L.A. BEER BLAST L.A. Beer Blast: The Best in Local Craft Beer
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The L.A. Beer Blast lets Food GPS readers know what’s new at select L.A. bars and restaurants with great beer selections. You’ll also discover beer-related events in the area.
FATHER’S DAY COLLABREWTIVE BRUNCH
Firestone Walker Brewing Company and Food GPS are co-producing a Father’s Day “Collabrewtive” Brunch on Sunday, June 16, from 11:30 am – 2:30 pm. Expect 6 great chefs, 6 special coffee beers, and one epic event.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND BUY TICKETS.
Pitfire Pizza is bringing craft beer to the masses with 7 spots in the Southland. The Beer of the Week is 25 years in the making, and Homework is a home run.
Roger Bott has been at the helm of The LAB Brewing Co. in Agoura Hills since the start in late 2011. The brewmaster previously worked for Amgen.
Numbered establishments on the map correspond to information below for easy reference:
Beers of the Week:
1. High Water Campfire Stout
2. Ballast Point Habenero Sculpin
3. Birra Amiata Contessa
4. Alesmith Grand Cru 2012
5. Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
Upcoming Event:
Saturday, May 25th from 1pm to 5pm
We are getting our Bottle Share schedule back on track by hosting bottle share #4 on the last Saturday of May. This is a fun, eye opening event, so make sure you bring your friends that might be new to craft beer.
Beers of the Week:
1. Beachwood Loma Prieta German Style Pilsner
2. Telegraph Stock Porter
3. Beachwood Foam Top Cream ale
4. Beersel Blonde
5. Beachwood El Verano Belgian Style saison
Upcoming Event:
Ballast Point Variations Night – Thurs. May 22 – 6pm
Our friends at Ballast Point Brewing Co. in San Diego have been making alternate versions of their award-winning beers for years. On Thursday April 18th, we’re giving you a rare opportunity to try a unique pairing of several of those beers.
We’ll have three beers unaltered and in their pure form; Wahoo Wheat, Sextant Stout, and Dorado DIPA. Next to each will be a altered version; Thai Chili Wahoo Wheat, Sour Barrel Aged Sextant Stout (On Nitro) and Dorado On Nitro. Each of these beers will be paired with a small bite of food to bridge the two beers. The final pairing will feature two limited fruit beers; bOOb Check (Pink ale made with cherries, hibiscus petals, and lime. Brewed for “Beer for Boobs”) and Barmy (made with apricots and carmelized honey) with a dessert bite to finalize the pairing.
Each beer will be available as a single serving; 1/2 pour of each beer along with the small bite, or as a flight with all the small bites of food. More details about this event as available will be found on our Facebook & Twitter.
Beers of the Week:
1. Bear Republic Double Aught pilsner
2. Hangar 24 Small Stout on nitro
3. Malheur 10
4. Moylan’s Our Dark Secret Black IPA
5. Allagash Blonde
Upcoming Event:
Tonight! Beachwood Gumbo Night – Continuing our series of special food nights in Seal Beach – we bring you “Gumbo Night” – choose from 4 different gumbo options or get a flight of all four. We’ll have suggested beer pairings for each as well. No reservations needed – first come first served.
Upcoming Event:
Our 2nd Anniversary party is on May 19th (Sunday)…we’ll actually start by releasing some of our rare sour beers, and other special brews that we’ve been holding onto for this event.
The schedule is as follows:
Friday, May 17th
Ballast Point Victory at sea • Lost Abbey Deliverance • Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Wild • The Bruery Tart Of Darkness • Cismontane OSO Rye porter
Saturday, May 18th
Almanac Farmers reserve #2 • Lost Abbey Mayan judgement day • Firestone Walker Sucaba • Hangar 24 Russian Imperial Stout • TAPS Imperial Balinese stout • The Bruery White Oak
Sunday, May 19th
The Bruery x Beer Belly COLLABORATION: FUBRue (details below) • Ladyface Palo Comado XPA • Beachwood The Falcon IPA • Smog City Quercus circus • Craftsman Cave art • The Bruery Sour in the rye • Almanac Barrel noir • Lost Abbey Cuvée de Tomme • Hangar 24 Hammerhead • Firestone Walker Anniversary XVI • El Segundo Standard Crude • Eagle Rock Tart Noir
Sunday’s celebration will feature a very special anniversary collaboration beer made for us by The Bruery. FUBRue (For Us, By Rue) is a blended sour made with jujubes, black sesame seeds, and azuki red beans…we’re honored and ecstatic about having the opportunity to have a special Bruery beer so we hope you can come on out to try it. In addition to the crazy beers…we’ve decided to close our kitchen on Sunday and have invited Kogi (1-3pm) and Seoul Sausage (5-9pm) to come out and hawk their goods!
