Anniversary Brews at Smog City and Firestone

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This is a reminder that this Saturday 11/8 is our Anniversary brew at Smog City at 9:30 am.

We will be using Porter’s new 5 barrel pilot system, so even if you have been to brew events at Smog in the past, this will be something exciting and new!

The recipe will be an adaptation of Craig Corley’s Trappist Single.  Rather than traditional Belgian grains, we’re going to use micro-malted grains from Admiral Maltings up in the Bay Area. We’ll use German Hercules for bittering and a blend of Tettnanger and Saaz for flavor/aroma additions.  We’ll likely use a dry yeast like Mangrove Jacks Belgian Tripel M31.  We’ll use first wort hopping and a large dose at knock out.

Unlike our usual Smog visits, this is not a “Monster Brew”.  We are not selling wort, so no need to bring sterile buckets.  Instead, we will ferment the whole batch at Smog and then bottling in a couple of weeks (and we will need some help then too!).  You are not going to want to miss this event!

Next, just 2 days later, on this Monday November 10 at 9am(ish) (NOTE NEW DATE!) we will be at Firestone Propagator, where Sam will be helping us craft a Carl/Tomm/Parker/Sam Belgian Dark Holiday Beer with Aburana wood.  Brewing this beer at the Propagator should be epic!

So there you have it – some action-packed days o’ brewing with a Smog-Saturday and Firestone-Monday – Two glorious days of brewer-fantasy-camp!  I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to attend one if not both.  I, for one, have requested the day off work!  Also note that these 2 events will count as our “First Friday” for November.

We will need some volunteers to help bottle both of these once they are ready – we will send out an email when we know more.

These are the final two brews of our 30th Anniversary Series that have included: Tortugo, Cellador, Project Barley, Smog City, Firestone-Walker Propagator.

Parker Waechter – President, Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

Smog City PG Anniversary Beer Brewing – Saturday 11/8/2025 at 9:30am(ish)
Smog City Brewing Company
1901 Del Amo Blvd
Torrance, CA, 90501
(310) 320-7664

Firestone PG Anniversary Beer Brewing – Mon 11/10/2025 at 9am(ish)
Firestone Walker Brewing Company – the Propagator
3205 Washington Blvd
Marina Del Rey, CA, 90292
(310) 439-8264

Upcoming Events

  • Nov 8    :  Anniversary Brewing at Smog City 9:30am(ish)
  • Nov 10  :  Anniversary Brewing at Firestone 9am(ish) NOTE DATE CHANGE!
  • Nov 20  :  Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company 7pm
  • Dec 6    :   Holiday Party

Pacific Gravity Anniversary Brews at Smog City and Firestone (NEW DATE!)

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In a couple of weeks we have 2 more anniversary brew days now within a couple days of each other!

The first is our collaboration at Smog City on Saturday November 8 at 9:30am(ish).  We will be brewing a riff on one of Craig’s Trappist Single recipes on Porter’s brand spankin’ new 5-barrel pilot system, so it will be a new experience even to those who have attended many a monster brew!

Then, just 2 days later, on Monday November 10 at 9am(ish) (NOTE NEW DATE!) we will be at Firestone Propagator, where Sam will be helping us craft a Carl/Tomm/Parker/Sam Belgian Dark Holiday Beer with Aburana wood.  Brewing this beer at the Propagator should be an interesting experience!

So there you have it – some action-packed days o’ brewing with a Smog-Saturday and Firestone-Monday – Two glorious days of brewer-fantasy-camp!  I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to attend one if not both.  I, for one, have requested the day off work!  Also note that these 2 events will count as our “First Friday” for November.

Thanks much to Tomm for helping to get Firestone going!

We will need some volunteers to help bottle both of these once they are ready – we will send out an email when we know more.

