Grab a loved one (best friend, lover, ex-lover, future lover) and hop on our Valentine’s Day tour!
CLICK HERE for tickets!
If you follow us on instagram (@labeerhop), you’ll know that we’re big fans of the Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Hollywood Bowl.
The Bowl is more booze-friendly, generally speaking, but if you catch one of the Casual Friday shows at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, you’ll be introduced to a new side of classical music – the informal, fun, and conversational side.
And with their new partnership with the LA County Brewers Guild, you can bet there will be terrific, fresh, local beer in attendance (and the best part – the beer is free).
From the Walt Disney Concert Hall:
“Leave your formal wear behind – the musicians are going casual. Come for an evening of music, conversation and cocktails. Hear from a musician before the concert, interact with artists following the performance, and get the inside story over drinks at an after-party. Enjoy a complimentary beer tasting sponsored by the LA County Brewers Guild.”
Here’s a link to the Casual Fridays page: https://www.laphil.com/casualfridays
Have you fulfilled your New Years’ Resolution to drink more beer this year? If not, there’s still enough time to cram it in at one of the many Los Angeles breweries before the end of the year. And if you didn’t make that resolution… then what’s wrong with you? There is an insane amount of good beer in Los Angeles right now and you should be drinking it. With friends. At the breweries where they make it.
Here’s a list of all of the new Los Angeles breweries. If you want a full list of all of the LA breweries, please check out our page here: labeerhop.com/breweries.
Located in Boyle Heights, this shabby industrial taproom serves finely-tuned beers on the weekends and in 16oz cans. If you want to visit, they’re hosting a cheese and beer event with Vagabond cheese this Saturday (12/17) at their taproom.
Equal parts brewery and warehouse party, this Arts District brewery is now open every weekend serving around 10 or more different crafts.
A homebrew shop turned tasting room and brewery. They’re not officially “open-open” yet, but they’re open enough to count them in the class of 2016.
They were contract brewing for quite a while before opening their brewery in Torrance a stones throw from Monkish, Smog City and The Dudes (I think you could literally hit Monkish with a stone from Cosmic if you were really good at throwing stones). Also, you pour your own beer here, no bartenders.
They’ve been brewing for a while, but their rather large Santa Monica taproom officially opened this year making them the only taproom in Santa Monica out of all of the Los Angeles Breweries. Go to check out a wide range of beers brewed onsite and grab some food from their rotating schedule of foodtrucks.
Formerly part of the contract brewing club, Brouwerij West had a much-anticipated opening this year at an enormous location in the Ports’o’Call in San Pedro. They make a bunch of experimental (and good) Belgian and French-style beers in a taproom that could fit a fleet of elephants.
Alright, it’s out in Pomona, but it’s worth the trip. It’s the first brewery to really adopt the white walled, green plants, clean atmosphere of a coffee shop (I’m looking at you Dinosaur coffee). You might say that this brewery is “on trend”. And boy are they doing things right. Innovative beers, trendy styles done well, well adorned taproom, good music, and incredibly warm people. Do yourself a favor and head out to Pomona.
The only combination brewery and distillery in LA (although we definitely smell more coming), Rob Rubens opened his speakeasy-style tasting room and brewery/distillery in El Segundo this year. So far, they’ve made some pretty tasty beers and a small collection of spirits: vodka, gin and a white whiskey.
Maybe one of the most anticipated breweries, certainly one of the quietest, this small brewery is operating all the way up in North Hills slowly turning out some really innovative oak aged beers. They don’t have a tasting room yet, but you can find their liquid in small format bottles around LA (they’ll be in large bottles soon). Look out for Firegold – A funky farmhouse ale brewed with Mosaic and El Dorado aged with oranges & orange peel in a French Oak Puncheon.
They just put beer out in the marketplace but their taproom isn’t open yet, so they JUST made the cut to be part of the class of 2017. This Gardena brewery also just got Robert Sanchez from Kinetic Brewing to come and serve as their Brewmaster. Be on the look out for lots of fun beers in 2017.