5. Blue Palms Brewhouse (Hollywood)
Beers of the Week:
1. Beachwood The Falcon IPA
2. Beachwood Full Malted Jacket
3. Beachwood Knucklehead Red
4. Craftsman Ursa Minor
5. Craftsman Persimmon Sour
Upcoming Event:
Tonight for American Craft Beer Week, Blue Palms shows East Side love for the “Beer for the People” Eagle Rock Brewery with Populist IPA, Unionist Belgian and the Manifesto Wit among others.
Beers of the Week:(starting Friday)
1. Ballast Point Sculpin
2. Bear Republic Cher Ami
3. Craftsman Ursa Minor
4. Cuvee des Trolls
5. The Bruery Trade Winds Tripel
Upcoming Event:
Tuesday the 21st will be our 11 course Stone Vertical Epic Beer Dinner. Chef Tony will be pairing a food-centric menu with all 11 Vertical Epic beers. Cost is $75 per person and there is very limited seating.
Beers of the Week:(starting Friday)
1. Hangar 24 Orange Wheat
2. Golden Road It’s Not Always Sunny in LA Black IPA
3. Stone Enjoy by 5-17-13 IPA
4. Mad River Double Dread Imperial Red
5. Russian River Damnation Golden Ale.
Upcoming Event:
We are having a Goose Island night 5/17/13 Friday night starting at 6:00pm featuring Bourbon County Stout which scored 100 points on Beer Advocate.
8. The Factory Gastrobar (Long Beach)
Beers of the Week:
1. Ohana Rhino’s Redemption Imperial IPA
2. Ballast Point Dorado 2xIPA
3. Knee Deep Hopaholic 4xIPA
4. Port 7th Anniversary 2xIPA
5. Avery Maharaja Imperial IPA
Upcoming Event:
Thursday, May 16, is one of the greatest days of the year at The Factory Gastrobar in Long Beach! The Night of 1000 IBUs!
Our signature American Craft Beer Week event always has legendary amounts of hoppy hospitality! The list this year includes all the beers above plus: Rubicon 25th Anniversary IPA, Bootleggers Far Out IPA, Eel River Earth Thirst Double IPA and Bear Republic Crazy Ivan Belgian IPA!!! If you miss tonight, look forward to Sunday when we will tap all of the week’s favorites plus other incredible brews like Karl Strauss 23rd Anniversary (2011) and The Bruery’s Whiteoak! And since its always Craft Beer Week at The Factory we will have Strand Brewing in next Wednesday, May 22 pouring Ito Berliner Weiss and Ito Cherry Blossom, along with Black Sand, White Sand and their regular lineup!
9. Four Points LAX (LAX Airport)
Beers of the Week:
1. Drake’s Alpha Session
2. Lost Abbey Deliverance
3. Ballast Point Dorado Double IPA
4. Grand Teton Black Cauldron (nitro)
5. Bear Republic Crazy Ivan
10. The Pub at Golden Road (Atwater Village)
Beers of the Week:
1. Golden Road Emil’s ESB
2. Golden Road Point the Way IPA
3. Golden Road Heal the Bay IPA
4. Golden Road Get Up Offa My Brown
5. Golden Road Cabrillo Kolsch
Upcoming Event:
Come toast American Craft Beer Week with us at 5pm with some of our new Cabrillo Kolsch!
11. Kinetic Brewing Company (Lancaster)
Upcoming Event:
Kinetic Brewing brings you the second annual festival of monstrously hoppy beers this weekend! Come experience the freshest and hoppiest beers California has to offer and celebrate a great week of American Craft Beer.
12. Kings Row Gastropub (Pasadena)
Upcoming Event:
Kings Row Gastropub and Congregation Ale House Pasadena Chapter are teaming up to bring you, the residents of the Rose City and outlying areas a wickedly fun collaboration beer fest! On tap at each locations will be a plethora of rare, unique and fun collaboration beers!
