On Friday last week, I found it necessary to go to Long Beach, CA, this week. As always, I look for the brew pubs…

Only two brew pubs in the Long Beach area, both of which I’ve been to before. But I didn’t want to venture very far from my hotel because I’m a mess with directions and traffic and such. And drinking doesn’t really help that…

So, the first night (Monday) I went to Belmont Brewing Company. It’s got a great location on the beach, overlooking downtown Long Beach and all of the cranes in the Port of Long Beach (and if the air is clear, the Port of Los Angeles, as they are side by side…)

The beers are mediocre, but I’ve got to support the brewpubs when I can…

They had a one-off brew on tap, called something like "Hop Head Red". Kind of one-dimensional and a bit immature. (The Cascades hops were unsupported by sufficient maltiness and it had a bit of a "grainy" taste like a very young beer.) But, not a bad beer for a hop head like myself. I had two. Plus their Full Sail Pale Ale, which is not worth the effort…

But, I sat outside, enjoyed the beautiful weather, a very nice artichoke ravioli and the sunset over downtown Long Beach:

Once I was done with dinner, I had to walk on the beach for a couple of minutes, just to say I did it…

Here’s a picture from the water side as the sun continues to set over the city and the port:

These pictures were taken with my cell phone, so the quality isn’t stunning, but I think the concept is clear…