Parker Waechter – President, Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

Smog City PG Anniversary Beer Brewing – Saturday 11/8/2025 at 9:30am(ish)
Smog City Brewing Company
1901 Del Amo Blvd
Torrance, CA, 90501
(310) 320-7664

Firestone PG Anniversary Beer Brewing – Mon 11/10/2025 at 9am(ish)
Firestone Walker Brewing Company – the Propagator
3205 Washington Blvd
Marina Del Rey, CA, 90292
(310) 439-8264

Upcoming Events

  • Nov 8    :  Anniversary Brewing at Smog City 9:30am(ish)
  • Nov 10  :  Anniversary Brewing at Firestone 9am(ish) NOTE DATE CHANGE!
  • Nov 20  :  Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company 7pm
  • Dec 6    :   Holiday Party

Pacific Gravity Chili Cook-Off This Saturday 10/11 12:00 at Tortugo Brewery

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Greetings Pacific Gravity!

Please join us for the much-loved and feared Pacific Gravity Annual Chili Cook-Off this Saturday at noon, this year at Torgugo Brewery.  All attendees vote for the “Best” and “Most Unique” chili,  so amaze and baffle our palates as only PG can! Winners will receive the much-coveted “bragging rights and a beer”.  Our style of the month is “Meads and Sours” or any other alternative fermentable or alternative fermenting organism, so it should compliment the heat/and weird well.

Additionally, this will be your opportunity to nominate candidates for next year’s Board (President, Vice President and Treasurer) and for Member of the Year. The election will held at our November meeting, so this is the time to get the nominations in!  Craig will be bringing some of our 30th Anniversary Tee Shirts ($20) and glasses ($5).

In anniversary beer related news, we have 2 more anniversary brew days coming up!  First, we have Smog City on Saturday November 8th where we  will be making our Anniversary Belgian Blond with Porter, followed shortly there after by Firestone Marina Del Rey on Thurs November 13 at 9am when we will brew a Belgian Strong Dark with some Amburana wood with Sam.  More details will come before then.  Also, the collaboration we did with Project Barley is nearly ready to bottle, and we will likely put out a call for help with the bottling soon.

October Monthly Meeting and Chili cook-off Saturday 10/11/2025 at 12:00 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood,  CA  90302
(424) 227-9963

Upcoming Events

  • Oct 11   : Club Meeting and Chili cook-off at Tortugo Brewing Company at Noon – (styles Meads and Sours)
  • Nov 8    :  Anniversary Brewing at Smog City
  • Nov 13  :  Anniversary Brewing at Firestone
  • Nov 20  :  Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company 7pm

First Saturday October 4 at Rasselbock

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Our October “First Friday” event will be be held this Saturday October 4th from noon to 3pm at Rasselbock in Mar Vista. It is Oktoberfest, so please join us for festivities and of course some most excellent German beer!

Our October club meeting will be the traditional Chili cook-off, but this year it will be held at Tortugo on Saturday October 11th at noon.  So start planning your best/most unique entries now!  Also, this will be your opportunity to nominate members for the Member of the year and the 2026 Board!

Our brew day at Project Barley, Lomita was a lot of fun.  Rives and Stephen were great hosts and let us play brewer fantasy camp for a day.  When it comes time to bottle, we will likely need some help – I will let you know more when the time comes.

Parker Waechter – President, Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

October First Saturday  – Saturday October 4, 2025 Noon – 3 PM
Rasselbock
3817 Grand View Blvd
Los Angeles,  CA  90066
(310) 439-2938

Competition Corner 
Results of Pacific Brewers Cup have been released.  Congrats go to Craig for two ribbons: First Place for 293 – SA #9 – Weise Färse, a  German Wheat beer, and a 3rd place for 294  – Blonde #21, a Belgian Blond ale. Craig’s Blond was edged out by Carl’s Blond, which picked up a 2nd place ribbon.  Full results can be found at   https://strandbrewersclub.org/pbc/bcoem/ .  Thanks to Jeff Hoy and the entire Strand Brewers crew for running the competition this year.

The entry registration cap has already been reached for the California State Competition, which is the last competition of the year.  But the physical bottle entry deadline is rapidly approaching.  Entries are due October 16th.   Shipping details to Morebeer in Concord, CA. can be found at https://chc.brewingcompetitions.com/    There are no local drop-off opportunities.

Upcoming Events

  • October 4: First Saturday – Rasselbock
  • October 11 : Saturday  Chili Cook-off and Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company!

Pacific Gravity Club Meeting This Thursday, September 18, 7:30 at Tortugo Brewery

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Guten Tag Pacific Gravity!

