My 2012 Craft Brewery Pilgrimage rolls on.
Each month I bring people together to build community around a table. I get to meet the people I know online who I have not met in real life. Quite a few of the people I know are connected to nonprofit organizations, so each month I give at least one nonprofit the opportunity to share their story. We pay tribute to the long connection between monks and brewing, and the rapidly growing craft brewing community in Southern California.
We began a couple of months ago. A thirsty group of pilgrims converged at the San Pedro Brewing Company. For me, it was a matter of driving from the northern end of the 110 freeway in Pasadena to the southern end near the Port of Los Angeles. The food and beer are excellent, and owner James Brown gave us a great tour of his operation. Even though he is a proud alumnus of UCLA, they even have a Wisconsin flag! I have sampled their brews during my extensive research, and stayed with their excellent Point Fermin IPA in February.
Last month we benefited from the hospitality of PackingHouse Brewing Company in Riverside. Scot Koury and Don McAllister welcomed us and showed us their brewing process at work. We did an exhaustive review of their brews, and the general consensus was that Avogadro’s Number and Flying Leap were our favorites. You probably need to decide for yourself.
Our visit to PackingHouse was an excellent example of what my Craft Brewery Pilgrimage is intended to be: remarkable people in deep conversation and listening while sharing excellent craft brews.
This month, we visit Bootlegger’s Brewery in Fullerton on Saturday, April 28 and the schedule for the rest of this year is on the Events page. I look forward to seeing you there.
[Image by fredcamino]
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In