E-Malt.com News article: USA, CA: The Dudes' Brewing Co. opens in the South Bay

Started by Strand Brewing Company's original head brewer Jeff Parker with the financial and business backing of majority owner Toby Humes and investor Mike Holwick, The Dudes' Brewing Company is hoping to make waves in Los Angeles as it begins distribution this week at local South Bay bars, Redondo Beach Patch reported on March, 14.

Two years ago, Humes realized that there was a lack of locally made craft beer and eventually coordinated with Parker to begin forming the idea and concept around Dudes' Brewing.

"When we were out and about, we would always ask about local beers and there wasn't always an abundance of local beer out there," Humes said of the beer market two years ago. "We noticed we were drinking beers from Maui and San Diego and all sorts of different places."

Unlike most small start-up breweries who begin with smaller brewing systems and build upwards and demand increases, Humes said that he wanted to start off big and get things right from the beginning. In the first year, Humes said he hopes to produce about 12,000 barrels of beer.

"Everyone seems to run into issues in the brewing industry with demand... It seems like everyone is always saying they can't make enough beer," Humes said. "We just think the demand in the market is such that if we do what we need to do from a consistency and a quality standpoint, we think we can do that (reach 12,000 barrels)".

The Dudes' 30 barrel brewing system actually has the capacity to brew approximately 50,000 barrels, or, 1.5 mln gallons of beer per year, Parker said. Once the brewery gets up and running at full capacity, Parker said The Dudes' Brewing will be the first large production brewery in the South Bay.

In addition, the Dudes' brewing system is fully automated, which takes a lot of the manual work out of the brewing process and leads to a more consistent product for each brew cycle.

"With a potential to have the cellarage for 50,000 barrels annually puts us as a major producer in Los Angeles and that is exciting," Parker said. "It was exciting being the first craft brewery in Torrance back at Strand, but this is a totally different feeling because this isn't grassroots and friends and family stuff – this is built to actually make a bunch of beer."

Parker and Humes said that in addition to normal keg distribution to bars and restaurants, Dudes' hopes to also begin canning its beers for distribution to the Los Angeles market by June. Eventually, they hope the brewery can expand distribution to the San Diego, Orange County and San Francisco markets.

Currently, The Dudes' Brewing Company is releasing four of its beers including a Blood Orange Amber (brewed with orange peel and vanilla), Coconut Porter (brewed with toasted coconut flakes), Grandma's Pecan (brewed with Georgia pecans), and their Day 1 Pale Ale at upcoming launch parties.

Future beers include a massively hoppy double IPA as well as an Imperial Red Ale.

While the brewery is not open to the public for beer tasting, the dudes hope to build a taproom somewhere near the beach in the South Bay in the next couple of years. Parker said the taproom will also house the brewery's barrel program featuring sour beers and oak-aged beers.

"We are just trying to carve our little niche out and by no means step on anybody's toes," Humes said of the brewery's future. "Craft brewing is a good industry and everyone is pretty cool... We are all just trying to take a couple small bites out of Miller Coors and InBev."

"We just hope everybody likes our beers as much as we do," Humes said.


15 March, 2013