Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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California Craft Beer Summit – Report 1

Day 2 was a political action day at the California state capitol. I saw the brewing troupe troop over to iconic domed building to state the beer case to the state.

While they did the heavy lifting, I lifted beer glasses at two local Sacramento breweries that were on my to drink at list.

First was a trip to the Oak Park neighborhood and the eponymous brewery.

It is one of the black owned breweries in the country. They had a nice selection of styles including the People’s Lager, a recipe from the first black owned brewery in the U.S. I also had the Strata Dome Imperial IPA which at 7+% was a light double at best. Neither lit my world on fire.

Next stop was Alaro Brewing where I had more success in the taster tray.

I especially liked the Modern IPA, Avenida and the French Saison Rabbit Hole. The branding with the Spanish style tile look is excellent. So much so that I bought a bottle of the Castillo IPA back to the hotel.

The “official” welcome to the Summit was held in West Sacramento at The Barn, Drakes impressive wooden modern architecture barn right on the river. It has a large amount of outdoor seating and two bar area (one inside and one out).

We had a ticket for a Drakes beer and then two tables were set-up with an array of California beers including the Three Weavers CCBA beer, Meet Me in California. As well as Long Beach Beer Labs Dad Beer and South Lake Brewing’s Expedition Citra. I also splurged on a barrel-aged barleywine, Gold Label.

The early evening was bright and sunny. Pizza and charcuterie were brought out and the space filled with brewers and vendors and us media types.

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Maryland Hops

I came across a cool tidbit of hop information on YouTube about the re-discovery of a brand new wild hop named Monocacy found in Maryland.

Don’t know if it is hardy enough to be bigger than just a novelty or if it has flavors that brewers can truly use but it is great to see hops waiting to be found.

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New Hop Alert!

Hop NZH-102 now has a fancy name, Superdelic!  The varietal is from NZ Hops Ltd., a cooperative of New Zealand cooperative of hop farmers.

Superdelic is part Hersbrucker Pure and a New Zealand male. 

Tropical notes along with red fruit and candy are the descriptors. 

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The Firkin for February 2023

Am I the only one who feels that the big thing seems slow to arrive. Is the big craft beer trend caught in an airport somewhere?

No new IPA variant is on the horizon. A slight uptick, to my mind, in Triple IPAs but we seem stuck in Cold (IPL or IPA) weather when it comes to the dominant style.

Pastry stouts seem to be reaching an expiration date as you can reliably find then on shelves. We get the yearly pilsner spiel but them and lagers have a low ceiling.

Maybe some adjunct will become the de rigeur ingredient for brewers, I had an excellent blue corn pilsner recently and I could see any number of heirloom agricultural products touching a beer fans nerve.

But as we saunter into the last month of Q1, it seems no change in direction for the good ship craft.

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What is Next for Beer Festivals?

Back in the day, which now means pre-2020, beer festivals were an every damn weekend occurrence, especially in the summer here in Los Angeles.

Now, it is different. Big gatherings of people are back now but festivals are not really trending. The last time the California Craft Brewers Conference had a connected festival was in Long Beach in 2019, this year in Sacramento there is no festival.

I have written of my waning fest interest on this blog back then but I do think that a reimagined festival theme would do wonders. Probably not to rival the epic Firestone Walker Invitational but something fun nonetheless.

A craft beer meets craft bourbon festival would be great. I would think that a pizza and beer or tacos and beer mashup would also be great. Creativity being the key. That creativity can be in location like the recently attended Brews & Bites at the Ritz Carlton or tossing it out there, a brewery night at the incoming Lucas museum in Exposition Park.

Los Angeles has so many neighborhoods and so much history and vibrant culture that could pair with beer. I believe that a killer festival idea is out there.

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Ducks and Bears

Beer business news broke earlier this month that I thought I should make at least a brief comment on….

A little twist on the acquisition front as Drakes Beer is the new owner of the brands only of Bear Republic Brewing famous for their Racer 5 IPA.  (which I now need to find to compare one version to the upcoming new one)

Rich Norgrove the leader of Bear Republic will join the Drake’s organization which bodes well for continuity. How many recipes will make the trip is a question.

I guess that means that Drakes must be doing OK or have brewing capacity and secondly, that there is now a brewing space open for a new brewery. Which is why I am usually only momentarily sad when a brewery shuts down, because I feel it is an opportunity for a new owner to make new beers.

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Could Have Been Birthday

An unassuming box. But filled with wonder. I do not live in the Sea/Tac area but if a local L.A. brewery sold bag in a box of a beer, I would probably get a couple a month and would have definitely asked for one for my birthday.

I do wonder why I have not seen this packaging in more places. Perhaps it is not efficient or cost effective but for the non home brewing crowd, it would make a great option.

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New Look for Spring

Smog City Brewing along with Ryan Cochran, their label designer who brought to life the original labels and characters for Smog City IPA, Amarilla Gorilla IPA, Coffee Porter, and Sabre-Toothed Squirrel will be refreshing the art for 2023.  You can see a sneak of the IPA look below…

Amazing to realize that these beers were all originally released in 500ml bottles many moons ago.  I like the dominant blue look and the house style and whimsy is still there too.

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Peel the Label – Recession

There is a lot of debt ceiling talk and recession talk out there but I think that when it comes to craft beer, you need to talk about the service industry.  The cost of it in wage dollars as well as customer satisfaction dollars.

We are not close, despite breathless stories about robot made pizza, for automated beertenders.  Sure, there are those pour your own spots around but they seem more novelty than the new normal primarily because you are still needing people to help out customers when they can’t work the system and do all the normal glass washing and keg changing.

Wage costs, especially in California are higher than elsewhere, but because craft beer is a premium cost product, the industry needs to have a customer base making money that can afford to buy a $20 4-pack.  And when I say customer satisfaction dollars, I mean having engaged employees that make a taproom fun and encourages customers to come back and spend more money.  That encouragement is a big part of why Trader Joe’s has cachet whereas a normal chain grocery feels like a chore.

You don’t need to splurge on a superstar employee as long as you give good value to both your employees and customers.  Good NBA teams have “glue guys”.  Players that do the little things and do them well.  It is hard to find them as you can see when you look at teams that are not doing well.  But that will be the test this year, in my humble opinion.

Peel the Label is an infrequent series with no photos or links. Just opinion.

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Smaller Variety

I am usually hesitant to buy a variety pack.  One reason is that I am usually buying for one beer in four that is new.  The second reason is that it is usually a twelve item purchase.  So I have to commit.

Which is why I like the Greatest Hits 4-pack from Common Space Brewery. Not buying for a hype new beer, buying their best sellers.  Not buying a fridge full either.