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I am a little hesitant about talking about future beer events but hopefully, Smog City will be able to get fully “Canimalized” come May 9th. Laurie and Porter always throw a fun party with loads of rare and fun beers. So mark this on your calendar.
Thanks to the crew at Hopped LA, I got the opportunity to test out beers from new Torrance brewery, Buzzrock. (and be filmed for an “unCanned” segment too)
Gary Magnone received a whopping 12 crowlers. Basically covering all but a couple of the beers that Buzzrock makes at their Brews Hall at Del Amo location.
Considering the brewer lineage of Stone and Monkish, it was no great shock to find that the beers were all above average. There was some weirdness though, the pale ales were all dark orange in color while the IPA’s were uniformly golden yellow. The Witbier was made with peaches and boy was it dripping with the actual fruit taste, then there was the Sabro Hop Double IPA which was a straight up coconut bomb.
Of the group, my pick for what to try is the Hazy IPA because it too, was weird, but it grew on me. It had the right color and haze profile. The aroma was spot on but when you sipped, it was Cascade hopville. Picture a hazy with the fruit taste removed, replaced by pine. More classical was their Oatmeal Stout which ticked all the boxes for the style. Coming in third for me was the Oat Pale Ale which was bright with fruit and had a nice hop/malt balance.
Between the George Lopez and Colin Cowherd sub-brands, I would steer to the Cowherd. Both the Pils and IPA were down the middle whereas the Lopez beers seemed to be trying to hard and ended up not working well for me.
Promising start though for Buzzrock, enough to make a visit to their Torrance brewery a better bet.
Smog City will now have a permanent handle dedicated to their 1% For the Planet advocacy. And because the percentage is right there on the tap handle, all you have to do is point and you can help contribute a little good back into the world. Look for it at their main location and brewery.
You know you can’t always have a Hazy IPA, so when you return to other styles, return in a big way. Might I suggest Stout, at Yorkshire Square?
There is a crackin’ list of breweries set to appear at the 2020 edition of N’owt But Stout…
Over 30 breweries pouring including:
Beachwood Brewing
Bottle Logic Brewing
Brewery X
Burnin Daylight Brewing Co
Cellador Ales
Chapman Crafted
Creative Creature Brewing
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
GameCraft Brewing
HopSaint Brewing Company
Laguna Beach Brewing Co.
Marin Brewing Company
MacLeod Ale Brewing Co.
Mission Brewery
Morgan Territory Brewing
Pizza Port Brewing Co.
Riip Beer Company
Smog City Brewing
SouthNorte Beer Co.
South Park Brewing
State Brewing Co.
Thr3e Punk Ales Brewing Co.
Yorkshire Square Brewery
Quite a few are not seen around L.A. so this is a great chance to check out places normally out of reach.
Casks were out in force in the parking lot and interior of Yorkshire Square in Torrance for the 2019 edition of the Cask’s Not Dead Festival.
All of the royals were in attendance along with beer fans from as far away as Portland to taste Traditional and “Abnormal” cask beers. Just a touch over 30 casks were available and I tasted through a 1/3. Given a second day, I could have hit up some more.
Standouts included El Segundo’s collaboration with Yorkshire Square on Burton’s Pilgrimage an English styled IPA that I think is somewhat similar to this year’s Sierra Nevada Celebration. Thick on malt but with a big hop hit and a touch of spice note to it. Green Cheek Beer Co. brought in a Yorkshire Pale Ale take named Now Then, How Are We? which was delightful and filled with hoppy fruit aroma all in a 4% ABV body. Beachwood brought hops as well with a West Coast DIPA, By Hops Be Driven that was hugely floral and did not taste at all like 9%.
The only real downside to the occasion was that it was way too hot. How can a festival scheduled in November be over 90 degrees? But the crowds were happy, there were practically no lines except for the inside bar at times as people escaped the sun, and the beer was a lovely change of pace from the usual. If I were you, I would mark next November down for some cask ale.
Tortilla Cantina in the Old Torrance neighborhood will play host to the 5th South Bay Tap Takeover, appropriately enough on the 5th of September. 45 taps of beers from one of the busiest sections of the L.A. brewing scene will be on tap along with a mega collaboration IPA, Better Sweater Weather that was created by a group of 20+ breweries and cideries in the area.
On the day before Fireworks/Earthquake Day, I pointed the car south to Torrance and Snap Tin Eatery. Some of the eagle eyed among you may have already guessed that Snap Tin is partnered up with Yorkshire Square Brewery. Now there is a full restaurant alongside the Andy Black English beers on cask (and draft).
I had the chance to speak with Chef Bruno Wu who brought the British inspired menu to life and they are really using beer in a lot of the recipes. More than I have seen in other places and the beer actually comes through in the cooking. But more on that in a future Food GPS post but I will say that maybe you should head to Torrance and watch the US National teams play and have excellent beer and food.
In a case of in with old and out with the newer, Zymurgy Brew Works and Tasting Room in Torrance will be closing as of July 31, 2019. The space will not sitting fallow for long though as Smog City will be taking that space over with a projected 9/1/19 opening (don’t write that in stone).
I never visited the Zymurgy location. In ignorance, I thought it was a homebrew store only for a long time. I did try their beers at the L.A. Beer Week Kick-Off but never really learned more about them though they were on my too-long “should visit” list.
The space has “16 taps, a new long bar and a comfortable lounge area”, per the e-mail that announced the closing so that would seem suited to the full range of Smog City beers and not just wild and sours.
With space at SteelCraft in Bixby Knolls, selling at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market and an upcoming stall at a Glendora Food Hall, this new space further expands the empire of Little Bo Pils.
Looks like you can get that cask attitude at home. Yorkshire Square of Torrance is now selling “naturally carbonated 5 liter mini casks.” They have the directions right there on the cask. And for those who only traffic in the limited release, well according to the brewery “these are produced in super limited amounts and will rotate through different beers.”
Long time readers know that I do NOT go out on St. Patrick’s Day but that blanket ban does not extend to March 16th. Especially when the 2 edition of the N’owt but Stout Festival lands on that day at Yorkshire Square Brewery. The Torrance based but British in heart brewery will be bringing the dark stuff from over 25 breweries for unlimited pours as well as a brewers panel for those who want to learn more about stout in 2019.
Make sure that you get in on the Early Bird tickets!