Started by Patrick Schulz and Jason Kolb (blend their two last names together and you get…. “Scholb”… Ta-da!) this two-family brewery opened up about 50 yards away from Absolution in Torrance and instantly became a fan favorite. It’s a one of the friendliest taprooms you’ll find anywhere, filled with well made beers, smiling bartenders and locals.
Does this mean the LA Beer scene has come full circle? Zymurgy Brew Works, located in Torrance (of course) is a DIY Brewery and taproom. You can now brew your very own beer alongside professional brewers who assist you in every aspect of production.
Beer tours are great for bachelor parties. Make sure to pair the beer with these ridiculous bachelor party supplies: https://samevaginaforever.com/
*Breweries with a “*” have brewed before this year, but they opened their taprooms full time in 2016.
Okay, so they’re not new. But their hours are. Boomtown Brewery recently launched new hours for their Arts District taproom and you should probably go this weekend.
Samuel “Chewy” Chawinga, their brewmaster, has been busy brewing for the past two years. Developing all number of styles from a belgian white, to a blended pale, to the requisite slew of IPAs, but for various reasons, their taproom has only been open to the public on sporadic occasions. A few Friday nights here, a few specialty events there, but never a consistent schedule for you to be able to pop in for a pint. Until now. Their new taproom hours are:
Make your plans for this weekend. Feel free to bring all your beer-drinking friends because their taproom has plenty of space for you to run around like drunken children playing cornhole, velcro-darts, and the board games they have on hand.
Food trucks are usually present and if they’re not, don’t sweat it, Boomtown is walking distance from Arts District (which has a full restaurant attached) and Angel City, which has foodtrucks all-day, everyday (in fact, here’s a link to the foodtruck schedule at Angel City).
Look out for Boomtown to be joining our East & Central public tour soon.
BOOMTOWN BREWERY, 700 JACKSON ST, LOS ANGELES, CA 90012
P.S. We’re doing a DTLA Brewery Hop on Hop Off Bus this weekend on Sunday 9/25. We have two buses running consistently around the six Downtown LA brewery taprooms – Mumford, Angel City, Boomtown, Arts District, Indie Brew Co (where they will be pouring Dry River Beers) and Iron Triangle. Buses run from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. And did we mention it’s free? Yup, it’s free.
You may have seen their beer on shelves, you may have even tasted it, but when you visit their taproom, that’s when you really get to know Indie Brewing Company. Because to know Indie is to know the four guys who run the place: Kevin, James, Morgan and Connor. They’re the brewers, taproom attendants, salesmen, interior designers, tap-handle fabricators, and janitors for this new brewery in DTLA.
It’s technically Boyle Heights, but you could easily say that their taproom is in Downtown LA or even The Arts District. The building, which they share with a handful of apparel companies, is located just off E. 7th Street conveniently close to Iron Triangle Brewing. In fact, while we may not recommend doing it alone, a brisk walk from one brewery to the next wouldn’t be the worst idea.
The interior of the space feels like it was curated by four guys who work in beer for a living. Hand-made picnic tables, jockey boxes, beer cans, corn hole and a couple of futons. Imagine the cleanest version of a frat house with the best beer selection.
Your beer will be poured for you by one of the four owners who are more than eager to chat about what’s in their Superfood Saison (blackberries, goji berries, acai & pitaya) or what hops are in their IPA Del Rey (Citra and Equinox).
So after chatting with the owners, sitting in one of their futons, sipping their beer and hanging out in their space you’ll begin to fully understand Indie Brewing Company and all that goes into craft beer.
Your only chance to visit their taproom is on Friday evenings from 5-10pm, but that will change to more regular brewery hours once they get a few details ironed out. Keep watch on our website for Indie to start being featured on our East & Central LA brewery tour or on any of our private tours.
