Two days ago, I made the trip down south to Huntington Beach to see the production facility for Beachwood Brewing.
The facility on the musically named Woodwind Drive was formerly Beach City Brewing. You enter the building to a few plants and the Beachwood logo on the wall. The outside and the initial look could almost lead you to believe it was a dental office but then you make a left turn and in one room is a bottling line and as you turn to the right you see the tanks looming up.
Five core beers will be the primary focus here. Amalgamator, Foam Top, Alpha Galatic, Citraholic and Mocha Machine. Which means that you will start seeing a more ready and steady supply of those than you had before. There are plenty of others to choose from. Blendery beers will appear sporadically and other Beachwood brews will circle in and out.
The first location grew as a restaurant, the second was the brewery with a restaurant and this new space is restaurant free, though food trucks will make appearances. If you those five beers on the top of the board are your jam, then this is the place for you. It will be freshest place to get them and the vibe is pure Beachwood plus a little more relaxation since the bustle of food is not there.
Three Weav3rs are Open!
So the Weavers Three have opened! Here is a quick day-after commentary along with some photos from the day.
I was a volunteer out in the sun and got to see what beers were popular with the crowd and if that corresponded with my favorites.
Seafarer Kolsch was an excellent light way to introduce myself to their line-up. Their Session IPA, Stateside had an excellent aroma and a good amount of bitterness for such a light beer. The Double IPA Knotty Pine was also a cut above many in that style category. Strong without going overboard. But my favorite was the Coffee version of the Deep Roots ESB. I really enjoy coffee beers layered onto lighter bases. And the ESB was a great delivery vehicle for the roast. Barring that special beer the plain ESB was excellent as well.
The crowds seemed to hanker for either the Kolsch or the Expatriate IPA. Though the initial line for the Double IPA was quite long.
The event was not crowded. Plenty of space to stay out of the way of people and the sun. The two food trucks weren’t mobbed and no glass ware was broken, that I saw or heard. Which means that for a second event that they are doing pretty well.
The beers were uniformly good with only the Imperial Stout not being to my liking. Too much licorice for me. I am looking forward to the growth and new beers from this addition of LA’s beer scene.
Where the Dudes’ Abide
So the Dudes’ Brewery opened up their taproom to the world in mid-September and a month later, I am my craft co-pilot Richard are in Torrance having a fine time at Smog City when we decide to also check out the Dudes’ since it is so close.
And I must say that the abode where the Dudes’s abide is quite nice. A grouping of picnic tables. A couple of TV’s for the sports enthusiasts without internet access and a nice little bar fronting their canning line and brewing operations. As per the norm, it is in an industrial area with plenty of weekend parking. Plus they have the cool glassware that you can adjust to make it balance on an edge like you are a magician of Copperfield-ian proportions. There was a nice flow of people coming in and out so the place was filled as well.
I had the South Bay Session IPA while Richard had the dry-hopped Kolsch. Both were tasty but the prices seemed really low. Now I know that sounds strange to say. But lower prices (barring happy hour time) is a bit of a warning bell to me. My glass was $3 which I have paid for a taster glass in the past and will probably do again. Either the Dudes have an incredibly economy of scale or they are using different ingredients than other people. Only their Double IPA reached $7 bucks for a pint. Now our beers were perfectly fine. Not jaw dropping but certainly improved from past encounters with The Dudes’ so I am optimistic that they can continue to build the beer profile up to compete with the folks nearby.
You can check out this recent menu to see what you would order:
Food GPS Teaser – Events Past & Present
L.A. has so many craft beer events on any given day that it can be hard to keep up. My weekly Food GPS column could consist each week of a review of a past event and the 411 on a future one. So I decided to do it.
Today’s teaser includes some photos from the Eagle Rock Session Fest…..
And don’t forget to head to….
…on May 18th from 12-9pm “to celebrate the end of construction and the beginning of BEER” at Smog City in Torrance.
Ritual Brewing
Took a little time to find this new-ish Redlands brewery, but once the small sign saying “beer here” was spotted, I was sure that I had found Ritual Brewing for the first time.
I am accustomed to breweries wedged into industrial parks. Comes with the territory. But you walk into Ritual and feel dwarfed by the cavernous space. There is a tiny bar area and a few barrels upended to stand around but it mostly feels like an echo chamber. Not particularly a bad thing but it is a little off putting.
I got a sample tray of four beers that looked good despite the plastic cups and set forth to try a range of styles.
The wit looked good but boy did it taste of salt. A taste that I unsuccesfully attempted to rid my palate of. So, I set aside that offering and moved onto Hellion. Which was OK but was not super. Third in line was Extra Red. I had sampled it at Union Station as part of LA Beer Week and was impressed but this batch fell short of that one. I was left wondering where the water came from and what they did to it. The first three beers struggled to get the flavor through this salt water barricade. The stout at the end was the best of the day but not drive worthy like the samples at nearby Hangar 24.
I left most of the beer. That should tell you something.