baddog

Please join us for Business & Beer a small business networking event which will be held at Monkish Brewing Co. on April 10, 2014 at 6 PM. Monkish Brewing Co. is located at 20311 South Western Avenue Torrance, California. Please RSVP by commenting below that you will be there.

 

Logo for Monkish Brewing Co

Join us at Monkish Brewing Co at 6 PM on April 10, 2014

KHBC brewing equipment

Ready to brew for you at King Harbor Brewing Company

The February 13 gathering of the Business & Beer networking group was held at the first production brewery in Redondo Beach history, King Harbor Brewing Company (KHBC). We have been closely monitoring the growth of King Harbor Brewing since the day their notice of intent to sell alcohol sign was posted on the door and have become friends with the three principles, co-owners Tom Dunbabin and Will Daines, and brewer Philip McDaniel. As they prepared for their grand opening we were honored to hold our February meeting there and act as a soft open for them.

King Harbor provided two versions of each of their two flagship beers, The Quest Pale Ale with their Pineapple Quest Pale Ale; and Abel Brown Brown Ale with Vanilla Abel Brown Ale. As a special treat, Tanya prepared a wide variety of baked goods and mustards all of which were prepared using spent grains provided by King Harbor. We had a pretty large group of people show up but because of the setup people seemed to come and go for a few hours. The gathering was probably more informal than usual but everyone I spoke to had a good time and enjoyed being among the first to try King Harbor’s fine brews. I know King Harbor was quite happy with the turnout. The Quest

The March gathering of Business & Beer will be held at the newest production brewery in Torrance, Absolution Brewing Company on March 13 at 6:00 PM. Absolution is another brewery that we have been watching grow for the last several months. For a brand new production brewery, they have a very wide variety of beers available; from pale ales to stouts with a couple sodas for good measure. Absolution Brewing Company is located at 2878 Columbia Street in Torrance off Maple Avenue between Torrance Boulevard and Del Amo. You can get all the details on our front page or on our Facebook page. We hope you can make it. If you would like to see all the photos from Business & Beer at King Harbor Brewing Company, please visit CraftBeerGuy.com.

Brewery at Abigaile photo

Ready for another Business & Beer

Over the past year and a half that the Business & Beer networking group has been we have come to notice certain patterns as far as attendance levels are concerned. For instance, during the summer and Daylight Savings Time more people will show up for one of our events than might show up on a cold December evening. We know that the closer we are to Torrance, the greater the number of attendees; that is why we limit the geographical range of the craft breweries and brewpubs we meet at. There are a few places we would have liked to include in our rotation, but expecting people to fight traffic to go 10 miles further probably is not going to happen. Our January gathering of Business & Beer seemed to dispel one of these preconceived notions with the very large turnout we had at The Brewery at Abigaile. We had one of, if not the largest turnout of any of our prior visits to Abigaile which consisted of old and new members all with different networking goals, but all with an appreciation of American craft beer.
Business & Beer attendees

Enjoying business and beer at The Brewery at Abigaile

While our January Business & Beer was a great turnout, the next few months should be even better as we are growing not only with the number of attendees but we are adding new craft beer tasting rooms to our schedule as new craft breweries are opening in the South Bay. On February 13, 2014 Business & Beer will be meeting at the first production brewery to open in Redondo Beach; King Harbor Brewing Company. This event will also serve to be King Harbor’s soft open and they have lots of specials planned; you do not want to miss this. King Harbor Brewing Company is located at 182nd Street and Kingsdale which is just west of Hawthorne Boulevard. You can find more details by visiting http://businessnbeer.com/king-harbor-brewing-company-february-13/. In March we will be visiting Absolution Brewing Company and we will be visiting The Dudes’ Brewing Company in April. Continue reading

Business & Beer at Strand Brewing

Ready for some Business & Beer

The Business & Beer networking group held their last gathering for 2013 on December 12 at Strand Brewing Company in Torrance. Even though it was a rather chilly evening and I know some of our regular attendees were dealing with Christmas shopping and other events around town, we had a very respectable turnout consisting of regular attendees, part-time attendees and even some first timers. It is nice to look around and see that virtually everyone is conversing with someone and potential business is being done. If nothing else, relationships are being built and personal relationships are the best way to build business relationships. Thank you again to Strand Brewing Company for hosting four Business & Beers in 2013; we do appreciate your support and the great ales you brew. We look forward to visiting again in 2014.
Attendees at Business & Beer

Enjoying Business & Beer at Strand Brewing Company

Speaking of 2014, our first Business & Beer of the year will be held at The Brewery at Abigaile, a brewpub in Hermosa Beach. The Brewery at Abigaile is currently the only brewpub that we visit in the Business & Beer rotation and I personally feel they set the bar at what a brewpub should be with high quality food to compliment the high quality beers that are brewed onsite. As we will be expanding the number of locations we will visit in 2014, most of the tasting rooms and brewpubs will only be visited once a year; so do not miss out. If you have been to Abigaile before, you know what I am talking about; if you have yet to visit The Brewery at Abigaile, come on down. You can do some business while tasting great food and very good beers; and you can write it off on your taxes as a business expense. You can get all the details for this networking event at http://businessnbeer.com/brewery-at-abigaile-january-9/. Continue reading

BusinessNBeer set up

Ready for some Business & Beer

On November 14, 2013 the Business & Beer networking group returned to El Segundo Brewing Company for our monthly gathering. Since we have been meeting for 16 months now, we know that when Daylight Savings Time ends, people seem to stay home a little more than when the sun is out. We also have learned that there are locations that will have larger turnouts than others. Since El Segundo Brewing is the craft brewery that is the northernmost location we visit, we expect that the turnouts will be lower than what we might experience in Torrance. It seems that changing to a monthly format has definitely helped with our attendance levels since we had more than double the turnout we had the last time we visited there in June. I have said it before, and will say it again; the smaller gatherings are in some ways better than the big ones as everyone gets an opportunity to talk to anyone they want. It is through relationship building that business relationships are formed. We appreciate El Segundo Brewing for hosting the event and thank Brett and Travis for keeping our glasses filled. You can see all the photos from Business & Beer at El Segundo Brewing on CraftBeerGuy.com.

Our next Business & Beer will be held December 12, 2013 at Strand Brewing Company in Torrance. As I mentioned above, after 16 months we have a pretty good idea which locations are going to have the best turnouts and there is no doubt that Strand Brewing Company is always one of our top draws as far as attendance is concerned. Strand Brewing is located at 23520 Telo Avenue in Torrance. As it is a microbrewery they do not serve food but you are welcome to bring food with you. We sometimes have pizza available but it is not guaranteed, so if you are really hungry you might want to stop and grab a bite before coming. Be sure to bring business cards for our drawing and for giving out; I am sure we will have a nice turnout. Continue reading