1st Annual CRUSH Wine Festival

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On Sunday, the 18th Street Arts Center held their 1st Annual CRUSH, an artisanal wine, art and food tasting event at their location on 18th Street in Santa Monica. This was a fundraising event for the 18th Street Arts Center and I would say they had a pretty nice turnout of about 500-600 people; if I had to guess. It was a great day to be outside, the food smelled and tasted great, there was good music, fun people and wine; lots and lots of wine. As you know, I am more of a craft beer guy, but we did …

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Smog City Brewing Opens & Strand Brewers Club Party

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Saturday was day six of the 2013 American Craft Beer Week and in keeping with the theme of the week these photos are from the Smog City Brewing grand opening and a birthday party for the President of the Strand Brewers Club, a local home brewers club. If you have been following this site recently, you probably noticed that Smog City Brewing, a 2012 Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal winner, has been holding a few soft-opens in preparation for their grand opening. Well, Saturday was the big day. As Tanya really enjoys the Smog City Groundwork Coffee Porter and …

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Torrance 54th Annual Armed Forces Day Parade

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On Saturday, Torrance held their 54th Annual Armed Forces Day Parade, the longest running military parade sponsored by any city in the United States. Prior to the event I was reading about how much smaller the parade would be this year due to budget constraints as a result of the sequester. This was my third time attending the parade in the last few years, and while there were slight changes this year, I cannot say that there were not similar cutbacks prior to the sequester. Either way, it was a fun event for the entire family and Torrance Boulevard was …

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Torrance readies for Armed Forces Day Parade

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Today, the City of Torrance will have their 54th Annual Armed Forces Day Parade; the nation’s longest running military parade sponsored by any city. The parade begins at 1:30 PM and will travel up Torrance Boulevard; beginning at Crenshaw Boulevard and ending in front of the Torrance City Hall at Torrance Boulevard and Madronna Avenue. Even though the recently implemented sequester is forcing a few changes as far as things like what military units, bands and flyover will be present for the parade, the show shall go on. Friday, there was a display of various military vehicles, big guns and …

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San Pedro Brewing Company and Smog City Brewing

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Friday was day five of the 8th Annual American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) and I was able to visit two gold medal winners that are both located in the South Bay; San Pedro Brewing Company from San Pedro and Smog City Brewing Company (2012 Great American Beer Festival) in Torrance. San Pedro Brewing Company is a brewpub that has been in San Pedro for 13 years and currently has seven beers brewed on location. Smog City Brewing Company just moved to Torrance and is having their grand opening today, May 18 from 12-8 PM. Both locations have a wide variety …

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American Craft Beer Week, Day 4

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This group of photos are from American Craft Beer Week 2013 (ACBW), day 4. Regular readers know that on Thursdays we have our Business & Beer gatherings; so it was a little difficult for us to get out of town long enough to get to a Great American Beer Festival (GABF) winner and get back to the area for our Business & Beer meetup. Business & Beer was scheduled to be held at Alpine Inn at Alpine Village in Torrance, which could have been a great idea as they do have a wide selection of beers from local craft brewers …

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Business & Beer Meetup at Alpine Inn

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These photos are from our Business & Beer gathering at Alpine Inn last night. Alpine Inn is a German gastropub at Alpine Village in Torrance. While a German restaurant might not seem like a likely setting for a Business & Beer gathering during American Craft Beer Week, the general manager is a home brewer and makes it a point to have a good selection of American craft beers on tap. Unfortunately, about one third of their taps were nonfunctional last night, so we were limited as to the number of American beers while there were plenty of German beers available. …

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American Craft Beer Week with Stone Brewing

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Day three of the 8th Annual American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) found us out in Pasadena at the Stone Brewing, Company Store. When it comes to venerable Southern California, award winning breweries, it would be pretty tough to beat Stone Brewing. Stone Brewing had the first California beer tasting room that I visited on a regular basis, but it is out in Escondido which is a 100 mile ride. Fortunately, it is a pretty nice ride and Stone makes some quality beer. Recently, Stone Brewing opened a company store at the Del Mar Metro station. It is not nearly as …

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American Craft Beer Week at Beachwood BBQ & Brewing

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Tuesday was day two of the 2013 American Craft Beer Week (ACBW). Last year, I spent the 7th Annual ACBW going out and discovering as many different American craft beers that I was unfamiliar with. This year, my goal is to visit award winning craft brewers in our area. I am using the list of winners from prior Great American Beer Festivals (GABF); luckily, we have several that are pretty close to us. For day two we headed out to Long Beach and visited Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, a nice brewpub that not only brews award winning beers, but their …

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Business & Beer Meetup at Abigaile

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These photos are from our Business and Beer gathering with Meetup last Thursday, May 9, at The Brewery at Abigaile. I cannot really say why I am just now getting around to posting the photos, other than it was a busy weekend. The Brewery at Abigaile is my favorite brewpub and is located in Hermosa Beach. I was introduced to them one year ago and became an instant fan. Last Thursday was a special evening at Abigaile in that they were doing a food pairing with Beachwood BBQ & Brewing from Long Beach and they are another of my favorite …

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