Brews News: Smog City Begins Construction on New Brewery

In brews news, the City of Torrance finally approved the construction plans for Smog City's new brewing facility on Western Avenue, according to Smog City's blog. 

Contractors have already begun work on the new facility meaning the South Bay will soon add one more award-winning craft brewery to its lineup.

Here is a look at what else is happening around the South Bay craft beer scene:

Beer Bars & Restaurants

Select Beer Store | Redondo Beach

Starting at 5:00 p.m. tonight (Thursday), Select Beer will host Achor Brewing  and Wyatts Barbecue for a beer and barbecue night.

From Select Beer:

During the event, Select Beer Store will be tapping special kegs of the seasonal release, 2012 Christmas Ale, which will be poured side-by-side with a 2011 vintage Christmas Ale. Each year the rich, dark spiced seasonal ale is brewed with a different special secret ingredient. Other Anchor beers will include the limited edition Zymaster Series Mark’s Mild, a lightly-hopped, low-alcohol beer accentuated with notes of caramel, toffee, and nutty flavors that was inspired by a trip to England 40 years ago by Anchor’s Brewmaster; Anchor Porter, with a deep dark color, and rich chocolate, toffee and coffee flavors; and the classic, Anchor Steam, first brewed in 1896.

Current Tap List (As of Nov. 24):

• Pilsner Urquell - Pilsnee
• Figueroa Mountain - Wrangler Wheat
• Avery IPA
• Strand Black IPA
• Taps - Cream Ale
• Hangar 24 - Hullabaloo (Winter Warmer)
• Kostritzer Black Lager (Schwarzbier)
• Drake's Black Robusto (Porter)
• Stone - Ruination (Dbl IPA)
• Figueroa Mountain - 2nd Anniversary
• New Belgium - Snow Day (Winter Ale)
• Firestone - Velvet Merlin (Oatmeal Stout)

Hot's Kitchen | Hermosa Beach

Hot's currently has two rare beers on tap including the very sought after Stone Enjoy By IPA (12.21.12) and New Belgium's La Folie Sour Brown Ale.

Hot's said to get in fast as these kegs are highly sought after by the beer nerds.

Hot's will also host a beer dinner featuring Hangar 24 Brewery on Dec. 13th at 6:00 p.m.

From Hot's:

The featured brewery is Hangar 24 from Redlands, Ca and we will be pairing 5 of their beers with 5 dishes of ours (dishes TBD). The cost will be $60 per person with taxes and gratuity included. People can buy tickets at Hots and we will take their names, phone numbers and email addresses. We are asking people to bring in their receipts and we will also be emailing them out to those who purchased just in case.

Breweries

El Segundo Brewing | El Segundo 

The El Segundo Brewing tap room will be pouring the following beers this weekend:

• Blue House Pale Ale
• Blue House Citra Pale
• Blue House IPA
• White Dog IPA
• Hyperions' Stout

On Friday, the brewers will be at the Venice Ale House in Venice Beach to tap a cask of White Dog IPA with Passionfruit. Pints of the brewery's beer will be $5.

The brewers are also hard at work preparing to release the brewery's newest beer -- Standard Crude Imperial Stout -- on Dec. 14. 

Tap room hours for beer tasting and growler fills are:

Wednesday: 5-9 p.m.
Thursday: 5-9 p.m.
Friday: 5-9 p.m.
Saturday: 2-9 p.m.
Sunday: 2-7 p.m.

The Brewery at Abigaile | Hermosa Beach

No new updates this week.

Strand Brewing Co. | Torrance

Current Tap Room Beers (As of Nov. 29):

• Beach House Amber
• 24th Street Pale Ale
• Atticus IPA
• Black IPA
• Batch 100 Stout
• Ito-Weisse Berliner Weisse

Tap room hours this week for beer tasting and growler fills are:

Thursday: 4-9 p.m.
Friday: 4-9 p.m.
Saturday: Noon-8 p.m.
Sunday: Noon-6 p.m.

Monkish Brewing Co. | Torrance

Tap room hours this week for beer tasting and growler fills are:

Thursday: 4-9 p.m.
Friday: 4-9 p.m.
Saturday: 3-8 p.m.
Sunday: 1-6 p.m.

Editor's Note: Only establishments that have submitted updates are included in this column. If you own a beer bar, brewery, beer store or beer-centric restaurant in the South Bay of Los Angeles and would like to include your establishment's updates in this column, please send editor John Schreiber an email at John.Schreiber@Patch.com. This column relies on the updates from local business owners to keep it running—please contribute!