13. The LAB Brewing Co. (Agoura Hills)
Beers of the Week:
1. The Lab Brewing Co. Hop Solution Double IPA
2. Stone Brewing Co. Double Bastard Ale
3. AleSmith Brewing Company Old Numskull Barleywin
4. Avery Brewing Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale
5. The Bruery Humulus Lager
Upcoming Event:
Come Celebrate the American Craft Beer Week National Toast today Thursday May 16th! We will be giving away FREE PINTS of Lab Brews today from 5-6pm in honor of this national toast. We also have 9 new great guest taps on line! Come check them out tonight!
14. Ladyface Ale Companie (Agoura Hills)
Beers of the Week:
1. Ladyface IPA
2. Ladyface La Grisette (vintage style wheat & acidulated barley ale)
3. Ladyface Unfiltered Chesebro IPA
4. Ladyface Blind Ambition Abbey
5. ACBW Cask of the Week is Trébuchet, our Chaparral Saison aged in Sauvignon Blanc barrels for a year and a half with additions of lactobacillus for a distinct tartness without “barnyard” character. Say that 3 times fast.
Upcoming Event:
American Craft Beer Week continues with Thursday’s Archive Ales on tap – 1st Anniversary Ale (Belgian quad with oolong tea), La Cerise (cherry lambic), and a sneak peek at this year’s Battle of the Barrel ale, Ballista (Imperial Grisette aged in Viognier French oak wine barrels). Live music on the Ladyface patio Friday with RainRider at 9pm.
15. Library Alehouse (Santa Monica)
Beers of the Week:
1. Hangar 24 Pugachevs Cobra
2. Hangar 24 Hammerhead
3. Ladyface Picture City Porter
4. Dudes Juicebox Blood Orange
5. El Segundo Citra Pale
Upcoming Event:
On May 22nd, the Library will be hosting a Ballast Point Tap Takeover
Beers of the Week:
1. Stillwater Cellar Door (Saison)
2. Midnight Sun Fallen Angel (Belgian Strong Pale Ale)
3. Gulden Draak Vintage (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)
4. Monastery of Christ in the Desert Monk’s Tripel Reserve
5. Urthel Hop-It (Belgian IPA)
Upcoming Event:
Tonight is our Avery tap takeover at Little Bear! Starting at 6pm we will be pouring 8 Avery drafts including: Mephistopheles 2009, Collaboration Not Litigation 2009, Nineteen, Karma, Lilikoi Kepolo, White Rascal, Salvation, and The Reverend. We will also have a small number of bottles of Odio Equum, from Avery’s limited release Barrel-Aged Series on hand!
17. Maximilliano (Highland Park)
Beers of the Week:
1. Craftsman Maximiliano House Beer aka Pizza Beer
2. Craftsman Ursa Minor Barrel Aged Sour Red Ale
3. Hair of the Dog Fred
4. Craftsman Cave Art
5. Craftsman Poppy Fields Pale Ale
Upcoming Event:
Every Monday is our Beer Flight Night. Build your own flight, pick any 5 draft pours from our list for just $12!
Follow us on Facebook & Twitter for up to the minute tap updates!
Beers of the Week:
1. Golden Road Citrus Bend
2. Logsdon Oak Aged Bretta
3. Russian River Blind Pig IPA
4. TAPS Dopplebock
5. Cismontane Pandion Pale
Upcoming Event:
For American Craft Beer Week, Mohawk Bend will be featuring different flights each night that celebrate craft beer culture throughout California. Specialty flights will range from $10-14. Here is the schedule:
Thursday 5/16: Wine Country- Napa and Sonoma o Breweries include, but are not limited to: Russian River, Bear Republic
Beers of the Week:
1. Lightning Thunderweizen
2.Eagle Rock Ginger Saison
3.Eel River Onyx Black IPA
4.El Segundo White Dog IPA
5. Port Anniversary IPA
20. Spirit House (Monterey Park)
Upcoming Event:
Monkish Brewing joining Epic Brewing on Thursday, May 30th for the Tap Takeover!
