Every day at 4 a.m. Blackwell, who goes by his last name only, rides his bike a mile from his home to the north end of the Belmont Shore neighborhood in Long Beach. There, at the base of the pier, is the Belmont Brewing Co., which opened in 1990 and is Southern California’s oldest brewpub. Blackwell has been the head brewer at the waterfront restaurant for 16 years, and he likes to get an early start on his day’s tasks of monitoring the fermentation of new batches and the washing and scrubbing that he says is the most critical aspect of running a brewery.