Ohana Brewing Company

About four years ago when I was brewing at Bj's Restaurant & Brewery in West Covina I had the pleasure of working with Karsen Luthi. Today Karsen, along with Berne Bush and Leo Martinez, are opening a brewery in Los Angeles. Ohana Brewing Company (Ohana is the Hawaiian word for “family”) is located south of the Arts District and is currently in the construction phase. You can follow their progress on the company's blog at www.ohanabrew.com. Ohana will be brewing on a 7bbl brewhouse that was once used to brew all of the wonderful beers from Craftsman Brewing Company. Karsen says they are targeting a December 2010 opening with an IPA, Smoked beer, Pale Ale and a Session beer (as of right now) but don't ask him about the last one because they're keeping it a secret! I wish them the best of luck and I can't wait to try their beers!

You can chat with Karsen about his brewery at Stein Fillers (local home brew shop) where he works part-time.

anniversary party info

what's up guys!!!!

can't believe the party is tomorrow, but i guess that means we can finally stop making waffles and chocolate dipped bacon and get back to business soon.

We are closing off the online ticket sales today at 3pm, so make sure you go get your tix immediately if you haven't yet. http://www.brueryprovisions.com/Anniversary-Celebration_c_179.html

Since we'd like anybody who wants to come to have the chance, we will release some tickets for sale at the door. They will be sold for a total of $43.50 and will be cash only.

For the Tasting Room fans, we are open tonight (friday) and even have Kogi BBQ stopping by, but we are completely closed for the Anniversary Party on Saturday and Sunday, so if you don't have tickets, you can't get in.

We will not be allowing growler fills at the party. Sorry, there will simply be too many people and it will tie up the draft lines.

If you are a Reserve Society member who ordered allocations of Melange #3 or 100% Barrel Aged Coton, it will be available for pickup beginning Saturday and Sunday and continuing at the Tasting Room after this weekend.

For the rest of you, or for RS members who want more beer, the general release of Coton will be available at the anniversary party for only $15. After this weekend it will jump back up to the normal price of $20 at the Tasting Room.

Finally, we can't wait to celebrate with all of you!!!!

Cheers.

The Bruery

Our Second Anniversary Celebration!!!

It's pretty hard to believe, but our second anniversary is upon us. Seems like only yesterday when this blog began and we were simply describing the way we came up with the name "The Bruery".

So much has happened in the past year even, since our first anniversary party. We've gotten more employees, we've expanded to 21 different states, we've got plans for a retail/tasting location, we have an actual office with desks in it, we are about to purchase our first delivery truck so that we can take beer back and forth to the cold storage warehouse we're about to begin using to ensure our beer stays at top notch quality, Patrick got Lasik eye surgery and no longer wears glasses.... what a year it has been!!!

We are at a level of business that we never dreamed would happen in such a short time. Original business plans had us barely shipping outside of California at this point and maybe entertaining 5-10 guests at our tasting bar over the weekends, rather than being a hot spot for OC food trucks and thirsty residents from near and far. It's really crazy when we sit back and look at what we have become.

In honor of this momentous mark in our life as a brewery, we'll be throwing yet another awesome anniversary party. It will take place over four sessions, two each day, on May 22nd and 23rd. We'll be pulling out the stops and pouring all sorts of different beers. Things like Orchard White and Saison Rue will of course be present, but our Humulus Lager, Humulus Rice, Seven Grain Saison, Melange No Sechs, Melange #3 and 100% Barrel Aged Coton will also be pouring. One of our favorite restaurants, Beachwood BBQ, will be supplying their delicious smoked meats and southern style side dishes for all in attendance plus we'll also be making our legendary Liege waffles and bringing along some artisan cheeses and other snacks as well.

Head to our main website, http://www.thebruery.com, for a bit more info and to buy tickets for one of the sessions before they sell out!