Pacific Gravity: Next Meeting, Looking Back, Looking Forward

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SEPTEMBER CLUB MEETING

One of Pacific Gravity’s signature events is the annual Monster Brew held in conjunction with Jonathan Porter, Owner, Brewer and Proprietor Extraordinaire of Smog City Brewing. Our next meeting is truly special: we are going to share our Monster Brew creations with Porter and the staff at Smog City

When: This Thursday, September 20, 2018
Time: 7:30pm
Where: Smog City Brewing Company, 1901 Del Amo Blvd, Torrance, CA.

EDUCATION HIGHLIGHT: In the first of a series, Carl will be demonstrating how water chemistry affects the taste of your homebrew, and how you can fine tune your H2O to the style you are brewing.

COMMERCIAL STYLE of the MONTH:   IPAs, hosted by Reuben.

And whatever Porter Has On Tap.

HOMEBREW STYLE of the MONTH:   Your Monster Brew, and any home-brewed IPA.

Kegs, bottles and growlers of the style of the month are encouraged. All homebrews are welcome.

LOOKING BACK AT THE SUMMER OF 2018:

We sure had an interesting summer:

  • 36 PG and WASH (West Adams Society of Homebrewers) members attended the annual Southern California Homebrewers Festival at Vail Lake in Temecula. We shared 23 kegs with home brewers from around Southern and Central California.
  • We held our last meeting at PG’s long time home, Culver City Homebrew Supply.
  • Our annual Big Brew highlighted the different methods used to make award winning (and tasty) beers, from Michael’s Brew-in-a-Bag, to Carl’s Thermo-Siphon Reboiler, to Parker’s Set-it-and-Forget-It Grainfather.
  • PG members congregated at the Casa Molloy Event Center to make jockey boxes and add to our auxiliary stock of party taps.
  • Another cozy Summer Party involving much sampling of fellow PG members home-brews, interesting commercial beers from around the country, and the culinary inspirations of Ian Fraser and his Merry Band of Sous Chefs.
  • Our combined August club meeting / Tania’s Birthday Party was held at Neil Saund’s duplex.
  • And finally, a Labor Day Weekend Downtown-LA Brewery Crawl. To kickoff the crawl, Art District’s Head Brewer Devon Randall bought everyone’s first pint, and her staff treated us to a tour of the brewhouse. We also sampled their freshest beer.

Now, let’s kick our Fall into high gear.

OCTOBER EVENTS:

First Friday:
Date: Friday, October 5.
Place: Phantom Carriage Brewing, 18525 S. Main Street, Carson, CA
Time: 7’ish pm

Phantom Carriage was started by a couple of Pacific Gravity alumni.

October Club Meeting:
Date: Thursday, October 18.
Place: Tortugo Brewing Company, 916 W. Hyde Park Blvd, Inglewood
Time: 7:30 pm

Tortugo is only a couple of months old, and was started by PG member Joe Kovach. He has some pretty tasty beers on tap, including a Belgian Wit that is right on the mark.

Hyde Park Blvd is about 2 blocks East of the intersection of Florence and La Cienega, and about 4 blocks East of Three Weavers.

WANTED: VOLUNTEER BOARD MEMBERS

After many years of outstanding service, Tim Bardet is retiring as Treasurer. At the September and October meetings, we will be taking nominations for Treasurer, and – if you are so inclined – the other elected positions (President, Vice President).

If you would like to be part of Keeping Pacific Gravity Great, please volunteer your nomination.

NOVEMBER EVENTS:

First Friday:  TBA
Date: Friday, November 2.
Place: TBA
Time: 7’ish pm

Phantom Carriage was started by a couple of Pacific Gravity alumni.

November Chili Cookoff / Club Meeting:
Date: TBD
Place: TBD
Time: TBD

We haven’t worked out all the details yet, but just wanted you to be ready for it.

Remember: Please bring some of your homebrew to the meeting and events.

 

See you Thursday!

Pacific Brewers Cup Entries Due Friday Sept 14th

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Entries for the 2018 Pacific Brewers Cup are now being accepted and are due no later than Friday, September 14th.  On-line registration is available at http://strandbrewersclub.org/pbc/bcoem/.  Strand Brewers Club will be running the show this year.   This is a large competition is hosted on a rotating basis between Pacific Gravity, Strand Brewers and Long Beach Homebrewers.  All styles based on the 2015 BJCP Style Guides are accepted.  Each entry requires three (3) 12-oz bottles, with a fee of $9.00.  Alas, with the closing of the Culver City homebrew shop, your entries need to go to one of the other local shops, listed below.

