Our Mission
Strand Brewers Club is a community of homebrewers in the South Bay of Los Angeles — from first-timers to BJCP Grand Masters, all learning and brewing together. Since 1991, we have been meeting, sharing pints, swapping recipes, and helping each other make better beer. We host brew days, ride bikes to breweries, camp at festivals, and enter competitions — not to show off, but to keep getting better. Whether you brew on your kitchen stove or a three-tier system, you belong here. Come to a meeting, bring what you have brewed, and find out what 35 years of South Bay homebrewing community feels like.
How It Started
In late January 1991, six employees at Allied Signal in Torrance — led by Pete Chin Sang — had a simple idea: get together and brew beer. Not start a movement. Not win awards. Just brew, drink, talk about what worked and what didn’t, and do it again the next month. Their first newsletter was called Dribbles From the Glass, and it eventually became The Dregs — a publication good enough to earn its own ISSN number.
That was 35 years ago.
What started as a handful of coworkers swapping homebrew in Torrance grew into one of the most respected homebrew clubs in California. Members came from all over the South Bay — Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo, and beyond — drawn by the same thing that brought those original six together: the love of making something good with your own hands, and sharing it with people who appreciate it.
We are not a corporation. We are not a startup. We are a club — in the truest sense of the word. People who show up, pitch in, share what they know, and drink each other’s beer with honest feedback and good humor.
The South Bay Is Our Home
The South Bay of Los Angeles is not just where we meet. It is who we are. This stretch of coast from El Segundo to Torrance is home to a thriving craft beer scene, world-class homebrew supply shops, and the kind of neighborhood feel that makes a monthly meeting something people actually look forward to.
Our meetings happen at South Bay Brewing Supply in Torrance — a shop that has been supporting local homebrewers for years. It is the kind of place where you can pick up a last-minute packet of yeast, get advice on your mash temp, and run into three people you know from the club. It feels right to call it home base.
We also take full advantage of what the South Bay has to offer. Our BBBBB bike rides follow the Strand path from brewery to brewery. Final Fridays bring members together at local taprooms. Monster Brews take over commercial brewery systems for collaborative big batches. When you are a Strand Brewer, the whole South Bay is your brewhouse.
Stay Connected
Brew day photos, event announcements, and the occasional beer joke.
What We Have Built Together
Over three decades, the Strand Brewers Club has built something that goes well beyond a shared hobby.
AHA Affiliated. We are a registered member of the American Homebrewers Association, connecting our members to the national homebrewing community, competitions, resources, and events like the National Homebrewers Conference.
2015 Anchor Brewing CA Homebrew Club of the Year. This one meant a lot. The Anchor Brewing California Homebrew Club of the Year award recognized the Strand Brewers Club as the best homebrew club in the state — not because we had one or two standout brewers, but because the whole club showed up, competed, and represented. The judges called us “a passionate homebrew club with a lot of outreach.” That trophy belongs to every member who entered a beer, volunteered as a judge, organized a brew day, or just showed up and made this club worth being part of.
2013 NHC Bronze Medal. In 2013, members Rives Borland and Jeff Sanders earned a Bronze Medal at the National Homebrew Competition Finals in Philadelphia for their rum barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout — competing against 384 entries in the Smoke/Wood-Aged category. The beer was brewed at a summer club party and aged six months in a Balcones Distillery Rumble barrel. That is what happens when club collaboration meets serious craft.
The Dregs Newsletter. From 2010 through 2018, the club published The Dregs — a homebrew newsletter that covered everything from brew day recaps and recipe breakdowns to competition results and member spotlights. Eighty-eight issues, all archived and available to members. It is a snapshot of what this club has been about for years: real people making real beer and writing about it because they care.
BJCP Study Groups. We have helped dozens of members earn their Beer Judge Certification Program credentials, from Recognized through Grand Master. Jim Wilson became the first BJCP Grand Master judge in Southern California, and his oxygenation research with Rives Borland was published in Zymurgy magazine. By 2017, the club had produced six National-ranked judges. Our study groups are hands-on, collaborative, and built around tasting and evaluating real beer — not just memorizing style guidelines.
Mentorship Program. New to brewing? Pair up with an experienced member who can help you dial in your process, troubleshoot your batches, and figure out what kind of brewer you want to be. No judgment. No pressure. Just someone who has been there and wants to help.
The 22-Tap Portable Bar. The club’s legendary 22-tap portable bar makes an appearance at meetings, competitions, and special events — a homegrown piece of South Bay brewing engineering that fits in a pickup truck and pours like a proper festival booth. It debuted at the 2010 Southern California Homebrewers Festival at Lake Casitas and has been a crowd favorite ever since.
Honoring Jeff Sanders
The Jeff Sanders Memorial Homebrew Competition is a Strand Brewers Club tradition that honors a beloved member who passed away. Jeff was the kind of brewer and the kind of person who made this club better just by being part of it. The competition in his name has been one of the most meaningful things we do — BJCP-judged, heartfelt, and always a reminder of what this community is about. The JSM has been on hiatus in recent years, but it is a tradition the club hopes to bring back. If you want to help make that happen, talk to an officer. Jeff would have wanted it to keep going — with good beer, honest judging, and friends raising a glass.
The Pete Chin Sang Award
The Pete Chin Sang Award recognizes members who give back to the Strand Brewers Club — the people who organize events, mentor new brewers, write articles, coordinate competitions, and do the quiet work that makes a club a club. Created in 2016, the award is named after founding member Pete Chin Sang, whose memorial brown ale — Pete’s Nut Brown Ale — became a beloved club tradition at festivals. Jim Wilson, a BJCP Grand Master judge and prolific contributor to the club’s newsletter, education programs, and competitions, was the inaugural recipient. The Pete Chin Sang Award is a reminder that the best homebrew clubs are built by people who show up and pitch in.
To this day, every Strand Brewers meeting opens with a toast in Pete’s honor — the room raises their glasses and calls out “Chin Sang!” together. It is one of those traditions that reminds everyone why this club matters.
In Their Own Words
The Dregs newsletters captured the voice of the club better than any mission statement ever could. Here is one of our favorites.
Brew a stout so dark, light cannot escape its murky depths!Bryan WillisActivities DirectorDregs Newsletter
What Keeps Us Going
The Strand Brewers Club has been around since 1991 because of its members. Not a board of directors. Not a marketing strategy. Just people who keep showing up, keep brewing, keep learning, and keep making this club a place worth belonging to.
If you are curious about homebrewing, or you have been brewing for years and want to find your people, you are welcome here. Come to a meeting. Bring a bottle of whatever you have been working on. We will tell you what we think — and we will mean it in the best possible way.