Today over at Food GPS, you can read about the new Lomita brewery, Project Barley, here you can see some photos from inside the new space….
1st Visit – Project Barley
Project Barley – So Close
Project Barley in Lomita is inching closer to the big day! Opening Day is now scheduled for August 17th with a Ribbon Cutting ceremony held at 11:00 AM. This will be the 2nd brewery in Lomita after Burnin’ Daylight.
1st Visit – San Dimas – Feathered Serpent
The next stop in San Dimas was Feathered Serpent.
After the good start at Highpoint, I was feeling confident. I was hyped about this new brewery. I drove through the Western-y part of downtown San Dimas out to another industrial park. I was thinking it would be like Border X in Bell or Pacific Plate in Monrovia where I could find something super different. Alas, not to be.
It was the 2nd weekend of the brewery after a successful opening and I was surprised to see that their Amber had sold out. When was the last time an amber kicked first? The four remaining beers were all fairly muddy affairs where flavors seemed dulled and fighting each other.
The Porter was the standout. Solidly done. Was spot on to the style. Neither the Session or regular strength IPA had much hops going on. I couldn’t taste what they were aiming for at all. The Blonde was OK but fell far behind the Highpoint version to my mind.
I am hoping that this is just part of the learning curve and that the brewery will grow from this point because I do like the mural on the wall of the taproom, the branding is great and people were super friendly.
Sandbox
You can’t cover an area as sprawling as Los Angeles without others finding new beers and new beer news. Thanks to the team at Hopped LA, I learned about a new brewery less than 2 miles down the road from Claremont Craft Ales.
That distance puts them Sandbox Brewing Company in Montclair. They are currently a Friday through Sunday operation but now you can taste from two breweries with one trip on the 10.
Expect a 1st visit post in the coming months.
Pretty is Back
One beer that I wished that I could get fresher and more of were the ales of Pretty Things from founders Dann and Martha Paquette. They had unique beers often with a European spin to them like their Jack D’Or Saison as well as some historically researched beers that I found to be fun explorations.
They became embroiled in the distribution hi-jinks on the East Coast and called it out to the media and then in short order they had called it quits. But not entirely. Now the Paquettes are in Sheffield. Spiritual home of the new Doctor and they have a new brewery, Saint Mars of the Desert.
Their reputation has allowed them to create something brand new but with the DNA of Pretty Things but on a smaller and English scale.
Maybe they still have contacts in the U.S. and some of the beer may come to SoCal.
Feathered Serpent
There is another brewery coming to the Off the 210 area in San Dimas / West Covina area with the planned Feathered Serpent. Mark it down as a social media follow to make sure you don’t miss the news about it.
1st Visit – Over Town Brewing
I jumped over to my valley town to another (Glendale to Monrovia) to check out yet another new brewery, Over Town Brewing. Here are my thoughts….
I had high hopes upon entering Over Town Brewing for the first time. The outside had the logo high and proud. Nice color scheme. Inside the space is filled with little and big signs of beach and road culture of Los Angeles. Highlighted by a big wooden Hermosa Beach sign that is a prime selfie spot.
Smartly, they were not doing flights or other odd sized pours. Just half’s and fulls. So I went down the list and selected what I thought would be easy hits. Pale Ale, West Coast IPA and a white ale. I skipped over the overly fruity and since it was hot, I also skipped the bigger beers. The plan was sound but the beers were all below mediocre. The Pale Ale had a tangerine puree quality to it. The White Ale needed extra spice push and the IPA tasted young to my palate.
Hopefully, the recipes will be honed with time and feedback.
Over Town
I should not be surprised when another brewery suddenly pops up without me knowing about it. And yet, I am, each time. Here is the latest:
Wingwalker is barely open a couple months and another one enters the Monrovia market, Over Town Brewing Co. There will be a first visit report coming later this month or in April.
New San Diego Brewery # 3 – Kilowatt Brewing
Our last stop in San Diego is electrifying… Kilowatt Brewing. With Locations in Ocean Beach and Kearny Mesa.
Here are the beers that I would add to a taster tray….
Easy Crusher American Pilsner Pre-Prohibition style Lager – “Straw colored Pilsner based on recipes brewed before the Volstead Act of 1919 using Pilsner malt, flaked corn, and German noble hops.”
Wir Trinken! Festbier - “A smooth, pale German-style lager with a strong malt presence balanced with a light hop character.”
250 kWh IPA American IPA - “Features Kohatu, Rakau, and Falconer’s Flight hops, with piney, fruity & citrus notes.”
350 kWh IIIPA Triple IPA – “Triple IPA brewed with 40 lbs of 7 different citrusy and tropical hops.”
Coconut Chai Porter American Porter -” Brewed with chai spices and conditioned on toasted coconut.”
1st Visit – Burnin Daylight
I made my first official visit to Lomita recently. Traveling for beer does indeed force one to parts of Los Angeles that you may see only on freeway exit signs. This time I am drinking my first beers from Burnin’ Daylight which occupies a new development block on Narbonne Street.
Right off the bat I notice two things: One, they have a kitchen with a short food menu which is nice and second, the place was damn cold. So cold that blankets were being passed out. The A/C must have decided to work extra overtime. There is a nice amount of outdoor over a barrel seating and upcycled malt bag pillows inside that make the place homey.
There was a good spectrum of beer styles on offer from the civic named Lomita Light Lager to a Bourbon-Barrel aged stout and IPA’s in-between. I enjoyed the Wheat Mas wheat driven IPA. It had a bright hoppy flavor and a bit of strength behind it too. The Gold Days Coffee Milt Stout was a little green coffee bean tasting for the style but coffee lovers like myself are bound to find it tasty nonetheless. The Small Town Feel DIPA was on track doubling up Citra and Simcoe though it was a little too tongue scrapey old school West Coast (or I have gotten soft). The least favorite was the Appian Amber. This is a style that should be easily executed, clean and crisp but this had a weird aftertaste going on that was not my thing.
Overall, I like the feel of the place and for a new brewery, they seemed to be on track with the beers. They are also not too far from the other South Bay breweries so it is easy to add this to the beginning or end of a trip or to make a specific choice to come.