{"id":26477,"date":"2021-09-29T14:29:24","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T21:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000022387"},"modified":"2023-03-20T00:02:07","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T07:02:07","slug":"birdies-n-brews-indoor-golf-bar-opens-in-downtown-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/birdies-n-brews-indoor-golf-bar-opens-in-downtown-long-beach","title":{"rendered":"Birdies n Brews indoor golf bar opens in Downtown Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDrinking and golfing go hand-in-hand,\u201d Andrew Esparza said, sitting in his new bar surrounded by golf-related decor. Birdies n Brews, Long Beach\u2019s first indoor golf bar, opened its doors on Sept. 20, offering guests the chance to drink some booze while they whack some balls in a \u201ccozy\u201d country-club-meets-cabin-meets-man-cave atmosphere.<\/p>\n

The idea came to Esparza a few years ago, after his wedding in Lake Tahoe. While in the mountain city, he noticed several indoor golf joints, which are in high demand in the area due to the weather. Shortly after returning home to Southern California, a rainy day spoiled the Downey native\u2019s tee time, and he told his wife, Jasmine, he wished there was a local indoor golf bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd here we are, three years later,” Esparza said. “It took a while but it\u2019s done.”<\/p>\n

The owner\/operators enlisted Jasmine\u2019s two sisters, Tiffany Hernandez and Samantha Ortiz, to help run the business. Hernandez, who has worked as a bartender at three of the \u201cWorld\u2019s 50 Best Restaurants<\/a>\u201d\u2014Employees Only and Cosme in New York and Callooh Callay in London\u2014is the beverage director, while Ortiz is the bartender.<\/p>\n

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Birdies n Brews beverage director Tiffany Hernandez, left, owner\/operator Andrew Esparaza and bartender Samantha Ortiz sip their drinks inside the new indoor golf bar in Downtown Long Beach, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Birdies n Brews features two golf simulators that cost $25,000 each. The rigs include a projector, a system that tracks every aspect of the golfer\u2019s swing\u2014club speed, angles, etc.\u2014along with contact with the ball and the ball\u2019s subsequent speed and trajectory.<\/p>\n

The balls are struck into the large screen that shows the virtual golf course. The virtual ball travels according to the tracking system\u2019s real-time readings, with nearly 100% accuracy, while providing data on the swing, Esparza said.<\/p>\n

Aside from the basic driving range setting, the system features games such as target practice and more than 40 golf courses, including popular locations like the famous Monterey County course Pebble Beach. Patrons can play the entire course or single holes, such as Pebble Beach\u2019s beautiful 7th, which SB Nation calls an architectural miracle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are courses that are on the PGA Tour that you probably would never get to play on in real life,” Esparza said, “but you can play them here.”<\/p>\n

Tee time is paid for by the hour: $35 per hour for the first person, plus $10 for each additional person.<\/p>\n

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A two-cheese, two-meat charcuterie board and three spicy miche drinks at Birdies n Brews in Downtown Long Beach, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bar features basic munchy items such as chips and candy, but also higher-end snacks, including hummus with pita bread and charcuterie boards with up to three different meats and cheeses, crackers, nuts, grapes and jam. Hernandez said she also would like to add a vegan \u201chot dog\u201d to the menu in the future.<\/p>\n

And the bar wouldn\u2019t be a bar without a wide array of alcoholic beverages. For the beer selection, Hernandez said she put a heavy emphasis on local and state breweries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made it a point to \u2026 find brands that are either [people of color]-, female- or LGBTQ-brewed and -owned,\u201d Hernandez said, noting that their bar is family- and Latinx-owned. \u201cIt\u2019s really important to me to be able to highlight people in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a background in high-end cocktails, Hernandez takes particular pride in her low-ABV craft drinks. The menu includes a flight of three hand-crafted, spicy miches that are mixed with SouthNorte\u2019s Sea Se\u00f1or Mexican Lager. The Rojo is a blend of Roma tomato, orange bell pepper, and Valentina Hot, soy and Worcestershire sauces. The Verde miche is a mix of cilantro, tomatillo, green bell pepper, Jalape\u00f1o and poblano chile sauce. And the Habanero miche includes Jamaican tuna roja, guava puree, habanero and lemon.<\/p>\n

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Birdies n Brews beverage director Tiffany Hernandez poors beer into her three hand-crafted, spicy miches, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hernandez also created the Caddy Coffee, which includes an Irish stout beer reduction, cold brew Amaro, Ibarra Mexican Chocolate and coconut foam. The coffee drink comes in a standard and mini size.<\/p>\n

In the future, once the bar gets its liquor license, Hernandez said she will introduce a curated cocktail program and wine list.<\/p>\n

Of course, there are concerns when it comes to drinking alcohol and then swinging metal golf clubs in a confined space, Esparza said. While drinking has become synonymous with the sport among amateurs, there is a lot more space on an actual course, he said, noting that the bar will keep an even closer watch on the level of alcohol consumption with its golfers than a normal bar does.<\/p>\n

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Birdies n Brews’ Caddy Coffee includes an Irish stout beer reduction, cold brew Amaro, Ibarra Mexican Chocolate and coconut foam. Photo by Brandon Richardson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Esparza is concerned about safety surrounding swinging clubs, he said he is not worried about rogue balls causing injury or damage\u2014except for the holes in the ceiling, which has been the only casualty when golfers mis-hit. There is a net on the other side of the tiles, he said, to keep balls from traveling any farther, adding that ceiling tiles are \u201cpretty cheap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Extra ceiling tiles will come in handy as the space already has proven popular among novices. \u201cI\u2019ve already gotten a ton of new golfers in here just trying to get a feel for the game,\u201d Esparza said. \u201cMaybe they\u2019ve been too embarrassed to go to an actual golf course but this is a really friendly environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf can be elitist and not inclusive,\u201d Hernandez added. \u201cIt can be daunting, so to learn in this sort of casual way, I think, will allow for a more diverse crowd to enjoy the sport. And that\u2019s how it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Birdies n Brews is located at 90 E. 4th St. and is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDrinking and golfing go hand-in-hand,\u201d Andrew Esparaza said sitting in his new bar surrounded by golf-related decor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":71729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[167,153],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[25820],"class_list":["post-26477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-bars","tag-food","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72661,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26477\/revisions\/72661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26477"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=26477"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=26477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}