Tag Archives: thingstodoinlosangeles

Our Holiday Beer Finds Part 1: ANGEL CITY BREWERY

image[5]Over the holiday weeks I made it a plan with Mr Beerman to go to some new beer bars around the LA area. Branching out. Seeing whats out there. Trying new stuff.

Of course we started our two weeks with a trip to Story Tavern http://www.storytavernburbank.com , Tony’s Darts Away http://tonysda.com , Link N Hops http://www.linknhops.com and Golden Road http://www.goldenroad.la/pub/ And spent New Years eve celebrating Germany’s midnight (3pm) drinking German Beers at The Red Lion Tavern http://www.redliontavern.net

…Oops. Old happens die hard. Those bars are the BEST. Just look Draft mag called out Tony’s in their top 100 bars in the country! http://draftmag.com/americas-100-best-beer-bars-2015/

But we needed to see what else was out there. So after we enjoyed our old favorites we decided to make a point of trying some new beer spots in our area. For this first blog entry we headed to downtown. This was our first trip to Angel City Brewery http://angelcitybrewery.com . image[3]

We have tried their beers for years at the beerfests we attend. We have their beers at the aforementioned local pubs we frequent. We have even seen their beers at our local Costco in a variety pack. But we had never been down there since its opening of the downtown venue in 2010. (Angel City has been brewing craft beer since 1997, had its first location in Alpine Village in Torrence in 2004).

What have we been waiting for? This place is the BEST! Well behaved We went on a weekend, so we could bring our well behaved boys and enjoy a lovely Sunday with some flights. IMG_9806
The beers there are amazeballs!

They have a big selection to choose not just IPAS, from their Eureka Wit “A refreshing traditional Belgian white ale with coriander and orange peel”, Angleno IPA “A West coast Style IPA full of hops yet well balanced with a heafty malt backbone” (that’s for sure I really like this IPA and you know I don’t love every IPA I meet) , Gold Line Pilsner “A traditional European style pilsner medium bodied and dry hopped with a clean dry finish”, Amber Ale “Light and refreshing amber hued ale with a fruity aroma and sweet malty finish”, Marilyn “Barley corn and oats give this lager styled ale a slightly sweet aroma light body and dry crisp finish”, Imperial Chai Stout “Full bodied dark and rich with hints of dark chocolate roasted malt and chai it finishes smooth sweet and spicy”, and Vanilla Porter “Full bodied porter with bold vanilla flavors and a subtle roasty/chocolate finish”. Not one was bad. http://angelcitybrewery.com/beer/ They were all great!
IMG_9803I will say my favorite was the Amber. I love a good amber and boy this one was good!

I have to give a special shout out to their Vanilla Porter.IMG_9810 First I love a good mid range ABV on my porter (meaning not too boozy) and did you guys nail the vanilla or what? So many brewers try. So many fail. So many want the vanilla flavor you achieved. You Angel City are far beyond the best at doing vanilla. HUGE thumbs up.

The place is a big open air venue.IMG_9812 (It was brisk the day we were there but not bad) I fully intend on going back in summer when its 80 out or like today since its 80 out.

They had games to play on the giant benched picnic tables a second floor with more seating and the bar seating area.IMG_9798

It was BYOF – Bring your own food, we did that and it was great. IMG_9808

Angel City is usually open Weekdays M-W 4pm -10pm, TH-F 4pm -12am and Weekends Saturday 12pm-12am Sunday 12pm-10pm

They are located at 216 S Alameda St Los Angeles, CA 90012

I will for sure be visiting you again. (without the well behaved boys so we can have a few pints) And I will be picking up your variety pack at Costco for Playoff games this weekend!

Note to my dog loving friends my son wanted me to point this out to you: IMG_9816

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I can buy you a drink from anywhere? With an app?

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So as you know I freelance from home. And on occasion I may do some Bierlady research during a work day say in the late afternoon. What if you, my friends who are at your desks right now reading this (don’t worry your boss doesn’t know, or if they do its cool they are reading my blog too) could buy me a drink! Okay maybe that’s only fun for me.

BUT I will buy you one too… I have missed countless birthday parties, grad from business school dinners, and just some good nights out because I’m a mom now. I do my fair share of Bierlady/Mom balance but I simply can’t be as social as I was before kids. But I always feel bad when I miss a party, especially a birthday. I often think I wish I could buy them a drink. Well guess what, my friend Brian has developed a way to do that…it launches THIS week. HERES2U allows you to check in on Facebook or Twitter and I can buy YOU a beer or I guess a salad, or some fries because actually I’m going to send you a virtual gift card and you can buy anything you want! I hope it’s a beer.
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HERES2U allows you to buy drinks or food from anywhere in the world! WHAT? Awesome! There have been similar apps to this that I have tried. But not quite like this. This directly links to your check ins and provides the free stuff RIGHT to YOUR phone. How awesome is that??

