Best-kept secret Beachwood BBQ celebrates its second year

Here’s a secret: some of the best beers being made in Los Angeles aren’t coming out of a production brewery; they’re being made at a brewpub in downtown Long Beach. Beachwood Brewing, the beer-making side of Gabe Gordon’s brew-and-BBQ brand, has earned a reputation among craft beer fans for making superlative beers, and the world-class craft beer bar is celebrating its second anniversary with a daylong party Saturday.

Brewmaster Julian Shrago has established himself as one of L.A.’s most talented brewers through his deft layering of hop flavors in his renowned IPAs, and his lineup of rich, potent imperial stouts has won yet more fans.

Beachwood’s beers are only distributed to a handful of craft beer bars around Southern California, and it’s rare to find more than a handful of Beachwood brews on tap at any one spot. But Beachwood has been hoarding kegs of some of the 60 unique beers that they’ve brewed over the last two years, and two dozen of the best will be on-offer on Saturday.

Fan-favorite and rarities like Barrel Aged Full Malted Jacked -- which just won a gold medal at the San Diego International Beer Festival, Shrago’s intense coffee porter Mocha Machine, and no less than five different IPAs (including Dank Matter -- a double IPA brewed for the second anniversary) will get poured alongside a selection of guest taps from other local breweries.

Chef and owner Gordon will also offer food specials like a duck pastrami sandwich, housemade bacon-wrapped hot dogs, macadamia shrimp with blood orange gastrique, and a homemade pickle bar.

The celebration begins at 11:30 a.m. and will run until last call.

Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, 210 E 3rd St. Long Beach, (562) 436-4020.

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