Our September monthly meeting is this Thursday at our home-base Tortugo Brewing.

Zicke Zacke Zicke Zacke Hoi Hoi Hoi! – yes, this will be always epic Oktoberfest meeting (yes, SLIGHTLY early, but…Oktoberfest!), and appropriately, our styles of the month are Festbiers and Amber Lagers, so please bring your marvelous Märzens, Fabulous Fests or whatever excellent homebrew you have to share!

Craig will be bringing some of our anniversary shirts and glasses which will be for sale.  Buy early, buy often.

There will be some traditional Oktoberfest food! There will be ONE, if not TWO, members in Lederhosen!  Oans, zwoa, drei, Gsuffa!!!

Also, don’t forget that this Friday is the brewday/monsterbrew for our Anniversary Collaboration Beer with Project Barley in Lomita at 6am (more details below), and Saturday morning is the judging for Pacific Brewers cup at Project Barley Squared in Torrance (note the venue change), so it will be an action packed few days of beer events to kick off Oktoberfest (which actually begins Saturday 9/20)!!!I hope to see you all at the meeting Thursday!

Bis dahin!

Parker Waechter – President, Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

September Monthly Meeting – Thursday 9/18/2025 at 7:30 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood,  CA  90302
(424) 227-9963
Project Barley Anniversary Collaboration Brew – Friday 9/19/2025 at 06:00 AM
Bright and early this Friday, we will be brewing our collaboration English Barleywine with Rives and Stephen at Project Barley’s Lomita location.  They are also allowing us to take home 5G of wort for $35 monster brew style – that is a heck of a bargain for an OG 1.095 Barleywine!  We will be brewing about 50 Gallons more than fits in the fermenter, so we need to sell some batches ;)!  If you have grown lackadaisical about your homebrewing, now is an easy time to breeze in an grab a really nice beer, where all you need to add is yeast and love.  It might be possible to have them store the wort for you to pick up later in the day or next day if you can’t make the morning brew – contact Rives or Parker to discuss if that is of interest.  Hope to see you there!
Project Barley
2308 Pacific Coast Hwy
Lomita, CA, 90717
(424) 263-5349

Competition Corner
The venue for PBC Judging on Saturday, Sept. 20th has been moved to Project Barley Square in Torrance at 1109 Van Ness Avenue, Torrance, CA., 90501 – note venue change – no longer Lomita)

Entries are due October 16th for the California State Competition.  Register at https://chc.brewingcompetitions.com/
Entries must be shipped to Morebeer in Concord, CA.  There is no local drop-off opportunities.  This is the final competition for the 2025 Brewer of the Year Award cycle.

Upcoming Events

  • Sept 18: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Festbier and Amber Lagers
  • Sept 19: Project Barley Anniversary Brew 6am – Lomita
  • Sept 20: Judging for PBC (Project Barley Squared – Torrance – note venue change – no longer Lomita)
  • Oct 3 or 4: First Friday or Saturday (haven’t finalized a Fri or Sat as yet) – Rasselbock Los Angeles

First Friday September 5 – Five Point Five El Segundo

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Hidey Ho Pacific Gravity!

Our First Friday event for September will be this Friday 9/5 at 7pm at Five Point Five Brewing Co in El Segundo.

They are a fairly new brewery (in Surfridge’s old spot), but I am told they have some very solid beers and it is a nice space to hang out.

In other news, we have a date for our next Anniversary Brew:
Project Barley will be brewing our 30th anniversary collaboration on Friday Sept 19 at 6am at their Lomita location.  anyone who would like to attend welcome.  Rives has said we should have the opportunity to purchase 5 gallons of wort monster-brew-style for anyone who would like to ferment some of their own – pricing and details TBD.  Standard monster-brew rules – no glass, pitch yeast at home etc.

Parker Waechter – President, Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

September First Friday – Friday 9/5/2025 7-10pm
Five Point Five Brewing Co
137 Nevada St
El Segundo, CA 90245
424-248-8379

Upcoming Events

  • Sept   5: First Friday (Five Point Five Brewing Co, El Segundo 7pm)
  • Sept 18: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Festbier and Amber Lagers
  • Sept 19: Project Barley Anniversary Brew 6am
  • Sept 20: Judging for Pacific Brewers Cup. Judges and Stewards still needed.  Sign up at at
    https://strandbrewersclub.org/pbc/bcoem/

SUMMER PARTY THIS SATURDAY August 16

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It is time – the summer party is upon us!  Come one, come all and join in what is always an epic celebration of all things beer, food and comradery with your friends at Pacific Gravity.

