Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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World Beer Cup – Los Angeles medals

The World Beer Cup spent Cinco de Mayo passing out medals.

Beachwood was the big local winner with three medals. Figueroa Mountain picked up a pair which I count as L.A. because of the Westlake Village outpost. Below are the Los Angeles area medalists:

Gold

Highland Park Brewery – Hello, L.A. – International Pale Ale

Silver

Lincoln Beer Co. – Mosaic Pilsner – American-Style Pilsner

Cellador Ales – Akimbo – Fruited Wood and Barrel- Aged Sour

Beachwood – Full Malted Jacket – Scotch Ale

Bronze

San Fernando Brewing Co. – Imperial Death Star – American-Style Imperial Stout

Beachwood Blendery – Funk Yeah – Belgian- Style Sour

Beachwood – Mocha Machine – Coffee Stout

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Learning to be Weathered

Sometimes, I let the press release take the wheel, especially when it is something important, so read on and I will have comments below.

“Rahr Corporation and craft brewing industry leader Marcus Baskerville today announced the launch of a new, first-of-its-kind incubation program aimed at supporting and creating space for underrepresented groups in the craft brewing industry. The Harriet Baskerville Incubation Program will provide structured brewing education, training, professional mentorship, and resources to women and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) brewers.

The program will be housed in Baskerville’s new Weathered Souls Brewing Co. location opening later this year in Charlotte, North Carolina, and targets brewers who are transitioning to professional commercial brewing and planning to either start or own a brewery. Over the course of one year, 12 brewers will be selected to travel to Weathered Souls for a monthlong immersive program. Rahr Corporation has committed $100,000 to fully fund the program’s first year.

“We are proud to support this unique program that is actively taking steps to diversify our industry and broaden its appeal,” said Rahr Corporation President and CEO Willie Rahr. “Our company believes that fostering a more diverse and inclusive industry is not only morally imperative but can also be a driver of growth for craft beer. Through this partnership, we can help build a stronger and more sustainable brewing industry for future generations.”

According to 2020 data from the Brewers Association, there are approximately 8,800 breweries in the U.S., and less than 65 are Black-owned. And while 22% of the country’s breweries have women in ownership, partnership or majority shareholder roles, women represent only 7.5% of actual brewers.

“Even with the unprecedented growth and popularity of the craft beer movement, women and people of color continue to be left out,” said Baskerville, founder and leader of the program. “Named after my grandmother, the Harriet Baskerville Incubation Program will provide opportunities for those who are underrepresented in our industry to gain hands-on training and education in brewing – hopefully jump-starting incredible careers.”

Participants will learn about brewery maintenance and brewing beer on professional equipment; malting and analytical tests related to brewing practices; yeast propagation, cell counting, viability and health; and how to create, finance and market a sustainable brewing program. They will have access to Rahr’s technical experts and premium products.”

This is basic teamwork here. Find and train and then they will push the ball forward with you in the future. And since the mood towards quotas and hiring seems to be negative at the moment, this training probably won’t be pushed overall and needs to be pulled instead. I hope this program works and can seed breweries all across the country.

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This is How to Label

I am very opinionated when it comes to labels. I have hot takes for days and I do prefer to give a tip of the hat rather than a wag of the finger so let’s look at this label from Burgeon…

Instead of hoping to slide IP infringement by, they have used a clever name, a gradation of color and nods to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru’s homestead. Plus the color has a bit of haze to it to match the beer style.

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Ship It

We have, in the last few months, heard many stories about shipping containers. Why are they falling into the sea with fancy cars inside, how they are made into homes and why they ain’t getting unpacked fast enough to get us that un-needed item quickly.

Well, could you make one into a brewery?

This blog post details (in detail) how to use that space for brewing. Now, I have seen some micro breweries such as Highland Park when they brewed in Highland Park but, wow, this looks tiny. But maybe at that small scale with one person, it could work.

Though you might need a second container for cold box and taproom.

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Spark Joy

Scrolling through the Insta a few days ago, I run across a video of beersnobbin’s beer cellar (maybe wine too).