21. The Surly Goat (West Hollywood)
Beers of the Week:
1. Firestone Walker Sucaba
2. Firestone Walker Parabola (2012 and 2013)
3. Firestone Walker Anniversary Ales (14th, 15th, 16th)
4. Firestone Walker UDBA
Soon to join us:
5. Russian River Consecration
Upcoming Event:
Celebrate American Craft Beer Week like a champ with The Surly Goat and Firestone Walker on Thursday, May 16th. We will share Sucaba, Pivo Pils, Velvet Merkin, both the 2012 and 2013 Parabola, Firestone’s very special 14th, 15th, and 16th Anniversary Ales, and more! Festivities start at 7PM- get here early for prime parking and seating.
22. Tony’s Darts Away (Burbank)
Beers of the Week:
1. The Brewery at Abigaile Nihilist
2. Anderson Valley Gatlin Damnosis Barley Wine
3. Figueroa Mountain Davey’s Brown
4. Monkish Pieta Belgian Brown
5. Noble Too Damn Hot Chile IPA
Upcoming Event:
For American Craft Beer Week, Tony’s Darts Away will be featuring the types/styles of beers that American craft brewers have created or reinvented. One of each style will be represented, and each pairing will be great opportunity to learn about the differences, the brewing process and the common ingredients.
Thursday 5/16: West Coast IPA and Double IPA
Beers of the Week:
1. Eagle Rock Populist
2. Golden Road Burning Bush
3. Coronado Golden Ale
4. Ballast Point Fathom Imperial Pale Lager
5. Lightning Hefeweizen
Upcoming Event:
Join us for daily happy hour 4-7pm.. $2 off drafts and $1 off our bottles (over 80 selections).
In honor of Craft Beer Week, this Thursday’s happy hour we will be offering free appetizers and will be participating in the national toast at 5pm!
24. Verdugo Bar (Glassell Park)
Beers of the Week:
1. Beachwood Loma Prieta pilsner
2. Craftsman Ursa Minor
3. North Coast Class of ’88 Barleywine
4. Port Older Viscocity
5. Bottled: Allagash FV13
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Kinda getting tired of seeing these same old comments (i.e. “What happened to the beer blast e-mail”), so I thought I’d post something new.
So then……uhhhh…..let’s see……oh yeah. Rasputin on nitro is not to be missed. So don’t miss it. Alrighty then.
Herbaceous Vic,
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, that’s the thing about comments. Even after making updates and upgrades to the L.A. Beer Blast, those early now-outdated comments remain. No big deal. By the way, I like your e-mail address. You clearly enjoy beer.
It’s true!
This looks Awesome #Beerblast
Or #Bamfest?
beer week was awesome! now time for #bamfest
Chris,
I hope to make it to BAM Fest next year. I know the organizers and the cause is awesome. Glad to hear you enjoyed LA Beer Week.
What happened to the beer blast e-mail
Joseph,
The L.A. Beer Blast still goes out via e-mail every Thursday afternoon. Just enter your e-mail address by clicking the SIGN UP button at the top of Food GPS. Thanks!
Thank you from a long faithful reader to start.
I have been wondering if there is a deadline for the places listed to give you information or something. I ask because it’s kind of inconsistent now to see all the places every week. Like Najas, stuffed sand and Kenetic are missing from this week for instance
Corey,
Thanks for reading. Yes, bars generally submit their beer and event updates on Wednesday night or Thursday morning. We make wholesale changes to the L.A. Beer Blast listings and map every Thursday afternoon, right before the week’s newsletter goes out. In general, you’ll find good consistency with the participating establishments. We recently added Kinetic to the mix and expect them to reappear soon. Naja’s and Stuffed Sandwich haven’t appeared in the new version of the L.A. Beer Blast, but we’d be happy to have both places on board. They both do a good job in managing their programs and the owners clearly have a passion for craft beer.
We love it when Homework requires drinking a cocktail! May we suggest a new beer cocktail on the menu at Ladyface? It’s called the the George Chesebro. Named after the rugged silver screen actor who filmed many a western in the area, it stars Eagle Rare Kentucky bourbon, our Chesebro IPA and a dash of Ventura Orangecello, and it packs a punch as solid as George himself. Cheers!
Got to come get me some of that!!
They are giving away 2 pairs of tickets to Rock and Brews Craft Beer Festival on http://www.Facebook.com/LAwonders and http://www.Twitter.com/LAwonders
Would anyone here happen to know who has Dogfish Head 120 Min on tap or in bottle?? I know they just sent out kegs this month and I’ve been dying to try it….
