Sports on Draft

There is no secret that Los Angeles Metropolitan Area has one of the greatest varieties for beer in California, being apart of that region means that you have over 150 breweries to choose from. And Torrance, in fact, is where you will find some of the top breweries!

Los Angeles residents sometimes tend to overlook the area of Torrance and how prevalent the craft beer scene has become. And it is still growing, quickly evolving to the best of the best in Southern California.

Monkish Brewing is easily the top rated in Torrance, but also is highly regarded as one of the best breweries even further than South Bay.

Before I had moved to Montana, and becoming infatuated with their beer culture, I believed Monkish Brewing to have some of the best hazy IPA’s ever. Unique, super dank, and hoppy, we’re jus some of the few characteristics that came from them.

I remember visiting the taproom years and years ago, and then still, there was a line out the door. I had realized it is a big deal when Monkish had a new can release.

Tons and tons of people would wait in a line that could extend all the way to the next traffic light just so they could get their hands one of Monkish’ far out, intense hazy IPA’s. It didn’t matter how expensive it was just for a four pack, guests would stock up like it was time for hibernation.

Monkish was one of the last stops on our brewery tour in Torrance and of course it did not disappoint.

I was very excited to get to the taproom and look at their variety of DDH IPA’s on the menu. Not knowing which hazy to choose first, the beertender recommended the “LA Freshie”.

The LA Freshie was a fitting name, because the word ‘fresh’ immediately came to mind after sipping this juice bomb. Monkish quickly reminded me how fascinating their hazy IPA’s are, and almost is mind boggling as to why they are so refreshing.

It was very nice to see that Monkish features a patio area, which I thought was key for the brewery after first visiting years ago – when I was clustered and compacted in the taproom with tons of people. Now guests have a lot more space to enjoy and relax.

Monkish hands down is one of my favorite breweries. They have some of the best beer I’ve ever tried, and now they have a better atmosphere to go with it.

The first brewery when I visited Torrance was Smog City, and that was our first stop yesterday.

Smog City’s staple beers like the “Sabre-Toothed Squirrel”, and “Coffee Porter” help put them on notice and especially me. I was impressed with these beers because at the time I wasn’t a big red ale or porter fan, and I ended up really enjoying it.

I enjoyed the small, comforting vibe to Smog City’s taproom especially since it was one of the bigger household names for the breweries in Torrance. So, I wanted to re-visit today and see how the atmosphere has changed, or if it all.

Revisiting the taproom, not much has changed in the atmosphere at Smog City. I don’t remember the patio since it has been nearly 6, 7 years, but the outside area is certainly inviting, and has a lot of space.

Smog City lived up to its name once again with it’s great selection of beer. I partook in two flights, one consisting mainly of IPA’s, and the other was just a random selection.

I had to remind myself what it was like to have the Coffee Porter on draft, and oh man, what a memory refresher it was! The robust, chocolate and coffee flavors were just fantastic.

Strand Brewing, just three minutes away, (from Smog City) was our next stop.

When first arriving at Strand, I was very taken back by the amount of space the taproom had. It was huge! *that’s what she said*

Strand Brewing is not only a brewery, but also a distillery. This reasons why they have such a vast amount of space, appearing like a giant warehouse.

While we were impressed with the atmosphere at Strand, the beer didn’t make us too enthused.

I had my doubts early after looking at my friend’s clear, red-ish looking beer and asked him “what did you get?”. He replied, “the hazy IPA”.

In hindsight, what a difference it was looking at Strand’s hazy, and then at Monkish. The difference was day and night.

Strand didn’t have many beers on tap either. I did, however, enjoy the blonde ale.

The next stop was Absolution Brewing.

I was very impressed with some of the beers I had at Absolution. Their hazy IPA’s “Floc-ness Monster” and “Intergalactic Fist Bump”, were very good.

Absolution’s hazy IPA’s had a nice soft, pillowy body and we’re extremely smooth and flavorful.

The “Cerveza De Champurrado”, try saying that 10 times fast, was another standout from Absolution. I enjoyed this on nitro, which was nice to have a light body while still incorporating all the flavors of a pastry stout.

Other than being ambushed by all of the LA Galaxy fans (Go LAFC!), I enjoyed my time at Absolution Brewing. It was pretty crowded, and just was humorous to see all of Galaxy fans take over the brewery.

All in all, Saturday was a blast, and if you have the time off to go do some brewery hopping in Torrance, you definitely should!