So okay how does it work?

Can you imagine, you are turning 40 right? Okay lets say 30, but I know its 40, and you are out with your core group of friends. You check in to an establishment and BAM you get a text or a message that says “Happy Birthday! Love Uncle Jan” WHAT THE WHAT?? he lives in Florida. He just sent you a coupon code to buy something? This is fantastic! So all “gifts” are sent directly to your phone. It’s either through text message, Facebook Instant message, or through the HERES2U app. Then you simply show the coupon code to the server or bartender to redeem.
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You can say thank you back to whomever sent it right away.

You can redeem the coupon whenever you like, for example if you received 4 gifts for $10, you can redeem 2 of them for $20 and save the other two for a future date. Once you show the server or bartender, they will verify the amount and its yours to spend.

Eventually the app will provide specific items for each restaurant, so you can send a craft beer, or send a specific shot or a basket of chips, but for now it’s open to specific amounts to use however the recipient likes. Think of it as a real time gift card!
Also, if someone has the app, all gifts sent, received and used are tracked in the “my tab” section. So you can keep track. You know if say for instance you have had a few.

The HERES2U app can be found in the apple store. Just download it. Partnering restaurants show up within the checkin feature on the app or if you want to organically gift someone, the restaurants pop up there as well. When you checkin through the app, you share your checkin to facebook/twitter and it will place a buy button next to your checkin. This allows anyone on facebook/twitter that is following you to purchase you an item without have to download the app

For you to take advantage of this fun your restaurant and/or bar needs to be involved in this. Working right now to get the word out to my VERY favorites: GOLDEN ROAD PUB http://www.goldenroad.la/pub/, STORY TAVERN http://www.storytavernburbank.com/ , TONYS DARTS AWAY http://tonysda.com/, Link N Hops http://www.linknhops.com/ 55 Degrees http://www.55degreewine.com/ hint hint!

The restaurant is required to store HERES2U tablet devices and they must verify and redeem coupons on the HERES2U tablet device. The cost of the service to the restaurant is totally FREE! HERES2U holds all credit card transaction liability and guarantees payment to restaurant and 24/7 live customer service.

The best part I think for bars who do this is that if say I have a birthday and 20 of my virtual friends send me $10 I don’t have to use it that night but I will use it at their establishment. So the folks who are there with me are spending money then I can cash in on virtual friends that night or maybe lunch the next day. Either way the bar makes more money than if just my physical friends are there. Love that! And Mr Beermans birthday is in April! YAY!

Yep this is all free to the restaurant or bar who will partake in this awesome idea. How great they can get more sales from folks who are only virtually at your party! Obviously there is a slight charge for the “giver” so like if you sent a friend $10 then it would cost you $1.36 in addition. But who cares! Small price to pay if you cant be there.

What a fantastic idea! Im so excited. I can’t wait. They launch THIS FEBRUARY 8th!

Right now you can find them at 38 Degrees http://38degreesalhambra.com/ and 28 West http://www.yelp.com/biz/28-west-bar-and-grill-alhambra in Alhambra, Toro Sushi http://www.torosushi.com/ in Pasadena, EAT in North Hollywood, Suede in the Bonaventure Hotelhttp://suedebarla.com/, Gorbals http://thegorbalsla.com/, Onyx http://onyxloungela.com/, Yxta http://yxta.net/, El Compadre http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-compadre-los-angeles-3 and Aqua Lounge http://aqualoungela.com/locations/ in DTLA.

So watch for them at your local bar or restaurant. They are getting the word out now and establishing a list of places they have already moved in. Maybe suggest it to your favorite place. Heck I can’t wait to send you a drink!

If you are a bar or restaurant and you are interested in hearing more please contact HERES2U’s founder, Brian De La Rosa at bdlr@heres2uapp.com
Check out the website at http://heres2uapp.com/

Like them on Facebook to keep up to date with what restaurants and bars have been added near you. https://www.facebook.com/Heres2u

Check out their video too!! Sorry the Bierlady needs to upgrade to Video Press..Beerfest season approaches! But I know you know how to click: http://youtu.be/u41rqIgKZyU

Cheers!