Visiting Los Angeles

Sorry, I might have linked to the wrong "taps":

http://www.yelp.com/biz/taps-valley-gastropub-northridge

 

12780 Pierce St. #5 Pacoima, CA 91331

 

Are Almanac Sours generally available in LA? Any specific places in West LA, near Beverly Hills/The Grove?

 

I think Vendome Beverly Hills had a bunch last time I was there and they're pretty close by there.

 

Most Whole Foods locations in the area should have Almanac sours as well

 

Going to be visiting my Grandpa in Playa del Rey for Christmas and aside from my usual spots that I hit while I'm up there, I've got a few questions:

1) Out of the Torrance cluster - Strand, Monkish, Smog City, Absolution, and The Dudes - are there any that are worth passing on and/or any that I can't miss? Mostly asking so I can plan when I go based on their various hours and how it fits into my free time.
2) Any special events going on the 21st - 24th? I seem to recall that Library Alehouse usually has a lot of winter seasonals around the holidays but I'm not seeing anything about it on their FB or website.
3) Unrelated to BA, but are there any good coffee roasters - or even just cafes - in the Playa del Rey/Marina del Rey/Westchester/El Segundo area? There are a few in Venice and Santa Monica and further towards downtown LA but it seems like the area I'm looking is a dead zone for third wave coffee.

 

I would probably just check out Monkish and Smog City since the styles are different enough that there won't be much of any overlap.

Can't help you with third wave coffee in the areas you're speaking of. All the roasters I'd recommend are in Northeast LA and DTLA.

 

1) Smog City & Monkish are great stops. I haven't been to the other breweries' tasting rooms, but I don't know if I'd put their beers in can't miss territory. Phantom Carriage is supposed to open soon in Carson - they just had friends & family night and I heard great things. Something to keep an eye on, perhaps.

2) Not sure about specific events, though if you care about bruery stuff and feel like driving I think they're doing their 12 beers of xmas sale…

3) Check this site out: http://coffeela.com/portfolio/beach-cities/ seems like two guns might be in the right neighborhood, though perhaps a little further south than would be ideal.

 

Sounds like Smog City and Monkish are the two to focus on, and whatever else happens to be open when I head by.

Bruery is already on the agenda to pick up allocations and meet up with some friends, as are Beachwood and El Segundo Brewing.

Thanks, that looks like a decent spot and doesn't suffer from quite the same level of traffic/parking issues as heading into Venice or Santa Monica.

 

how will you survive LA xul?

i would add Strand as a must hit, along with Smog City and Monkish. especially if they have White Sand on tap. cool tasting room. great people running it. excellent beers. and the only place you can buy bottles and know they're fresh (since annoyingly they don't bottle date). Dudes has a nice tasting room but i'd say it's skippable because the beer is skippable.

probably even closer to Marina Del Ray than Torrence, i recommend going to Inglewood and checking out Three Weavers. they just opened a few months ago and are threatening to quickly become one of my favorites.

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-three-weavers-brewery-opens-saturday-20141016-story.html

 

By avoiding the freeways as much as possible and drinking heavily. I didn't say LA has no redeeming value, I just said I wouldn't want to live there (and stand by that). I've been coming up every Christmas since I was a kid along with other assorted trips and enjoy the city for what it is, but living my entire life in San Diego has spoiled me.

Sweet, thanks. Only bummer is that it looks like all these places are closed on Monday and Tuesday...was planning on doing Beachwood for lunch on the way up on Sunday, but I might need to move that around so I can check these places out on Sunday.

 

I was going to recommend Three Weavers, but since these trips tend to be short on time, I didn't think they offered anything out of the ordinary to warrant going out of one's way for. Really nice space, though, and judging by what I've had, Three Weavers has a lot of potential.

 

was just joking around.. but yeah, with all due respect to Marina Del Ray, it's one of the more boring areas of Los Angeles (the most?).. i hope you have a good trip when you come. the holidays are actually a good time to visit because most people go back home to whatever place they came from, lightening up the traffic quite a bit

 

yeah, only been twice so far. the last time i went was really impressed with one of their IPAs (not the grapefruit one that they bottled, though that was good) and their imperial stout. sorry can't remember names

 

I'm rooting for them for sure. They're the closest brewery to my house so it's in my best interests that they continue to improve. I haven't had a bad beer from them yet, but I've not had anything outstanding either. My favorite, so far, is Expatriate IPA and I like it enough to put it in my rotation if it was available in sixers for a reasonable price.

 

I have been seeing some posts online about a new brewery/blendery in Carson called Phantom Carriage - not sure if they're open yet (I saw a post on Instagram where they were "serving" some cold brew coffee on nitro, but don't know if that's a soft opening).

 

Phantom Carriage opening info here:


Gotta say I'm pretty excited...Muis is a personal favorite of mine. A very tasty brew...

 

Are you flying into LAX? Or driving in from where? Flying into LAX you have El Segundo Brewing Co (5-10 minute drive from LAX) on Main St. And you also have the newly opened Three Weavers in Inglewood (5 minute drive from LAX). I checked out Three Weavers last weekend and I was impressed. Nice tasting room with good selection of beers. They have the Noble collab the Messanger on right now and bottles are available if you don't mind paying the high price of $11 per bottle! But if your going to pay $11 for the Messenger I rather drive the extra miles to Beachwood BBQ & Brewing and pick up their outstanding "Eight" release for $10 per bottle. And it won't last long. Just released yesterday at both locations.