Highpoint Brewing out San Dimas way is up to their 6th anniversary on November 9th.
As I will repeat over and over, an anniversary party is a real good time to make a first visit especially for a long drive out of L.A. proper.
Point to Six
Brewery Alert – Burning Bridge
Feathered Serpent has jumped from their original location and taking their place is….
Burning Bridge Brewing will take over the space. Headed by Ruben Leon president of the SoCal Cerveceros so it has good pedigree behind it. As usual, follow their social media to learn opening dates.
A Feather in La Puente
So, from San Dimas to La Puente, the folks at Feathered Serpent are headed. From the wording, it sounds like they will leave San Dimas and that this is not a second location move.
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.
1st Visit – San Dimas – Highpoint Brewing
I set the GPS for East on the 210 and went off to visit some new breweries, starting with Highpoint….
Which is just an exit or two from the 210/57 exchange. Thanks to breweries like this, I have a reason to visit a city like San Dimas which would normally just be three exits to get by on the way somewhere else. Highpoint is situated in a sort of industrial strip mall on Arrow Highway and they have taken their space and done well with it. It is divided into three sections. The front of house with a nice amount of seating (and plenty of crowlers), the back seating (and brewing) area with a most excellent Bill & Ted painting and the space in between with the cold box and office.
Here is a quick review of the beers that I tasted (leaving more to try a second time)
Brut IPA – tastes a bit weird to me. doesn’t have the snap or hop bite needed.
Two Fine Blondes – redeems the Brut, this is well done. Good light option particularly for crowler fills.
Uncle’s Red – my pick of the group. A little citrus. A nice kick of malt and a little rye-like spice.
Nitro House Drip – solid coffee taste. nice balance of dark malt and coffee. nitro could have been amped up a bit
South African Hop IPA – R&D with notes of grapefruit and grass. very light and yards different from a typical IPA
I usually don’t buy crowlers after just one visit to a brand new brewery, but I took home the Nice Day IPA because it was a British styled IPA and considering how well I liked the Red, I figure it would work for me just as well and I was right. If you are hunting for malt first and then hops and something reddish/brown instead of golden orange, then this will be good for you too.
Landing/Sliding on the 27th
With the soon to be opening of Feathered Serpent, you can now make a visit way out to San Dimas and hit up two of our eastern brewing brethren. HighPoint being the other. Set your Waze.
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.
Pacific Plate
There are many breweries bubbling under the surface here in the Los Angeles area and here is some positive news from one of them, Pacific Plate via Jonathan Parada! “..we found a location in San Dimas and will be signing the lease sometime this month. Supposing the licensing goes well we can look forward to having a tap room open as early as February or as late as July 1st.”
And it looks like the brewery swag will be really cool, “We’ve found an exciting relationship with a clothing company called Loud & Obnoxious that have become full-time partners of our company and are heading up the marking/merchandise of the company. They’re looking to turn the name Pacific Plate into more than just a beer, but a brand, a style. With some really innovative artists on board we’re looking to design labels/ logos for two lines of beer.”
But let’s focus on the beer, shall we, “First, our historically accurate Ales/ Lagers will consist of a Double Decoction Bavarian Heff, a California Common, and a Trappist Duble.
Our second line will be modern day fusions of popular styles with Central American Flavors, Horchata Stout: An English Milk Stout brewed with cocoa beans and cinnamon, Mango IPA, Agave Wheat, and our WidowMaker IPA.” I am glad to see a twist on the near forgotten milk stout. Looking forward to tryin’ them.
Pacific Plate Brewing Co.