SoCal Brew Bus becomes third local company offering craft brewery tours

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SoCal Brew Bus began offering tours at the end of July and is owned by Phil Johnson, who is also a high school soccer coach.

While the other tour companies in LA and the surrounding areas do a good job, I don’t feel that I’m in direct competition with them — there’s plenty of breweries to go around,” Johnson said via email. “Much like how small breweries tend to help each other out and collaborate in many ways, I see any gain in exposure to the beer tourism industry as a plus for everyone involved. It’s not a zero sum game. The market share of craft beer continues to grow, new breweries continue to open, and positive exposure to this market is good for everyone.

Phil

I’m a craft beer lover, homebrewer, and also a lover of all the unique neighborhoods of LA. I’m an east coast transplant and I didn’t always love the city’s many discrete pockets. As a newcomer, it can be hard to get around and finding all the best parts of LA can be difficult. But, I’ve come to love the character of this city. There are always some old neighborhoods to revisit, new restaurants to try, and now, new breweries popping up everywhere.

San Fernando Brewing Company opens Friday

sfbrewlogoAfter (at least) two long years of finding a suitable location community in the valley, the former Street Sign Brewing Co. will finally open at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

San Fernando City Mayor Joel Fajardo, Councilman Antonio Lopez, and City Manager Brian Saeki will be present as the ribbon is cut.

Here’s more on the brewery from the press release:

San Fernando Brewing Company was established in November 2013, when the partners found a warehouse in the city of San Fernando.

With support from the city officials and the community, it took two years to come to fruition. Each of their beers have city-inspired names and their Senora Wheat features a historic variety of wheat that was originally grown in California in the 1800’s.

San Fernando Brewing Company is the only brewery in the country to revive the use of this grain in their beer, and they pride themselves on using local ingredients in all of their beers.

Prior to the inception of the brewery, co-owner Vic Chouchanian began home brewing for his neighbors and friends. With rave reviews and award winning beers he decided to team up with his brother, Joe Chouchanian, to form Street Sign Brewing Company; named after an actual street sign they used to build the scaffolding for their homebrew setup.

After much support from the city, they later became, and are proud to be called San Fernando Brewing Company.

You can enjoy a pint or taster of their Stoney Point Stout, Sonora Wheat, Wolfskill IPA, Royal Road Pale Ale, and their O’Melveny Red Ale while supplies last. In honor of their grand opening, San Fernando Brewing Company will be giving away free branded bottle openers to the first 500 customers.

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The brewery is at 425 Park Ave., in San Fernando.

Beer dinner: Abigail’s in Hermosa Beach teams with Three Weavers Brewing Wednesday for British pub-inspired brew and food pairing

resizeaAbigaile’s in Hermosa Beach and Inglewood’s Three Weavers Brewery pairs five courses including a cheese plate, fish and chips and bangers and mash with South Bay-brewed craft beer in the last of a summer pairing series (Photo courtesy Abigale’s)

For tickets and complete menu, click here.

New Brew: Alpine Village near Torrance hosts Stone Brewing Thunderstruck DIPA release party Friday

Thunderstruck

The Alpine Village event begins at 5 p.m. and features $5 pints.

Here’s more from the typically over-the-top Stone press release:

Our 19th anniversary beer brings the boom, delivering it to the palate in a voluminous, hop-driven thunderclap backed by the power of our brewing passion and intensity. This double IPA owes its considerable oomph to a quartet of Australian hops—Topaz and Galaxy, plus newcomers Ella and Vic Secret. We also had Fairview malt shipped in from Australia just for this brew. The beer’s striking tropical fruit, citrus and peach hop flavors and slightly resinous and aromatically dank earthiness are sure to electrify your senses.

We have many special beers planned for release to celebrate our 20 years of brewing, so let this serve as the first course to what will be an undoubtedly epic feast for craft beer enthusiasts, with particular thanks to those who’ve been with us for the long haul and helped us attain such longevity.

Also on tap from Stone at Alpine Village: Ruin Ten Triple IPA, Imperial Mutt Brown Ale, Arrogant Bastard, Stochastisity Hifi + Lofi Mix Tape and Go To Session IPA.

Beer bar/bottle shop combo opens in the Inland Empire

The Beer RoomThe Inland Empire now has a combo beer bar/bottle shop, a la the Select Beer Store in Redondo Beach.

The Beer Room opened last weekend in Grand Terrace and is hosting a grand opening today (August 7) and Saturday (August 8).

The Beer Room offers 10 taps of draft beer, and a smallish selection of bottles to choose from, which you can either enjoy at the bar or take home.

The beer selection will change as kegs are emptied and as bottles leave the shop.

Continue reading “Beer bar/bottle shop combo opens in the Inland Empire” »

Hop Head New Brew Alert: Danker Tanker tapped Thursday at El Segundo Brewing Co

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If you’re a fan of El Segundo Brewing Company’s hopped up IPAs this new brew is for you, as the brewery explains in its newsletter:

What happens when you add an additional 2 pounds of dry-hop to an already ridiculously hoppy beer. Well.. only good things I can now tell you.

This thing is a freak of nature! Giant fruit comes spilling out of the glass and permeates.. well.. the room essentially. The hops take you on a journey that certainly doesn’t end once you’ve finished the beer.. they stay with you for about 5 minutes after the last sip. And yes.. its DANK.

The beer is only available in limited quantities,, but growler fills will be available this weekend only as long as supplies last.