The now mostly quarterly Beer Paper LA will be holding an 11th Anniversary shindig at ISM Brewing in Long Beach near the end of the month. I will be up north in PDX but this would be a good time to visit ISM, if you haven’t already….
BP11
LABW 2024
This month is going to be all about L.A. Beer Week posts, so buckle up. Of course the signature event is the festival in Long Beach but lets get some other events talked about like to start, this fun event in, checking notes, Long Beach…
June 14 – ISM Brewing will be tapping beers from all our neighboring Long Beach breweries. Additionally, we will have cans and draft pours of the LB Super Collaboration from Trademark Brewing. Craft Beer LB will be in popping up and will have rad LB merch for sale. Hang out with us, jam out with our DJ and taste the best of what LB has to offer. Breweries include: Ambitious Ales, Ten Mile, Syncopated, Beachwood Brewing and Blendery, Altar Society, Trademark, Steady and Belmont Brewing.
June 16 – Highland Park Brewery is hosting a Lager CanJam on Sunday June 16th, 2024! Inspired by our friends, Threes Brewing, we asked some breweries from around the country to send us a case of their tastiest lager!
June 18 – Calling all Cicerones, beer nerds, home brewers, pro-brewers, and just general trivia fans! Brush up on your beer knowledge and head to the Angle City taproom on Tuesday, June 18th. We’re celebrating LA Beer Week with beer-themed trivia.
More events on scheduled, these are just my first set of picks. More to come.
Review – Two from ISM Brewing
One of the breweries that I am hyped about is ISM Brewing in Long Beach. I grabbed a couple in cans recently and it is review time.
Coastal Curves is the hopped up West Coast Pilsner and it pours a bright and bubbly yellow. Aroma is definitely hoppy. Getting a bit of Simcoe, I think. There is a bit of berry here. also a peppery note as well. Not super crisp but there is a minerality there that keeps this from veering into pale ale territory.
Sonic Substance a collaboration with Creature Comforts and it too pours a bubbly, vibrant yellow color. Getting a bit of a soft pine near a citrus grove feeling from this one. Not dank but not a fruit bomb either. Tastes heavier than the 6.66% listed ABV.
If forced to choose, I would go toward the pilsner. But it is a close race.
Passport to Craft
Beer, check. Pizza, check. Sandwich, check and then beer again, check. Sounds like the only passport one needs and a great weekend idea in Long Beach. It’s the Downtown Long Beach Craft Passport which also has a sake coupon too.
Ambitious-ISM
I bet feathers weren’t flying but obvious hops were when Ambitious Ales met up with ISM Brewing.
Inside the colorful cans is a “West Coast IPA with El Dorado Incognito, HBC 586, Simcoe, Nectaron and Terpenes.”
Last 1st Visits of 2023
So, I traveled over to El Segundo to check out two new breweries that I have posted about before. One The Boardroom was shut for a private party.
But I did get to taste the beers of nearby Five Point Five Brewing which has taken over the former Surfridge Brewing space.
The space remains the same. No drastic changes inside. The change is outside with a bright big paint job with the brewery name in big letters.
The beers were surprisingly good but in styles that I was a bit surprised by. In my sampler tray were two IPA’s, a hoppy blonde, a Nitro Red Ale and a big stout. The Hoppy Blonde, I Love That for You was my top choice. Light yellow in color. Nice flavor with a little hoppy burst that came through well.
The Proud Mary Irish Red on Nitro highlighted the creamy dispense very well and when that flavor dissipated, the malt flavors took over for a second round.
A promising start for sure that I might re-check.
To make this last 1st Visits post of 2023 factually plural, I tacked on a visit to Long Beach and the former promenade home of Beachwood Brewing that is now ISM Brewing. Ian McCall who brewed at this very location is back with his eponymous initials brewery and the word is good.
I had five tasters covering a bit of their beer menu and came away very impressed. Especially with their New Zealand hopped beers. A pilsner, Lag Rope and an IPA, Kiwi Fingers. Both really let that Nelson hop shine. Also quite impressive was a simple ale called Peaches for Days that harmed no peaches but the aroma and taste was 100% stonefruit. A hop magic trick for sure.
ISM is only a month old but they are already firing out hits so mark it as your first to visit next year.
ISM on the Promenade
For 12 years, the Beachwood Brewing hub was in Long Beach on promenade. Now they are taking leave of that location and re-allocating, as it were over their other spots across South L.A. and Orange County.
From their recent social media posting, “This sale will allow us to move our specialty beer production to our Huntington Beach facility – so all the variety you’ve come to enjoy from Beachwood isn’t going away. With a growing footprint in Long Beach and Orange County, a newly launched distillery with artisanal spirits, and expanded beer production, we are committed to the same ethos we started with 12 years ago ”
Don’t fret though. Former Beachwood and Riip brewer – Ian McCall will bring his eponymous brewery (ISM) and his medals to the space which is quite exciting. A real win-win.
Beachwood – Long Beach’s last week will be October 23-October 29.