Homage Brewing - Chinatown

Pregaming beer & baseball for a day or two up north some in LA before we go down to San Diego tomorrow to meet up with the talls. Woke up, headed out this beautiful day and got our chicken & waffles on at Roscoe’s, went to Stuffed Sandwich and found the place closed, went to Lucky Baldwins and found them closed, too (WTF?), hit a brewery for a few, and left the car there to walk here just down the block. Found it sharing a gated parking lot something or other. Along their penned outdoor space and in…

Industrial warehousiness, sure. Pebbled concrete floors, and a foldy tarp-like ceiling on rafters, with giant spinnys, drop nipple lamps, ducts, & piping abound. Cinder block walls, save the panel overhead door opening to the out of side. Merch on the far wall. Large potted plants in the corners and smaller ones along the bar.

‘L’ wood plank topped bar with a lower area for service and a textured white squared tile base to the rear. Seating for 9 on wood chairs running both ways off the corner. 20 non-descript handles and a Lukr on a stainless row panel on barback center. A large vertical slat wood piece runs above it to the ceiling with mounted bar lamps on it and to both sides, and speakers shelved in the corners. Triple wide can & bottle cooler to the left of the tap panel, and a pair of handpumps on the corner of the bar sitting unused.

5 baby round tables on the inside wall on shared benching with dangling potted plants shelved above, 3 roundies on the far wall, and a single roundie & shared rec table down center exclamation point style. 5 stand around rounds over my shoulder butting up against the obligatory DJ set up area, and some bar counter action there, too. Ping pong ball lamp clusters and a disco ball. Brewery to the rear of the rear (where the magic happens). Stairs to the upstairs space with seating I cannot see from down here. Planter perimeter pen out front holds 6 shared tables and some shortys under strung bulb & fest flag lined fabric sun shades.

Best as I can tell, there are 19 beers up. 16 of them are house beers; an excellent mix of Lager and Hoppy and Farmhouse and Otherwise, oh my (City Pop, Light Lager w/Jasmine Rice, 4.8%; Starr, German Style Helles w/Noble Hops, 5%; Tristeza, North German Style Pilsner w/Hallertauer, 4.8%; Daily Routine, DH Pilsner w/Nelson, 4.8%; Jupiter, German Style Kolsch, 5%; Dancing Shadows, Dry Stout, 5%; Petite Riwaka, Hoppy Table Beer w/Riwaka, 4.5%; Money Trees, Hazy IPA w/Galaxy, 6.8%; Reckoner, Brett IPA w/Citra & Nelson, 6.8%; Supernova, WC IPA w/Citra, Galaxy, & Motueka, 6.8%; Symphonic Flowers, DDH Hazy IPA w/Nectaron & Rakau, 6.6%; Stone Rose, English Style Pub Ale, 5%; Sunset Valley, Belgian Style Brett Pale Wheat Farmhouse, 5%; Discovery, Belgian Style Golden Ale, 7.8%; Agua Fresca, Saison w/Watermelon, 6%; Killing Moon, Hoppy Saison w/Apricot & Nectarine, 6%), + 3 guest taps (Bottle Logic, Eve of Destruction, Smoothy Style Fruited Sour, 7%; Everywhere, Balance, WC IPA, 6.4%; RIIP, Chain Out, WC IPA, 6.8%), and 5 wines.

Sampled a few as I do (Stone Rose, English Style Pub Ale, toffee, lovely; Jupiter, Kolsch, wonderful, yeah, it’s Kolsch Summer; Reckoner, Brett IPA, a bretty Betty; Daily Routine, DH Pilsner, Nelson, Je-sus; Symphonic Flowers, Hazy IPA, hazy, check, hops, check, the pungency is prominent). Daily Routine DH Pilsner, Symphonic Flowers DDH Hazy IPA, & Stone Rose English Style Pub Ale for the Wins.

Edwardtender was excellent; well dialed in to our back east people and places rantings. Beers are clean and very good. It’s amazing to be on the west coast and experiencing the banter around the West Coast IPA. I do dig it here.

Tucked away on an industrial feeling side street but just down the block from the much more welcoming facade of Highland Park Brewing.

Nice selection of beer styles and the can prices to go are excellent. Their beer is solid quality as well and worth drinking.

This location is fucking rough though. Super loud and super hipsterish/pretentious. So loud when I was there that you can barely talk to the person across the little cafe table from you. I have no idea why anyone would choose to socialize in a place this loud.

Bartender was nice enough, had to hurry over to us a minute after we got to the counter because he was busy sitting at a table with some friends.

Maybe get beer to go

Lively brewpub on the other end of the block from Highland Park. Straight bar opposite the entrance with a half dozen tables inside and tables along the side alley. 13 beers on tap.

 

Homage Brewery is located at the outskirts of Chinatown near the Chinatown Metro Station. The brewery is located near the corner of Main Street and Elmyra. There is available street parking.

This location is both a brewery and brewpub, so for those patrons enjoying beers and food can see the production area in the back corner which I feel adds to the ambiance. The interior design was nicely done, minimalist and modern. There was seating inside but also a patio section right outside. The staff was welcoming and there was a friendly feel to the place.

The taplist is primarily house beers. They also have a kitchen, so you can order food at the bar, but the kitchen does open at 3:00 p.m., so just FYI.

This is a very nice, low key spot to share beers with friends.