First off, if you are buying faster than you can organize or drink, then that is an issue. You can’t just be chuckin’ stuff on the floor.

Secondly, with this much beer you have to maps and spreadsheets and a second + third liver.

Maybe, this is a post pandemic, haven’t had people over but was buying at pre-pandemic levels thing. But looking at this screenshot…

…gives me anxiety. How do I find a beer? How do I know that beer and not the one to the left or right was the right beer?

I guess what this truly illustrates is not beersnobbin at all but the fact that I have firmly entrenched myself in an enjoy NOW ethos that this video was the opposite of.

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The Firkin for April 2022

Every year April heralds Easter and then 4/20. And boy, am I not on the CBD or THC or TLC bandwagon. All the Snoop Dog memes, the warmed over munchies craving jokes make April 20th a day to avoid social media.

To me cannabis and beer is like stuffing cheese into the crust of the pizza, overkill. What actual flavor does cannabis add? I do not know. I have read about chocolate with marijuana, candy with marijuana, water with marijuana and yes, even pizza with marijuana and I have not seen what it adds to the experience.

This is no anti-weed screed, just a reminder that if you are adding an ingredient to a beer, that ingredient better add something to the overall drinking experience. I had a saison that included lemon and vanilla recently. The creaminess imparted by the vanilla played extremely well with the citric acidity, bringing out the best aspects of both while also taking the edges off of both.

And that is what any CBD/THC addition should do in a perfect world.

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Czech It

If someone had told me back in the before times, that I would be entranced by a travel show of a goofy food writer dad and his teenage daughter, I would have given you a serious amount of side-eye.

But Czech it Out is grand…

…not only that despite the goofy and the forced reality of parts, this really gives an overview of Czech food, beer, art, movies but more importantly a sense of place.

The best travel shows make you want to travel much like the best food shows make you hungry and after four episodes, 1/2 the season, I want to go and eat nothing but pastry and drink beer at all the restaurants and Pivovar’s that this duo have visited.

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It’s a Living

For those who wondered what would happen when Modern Times shuttered locations, well, one space will see new life.  Actually a third regeneration, when Modern Times PDX (formerly The Commons Brewery) will become Living Haüs Beer Co.

Founded by former brewers at Modern Times Beer and the highly regarded pFriem Family Brewers.  Now wait to see if the other locations can find new brewing life as well.  Most notably for my purposes, the narrow DTLA space that could serve a brewery with some rent money nicely.

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Weinhards Resurrection

Looks like Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve has made a convoluted journey back to Oregon.

You can read the full press release from Molson Coors HERE. In broad strokes, Weinhards was a fairly large regional that got passed around like a hot potato. The beer wasn’t even brewed in Oregon for the last twenty odd years. Somehow the brand alone ended up in Molson Coors hands and has been passed down to one of their subsidiary breweries, Hop Valley.

As for the beer itself, it is a ” 4.7% alcohol-by-volume lager, first brewed in 1976 and acquired by Miller Brewing in 1999, will be brewed using its original recipe and Cascade hops from Oregon.”

By the time that I could legally drink, the allure of Weinhards was trending down. I still have brand affection but it is not based on the beer so much as nostalgia. How Hop Valley converts new twenty-one year olds is a bit of a mystery especially after their parent company essentially put the beer in the freezer and walked away.

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Haunted by Owner

In rather quick succession, more bad brewery news here in Los Angeles. Phantom Carriage Brewing in Carson is being pushed out. The new building owner will be using the space for their needs apparently.

This was a fun spot to visit because of how strongly they leaned into the horror theme. The space was kitted out in such a way that it looked spooky even when the lights were on.

How a taproom that hung its hat on visiting hung on without going the to-go can route is probably a story in itself. But the hard fact is that land and rent in LA is expensive and finding a good landlord is not easy either and then the whole thing can come tumbling down if a good landlord sells.

The social media announcement did not close the door on a return and maybe there is a market or capacity at another brewery to have a co-tenant. I have always thought that there could be a space where breweries could either start their journey or re-ignite their business, where you could get pours from two or three breweries plus a sampling from all LA breweries. A one-stop City of Angels beer shop.