Judging for PBC will be held Saturday morning, September 29th at The Verandas Beach House 401 Rosecrans Avenue, Manhattan Beach, CA 90277.  Plan to be there around 8:00 AM, PDT.  Strand Brewers Club has helped us out quite a bit with our past PBC efforts, so I’d like to see a good turn-out of Pacific Gravity members  to help with judging or stewarding.

After PBC, the last competition for the Pacific Gravity Brewer of the Year Award will be the California Sate Homebrew Competition. Registration is open at https://castate.brewcompetition.com/ .  Entries need to make it up to San Francisco.  If anyone is interested in doing a road trip to drop off the entries, please drop me a line at Competitions AT pacificgravity.com sometime before the next club meeting (Sept 20th). The club will reimburse yo for some of your gas money.  Timing of the trip is flexible, preferably in the last week of September or first week of October.  Entries would need to arrive at Ferment Drink Repeat 2636 San Bruno Avenue San Francisco, CA 94134  Must arrive by October 11th.  If no one steps forward to drive, each entrant will be on the hook to ship entries.

PBC Drop-off sites:

Please pay attention to the notes provided for each drop-off location. There could be earlier deadlines for some drop-off locations listed, particular hours when entries are accepted, certain individuals to leave your entries with, etc. All entrants are responsible for reading the information provided by the organizers for each drop-off location.

South Bay Brewing Supply
1311 Post Ave Torrance, CA 90501
310-486-9412
*entries will be picked up starting at opening time on 9/15

Stein Fillers
4160 Norse Way Long Beach, CA 90808
562-425-0588
*entries will be picked up starting at opening time on 9/15

Ballast Point – Home Brew Mart
5401 Linda Vista Rd #406, San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 295-2337
*entries will be picked up starting at opening time on 9/15

Eagle Rock Home Brewing Supply
4981 Eagle Rock Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90066
323-258-2107
*entries will be picked up starting at opening time on 9/15

The Home Beer, Wine, And Cheesemaking Shop
22836 Ventura Blvd Woodland Hills, CA 91354
818-884-8586
*entries will be picked up starting at opening time on 9/15

More Beer Riverside
1506 Columbia Ave Suite 12 Riverside, CA 92507
951-779-9971
*entries will be picked up starting at opening time on 9/15

Monrovia Homebrew Shop
1945 South Myrtle Ave, Monrovia, California 91016
626-531-0825
*entries will be picked up starting at opening time on 9/15

Arts District Brewery Crawl Saturday, Sept 1

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What do you do when First Friday has too  many options?  Push it to Saturday, of course!  Join us for a visit to several of the downtown area breweries.  It also give many of a us an opportunity to take public transit.

There are a lot of places to hit on this trip, so we may end up splitting up and going to different locations.  Here is an update with Ian’s proposed timeline:

Greetings All, I am posting on behalf of Carl Townsend our ‘cat herder’ and organizer of our Saturday Arts District Pub Crawl.
 
We wanted to post a schedule for the day so that any late arrivals would have an idea of where to find the group when they show up. Now these times are not written in concrete and as the day unfolds are flexible but the current plan looks like this:
Arts District Brewing from 12:00 Noon to about 1:30 PM or so.
Dry River Brewing from 1:45 to about 3:00 PM
Then cross the street to Indie Brewing from 3:00 PM to 4:15 PM
Then march to Iron Triangle Brewing from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
Then back North to Mumford Brewing 6:15 PM to whenever
Then if you are super serious about hitting all the stops you can finish at Weiland Brewing or Boomtown Brewing both located right in the neighborhood!
 
Post any comments or questions in the comments section and we will get back to you!
See you on Saturday!
Ian

 

If you want an early start, I’d suggesting grabbing a bite to eat at Wurstkuche, 800 E. 3rd st @ Traction Los Angeles, CA 90013 .   This place has has a variety of German sausages and a good assortment of German and Belgians beers.  Wurstekuche opens at 11AM.

I’ll be starting the day at Arts District Brewing Company at 828 Traction Ave, 90013.  Doors open at noon.  The beers brewed by our own Devon Randall are always top-notch.  I’ll be grabbing a bit to eat here.  Right near by is Angel City Brewery, 216 S Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

From there, we have several directions we can go.  Due south of Arts District is Iron Triangle Brewing, 1581 Industrial St, Los Angeles, CA 90021.   To the east, across the 6th Street/Wittier bridge are a pair of breweries, Dry River Brewing, 671 S Anderson St, Los Angeles, CA 90023 and Indie Brewing Company, 2350 Sunrise St, Los Angeles, CA 90023.

