Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Great articles that you should read.
The Gruit-y world of strange beers from SoLArc Brewing looks to have found a home. The brewery will be at the Southern end of Eagle Rock Boulevard in a building that other tenants will be joining including a bar and a restaurant. Good news for a brewery that was staying under the radar. No ETA on when to expect an opening date.
Looks like Heineken is using it’s Lagunitas purchase to kick start the traditional brown ale of Newcastle….
I don’t know if with all the mergers and acquisitions if this is still a Flagship but certainly is news for this month.
Dope & Dank are taking a big step. With assistance from BrewDog and the Scottish brewers Development Fund, the duo of Teo Hunter and Beny Ashburn who many of us in Los Angeles have run into at festivals or had their collaboration beers with the likes of El Segundo Brewing, are going into the beer business.
Crowns & Hops will be their new beer brand based in Inglewood but with BrewDog brewing their roster of pilsner, stout and (of course a dank) IPA. The line-up will be produced in both the Columbus, Ohio facility (the closest BrewDog is to LA) and oddly in Scotland as well.
D&D are also going to crowdfund $75,000 with a campaign set to premiere on March 6th. It is an interesting time to enter the brewing game with growth slowed and even more interesting to enter in Inglewood which is experiencing some real real estate problems with the forthcoming NFL stadium project making land expensive and scarce not to mention two breweries already in town, one of which has Canarchy Collective ties to draw on.
Now they just need to make beers as dynamic as they are and I am sure that will draw crowds.
UPDATE: The crowdfunding has started and seems to be more slow and steady climb. Perhaps crowdfunding fatigue is real. Will be interesting to see how this campaign unfolds over the next 31 days.
The newspaper and journalism scene in Los Angeles is a bit rosier now. The Times sits in new offices in El Segundo with a new owner and a brand new food writing staff as well as a new food stand-alone section coming this spring.
A new quarterly, The Land has sprung from the dumpster fire of the L.A. Weekly imbroglio and has released their initial issue filled with pieces about a Los Angeles that may be hidden from normal view.
And while there is no word on beer or wine and spirits as part of the domain for either, there is hope that the stories of beer can be woven into both. I would have loved one less rap article in The Land and would have heartily read more about little known beer culture instead.
Maybe there are plans for both to cover the issue because I believe as we grow (even in slower percentages) that there are stories to be told.
Looks like the takeover of RateBeer is now complete. SABInBev now fully owns the rating website. Technically ZX Ventures owns them but co-founder Joe Tucker is not in charge any more. Tucker is now in a “community” ambassador role.
And while it may be true that users are up overall, how those new users came to join is probably more due to advertising budget from the parent company.
Which is fine. Spin this as a positive or “road bump” or write them off completely for making this deal. Either way, beer ratings sourced from the masses are never going to be the same force that they were in the early days. I don’t know of people that use the site (or their new-ish app) when making buying decisions. I certainly don’t. I don’t expect people to make those type of choices based on my reviews.
I haven’t used the site since the partial sale because that is the line that I have drawn in the sand but from what I remember, it didn’t have the fun, game aspect that Untappd has unless their app is completely changed.
I believe that at some point, if RateBeer doesn’t make money or doesn’t draw a minimum amount of eyeballs to the site that it will be slowly shut down. Remember the “Beer Necessities”? The ratings may get shunted into another website (possibly October or a new version).
It has been offered up that the data was the draw for the deal but what is ABInBev gonna do with data on thousands of beers that they won’t make themselves? Perhaps the High End might use the information? But I would guess that the breweries themselves already know most of the trending information already. My RateBeer data is now way out of date and probably of little use at all, I know that.
I think this full sale marks a time where we can look forward and dream of what may be the next big thing. Is there a game-changing new app on the horizon?
Looks like the forward progress is back for Whittier Brewing Company. A new brewery project with a chef led background. Hopefully we will see more tank photos on their Facebook page.
The United States Association of Cider Makers aka The USACM now has its own certification, the Certified Pommelier™.
Per the press release, “The study guide covers six sections: Apples, the Orchard & History; Cider Making; Flavor & Evaluation; Cider Styles (US and Europe); Keeping & Serving; and Food & Cider. These are the same topics covered in the level one exam, but there are noticeable differences in the suggested study concepts for the two tests. To start, the list of apples to know is greatly expanded for the new exam. Test takers are told they should be able to assign to the apples to region, style and class: bittersharp, bittersweet, sweet or sharp. These classes are determined by acid and tannin levels, and are laid out in the stydy guide. The second key difference is the inclusion of traditional European cider styles for the UK, Spain, France and Germany. Lastly, there are many more concepts listed in the Certified Pommelier™ study guide than in the Level 1 study guide.”
Sometimes the L.A. Times movie sneak preview can be too daunting. Title after title for the next three months. But on a recent Sunday, I took my sweet time and ran across this….
So keep an eye out for a possible craft beer documentary. Why do I say “possible”, because I could find no other info on it. I could find barely any info even on IMDB which usually has at least a Facebook page.
A week ago, Ladyface brewed a new beer. Not amazing in itself but this beer, Backbone IPA was created to raise funds after the devastating fire that was practically at their doorstep. They collaborated with other local breweries for this “Strength in Community” release. Ladyface has partnered with the charity campaigns of YMCA’s LVFireRelief and the Ventura County Community Foundation ensures that 100% of the proceeds benefit those affected by the recent tragedies.
#independent beer fans know of Hood River, Oregon. Home of pFriem, Full Sail, Double Mountain breweries and now the Fox TV Network has a show in development named, Hood River. It will be a comedy from written by Travis Bowe who has worked on Family Guy and The Cleveland Show.
Here is the breakdown: “Hood River is a small town multi-cam/multi-generational comedy about a diverse group of people who work and congregate in the town’s brewery. The core relationship is based on two characters, Pete and his mother, Sandy, who are based on Bowe and his mom’s real relationship that he reluctantly admits is more of a mother/daughter relationship.”
Now if this show doesn’t brew an actual beer then that would be super ironic.