The party will be happening on August 16, 2025 at Dean Sussman’s palazzo in the Pacific Palisades.  The address is 1310 Amalfi Drive, Pacific Palisades CA.

The party will start around 2 PM and continue on until late evening.  The party is free for all Pacific Gravity members and their first guest; additional guests may attend for a small fee of $10.  Kids are still free.

Dean’s house has a large yard and a pool so all attendees are encouraged to bring a lawn chair and swim trunks (and towel) if they plan on going for a swim.

This year our theme is a Mediterranean.  Chef Ian and Sous-Chef Rob will of course be creating their legendary culinary masterworks, and this category opens the door pretty wide for everyone to participate in the pot-luck portion to provide sides!  Think Italian, Greek, North African, Spanish, French … some suggestions: tzatziki sauce, hummus, tabbouleh salad, riffs on Caprese salad, dolmas…
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.

We will of course have our traditional “best of party” homebrew beer and soda competitions, so be sure and bring your spectacular specimens (or at least “interesting entries”) for everyone to enjoy.  If you plan to bring a keg, please email Carl at competitions@pacificgravity.com with the name of your beer/soda to help him keep the things flowing.

As always this event is run by the volunteers, your help is needed!  Set up will be on Friday at 6:30 pm and clean up on Sunday morning are especially necessary.  The volunteer crew has always had a lot of fun while working and it is a great time.

If you have any questions about food, feel free to contact Chef Ian at MasterChef@pacificgravity.com or if you have question on volunteering you may contact Parker at President@pacificgravity.com

Parker Waechter – President, Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

Competition Corner

We have two more competitions in the 2025 Brewer of the Year cycle. First up is Pacific Brewers Cup. The entry window is now open at https://strandbrewersclub.org/pbc/bcoem/. They are well over the half-way point on total entries, so don’t delay registering. The entry drop-off window is already open at the local homebrew shops or at Project Barley Lomita. Personally, I’d recommend waiting closer to the end of the entry window on August 29th. While you are at it, sign up as a volunteer. They need judges and stewards. Judging day is September 20th at Project Barley Lomita.

The last competition of the year is the California Homebrew Competition.  Registration will open September 6th at https://chc.brewingcompetitions.com/. Entries can be shipped to Morebeer in Concord, CA between October 1 and October 16th.

Upcoming Events

  • Aug  16: Summer Party!! 
  • Aug  29:  Entry deadline for Pacific Brewers Cup
  • Sep 5/6: September First Friday/Saturday TBD
  • Sep 6:     Registration opens for Cal State Competition
  • Sept 18: September Club meeting
  • Sept 20: Judging for PBC
  • Oct 6:     Entry Deadline for Cal State Competition

Pacific Gravity First Saturday August 2 Project Barley Redondo Pier

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Our First Saturday event for August will be this Saturday 8/2 at noon at Project Barley on the Redondo Pier (near Naja’s). They have a pretty good selection of their beers on tap along with some guests, and they have annexed space next door and have thereby expanded their food and tap selection from what people may recall from the past. It should be a pretty nice day to hang out on the pier and share a beer with your motley club-mates!

August First Saturday – Saturday 8/2/2025 12 Noon
Project Barley Taps & Grill
136 International Boardwalk
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
310-376-9215

In other news, Tortugo has released their PG 30th anniversary beer that Joe and Carl brewed on July 4!!  It is a pretty tasty New Zealand pale and is available on tap and for sale in cans.  A big thanks to Joe and the Tortugo folks for this!! Stop by and enjoy while it lasts!

Also, do not forget the summer party is now less than 3 weeks away, so please plan your beer/food contributions and be ready for another legendary celebration!

