About Nick Green

South Bay-based Los Angeles News Group columnist and blogger Nick Green writes about soccer at the 100 Percent Soccer blog at www.insidesocal.com/soccer and craft beer at the Beer Goggles blog at www.insidesocal.com/beer. Cheers!

Torrance Rock & Brews Opens Thursday

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Nick Green

(Photo by Staff Photographer Robert Casillas)

Rock & Brews investors and co-owners Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, two of the founding members of Kiss, will rock it for the Torrance Education Foundation Wednesday, the day before their newest restaurant location opens in Torrance.

“We’re coming into the neighborhood, but we’re also supporting the neighborhood,” Stanley said. “One of the things we’ve found out as we’ve become successful is that giving back isn’t an option, it really is an obligation.”

We’ll have more on Rock & Brews in the Daily Breeze Sunday. Read the story here.

Former Alpine Village brewery marks grand opening in downtown LA Saturday

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Nick Green

Angel City Brewing, which called Alpine Village near Torrance home for more than two decades, will mark its grand opening this weekend with a music and arts festival.

Angel City was evicted from Alpine Village in 2010 and reopened downtown the following year, but is now under new ownership and offers nine reformulated beers after “a year of building and brewing.”

“We’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time now,” said brewery director Alan Newman. “This event is a celebration not only of the brewery’s journey but of the culture and spirit of the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District.

The day-long festival starts with a mass toast to celebrate the brewery’s rebirth and is followed by seven bands.

There’s also food trucks, brewery tours and an art exhibit titled “In Your Face: How Artists Transformed LA’s Urban Landscape.”

Angel City is just two blocks from Union Station, so festival goers can leave the car (and designated driver) at home.

More information on the brewery is here.

Upcoming South Bay Beer Tastings

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Nick Green

Will San Diego-based Ballast Point’s Sculpin IPA taste as good in a can as it does on draft? One way to find out is to hit Redondo Beach’s Select Beer Store from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. tonight, which is hosting a can release party.
Alternatively, Culver City’s City Tavern is hosting an El Segundo Brewing Company pint night tonight, too.
We’ve told you previously that Torrance’s newest brewery, Smog City, opens next month. Well, if you want a sneak peek, the brewery will host a soft opening with limited beers available from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Torrance’s Strand Brewing hosts a bottle release party from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday at Select Beer Store., 1613 S. PCH, Redondo Beach. Strand now has seven of its beers available in bottles with Black Sand Imperial IPA, White Sand Imperial IPA and Musashi Black IPA joining the four other varieties previously bottled.
The newest Rock & Brews location in Torrance opens May 8 with a grand opening party. Tickets are on sale now. There are ambitious plans to open 100 outlets over the next five years.

Annual Karl Strauss Brewing Pro-Am Call for Entries

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Nick Green

Southern California homebrewers have until May 31 to enter San Diego-based Karl Strauss Brewing Company‘s Pro-Am brewing competition:

The winning brewer will get to brew his/her winning beer on one of our professional systems this August and then have it entered into the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am in October.

Full details and an entry form are here.

Manhattan Beach’s Tin Roof Bistro Hosts El Segundo Brewing Dinner

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Nick Green

The five-course “If I Were a Food Truck” dinner at Tin Roof Bistro features “refreshed takes on food truck fare” paired with beers from El Segundo Brewing Company including roasted duck tamale cakes and a mole sauce served with the Standard Crude Imperial Stout.

The full menu for the April 30 dinner is here.

Cost is $45 a person.

Torrance’s Smog City Opens Tasting Room May 18

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Nick Green

Smog City Brewing, Torrance’s newest craft brewery, opens its tasting room May 18, the same day the city hosts its biggest community event of the year, the annual Armed Forces Day Parade.

Fortunately, Smog City is in an industrial park to the northeast of the city center – just down the street from the tasting room of Monkish Brewing Company – so craft beer devotees should be able to avoid the worst of the traffic.

Owners Laurie and Porter (their surname is Porter, but head brewer Porter – like the rock star he is – goes by only one name) plan to tap several beers brewed in their new facility and limited supplies of others left over from his time at Tustin Brewing Co.

Prices are $6 (although the size of the pour varies) and there are two flight options.

The opening event caps off National Craft Beer Week and is set for noon to 9 p.m. at the brewery, 1901 Del Amo Blvd., Suite B (that’s just about a block west of the Del Amo Boulevard-Western Avenue intersection where Monkish sits, BTW).

Simmzy’s Manhattan Beach Unveils House-Aged Beer Tonight at New Belgium Brewing Tasting

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Nick Green

Simmzy’s Pub in Manhattan Beach hosts a New Belgium Brewing Co., tasting event today featuring four craft beers from the Colorado-based brewery with the highlight a house-aged Clutch, described by the eatery as a “dark sour brown ale we’ve been aging since 2011.”

Other featured beers are an Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout, a Cascara Quad (a Belgian-style beer brewed with dates and coffee cherries) and a collaboration with Quebec’s Dieu du Ciel microbrewery that has yielded a Heavenly Feijoa Tripel.

Tapping is set for 5 p.m. while the 10oz to 14oz pours will cost between $6.50 and $7.50 apiece.

For the occasion Chef Anne Conness has paired the brews with a $12.50 goat cheese souffle with bacon lardons, caramel pairs and frisee lettuce.

Angel City Brewery to Host Monthly Food Truck Event

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Nick Green

The former brewery near Torrance, which moved downtown from its longtime Alpine Village location in 2011 and is now under new ownership, will host Food Truck Haven (click the link for the truck lineup) on the last Saturday of every month beginning this weekend.

From the brewery press release:

Angel City Brewery has been open Thursday through Sunday since February and will open in May with a full daily schedule. With a rotating roster of beers on tap, beer fans are always apt to try something new. Right now, Brewer Dieter Foerstner is featuring Angel City’s classic Eureka! Wit, Angeleno IPA, Vanilla Porter, Berliner Weisse, Amber, and an as-yet un-named Pilsner.

Bootlegger’s Brewery Tasting Friday in Old Torrance

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Nick Green

Beer flights from the Fullerton brewery and barbecue chicken sliders are available at the tasting event at Old Torrance’s Amore Vino wine boutique.

The tasting runs from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Cost is $8.

Hermosa Beach’s Hot’s Kitchen Starts Brewery Dinner Series

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Nick Green

The first is at 6 p.m. Wednesday at taco intensive Hot’s Kitchen featuring six courses paired with beers from San Leandro’s Drake’s Brewing Co.

Cost is $55 and as of earlier today space was still available

Call 310-318-2939 for reservations.

Can’t make Wednesday’s event?

Subsequent brewery dinners will feature San Diego’s Ballast Point in April (are fish on the menu?) and Torrance’s new Dudes’ Brewing Company in May.

Beer Goggles

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