Author: Sean Inman

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Open Letter to the Mayor of Los Angeles

Your Honor,

The L.A. Times basketball sportswriter corresponds with Donald Sterling about the state of the Clippers and in the same spirit I am writing to you.

Why is it, that…
San Diego has Karl Strauss Brewery
Orange County has The Bruery
Pasadena has Craftsman Brewing
Santa Barbara has Telegraph Brewing
Sacramento has Rubicon Brewing
San Francisco has Anchor Steam
even Santa Rosa has Russian River Brewing

…and Los Angeles has ? Why is it that the premier city of Southern California has no major brewery and no football team. My guess is that someone or something is standing in the way.

We have two award winning home brew clubs. A burgeoning beer bar scene and a discriminating food culture. We have all the ingredients and yet I do not see a brewery. Why is that?

I know I repeated myself there but I am genuinely confused. Portland has tons of breweries and new ones opening each month. There are (3) off the 78 freeway north of San Diego and that is not a long freeway.

I urge you to find out where the problem is. We seem to have plenty of liquor stores. How about losing some and adding a brewpub instead?

Now is the time to encourage people to chase entrepreneurial dreams. Not to stand in the way and hold ideas back.

Sean Inman

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Safety

$10.00 is all it takes to be safe. Completely staffed by volunteers, RideOn Portland will take you (and your car) from the bar you are at to your home.
I hope this is an idea that spreads around the country because in our car first culture it just isn’t as easy to go out and enjoy a beer without always having to monitor how you feel. Now I don’t suggest going out to get wasted. I never have. But if you want to try to big, flavorful beers you need options transportation wise so that you can be safe and have a good time.

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Estate Beer from Sierra Nevada

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is honored to announce the release of Estate Ale–one of the world’s only estate-made beers brewed with 100% all-natural, locally-grown hops and barley, which are produced at the brewery in Chico, California. Inspired by the renowned winemaking region of its Napa and Sonoma neighbors, Sierra Nevada is the first brewery to develop its own terroir. This beer is brewed with ingredients that reflect the flavors of the environment and the seasonal rhythms of nature.

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Six Points Brewery

Laboring under the shadow of the Brooklyn Brewery is the SixPoint Craft Ales.
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They do a wide variety of styles. Belgian IPA to saison to Hop Obama (since retired).
Their beers are available mostly in New York but they are worth looking for when you need to try something new.

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Terminator Stout

The Beer Search Party is blessed to have guest reviewers with specific beer style tastes. One is a fan of the Belgian tripel and the other is my dark beer specialist. And not just any dark beer, we are talking about Old Engine Oil Reserve and the big chocolate stouts. Without any further ado, here is a review of McMenanmin’s Terminator Stout…

“Loved it. Very rich and smooth. Hint of expresso notes. No bite. Very dark almost black with no head. Paired it with sliced havarti rolled with pastrami & tomatoes with garlic mustard. Thanks again for bringing it back for me. On my list of favorites”

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Beer Float Showdown

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All I had to do was sample (4) Beer floats for charity. The most interesting was the Bruery Berliner Weiss with Raspberry Yuzu sorbet. The best overall was the Old Rasputin with Brown Bread ice cream.

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Christmas in July at Port / Lost Abbey

As I have mentioned previously, this is not a snarky, mean-spirited blog. I wish to be more at the Huell Howser end of the spectrum as opposed to Bill Maher but, at times, I will have to detour into criticism. This is one of those instances.

Now, I am a fan of Pizza Port beers (and the pizza). I enjoy the hop bombs they make and recently I really liked the Hot Rocks lager. Lost Abbey is hit and miss. Their wit is sub-par but Inferno ale is pretty good. I do appreciate the experimentation though which is why I wanted to check out this party in the first place.

So I was expecting a lot at their Christmas party. Maybe too much. My first problem was that they did not appear to be fully expecting a crowd. There was no signage as to where to line up for what so there was one medium, barely-moving line due to the second noticeable problem, only one person checking ID and only one person taking bottle orders and taking entrance money.

The third miscue was that you placed a bottle order for Duck, Duck, Gooze then you had to go stand in a new line to purchase it. A line with 1. Yes, only 1 credit card machine. Now that would be ok if the beers were $8.00 or $10.00 but if you are charging (and rightfully so) $30.00 you have to have at least two credit card machines because not everyone will have that much cash on hand. And forth, they ran out of some beers after three hours. Amigo lager? Sorry, all out. Shark Bite red? Nope. This is why, myself and others were at Stone enjoying a leisurely beer.

Here are my recommendations for fixing the situation. Separate the bottle sales from the party. This way people can come in, donate to charity, have some beer, get a photo with Santa and not have to navigate a humid room with a big line of cranky bottle buyers in the middle.

To speed the bottle sales, at least two credit card machines. Then hand people order slips as they wait in line. Also have two people as stock pickers to speed up the process. This way, the order is ready quicker from both the buyer and the seller’s sides. And it is only one line which may move faster. There is nothing worse than a line that inches forward then finding out you have to be in another line that inches forward.

The mantra should be to prepare for a big crowd and then scale down if needed. Because it is just too hard to scale up.

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The Good Beer Seal of Approval

…is awarded to bars and restaurants in New York who:

1. Have 80% craft domestic or special imported beers.
2. Serve a good portion of their beers via a draft beer and/or cask ale program.
3. Maintain a strong “pub” vibe as a nice, local place to drink beer and visit with friends.
4. Active community presence, as well as being independently operated establishment.
5. Good beer should be a strong feature if not the FOCUS of the operation.
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