If I see it on lists anywhere, I will add it to the Beer Blast.
Tapping you 120 Min. tonight @ 38 Degrees Ale House & Grill 7:00pm. Cheers
Josh,
I love the new map format. This is a huge help in planning pub crawls in unfamiliar territory, for one. The list format was ungainly given the growing number of establishments (and that’s a good thing). Having said that, it does seem as though there are about half as many places on the map as there were on the list. I’m sure you’re working on adding the others. Thanks for doing this.
Mark,
Thanks for reading, and for your feedback. The revised L.A. Beer Blast continues to grow in its new format. We’ve already doubled the number of participating establishments since the first newsletter, April 26, and look forward to adding more great bars that are dedicated to showcasing craft beer.
I loved the old email that listed what was on tap. Now that I have to go to the web site, I don’t use it the Beer Blast very often. I understand that you probably needed to make the change for finacial reasons, but it makes your once great concept less useful.
Greg,
If you subscribe to the current newsletter, you only need to make one click to see the entire L.A. Beer Blast. If you’re not interested in making that effort, you can always bookmark this dedicated L.A. Beer Blast page. Either way, you’ll continue to learn about some of the best new beer and beer-related events in Los Angeles. Thanks for reading.
Josh,
Nice job on the new format. It is organized and easy to use and still packed with great information. I will have exciting news for the next blast. Cheers!
Thanks for the feedback, Chris. Glad you enjoy the new L.A. Beer Blast layout.
Thanks for the support and feedback. We’ve already made efforts to improve the L.A. Beer Blast experience. Hopefully it helps guide people even more smoothly to great craft beer in L.A.
I, too, am glad that the Beer Blast is back, but the list format was a lot more user friendly than this new map format. I’m having trouble discerning which icon to click on and I keep clicking on the same one again and again. The list format was great because it was easy to pull up on my phone when I wanted to know what was on tap around town. If it sticks to this format, sadly, I may not use the Beer Blast much anymore.
Tom, Leela and Kevin,
Thanks for the constructive criticism about the new version of the L.A. Beer Blast. I’m open to any feedback that could improve the user experience. The previous version definitely got to be exhausting to read and hard to navigate as more and more craft beer bars opened. Here, we’ve developed a concise, uniform format, with five beers and one event per bar. I’ll look into maximizing that information, map functionality, and their synergy.
I would like to echo Tom’s constructive criticism. I’m so happy to see Beer Blast up and running again, but am not loving the map format for the reasons described above. I can’t be certain, but it also seems as if there are less locations listed than when it was in list format. I really do miss being able to quickly scan all the bars in my area for their brew list, so here’s a second person hoping that you might bring back the list format. Cheers!
I’m so glad to see the beer blast up again! The new format is interesting, but problematic in several regards:
1) it’s really difficult to navigate in a desktop web browser. The information for each individual beer bar opens in a pane that is visually constrained to the Google portlet, meaning that to read it, I have to scroll the map around. When I’m done reading it, I close the info pane, and now my map is focused on Palmdale or Bakersfield or somewhere else equally useless, and I have to scroll the map back to L.A. Not the best user experience.
2) It’s nearly impossible to use on a smart phone (at least on an iPhone. The problems above are exacerbated by the smaller screen and conflicting multi-touch inputs for resizing the view and scrolling through the portlet. That and, asynchronous data calls are slow through the iPhone, even when on a wireless network. So, overall, the experience is very unresponsive
3) I can’t search it. If there’s a beer that I know is going on somewhere in town, but I’m trying to find out where, I can’t perform a search for the beer. For that matter, I can’t do a quick scan, either.
Perhaps some users only want to know what’s going on at a particular bar. But generally, I want a great snapshot of what’s going on in an entire region and to be able to do so with a quick glance or skim.
I know a lot of work went into this new interaction design, but from one user’s perspective, it’s not as useful to me in this format as it was as a big ol’ text dump. Showing the geographic location of the bars is a great idea, though.
I wonder if there’s a way to work together with the guys at the Beer Mapping Project to put two great resources into a single format (although their project has the same problems on the iPhone as I’ve described above).
Anyway, despite my “constructive feedback”, know that I appreciate all the work that goes into this, and it’s a resource I’ve really missed the past few weeks. Thanks for keeping it going!
welcome back…missed my beer blast the past few weeks. hope all is well.