Arts District Brewing Company: Great Bar, Greater Beers

By Elizabeth Dahl January 19, 2017

arts district brewing company — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Good times are brewing in downtown Los Angeles at the Arts District Brewing Company.

The microbrewery opened a bar tailor-made for a great night out: craft beer, delicious food, and lots of games.

arts district brewpub — Image used with permission by copyright holder

They brew on-site, crafting about 3,300 barrels of beer a year in a 15-barrel brewhouse. They offer about nine beers, rotating their menu throughout the year, covering the bases from lighter ales to hoppy beers, to dark, malty beers. The Traction IPA is particularly good, with tropical citrus notes. Or go dark and get the McCasey Dry Irish Stout: creamy and chocolaty, this is a dark beer that is easy to drink, though sadly not always available. Can’t choose? Start with their flights of beer. If, for some strange reason you don’t want beer after coming to a brewpub, they have a full bar and cocktail menu as well.

Arts District microbrewery craft beer — Image used with permission by copyright holder

As the drink menus remind you, don’t forget to eat. But you really won’t need reminding once you smell the culinary deliciousness courtesy Fritzi, Chef Neal Fraser’s downtown hotspot. Just amble up to the large take-out window that connects the brewpub to the restaurant and order. It’s classic but elevated bar food, all of which is delicious. Don’t miss out on the Snappy O’Brien, which is fun to say and even better to eat: a hotdog topped with tater tots, grilled peppers, onions, bacon, cheese, and ketchup. If you want to be slightly healthier, the Portobello Mushroom sandwich is shockingly good, with broccoli, pesto, grilled peppers and onions.

arts district brewery skeeball — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Once you’ve eaten and settled into your beer options, it’s time to play. There are so many options for competitively dominating your friends: ping pong, cornhole, darts, even Skeeball. The 17,000 square foot space means there is plenty of room and often very little wait for a game, despite the fact that the bar can accommodate you and 499 of your closest friends. There’s a great outdoor patio if you want some fresh air and to take in the sights of downtown’s thriving arts district. Did we also mention the ample seating?

arts district brewery downtown patio — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Arts District Brewing is a damn good time for groups, dates, a solo drink after work (though it’s doubtful you’ll be solo for long with so many games to be played) or really any combination thereof. The food is fantastic and you really can’t drink much more local than there.

Topics

Elizabeth Dahl is a southern girl in the heart of Los Angeles who lived far too long before learning what an incredible food…

Food & Drink

The 10 best rosé wines that everyone should drink

It's time to finally try rosé

Rose wine glasses

Rosé rules -- no ifs, ands, or buts. You’ve most definitely seen dudes drinking rosé, with the pink wine sold in forties. Chances are, you’ve heard the term “brosé” at least once or twice in your life. Heck, people are cooking with rosé. Can you believe that? It's a sweet wine worth talking about.

All this talk about the drink prompted us to go on a quest to find the most exceptional ones this rosé season. With plenty of great options in the market, we chose to narrow down our list to these best rosé wines for your next hot date, guys' night, or solo Netflix binge. Still reluctant to try this magical wine? We listed seven reasons why you should start drinking rosé.
Best rosé wines

Food & Drink

How to start your own home bar: the essential spirits

Home Bar

When you start getting into cocktails, drinking them is only half the fun -- making them is part of the appeal too. If you start making your own drinks at home, you'll soon find that you can often create better or more interesting drinks than what you're served in most bars. And even better, making drinks for other people is a great way to try out new combinations, learn about spirits, and make your friends and family happy too.

However, moving beyond the simple spirit plus mixer style of drinks which most people make at home and into the world of cocktails means that you'll need a wider array of spirits on hand than you might be used to. It can take some time and research to build up a well stocked bar, and choosing high quality spirits isn't a cheap endeavor. It's worth it, though, for the pleasure of being able to try out classic cocktail recipes and experiment with making up your own creations too.

Food & Drink

You’re overlooking the most important ingredient in your cocktail

Steel Hibiscus cocktail.

When you list off the most important parts of making a good cocktail your mind likely goes immediately to good ingredients: quality spirits, freshly squeezed citrus juices, and well-matched mixers. You might also consider the importance of using the right tools, like getting a proper mixing glass so your stirred drinks can be properly incorporated, or a good strainer so that there aren't little shards of ice in your cocktails. And then there are the fun additions like elaborate garnishes, bitters, or home-made syrups which can add a personal touch to your drinks.
All of those things are important, absolutely. However I think there's one ingredient that can make or break a good cocktail, and it's something many drinkers don't ever stop to consider. It's the humble but vital ingredient of ice.

Why ice is so important
In mixed drinks like a gin and tonic or a screwdriver, ice is added to the drink primarily to chill it down to a pleasing temperature. That's a topic we'll come back to. But in cocktails which are shaken or stirred, ice is far more important than that. Cocktails are typically composed of between around 20 to 30 percent water, and this water comes from the ice used in the preparation process.
When you stir ingredients in a mixing glass or shake them in a shaker with ice, you are chipping away small pieces of the ice so that it dissolves and blends with your other ingredients. You might imagine that water doesn't make much of a difference to taste, being tasteless itself. But it's vital in opening up the flavors of other ingredients. That's why many whiskey drinkers like to add a dash of water to their whiskey when they drink it neat.
If you're ever in doubt of how important water is to cocktails, it's worth trying to make a drink with no ice. Even if you mix up the ideal ratios for a drink that you love and put it into the freezer so that it gets to the chilled temperature that you usually enjoy it at, if you sip it you'll find that your drink tastes harsh, unbalanced, and incomplete. Even for special room temperature cocktails like those designed to be drunk from a flask, you'll generally find water being added at a rate of around 30%.
When you make your cocktails you should be sure to stir for a long time – around 30 seconds is a good start – or to shake for a good while too – I typically do around 12 to 15 seconds – in order to melt enough ice to get plenty of water into your cocktail. Despite what you might imagine, this won't make the cocktail taste watery but will rather make the flavors stand out more as well as often improving the mouthfeel of the drink. A good rule of thumb is to mix or shake until the vessel is cold to the touch. That means your ingredients are sufficiently incorporated with the ice.