At the north end of Arts District is Boomtown Brewery, 700 Jackson St, Los Angeles, CA 90012.  This is the closest brewery to Union Station Red and Purple lines, and the Gold line. 

At the west end of the area is Mumford Brewery, 416 Boyd St, Los Angeles, CA 90013. 

There are a number of different options to get to the Arts District by transit.  You can take the Expo line up to the 7th Street Metro center.  You can grab the Red line there for a one or two stops to save a bit of walking.  Fare is $1.75 each way.

I find the 733 bus that runs the entire length of Venice Blvd to be a simple option for many west-side starting points.  It turns north on Main street, and returns southbound on Spring Street.  Fare is $1.75 each way.  More info can be found at https://www.metro.net/riding/trip-planner/

 

August Club Meeting @ Neil’s

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Hey all! Michael here, I hope this message reaches you all well.

Quick reminder: Our August club meeting is THIS Thursday at Neil’s duplex on the west side ( 12966 Rubens Avenue, Los Angeles 90066 )

We’ll be celebrating club secretary Tania’s birthday with some tacos & rice and beans care of club chef Ian and our host Neil. This should be a really fun and memorable meeting. If you’re a new member (or a prospective one) this is a great opportunity to meet and greet our most knowledgeable brewers and there will be some great beers on tap, as always.

Our commercial tasting will be led by member Barry, who will walk us through his selection of American Wild Ales. Home-brew style of the month is Euro Sour or American Wild ales but (as always) you’re encouraged to bring whatever you have in a keg or bottle right now. I’ll be bringing out a very very fresh keg of Ladies Wit Attitude, brewed in the “Pink Boots” spirit by a group of our awesome and talented ladies of PG.

A few other items for our roadmap…

Saturday September 1st we’ll be heading downtown for our annual Arts District / DTLA brewery crawl. This event replaces our First Friday for the month of September this year.

Thursday September 20th we’ll be meeting at Smog City Brewing Co. for our September club meeting. The theme of the night will be Monster Brew beers, and I’m hoping everyone has set aside a bit of their brew to share. More info on that meeting coming soon…

Looking forward to seeing you all Thursday night!

Michael

Competition Corner – August 2018

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While most of us were having a blow-out summer party, (thanks Dean!) other diligent beer judges were hard at work judging the Los Angeles County Fair.  Congratulations to Kingsley Toby, who picked up the overall second place Best of Show with his beer, Second Sleep, a whiskey-aged stout.  It also picked up First Place in Category 26 Wood-Aged Beers.  This is not the first ribbon he has won with this proven recipe.  This beer truly has legs, from both a competition and visual evaluation standpoint!  Kingsley also picked up a first place for his First Light Belgian Pale Ale, and a 3rd place for his Luminous Wit, which we were gleefully sipping in the hot mid-day sun at the summer party.   Congratulations Kingsley!

A good showing was also made by Parker Waechter with his “Unreasonable Need For External Validation”, which took First Place in the American Pale Ale category.  If you ask me, it’s been validated!  Congrats also to Craig Corley, with a pair of seconds for Blonde #17 and Saison Mb5.  Full results of the County Fair can be found at http://competitions.maltosefalcons.com/.

With these victories, Kingsley has taken a commanding lead in the Brewer of the Year award, with 22 points.  Parker is second with 8 points, and Craig is right behind with 7 points.  But fear not, there are still two big competitions to go this year.  First up is Pacific Brewers Cup.  Strand Brewers Club will be running the show this year.  Entries are due on September 14th, with the main judging session on September 29th.  Check back here for entry details.  Finally, we have the California Sate Homebrew Competition, with entries due in October.

 

Beach Bar Bike Bash and Strand Brewers Club Summer Party

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Hey Pacific Gravity members,Craft Tap Beer

Want to cool off this weekend?

Come join the Strand Brewers on our annual Beach Bar Bike Bash.

We’ll be gathering with our bikes at The Rockefeller in Hermosa Beach at 11 AM Saturday (8/4).

422 Pier Ave, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

Then we’ll explore some of the best beer venues on the Hermosa Pier such as Silvio’s, Rebel Republic or Tower 12.

Somewhere around 1 PM we’ll ride the bike path up toward the Manhattan Pier where we’ll sample the world-class beer offerings at BrewCo and Simmzy’s

You will always be able to find the group by calling our Cell Phone Central (Strand Brewers’ Club President Chris Remensperger) at (310) 863-6222

Then we’ll be finishing the day around 4 PM at Summer’s Sports Bar in north Manhattan Beach for the Strand Brewers Club Summer Party.