Parker Waechter – President, Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

Competition Corner
Pacific Brewers Cup is fast approaching.  The entry window is now open at https://strandbrewersclub.org/pbc/bcoem/ .  They have reached the half-way point on total entries, so don’t delay registering.  You can start dropping off entries August 1st at the local homebrew shops or at Project Barley (either Square or Lomita, not Redondo Pier).  Personally, I’d recommend waiting closer to the end of the entry window on August 29th.  While you are at it, sign up as a volunteer.  They need judges and stewards.  Judging day is September 20th at Project Barley Lomita.

Upcoming Events

  • Aug    2:  First Saturday Project Barley, Redondo Pier 12 noon
  • Aug  16: Summer Party!! 
  • Aug  29:  Entry deadline for Pacific Brewers Cup
  • Sept 20: Judging for PBC

Pacific Gravity Club Meeting This Thursday, July 17 7:30 at Tortugo Brewery

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Our July monthly meeting is this Thursday at our home-base Tortugo Brewing.

Our style of the month is IPAs, so please feel free to bring something interesting for people to share.

This last Saturday, Alex from Cellador graciously hosted us and allowed us to pick from his many barrels to pull samples from and come up with a blend for the Cellador-PG Collaboration Anniversary beer.  We wound up choosing samples from 8 barrels to try, and split into 4 groups to come up with our favorite blends,  then the favorites from the groups were voted on by everyone to choose the final choice.  The official selection was a blend (mostly concocted by Chef Ian) from 4 different barrels and will also have cherries added… it should be delicious!  The beer will likely be available in a few months – We will keep you posted!  Thanks again to Alex for giving the club this opportunity!

The legendary Summer Party is rapidly approaching (Saturday August 16).  Carl will have a signup sheet for kegs at the meeting. More details be coming soon.

I hope to see you all at the meeting Thursday!

Parker Waechter – President, Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

July Monthly Meeting – Thursday 7/17/2025 at 7:30 PM
Tortugo Brewing Co.
916 W. Hyde Park Blvd.
Inglewood,  CA  90302
(424) 227-9963

30th Anniversary Tee Shirts Coming Soon – Reserve Yours Now 
We’re working on a commemorative tee shirt for the club’s 30th anniversary.  We’re targeting $20 per shirt and having these ready for the summer party on August 16th.  We will be limiting the sizes and quantity of shirts for this order. To make sure that you get the size and quantity of shirts that you want, we’re asking that you let us know in advance what you want.  To reserve your shirts, email club treasurer, Craig Corley, at treasurer@pacificgravity.com with your preferred size/quantity of shirts.  You can also reserve your shirt at our July 17th club meeting. We will be ordering these by the end of July to ensure we have them on hand for the Summer Party, so let Craig know what you want before July 25th.

Upcoming Events

  • July   17: Club Meeting at Tortugo Brewing Company – Style: IPA
  • July Canceled – Red White and Brews Competition
  • Aug   16: Summer Party!! (note new date from original tentative)
  • Aug  29:  Entry deadline for Pacific Brewers Cup  Enter at https://strandbrewersclub.org/pbc/bcoem/
  • Sept 20: Judging for PBC

Pacific Gravity Club Anniversary Blending – Cellador Saturday July 12

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Our 30th Anniversary ales are beginning to enter pipelines!

As mentioned previously, Alex at Cellador Ales has graciously offered to let us collaborate on a beer to celebrate our 30th anniversary!  For anyone not familiar, Cellador is particularly well known for their barrel aged sour beers and they make MANY very unique things.

He has invited us to to come to the brewery this Saturday 7/12 from Noon to 3pm, and he is going to allow us to sample several base beers, then vote on blend and on what else we want to add (i.e. fruit/herbs/spices/love), then they will prepare and package it for sale like other beers in their lineup.  He says he will give the club a first shot at purchasing, so as we near availability, we will pass along the details.

So please come to this blending event to put your hand on the tiller for this unique anniversary collaboration!

Also, we now have a firm date for the summer party – it has been moved to Saturday August 16!

I hope to see you at the Cellador this Saturday at noon!!

Parker Waechter – President, Pacific Gravity Homebrewers

Blending At Cellador Ales Saturday 7/12 12-3
Cellador Ales
1879 Del Amo Blvd
Torrance, CA  90501
(323) 206-6886