Coastline Brewing Co. Gets Green Light in Redondo Beach

Redondo Beach will soon have its very own craft brewery and tap room after the Redondo Beach Planning Commission officially approved plans for Coastline Brewing last Thursday night.

Created by business partners and Hermosa Beach residents Tom Dunbabin and Will Daines, Coastline Brewing will be the first-ever commercial craft brewery in Redondo Beach and will also feature a public tap room at its facility near the intersection of 182nd Street and Kingsdale Avenue in North Redondo.

Dunbabin and Daines told Patch that they expect to ship their first kegs of beer out the door before Christmas with the tap room opening in February or March of next year. Once open, the duo said they hope to grab piece of the already booming South Bay craft beer market with their sessionable but flavorful beers.

“The cool thing about the South Bay is people love to support local,” Dunbabin said. “The tasting room culture is already alive and well in the South Bay and people are psyched on local because of that.”

Dunbabin said that Coastline Brewing will mainly focus on beers with lower alcohol content between 4.5 and 5.5 percent that do not compromise on flavor. At the moment, the brewery is working on creating a new test beer batch each weekend.

“You can have three or four (Coastline beers) and still bike home without crashing into The Strand wall,” Dunbabin joked. “At this point, we know our concept... We are just tweaking recipes.”

Currently, the majority of Redondo Beach’s craft beer establishments operate in South Redondo Beach. Once operational, Coastline brewing will not only add to Redondo Beach’s share of the South Bay beer scene, but will also offer a new craft beer venue that is easily accessible to residents in North Redondo Beach.

“We are excited to create something that is going to be a destination for North Redondo... It is a destination for people coming into that area and something that locals can ride their bikes to,” Dunbabin said. “For a lot of people, it is on their way home from work in Orange County or the Westside or downtown... We are keeping an eye out for that on-the-way-home-growler-fill traffic.” 

In terms of size, the brewery will start fairly modestly with a predicted output of 900 barrels in the first year. Many local South Bay breweries, including Strand Brewing and Monkish Brewing started out with similar production levels and have grown since then.

In addition, the brewery has plans to eventually bottle or can their beers for distribution in local stores.

According to Dunbabin and Daines, they first want to focus on local consumers and get their beers into local South Bay bars and restaurants before expanding their distribution.

“We want to make sure people in the South Bay love Coastline Brewing before we go and try to attack L.A., San Diego and Orange County,” Dunbabin said.

With local craft beer becoming less of a novelty and more of a mainstay, Daines said that many bars are now looking to put local beers on tap.

“The nice thing is you are seeing places that typically wouldn’t be considered a craft beer bar expanding their draft system,” Daines said. “You will see little dive bars now with 14 or 15 tap handles... More and more, bars that wouldn’t typically have craft beer are now going to have the capacity.”

In the grander scheme of things, the duo said they hope to keep South Bay beer culture alive and well and create a local brand that residents can be proud to drink.

“We want to bring in the local community and make them really feel like this is us, this is our spot, our beers, our brand, our tap room,” Daines said. “To be able to do that with a city that seems to be welcoming us, we are really appreciative of that.”

While no brewer has been officially announced yet, Dunbabin said they have narrowed down the field to a couple of brewers. The main thing, Dunbabin said, is making sure the brewer can both brew well and also get along with him and Daines.

For now though, Daines and Dunbabin are breathing a short sigh of relief before plunging head on into the construction of the brewery.

The brewery will also begin regularly updating its social media sites including its Facebook page and official blog for those interested in following their progress.

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Here is a look at what else is happening on the craft beer scene in the South Bay for the week of July 25 - Aug 2.

Beer Bars, Restaurants and Stores

• Blackball Belgian IPA - Karl Strauss Brewing
• Homework Series #1 India Red Ale - Ballast Point Brewing 
• Even Keel - Ballast Point Brewing 
• Buster 4 IPA - Coronado Brewing 
• Fresh Squeezed IPA - Deschutes Brewing 
• Essence - Hangar 24 Brewery 
• RuinTen IPA - Stone Brewing 
• Hop Logic - High Water Brewing 
• Dorado - Ballast Point Brewing 
• Habanero Sculpin - Ballast Point Brewing 
• Heal the Bay IPA - Golden Road Brewing 
• Double Jack - Firestone Walker Brewing 
• Wookey Jack - Firestone Walker Brewing 
• Hop Odyssey: Citra Session IPA - Green Flash Brewing 
• Imperial Red Rye IPA - Green Flash Brewing 
• Double Trunk - The Dudes' Brewing 
• Big Whig IPA - Noble Ale Works 
• 90 Minute IPA - Dogfish Head Brewing 
• Atticus - Strand Brewing 
• Tandem DIPA - Tenaya Creek Brewing 
• Galactica - Clown Shoes Brewing 
• Hoptimum - Sierra Nevada Brewing 
• Denogginizer - Drake's Brewing 
• Deviant Dale's - Oskar Blues Brewing 
• Imperialist - Eagle Rock Brewing 
• Sublimely Self Rigtheous - Stone Brewing 
• Cacophony - Abigale Brewing 
• Sculpin - Ballast Point Brewing

• Beachwood Brewing Thrillseeker IPA
• Beachwood Brewing Melrose IPA
  
• Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist
• Epic Brewing Hopulent IPA
• Epic Brewing Sour Apple Saison
• Epic Brewing Imperial Pumpkin Porter
  

Breweries

El Segundo Brewing | El Segundo

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.

Strand Brewing Co. | Torrance

Tasting and Pint Night | Thursday, July 25 | 5-7 p.m.

Whole Foods El Segundo will hold Strand Brewing for a tasting and pint night. Rich from the brewery will be on hand to talk all things Strand Brewing with attendees. Featured will be Black Sand double IPA and Musashi Black IPA in bottles and on draft.

Rock and Brews Pint Night | Tuesday, July 30 | 5 p.m.

Rock and Brews in El Segundo will also host Rich and Strand Brewing for a pint and keep the glass night. Beers will include the Cherry Blossom Berliner Weisse, Black Sand and Musashi Black IPA.

Current beers on tap at the Torrance taproom include:

• Black Sand Imperial IPA
• White Sand Doulbe IPA
• Musashi Black IPA
  
• Beach House Amber
• 24th Street Pale Ale
  
• Atticus IPA
• Ito Weisse (Berliner Weisse)
• Cherry Blossom 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.

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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.

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Other Craft Beer Events

"Go Beyond Pilsners & Pales" Beer Class | Thursday, July 25 | 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Guests will go beyond the “grocery store selection” of Pilsners and Pales, and instead experience new flavors of Lagers and Ales that are only delivered by the biggest, boldest, and most bodacious of beers.

The class costs $15 per person and reservations can be made in store.

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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!

Full Disclosure: John loves working around craft beer and as such, is an employee of Select Beer Store one day per week. However, he is not involved in the store's submission process for this article.