Business & Beer at Strand Brewing Company
The April 9 gathering of Business & Beer will be held at The Dudes’ Brewing Company in Torrance. This will be the second time we have visited The Dudes’, the first time being back in August when they used Business & Beer as a soft open for their new tasting room. Things have changed a bit at The Dudes’ in the past eight months, including bringing in a new brewer so it should be interesting to see what is happening there. We start at 6:00 PM and stick around until at least 8:00 PM; if the group is large enough we have been known to stay later. 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 handing out. Continue reading
Business & Beer is ready for you
When we came up with the concept of Business & Beer it was decided that we would limit the geographic range to the South Bay so traffic would not be a major concern. It was decided that the furthest north we would go is El Segundo and even though it is not really that far away, our El Segundo gatherings were typically smaller than those we have in a city like Torrance. The thing is El Segundo Brewing Company is one of my personal favorites, so I was willing to have smaller turnouts as long as we could continue to introduce people to new local breweries. The thing that bothered me the most was that El Segundo brewing was prepared to give us a tour of the brewhouse and had someone come in to give us the tour and we had no one to give it to. After this last non-gathering there is no question that we will not be able to expand our reach to include new breweries like Three Weavers or even Phantom Carriage because both locations are too far away from Torrance for us to expect anyone to show up.
El Segundo Brewing Company labels past and present
Chris Walowski gives a personal tour to Business & Beer
Lagering tanks
Our February meeting of Business & Beer will be held Thursday, February 12 at El Segundo Brewing Company. We are scheduled to be there from 6:00-8:00 PM but sometimes stay a little longer. If you have not been to El Segundo Brewing lately, they have really expanded their menu and have plenty of delicious options for those that are not into the “in your face” hoppiness many of us look forward to. Besides the Station No.1 and Hyperion’s Stout, they now have a pilsner! For the hopheads in the group, their Power Plant TIPA (yeah, triple IPA) will be on tap by then so come early and stay late; I am sure I will. Continue reading
Networking and free beer, great combination
Thank you to everyone that came out, not only to the December gathering at Monkish, but to everyone that came out throughout the year and to all the production breweries and brewpubs that hosted our events throughout 2014. We added three new tasting rooms to our rotation in 2014 with the inclusion of King Harbor Brewing Company, Absolution Brewing Company and The Dudes’ Brewing Company. The craft beer scene is really growing around here. I know we will have at least one new addition in 2015, but it is only January so we will see how the year progresses.
Thanks for a great 2014
Our first meeting for 2015 will be held this Thursday, January 8, from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Smog City Brewing Company tasting room. If you have not visited Smog City in a while I am sure you will find something interesting and new to you. We hope you will join us. Continue reading
Join us the 2nd Thursday of every month
Brett Naylor of 3Ten Liquor wins the free beer drawing; seen here with Absolution Head Brewer, Bart Bullington
The next Business & Beer will be held Thursday, December 11 at Monkish Brewing Company in Torrance. With the cooler and sometimes damp weather we are having lately, there probably is not a better tasting room to visit in this area. Their Belgian-style ales are perfect for it and when we were there the other day they were pouring 2013, 2014 and 2014 Bourbon barrel-Aged Magnificat. If you have not tried them yet, this would be a good time to do it before they are gone. Our Business & Beer meetings start at 6:00 PM and run until at least 8:00 PM. Vella Pizza will be there for those that want hot, fresh, brick oven cooked pizza. If there are special toppings you want, maybe something from your garden, they will add them for you if you bring them with you. Monkish Brewing Company is located at 20311 South Western Avenue in Torrance. We hope you will join us; if not, see you in 2015. Continue reading
