Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Well, maybe closer to (4) variants of the annual Infinite Wishes release from Smog City. You can buy 2/Max bottles of the following: Regular, Coconut Vanilla, Cinnamon, Double Bourbon and licorice.
Smog City throws a good party and they have the crowd control and lines down too. So head out to Torrance on January 25th and look into the infinite.
Though it has been “soft” open, I waited for the GRAND opening to visit the newest location for Smog City Brewing. I never visited the space in its previous incarnation so it is completely brand new to me.
Once you find the sign for Smog City – West amongst the many in this big strip mall, well off Hawthorne Boulevard, the space is pretty small all told. A square space of bench seating at the window, a few table tops opposite the bar. Very much similar to the original brewery.
This will be focused, at least at first, on the Wood Cellar beers. They may even (eventually) do some brewing here on the little system left over from Zymurgy.
As it stands, I would probably hit the main brewery first when the Smog City mood strikes. It is not a super easy drive down Hawthorne to get here from the north, But those coming from the south may find this to be an excellent location to pick up a taster and then buy some of the fancy sours and saisons that are becoming their calling card.
If you are a fan of Farmer’s Markets, well, you will be a bigger fan after hearing this. The Torrance brewery will be bringing Smog City beer to the Hollywood Farmers Market!
Owners Porter and Laurie at their will have a booth at North Cahuenga and Selma Avenue and will be open between 8am-1pm on Sundays.
First beer list has the following available:
Coffee Porter
Smog City IPA
Sabre-Toothed Squirrel
Little Bo Pils
Bourbon O.E.
White Peach Saison
June Lady
In case you forgot to check out the fantastic food coverage on the Food GPS website, then you may have not seen the beer coverage either.
Here is your handy link spot to read what I covered in Brew & You in April….
April 4th – Ventura Beer Tour, Ventura Light from MadeWest + Smog City 4 20 Celebration.
April 18th– Bite Sized Beer News, Ginger Saison + #LABW11.
Make sure to get your tickets because when Smog City does an anniversary party, they bring a big list of special beers.
On January 19th, Wishes will be granted as Smog City returns their Bourbon Barrel-Aged Infinite Wishes. The stout has “spent over a year resting in bourbon barrels collecting intense aromas of vanilla, sweet bourbon, cocoa, cinnamon, and cooked sugar.” My suggestion: I would try a taster (take notes on how it smells and tastes) and then buy a bottle to try later this year.
As a bonus, Smog City will be releasing some special variants too.
I will be in Torrance for two straight Saturdays and the first stop is the Wood Cellar of Smog City as they blowout their barrel-aged beers.
Here is my report:
I had (5) tasters and it was tough choosing what to have. But I had two really great beers on contention for my Best Of 2018 list starting with…
Citra Quercus – Bright hop presence to this blended beer adds lemon notes to the sour creating a near lemonade taste that is fabulous.
Super Spittin’ and Cussin’ – Great spice character and heavy on the sour in this “Ice wine” styled brown with just a little bit of anise to add complexity.
The other three Wood Cellar beers were more interesting and fun but did not reach the heights of my “winners”…
Spiced Summer Saison – mild spice, little lemon, smooth
Moroccan Cuddlebug – very spice forward. Sour comes through but the fruit is lost
Enoki – earthy, funky, nutty
The other highlight was the tour of their wild area that included meeting Cesar, the barrel whisperer and Toby, the inoculator. Hopefully I will be able to glean more Wood and Wild notes from them at a less busy time. We also saw their extra hard work with persimmons.
As usual Laurie and Porter were great hosts. Going out of their way to make sure people were not only having fun and great beer but also being challenged and educated too.
Yesterday I was in Torrance to congratulate Smog City on reaching another anniversary milestone.
Here are my personal highlights from the day….
I was able to try quite a few new beers, most of which of the saison persuasion and though the Awkward Teenager was really good, balance on the edge between rustic and hoppy, I have to say that Floret 2.0 a wild saison with seven different flowers was my top beer. And when their new outdoor patio is complete, that will be the perfect beer to enjoy for as long as it lasts.
Some sour beers are heading our way on October 14. Smog City will be releasing two! This Sour Future is the sour brown with only 1200 bottles. And even more limited is the release of Tall, Darth and Handsome, an experimental sour porter.
May 20th Smog City will celebrate another year of serving up beers (now in 2 locations!).
Here are the details:
“Saturday, May 20th, we will be hosting our annual VIP session from 11-1pm and general entry from 1-10pm. Our awesome team brewed a special anniversary beer for this very special occasion. This year it’s a Tart Saison with Tangerine! Keep an eye out, our VIP session is ticketed and limited to 200 attendees and this year we have a couple tricks up our collective brewer’s sleeves. Tickets on sale at noon on April 19th...link to come, join our newsletter (through our website) for special release info!”
Get it? Good.