3770 Highland Ave Ste 103
Manhattan Beach, California 90266

(NE corner of Rosecrans and Highland)

Actually, we have arranged for all day parking at Summers Bar, so you can leave your can and homebrew with them starting at 9 AM, then ride down to Hermosa to join the BBBB.

Everyone is invited to join the SBC Summer Party. We’re selling tickets for $20 to cover the cost of a catered dinner and appetizers.

We’ll have the run of the bar to drink our homebrew and party until 10 PM or so.

Jay Ankeney

2018 PG Summer Party is THIS SATURDAY!

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The entire board is in Australian mode preparing for this year’s summer party, which is THIS SATURDAY if you haven’t heard already. All are welcome, non-members pay a meager $10 entrance fee. Please bring donations too, we’ll be collecting again and hope to double last year’s haul! Full details at the end of this post.

First, to kick things off our club chef Ian put together the following in his best Aussie accent…

G’DAY MATE! ANNOUNCING A FAIR DINKUM SUMMER PARTY

This year’s “bonzer” summer party is coming up THIS SATURDAY July 28, 2018 and will be held at Dean Sussman’s tiny humpy located at 1310 Amalfi Drive, Pacific Palisades.  It is sure to be a ripper!

The theme for this year’s summer party is set!  We are pulling our fingers out for a bonzer of an Aussie Barbie! We want to really do it up this year and with your help we intend on having all of the traditional types of BBQ food and festivities from the land down under!

We plan to Barbie some lamb, shrimps, bangers and maybe even Dingo Dogs and Vegemite with axel grease!  Give it a burl!  All that plus all the ‘tucker’ you can shake a stick at!

However, this being a ‘bring a plate’ potluck event we ask everyone to bring your favorite dish along to the event as well; any dish is welcome, so the menu is WIDE open for you to go all wobbly and show off your culinary skills!

The summer party is a volunteer’s event, and we need lots of volunteers!  Volunteers will be needed for set up the day before and clean up of Dean’s house the day after.  We pay all volunteers in hogwash (beer) at the event, all-you-can-drink in fact; the only catch is we need you to brew the hogwash so we can use it to pay the volunteers!  Lot’s of beer!

We also need your sodas for the non-alcohol drinking crowd, if you have a good soda recipe; this is a great place to show it off.

Along with our best beer of the party judging we will also host this year’s drink competition which will be based on our Aussie theme!  Any drink that includes Australian ingredients counts!  Bring a batch of your favorite Booze or non-alcohol (sodas count!) summertime drink and we will judge it and announce a winner at the event 

🙂  Cheers mate!

To recap…

Saturday, July 28th – 2pm to 10pm

Location:  Dean Sussman’s – 1310 Amalfi Drive, Pacific Palisades, 90272

EMAIL US WITH WHAT YOU WILL BRING AND HOW YOU CAN HELP!

Checklist for ALL party attendees:

  • Bring BEER, BEER & more BEER! Also, bring sodas or a beer featuring Australian ingredients for the “Best Beverage” competition!  Please email what you are bringing to Carl at [email protected]
  • FOOD – sign up to bring Aussie-themed dishes (or anything you’d like) to our POTLUCK party. We need ALL kinds of food: appetizers, sides dishes, main dishes (pre-cooked), desserts, etc. We need LOTS of food to go with all the beer so please email us at [email protected] what dishes you will add to our feast!
  • VOLUNTEERS – we need YOU to help make this a successful party! Please email us at [email protected] .  We have lots of volunteer opportunities!
    • Setup on Friday night – starting at 6pm
    • Food prep on Friday– please contact Chef Ian to help
    • Cleanup on Sunday morning– starting around 10am
    • More setup and food prep on Saturday morning – between 10am and 2pm
    • Bartender shifts – 1hr. (please see Carl on Saturday to volunteer)
  • Beer Equipment (email Carl at: [email protected])
    • Jockey boxes
    • CO2 cylinders
    • Bags of ice for jockey boxes
  • Charity Donation Goods – clothes, toiletries, new socks/underwear, kitchen kits, cleaning supplies, etc.
  • Other Equipment needed for the party. Please let us know if you have any of the following and would be willing to loan to us for the party. Please email us at: [email protected] . We will email confirmation back if we need you to bring items on Friday night during setup.
    • Tables
    • EZ Ups/Canopies
    • BBQs
    • Power/extension cords
    • Extra coolers/ice chests

