The Business & Beer networking group held their June gathering at Monkish Brewing Company’s tasting room in Torrance. Graduations and out of town vacationing resulted in a lower than expected turnout; but on the plus side, most of the attendees were first time visitors to Monkish Brewing which fulfills one of the Business & Beer goals which is to introduce our members to each other and possibly a local craft brewery.
On July 14 Business & Beer will celebrate four year of networking over locally produced craft beers at Smog City Brewing. I have to admit, it really does not seem that long ago, but I cannot help but recall that in 2012 we only had four tasting rooms in our rotation. Back then we spent as much time at gastropubs as we did at breweries. As the years passed, more and more breweries came to the South Bay, so we stopped visiting gastropubs and went to a monthly format of breweries and brewpubs only. Today we have 11 breweries and brewpubs in the Business & Beer rotation, with a couple more locations planning on opening in Torrance within the next year. Continue reading
The May gathering of Business & Beer was hosted at Torrance’s latest production brewery, Scholb Premium Ales. While I actually expected larger attendance since this was the first time Business & Beer has visited Scholb, we had a good turnout with this being a first time visit to Scholb for about half of our group. Scholb had 10 of their premium ales available and everyone seemed to enjoy trying their new brews.
The June gathering of Business & Beer will be held June 9, 2016 from 6:00-8:00 PM at Monkish Brewing Company in Torrance. If you have not been to Monkish since our last Business & Beer back in August, be prepared for some big changes and some very nice new beers. Oh yeah, and Henry now brews east coast style IPAs; I think you will enjoy them as much as I do. Visit http://businessnbeer.com/monkish-brewing-company-june-9/ for more details.
Remember, Business & Beer is open to all; there are no dues or mandatory meetings, just bring your business cards and a willingness to network. You might be surprised at what business actually results from these relationships. You can find all the photos from Business & Beer at Scholb Premium Ales on CraftBeerGuy.com. Cheers!
Enjoying a flight of HopSaint brews
The February gathering of Business & Beer will be held February 11 at The Dudes’ Brewing Company from 6:00 until 8:00 PM. If you have not been to The Dudes’ recently, you just haven’t been. I attended an event last week for a collaboration release they did with KLOS radio. The Dudes’ has a new Master Brewer and Head Brewer and I have to say that their Bohemian Hopsody may be the best beer that has ever come out of that brewery. They have a new sessionable black IPA that was quite tasty as well. I personally look forward to trying more of the new brews coming out of The Dudes’. As a side note, The Dudes’ will be hosting their Trivia Night on the same day. It begins at 8:00 PM which is when Business & beer ends so feel free to stick around and enjoy the fun while exercising your brain. If we have enough people stick around, perhaps we will have a Business & Beer team. Continue reading
Business & Beer ended 2015 with another visit to the Hermosa Beach brewpub, The Brewery at Abigaile. We had a nice little group join us and most attendees were able to try brews from Abigaile’s new brewer, Paul Papantonio for the first time. I have to say that personally, I have enjoyed what I have tried by Papantonio so far and I look forward to trying what he comes out with in 2016.
In 2015 we visited a total of seven different production brewery tasting rooms and one brewpub. Some of the breweries had significant changes in the past year, including El Segundo Brewing Company’s bigger and better tasting room and Strand Brewing Company moving to an entirely new location.
To a great 2016
While most of the locations were only visited once in 2015, we should see the addition of up to three more tasting rooms and one brewpub in the Business & Beer rotation, meaning everyone except one will get one visit in 2016. In fact, we will begin 2016 at Torrance’s newest craft beer destination, HopSaint Brewing Company in Torrance on Thursday, January 14 from 6:00-8:00 PM. Continue reading
The Business & Beer networking group met at the Monkish Brewing Company tasting room for their August gathering; it was another successful gathering with close to 15 people participating throughout the evening. It was an interesting evening for us from a personal perspective as it caused us to think back to 2012 when we first formed Business & Beer. In those days we might bring 10 or 20 participants to a gathering and other patrons would come up to ask what Business & Beer was all about. At our August meeting we had about 15 participants and I would be surprised if anyone outside of our group even realized we were there. Monkish was packed; like a line out the door packed. We were lucky, and thankful, that Monkish had saved a table for us so that we had somewhere to congregate. We will have to see if this becomes a trend around the South Bay; we may want to consider changing our meeting date to the second Wednesday instead of the second Thursday.
Our next Business and Beer will be held Thursday, September 10 at the Smog City Brewing Company tasting room. Arguably one of the best craft breweries in Southern California, Smog City is pretty much guaranteed to have something for everyone to enjoy. Our event begins at 6:00 PM and goes on until 8:00 PM. You do not need a special invitation to participate or to bring friends; it is encouraged. Just bring your business cards and a willingness to network with others. Smog City Brewing Company is located at 1901 Del Amo Boulevard in Torrance; we hope you will join us. Continue reading
