Great American Beer Fest 2015: Local breweries take home 24 medals

Ritual Brewing GABFGreater Los Angeles area breweries can pat themselves on the back.

They’ve claimed 24 of the 282 awards given out at this year’s Great American Beer Festival, which took place Thursday through Saturday of last week.

The winners were chosen from 6,647 entries from 1,552 breweries.

A total of 15 breweries, large and small, from the Santa Barbara area through the Inland Empire were awarded.

Head over the jump to see the list.

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SoCal Great American Beer Festival 2015 Winners: Smog City in Torrance and Beachwood BBQ in Long Beach

GABF

Both breweries won silver medals at the 27th annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver with Smog picking up an honor for its Kumquat Saison in the Belgian-style Fruit Beer category and Beachwood for its Mocha Machine, a 9.2 percent ABV Porter.

The GABF medal was old hat for Beachwood BBQ, which has won 10 medals since 2012, but this was only Smog’s second in its young existence.

Incidentally, you can taste the saison for yourself Saturday when Smog releases it in limited bottles and on draft at its Del Amo Boulevard tasting room.

Final weekend at Telo Avenue location before Strand Brewing moves to Old Torrance

stranddorMoving on: The Telo Avenue location for pioneering Torrance production brewery Strand Brewing will closde its doors this weekend.

After six years in a cozy, but cramped Telo Avenue industrial space, original Torrance production brewery Strand Brewing will shut down Sunday and move to larger quarters in Old Torrance.

A soft opening should come next week with a grand opening set for next month in what is a huge space — there’s room for two rows of 10 picnic tables — that will accommodate a canning line, special events and the like.

Falling Leaf Barrel Roll series beer available at Hangar 24 on Saturday, but with a twist

Falling Leaf 2015Hangar 24 Craft Brewery will release its latest Barrel Roll series beer, Falling Leaf, at its tasting room on Saturday (September 26).

Falling Leaf — a bourbon barrel-aged version of the brewery’s pumpkin-and-spice infused Gourdgeous imperial porter — was first released last year. Hangar is also releasing a Falling Leaf variant made with added cacao nibs, vanilla, chipotle and arbol chiles: The Mexican Cacao Edition.

That’s not the only twist, however.

For this release, the brewery is requiring customers to purchase the limited-edition brews online beforehand. On Saturday — and only on Saturday — the beers can be picked up at the tasting room.

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San Bernardino gets a brewery

Last summer, we learned that Yucaipa’s Brew Rebellion had leased a spot at the former Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino and would use it as a second production facility and tasting room.

At the time, brewery co-founder Ed Parker noted that he had hoped to open the tasting room in about a year.

Well, he wasn’t that far off.

The tasting room is set to open today (September 25).

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Celebration fit for a (Pomona) Queen at Upland’s Dale Bros. Brewery today

Pomona QueenLong live the (Pomona) Queen!

Upland’s Dale Bros. Brewery is celebrating the beginning of the 500th batch of its award-winning, flagship lager, Pomona Queen, with an all-day (noon to 9 p.m.) celebration today (September 15).

The celebration will include food (Corazon Azul will serve three-cheese quesadillas and Pomona Queen-marinated steak tacos starting at 5 p.m.), dessert (the Suite 106 Cupcakery truck arrives at 5 p.m.) a performance by Claremont Voodoo Society (whose song gave the beer its name) at 6 p.m., and special keepsake glasses.

Congratulations to Curt, Andy and the rest of the black sheep!

Firestone dinner at the Pub at Chino Hills on Thursday

Anybody else out there a fan of Firestone Walker’s brews?

If so, you’ll want to head to The Pub at Chino Hills on Thursday (September 17) for the eatery’s Firestone Dinner.

Attendees will enjoy a four-course pairing dinner, with each course featuring culinary delights such as beer-braised lamb belly and beer-infused panna cotta paired with select Firestone beers.

Cost is $49 per person.

The Pub at Chino Hills is at 5771 Pine Ave., Suite A. For information, call 909-597-2224.

Old Stump Brewing Co. opens in Pomona today

Old Stump Brewing CompanyWe’ve been following the progress of Pomona’s third brewery — Old Stump Brewing Co. — on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for months now, watching as equipment arrived and was set up.

We’ve been waiting patiently for the brewery to get all the necessary approvals in order to finally open its doors.

Well, that day has come…the brewery opens today (September 11).

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