‘Brew Dogs’ hits its finale with a Southern California special

The season finale of Esquire Network’s Brew Dogs craft beer show aired Wednesday night and featured the eponymous Scots teaming with some of our local home brewers in a competition to brew the quintessential L.A. beer, and it highlighted some of the best places to find craft beer in town.

It’s tough to argue with the choice of bars highlighted in the episode; the venerable Naja’s Place in Redondo took the top spot, while The Glendale Tap, The Surly Goat, the Daily Pint and Blue Palms Brewhouse rounded out the list.

The top five breweries were likewise unimpugnable. The San Pedro Brewing Company was included in the fifth spot -- a surprise to some people I’ve spoken to, but the buzz around the 13-year-old brewpub is that they’ve stepped up their game and are making some great beers again. Eagle Rock Brewery, Ladyface Ale Companie and Smog City Brewery got the nods in the middle of the list and Beachwood Brewing was named the No. 1 brewery in Los Angeles.

The show did a great job of setting up craft beer culture in Los Angeles. It was refreshing to see a focus on the thriving homebrew scene in the region, and the 40-year old Maltose Falcons home brew club was featured heavily (the opening segment was filled with Falcon faces familiar to anyone who’s been around beer festivals and home brew events in Los Angeles).

Father’s Office and its founder Sang Yoon also featured heavily in the show. Yoon acted as one of the home brew judges (along with Golden Road Brewing founder Meg Gill and journalist Sarah Bennett), and he also hosted a mini food pairing challenge where the Brew Dogs offered beer pairing suggestions for some of Yoon’s signature dishes.

The episode is available to stream from the Esquire Network site, but you have to jump through some registration hoops to identify yourself as a cable subscriber. You should also be able to catch the show on reruns; check your provider’s listings.