Don’t forget to bring and things to know:

  • Bring BEER & other beverages
  • Bring FOOD – Hawaiian Luau-themed or any food that goes with beer!
  • Fee for all adult guests is $10 per guest. Kids are free. (Current members are free.)
  • Payment for past due membership – cash or credit
  • Donations for Charity – clothes, toiletries, new socks/underwear, kitchen kits, cleaning supplies, etc.
  • Chairs and Blankets
  • Bathing suits and towels, if you want to use the swimming pool.
  • Sunscreen
  • Jackets & sweaters for the evening
  • Cash for Raffle tickets
  • PG merchandise will be available for sale at the Front Desk.
  • Note for food contributions, we will NOT have use of a kitchen for heating or cooling so please plan accordingly. Please label your food containers so that we can get them back to you.

Charity Donation – IDEAS & SUGGESTIONS

Clothing  (all donations should be clean and, if used, in good condition.)

  • Sweat socks – for men, women and children
  • New underwear – men’s, women and children
  • Sweat shirts and tee-shirts for adults – all sizes especially larger sizes
  • Flannel and long sleeve shirts for adults
  • Pants and jeans for adults – all sizes especially larger sizes
  • Sneakers – men’s & women’s most needed
  • Shower shoes/thongs
  • Rain ponchos for adults & children

Personal & Household items

  • Hygiene Items (Travel or regular size)
  • toothpaste
    • toothbrush
    • deodorant
    • shampoo
    • disposable razors
    • bar soap
    • hand & body lotion
    • sanitary napkins & tampons
  • Blankets (preferably wool)
  • Backpacks or duffel bags
  • Sleeping bags for adults
  • Diapers – all sizes
  • Bedding: Twin size sheets, comforters and pillows. Please note pillow must be new.

Welcome Home Packages

  • Kitchen Kits (dish towels, dish soap, utensils, plates and cups, pots and pans etc.)
  • Bathroom Necessities (shampoo and conditioner, body wash/soap, hand and body towels, shaving cream, razors, etc.)
  • Bedroom Essentials (comforter, sheets, pillows, pajamas, slippers, etc.)
  • Cleaning Supplies (dust pan, broom, Windex, counter spray, toilet bowl cleaner and brush, etc.).

 

Thank you in advance to every who can afford the time to volunteer this Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. See you there!

 

Michael

County Fair Homebrew Entries Due Friday 7/13

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Entries for the 2018 Los Angeles County Fair are due this Friday,  July 13th.  Registration is up and running at http://competitions.maltosefalcons.com/.  With the closure of the Culver City shop, make sure you leave time to drop off your entries.  They can be left at the Eagle Rock homebrew shop, Woodland Hills Shop or Steinfillers in Long Beach.  This competition uses the Maltose Falcons styleguide .

The main judging session for the contest will be on Saturday, July 28th, which unfortunately is our Summer party day.  We may be assisting with a prelim session, tentatively scheduled for July 23rd.

Results are in from the AHA National Competitions Finals.  Alas, no one from the club had any entries placing.  Full results can be found here.

Looking forward, Strand Brewers Club will be running Pacific Brewers Cup this year.  Look for details in the coming weeks.We will close out the competition year with the California State Homebrew Competition some time in October or November.

If you are interested in more competitions, check out the AHA competition website for a comprehensive listing.

July First Friday Rescheduled For Saturday

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Hey all,

Michael here with a super quick update for you. Our First Friday for July at Harajuku Taproom in Culver City has been rescheduled to Saturday July 7th (that’s THIS weekend) from 3pm to 6pm. Adam and team at Harajuku offer up happy hour pricing and are expecting a good crowd of us.

Hope you can make it! See you Saturday.

Michael

June Club Meeting

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Hey y’all,  I hope your summer is heating up and you’re finding some shade during brew days.

Quick reminder: We’re holding our monthly meeting at Terry’s house this coming Saturday June 16th.  We’ll have all of the typical activities going on, plus a jockey box build session. On the grill we’ll provide bbq chicken but we could use some side dishes. Homemade or store bought, doesn’t matter to us. Bring salad, corn, rice, bread, whatever – Let’s have a cookout.

If you’re interested in watching (or if you’re participating in) the jockey box build, arrive at 11am. Noon if you just want to come for the meeting.

Looking ahead, we’re confirmed for July 28th at Dean’s for this year’s summer bash. Please help us spread the word to other members. It seems like somebody gets the date too late every year, so talk it up.

See you soon!

– Michael