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I was Untappd’ing recently when the following notification popped up….
…I had a vague feeling that Wiretap Brewing was in the works but from their website, it appears they are up and have been up and going in Lincoln Heights.
They have Black IPA named NSA which is rare style to see as well as a hybrid Mexican Strong Ale. I haven’t seen any of their beers on draft or in packaging but I will report back after visiting.
Los Angeles has some really cool architecture tucked into hidden spots and one of them is a historic Firestone Building from 1938 on La Brea at 8th.
Conroy Commercial plans to re-develop the site into eateries and a microbrewery (their term, not mine). Kind of a mini food hall.
No news on if it will be a brand new brewery or perhaps a second (third) location for an existing brand. Due to concerns about parking which ain’t fun in that part of town have delayed the project into 2019 or beyond.
Updates when more news is released.
If you thought you were caught up on Los Angeles beer (even I am not), well another new one has opened….
…and it brings the Burbank brewery count to 4. Henson Brewing soft opened over the President’s Day Weekend. And it is even closer to where I work than the previous record holder, Lincoln Beer Co.
The taproom is a work in progress as was mentioned in the soft open announcement. As it stands now, the place looks very similar to other set-ups. There is a nice bar and a bit of non-bar seating. The roped off area probably signifies that more seating is coming. The cold box is way back in the corner and the brewing equipment is lined up neatly on the opposite wall.
On tap over the long weekend were the Double Blackjack Porter, My Lucky Linda Pale Ale and Don’t Call Me Hay’z was on deck. There were no taster flights ready yet so I started with the Madison Wheat Beer which was both murky and unappetizing looking. Flavor wise it was still a little too green, needed more time to lose some sweetness. It was tapped to early. The 2nd beer was Winthrop, a British IPA. It looked much better. It was very malt forward and could have used a bit more hop zing in my opinion though others could disagree.
I will check out the other beers and report back and let you know how the four Burbank breweries shake out ranking wise.
TAPS Fish House & Brewery, already a mini-chain with three TAPS restaurants, will expand next with a not-restaurant. Opening early next year will be a full-scale production brewery and tasting room in Tustin.
“The new TAPS concept, which will include a 1,900-square-foot tasting room, a patio with a 12-seat fire pit, and multiple TVs and videogames.” There will be 16 TAPS beers on tap as well as bottle choices.
This should give the talented brewing combo of David Huls, Kyle Manns and Jonathan Chiusano much more “head room” to make their award winning beers and allow for more luxuries like crowlers and growlers to go.
Back when I went to college, McMinnville had not one brewery. My grades were probably the better for it. Now you have Heater-Allen, a branch of McMenamin’s, Golden Valley and Grain Station.
Add Allegory Brewing to the mix. You can read the full “story” over at the New School blog HERE but my take-aways are that there has been a lot of collaborating done by a secretive brewery and that having a pickles and biscuits cart is genius.
When is that next reunion?
Mikkeller Brewing is growing like a weed and is fast leaving behind the gypsy brewer tag they had been labeled with a brewery in San Diego and now at Citi Field, home of the NY Mets.
Mikkeller had already been connected with the stadium providing a special beer for the baseball fans. Now they will take over a space
that had been used for ticket holder and fan hospitality near Right Field for a 20-barrel brewhouse and around 60 taps. (Yes, that is a large amount)
Unless the Mets make a really deep playoff push, the brewery and bar will debut next season.
More importantly, will this herald a resurgence of independent beer at stadiums. This seems to be a game that has see-sawed between the big bucks and marketing might vs. the curb appeal of having local beers on tap.
Tomorrow brings your first chance to try the beers from Concrete Jungle. If my sources are correct, this is the continuation of what started as Ale Arsenal which had the brightly colored labels with social media shorthand as beer names.
Founded by Will Shelton of Shelton Bros., the beer distributors, this adds a new dimension to the DTLA brewing scene.
A long time ago, I briefly mentioned on this blog that the Sage Vegan Bistro in Echo Park was in the process of creating a little brewery at their restaurant thereby brewpub-izing it.
A cursory search did not find the name or background of the brewer but the location now has a full bar with 36 taps and down the road, fairly soon now, we should be seeing Sage beers like a habanero pilsner and a rosemary-beet amber.
A 1st visit will be happening soon with a report to follow.
In a counterprogramming move, Ryan Brooks (formerly of Coronado Brewing Co.) will be opening a brewery that strides the brewing styles of Southern California and Northern Mexico. With the well-suited to branding name of SouthNorte, let’s hope that they can fuse the tastes of two countries.
Looks like yet another brewery is popping up in the outer boroughs, as it were, of Los Angeles.
Valley Riot is based in San Fernando per their Facebook page but no tasting room is open to the public as of yet and not beer list posted on the main website.
So this can be filed under Stay Tuned. (as in wait for the interview on Food GPS)