A Visit to Strand Brewing in Torrance
A week and a half ago, along with a few other guys, I visited a few breweries in Torrance one evening. Having visited Monkish Brewing, then Smog City Brewing, we made our way over to Strand Brewing. Located, like many other breweries, in a warehouse/office park, we soon learned that Strand Brewing would be moving locations within a month.
At this brewery, for their tasting flights, instead of pouring the beer into taster glasses, they used pint glasses and the bartender poured an amount that they deemed fitting (our first bartender poured us significantly smaller pours than our second bartender…). Since this brewery only had seven beers on-tap, our group got two separate flights, which we split up in pairs.
Listing of beers on-tap
We started off with the Harvest Ball Wheat (4.8% ABV), which was light and had a light finish. Then we had the Beach House Amber (5.0% ABV), which was crisp, but that could have been because it was served noticeably cold, so we couldn’t really experience the taste of the beer. Next up was the 24th Street Pale Ale (6.1% ABV), which was crisp and a straightforward pale ale, with a nice little hoppiness. Again, it was also served very cold, which made it enjoyable, although we couldn’t fully experience the taste of the beer. Then we had the Expression Session IPA (3.8% ABV), which had a lovely nose, whose taste remained similar on the palate. The Nelson hops came through on the palate, along with some smoothness and some fruitiness.
Next up was the Atticus IPA (7.2% ABV), an IPA which had a big body and was noticeably grainy and reminded me of an east coast IPA. I didn’t particularly care for this beer (but I also don’t care for big-bodied IPAs). Next up was the Black Sand DIPA (8.1% ABV), which I found to be delicious and smells great. I could tell it had lots of Citra hops, which I greatly enjoy, so it was quite enjoyable. Also, it was further enjoyable by being sweet, as well. This was my favorite beer of my visit. Finally, we had the Batch 100 Stout (7.5% ABV), whose smell reminded me a little like tequila. It’s not a big beer, but it’s sweet and malty.
Overall, our visit to Strand Brewing was okay. While I wouldn’t make the trip to that location again, I would go to visit when they open up their new facility in the coming month.
