So I had been in LA for the night, and none of my meetings (the real reason I am in the USA) had come through, so I was at a loose end.  Fortunately the international jetsetter @beermule suggested that if I had a car, I should jump in the car and head on down to Newport Beach. He also put me in touch with @BrewCoBrewer Derek who is the Brewer at @NBbrewco

At this stage I was keen to get out of Hollywood so I jumped in the rental and trekked down to Newport Beach.  It was only about 45mins in traffic so it seemed I had managed to avoid the infamous LA traffic that everyone complains about.  Derek was kind enough to give me a tour of their brewery and then take the time to talk me through a tasting flight of their beers.  It is always cool to be able to chat with the brewer while you are drinking their beer. I particularly enjoyed the Village Idiot IPA & the Me So Hoppy Double IPA, though the absolute standout of the set was the One Step Beyond Sour.  Every taste was a mouth puckering moment, but I just couldn’t stop drinking it.  Such an epic beer, and worth the drive just for that.

If you have time while you are in LA, its worth a drive down to Newport Beach to check out the selection at Newport Beach Brewing Company.  They don’t bottle their beers so you can only drink them on site but I didn’t mind so much as the suitcase was already full of beer I am not sure of how to get back to Australia…

Cheers for Derek for showing me around.  You can find out more about @NBBrewCo at http://www.newportbeachbrewingcompany.com/

Oh, on the way back I decided to drop by Newport Beach.  The folks were way too pretty for me…