OC and LA on the come up

In regards to the El Segundo question, Mayberry is very good too.

 

El Segundo - Hop Tanker, Grand Hill, and Mayberry are great beers.
Bottle Logic Double Actuator is good, especially for a younger brewery.
Noble and Beachwood are always brewing great beer, Smog City is growing rapidly, and Golden Road has made a recovery.

Also going to agree that Hangar 24 Betty is a great six pack option, but I kind of feel like that should be included with all the new IE breweries (which does include Temecula).

 

I've only seen there beer in bombers. I don't think they are sold in six packs.

I like White Dog IPA in particular, but I also thought Hop Tanker IIPA, Blue House IPA and Standard Crude Imperial Stout were pretty good.

There is a bottled date on the left side of the label. Its in small print, so you have to look close, but its there.

 

Two 5 Left is also great. Their IPAs are pretty solid across the board.

 

Solid piece, though I think it only scratches the surface of the growing beer scene in Los Angeles and Orange County. As others have mentioned, those places surely aren't San Diego. But at the same time, they don't really have to be, either. San Diego is unique and can stay that way. But for L.A. and OC, there are a lot of great breweries, brewpubs, bars and bottle shops that have formed a distinctive community and continue to be committed to growing together. No need to compare them to San Diego at all. L.A. and OC can do just fine forming their own beer-centric culture.

 

While some LA/OC breweries have put out some beers on the level of SD, they're just so much more expensive. If by LA/OC forming its own beer-centric culture means putting out higher $ per ounce beers, then yeah, we're definitely blazing trails in that regard. We've also got some of the most stubborn breweries when it comes to growler policies, it's not even funny. In short, LA/OC still has a ways to go before I can say I don't miss my trips to SD.

 

Oh, I sure am! I drink a lot of special releases from LA/OC breweries, sure, but there are some great rotating or year-round beers made around here that are practically staples (Noble's Big Whig and any of ESBC's new, rotating, IPAs), too.

In fact, I've been drinking A LOT of LA/OC beers in the last few months. Except for a recent string of out-of-distro stuff I got, I'd say that at least half of the beers I've been drinking recently were made here in LA or OC--Noble (Big Whig & Showers), ESBC (IPAs & Hyperion Stout), BW (everything), Bootlegger's (Far Out & KS), Mother Earth (lots and lots of Sin-Tax)--these have all been in my regular rotation for months now.

Side note (only b/c I was already thinking about it): I'd say during that same time probably 85-90% of the beers I drink are from CA and approx. 75-80% (of the total during that time) were made within 3hrs of here (which includes SD and goes up as far as KRB or so).

 

The aforementioned Hop Tanker is a must. I also LOVED their Mayberry IPA (you might be too late on that one). I like Grand Hill quite a bit, too, but not nearly as much as these two. Power Plant was their TIPA and it was awesome; it was out at the same time as Younger and may not be seen again until the same time next year (???). I've also had some really good pale ales (other than Citra, which I really like) in their tasting room.

On the darker side, Hyperion Stout is pretty good but I absolutely love their Vanilla Hyperion's Stout--I have three bottles in the fridge right now.

Cheers!

 

say what?!? where at? that's good news

 

Yes, yes, yes!!! CAN'T WAIT!

 

San Pedro in late 2014.

 

Mother Earth is in San Diego County, Vista to be exact. But other than that I too have been drinking many of the local beers that you mentioned often.

 

Even better... I work in Marina del Rey, so now it appears it'll be even easier to get there.

 

I'm so excited about this that I'm actually considering this information while looking for our next place to live.

 

Wise words here.

 

Most of you that are interested in the Venice FW Brewery probably already know this. But for those that don't the exact location is one block west of Lincoln on Washington.

Here is a small FW faq:
http://www.firestonebeer.com/visit/news.php

The brewery was approved by the Veince Neighborhood Council in March.
"Firestone-Walker Brew Pup breezed thru without opposition. The board count was almost unanimous."

Full speed ahead

 

One more possible craft brewery coming to downtown Los Angeles.

http://thefullpint.com/beer-news/st...-la-location-hotel-update-east-coast-brewery/

Wouldn't this be great.

 

Caught this back in February -- exciting stuff, though admittedly, don't know how much more I'd go there than I go to the Pasadena Company Store and down to Escondido already. That'll probably change once the trains get fully set up in Santa Monica, however.