA and they seem excited to finally open up and are crossing their fingers that Super Bowl Weekend might be the time.
The IPA was pretty good out of the gate. Clear with really bright tropical fruit notes. It had plenty of malt backbone to it as well.
Updates to come once I can visit the space and try more of the beers.
L.A. 1 A.W.
It may seem that all I write about at times is to post about an upcoming anniversary party for a brewery. Such is the life when breweries come hot and heavy over a short 8 year period.
Next up is in Hawthorne where L.A. Ale Works will be hitting the 1st year mark in early February….
Almost Open – L.A. Aleworks
January or February will see the opening of Hawthorne’s first brewery (in the craft beer age, at least) when L.A. Ale Works unlocks the door you see above.
This long gestating brewery has a large space near Space X off of the 105 Freeway and will be producing these beers….
…pouring from these taps….
I tasted small samples of their Space XPA as well as the “un”coffee version of Buttress of Windsor and their saison during my visit and came away optimistic. The XPA had the texture and flavor that NE IPA fans will recognize, the saison was on point and the porter should prove an excellent base for coffee to jump off from.
There is a good amount of space when you add in the outdoor patio and growlers will be filled using one of those fancy fillers. You will even be able to drop off your growler and go with a new (filled one) if you don’t feel like hanging about.
Best of all, is parking. An actual lot with spaces. The other cool bit, and it is much cooler, is the mini Burton Union that the LAAW crew have set up to create their Blume Berliner Weisse….
The pieces are coming together. Stay tuned to their social media to see when the opening date will be.
Kip in Space
The sort of secret has been let out of the bag as now Facebook has been made aware of the latest development in the adventure of Los Angeles Ale Works.
Hawthorne will be the new home of the brewery spearheaded by Kip Barnes as the build out for the operations, taproom, outdoor space is progressing with a possible opening in the fall. There will be parking and an outdoor patio from which to gaze at the stars and imagine taking a Space X trip to Mars while drinking some of the imaginative beers from Barnes.
With the tasting kitchen of Eureka! Burger nearby, Hawthorne is inserting itself into the craft beer scene.