OC and LA on the come up

as an LA dude I definitely feel there is plenty of room to grow in LA (and for those LA breweries already existing to improve), but I think theres still a ways to go before LA can compete with SD in terms of overall quality being produced. I would love to see that though.

 

IMHO, San Diego's well earned image of one the best, if not the best, craft beer city in the United States continues to improve, year after year.

I tend to think its Los Angeles' image that has been changing in recent years, from that a Craft Brewery desert, to a location with its own distinct, growing, thriving collection of breweries. This is a very welcome change for those of us that have lived in Los Angeles for many years.

 

I agree, SD is only a little over two hours away but with Beachwood, Noble Ale Works, The Bruery and Smog City nearby I hardly venture out there for beers.*

*I'll be there Saturday for Veritas though.

 

Aside from Beachwoods bottles, a few special releases from Noble, and, IMO, Golden Road's Wolf Among Weeds... is anybody buying bottled beers off the shelf from LA brewers regularly?

I definitely feel that aside from a very small handful of LA beers; better, fresher, dated beer in six packs can be had from the SD and SF areas.

 

Up and coming for sure, but OC/LA has a long way to go to catch up to San Diego. I drink local in OC mostly out of convenience ... most of the bottles I buy off the shelf are San Diego IPA's though.

 

I am looking forward to visiting Brouwerij West when they open.

 

El Segundo Brewing Company has worked its way into my rotation.

I'm looking forward to the opening of Firestone's Venice Brewery. It will be nice to finally have a brewery on the west side.

Brouwerij West sounds great too.

 

I see a lot from Golden Road, not just wolf among the weeds. As mentioned earlier El Segundo. Smog City and The Bruery bottles are very common too.

Edit: I dont usually buy six packs. I prefer bombers.

 

Living in Cypress is a good central location because L.B. and Anaheim are only about 15 minutes away. But it would be nice to have a brewery or good craft bar bar open up within stumbling distance.

 

IMO yes there are some good ones starting to pop up but i haven't seen anything super impressive yet. The Bruery makes like 4 beers that i really want and the rest no thinks. I really don't see the hype there because they are pretty expensive. Once you take them out of the equation really all i care about right now is Beachwood since they have proven to provide some good stuff but I am interested to see how some others like bottle logic develop. The stuff im mostly seeking out is from breweries not in LA/OC but hopefully these new spots can come up. I was glad to see lots of craft beer at Angels Stadium last night. Craft beer in general is makin moves

 

Which El Segundo brews would you say are above the quality of something I could find in a six pack from SD or SF breweries?
I've seen them around but didn't see a freshness date, do they have one? I can't help but feel like they've been sitting on the shelf for a while.

I'm definitely a six pack guy for most beers, but I have no problem buying bombers when the quality is that of Alpine, Kern, FW Barrel Aged stuff, Simtra, RR etc...

 

I wasn't talking about seeing the beers on the shelf, I see plenty of LA beer on the shelf. I was asking about LA beer that's on the shelf that is as good, or better, than a comparable beer from a SD or SF brewer at a similar price point.

 

I think we can consider Redlands closer to Los Angeles than San Diego and include Hangar 24. The last batch of Betty was ridiculous.

 

I actually just interviewed Brian Mercer yesterday for an article I'm writing for Random Lengths (a newspaper magazine in San Pedro) about the new Brouwerij West location. Super cool guy. He also showed me the blueprints and mock ups for what the restaurant and brewing space are going to look like. If the real thing is anywhere near the mock ups, it's going to be freaking beautiful

 

I completely agree. Was in LA a couple weeks back and went to the tiny little brewpub twice and drank my share of hop tanker, bought a few bottles to bring home with me too. I think it's a fantastic beer. I would drink hop tanker regularly if it was available.

 

My beer buying habits would be forever changed, and that's exactly the type of thing I'm waiting for to come out of LA.

I'll check out that Hop Tanker.

 

One of these things is not like the other...