Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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Endorsement for President

I know that this choice does not surprise nor will it change minds but I do have to say what I feel will work better for both this country and for the beer industry as well.

It is easy because of one factor. Yea, oversimplified, I know when many aspects should be contended with but for me the choice is for stability. Business hates unpredictability. And who represents chaos. Pretty obvious that. Harris + Walz will be stable. There won’t be unhinged junior high attacks. No tax breaks for the wealthy because, you know who, stills clings to the fable that he is wealthy. No isolationism from the world. Just down the middle government with occasional turns towards actual progressiveness. Sturdy supply lines, reduced inflation and a solid economy are a pipe dream for Republicans but achievable for Democrats.

On a personal level, I too crave the SSDD of life. I shudder thinking about the Orange One’s psycho tweets that bombarded us all under in his ( hopefully ) one term. It was mentally exhausting. With Biden, I didn’t have to worry about some loose tweet riling up some faction against the other. I can go weeks not having to think of the White House.

At this age of my life, I do not need drama. I want boring, mostly ineffectual, sometimes helpful government. I am not asking for the moon just not to be dragged into a tar pit. Harris + Walz might get the former whilst the other duo are 100% certain to give us the latter.

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Back to Life

Jeff Alworth always posts interesting and thought provoking beer content at Beervana Blog and this piece HERE, is no exception.  Using the premise of what other breweries could use a Chobani like savior to bring them back to life.

His picks are more centered in Europe and are much deeper cuts so I propose three additional choices….

One – Bert Grants – this was a Spokane, Washington based pioneer in the early craft beer movement.  With the titular Scotsman as the branding lead.  They made quite a few Americanized British Ales and were decidedly on the malty side of the spectrum.

Two – Thirsty Bear Brewing – this San Francisco based brewery and restaurant was on the organic bandwagon and Spanish tapas too.  Maybe too niche to last too long but I would love to see a beer and serious food pairing space.

Three – Eagle Rock Brewery – this recently closed Los Angeles brewery led the way in L.A. but despite heroic efforts, could not find a winning combination of beers.  Bigger bucks could bring back the opening year line-up and maybe find a better location as well.

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New Norwalk

Norwalk Brew House and founder Ray Ricky Rivera are transitioning to a physical location after years of being a little bit of contract brewer and a little bit of distributor too. 

According to Rivera, “Norwalk Brew House you’ll enjoy fresh beer brewed onsite and special one-off batches only available at the taproom. We’ll also offer a rotating selection of guest beer by other Latino owned breweries.”

The crowdfunding campaign launches via Indiegogo Monday 8/5/24 @ 9am. 

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The Firkin for July 2024

I love imagining what my perfect beer bar would be and so to counteract the existential dread in the air, let’s dream for a while instead.

First, there would be inside and outside seating with the outside being a calm garden center zen zone. Inside would be a mix of bar seating and booths because I like comfortable seating. There would be no TVs. I think it pulls focus from the beers and sports bars do a better job of it anyway.

There would be a total of 12 taps. I think that is manageable in both keeping social media and your own bad menu updated. And that churn would keep coming back to see the new beers.

In regards to the beers, six would be from a guest brewery for the month ( stolen from Function PDX ). That leaves me to have two lighter beers, to IPAs and two stouts. Depending on the guest brewery, the local taps might switch to lighter beers heavy for example.

There would be a little bit of food but nothing fussy or hard to make. Chips and salsa. Cheese plates. Little plates that can be high quality. Outside food would be encouraged as well so that instead of spending time booking food trucks, that time could be spent on beer selections.

I would also have a few single cans in a fridge to-go as well. A curated selection of beers that I find fun.

There is my current idea.

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Decompose

With the rise of 4-packs came a rise in rings.  Thankfully most breweries are not using the translucent ocean killers as in years past but I still have a major league stack of the plastic snap ons and only one brewery that I know of that takes them back.

Screenshot

But now comes the Craft-Pak Versa can carriers.  They “use up to 50% less plastic than competitor carriers without compromising form or function. Plus, certified 100% biodegradable*, Craft-Pak Versa completely decomposes within months. This produces fewer emissions and creates less waste.”

I am hoping to see more of these on the market.

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The Firkin for June 2024

Are building landlords the biggest problem for breweries now and is it more of a problem in higher cost Los Angeles?

When an industry reeling a bit and breweries closing, the first suspects through the door are ingredient and labor costs and / or shrinking customer base.  The former pushes raising the cost of a pint and the latter scares you away from doing that so as not to lose more customers.

But rarely is the cost of the physical space invoked. Is it not an issue?

As I write this, there is an empty apartment in the building next door.  My building has had extended periods without a tenant in one of the four units because my landlord is quite rigorous in her selection process but throughout the fair city of Glendale there is plenty with a capital P office space, plenty of business space in one of the many with a capital M condominiums in town and even quite regular space open at the fancy Americana mall.

It seems a math question of possible future returns vs steady now money.  But the value of a current tenant does not seem to have risen very much if at all while the allure of some dream tenant walking in and paying double as far-fetched as it may or may not be seems to be in vogue.

I do not know how pervasive it is in the Los Angeles rental market for breweries but I have seen it mentioned a fair bit and I saw it play out with the beloved Sunset Beer Co. which was intentionally priced out of their space.  Even though literally across the street was a new and very empty development that was mostly graffiti.  

How does a landlord see that and go, now is the time to look for higher paying tenants? Do they have the cash reserves to pay for a building not getting rented out?  

I know that the stereotype of a landlord is not great even though I have a great one and others do as well.  That perception should lead to landlords differentiating themselves by being really good.  By selecting a business that they can have for the long term and work with so that BOTH succeed.  Why is that not the norm?

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Ozempic & Alcohol

Ozempic has been in the news a lot though coverage was waning a bit to my untrained eye.  But now that drug is back with a new trial focusing on the liver.

The new trial is going to ascertain if Ozempic can improve liver health. How that will be determined is by the medicines’ effects on enhanced liver fibrosis, aka scarring, over a 28 week period.

Obviously, that is addiction adjacent and there are other studies about decreased desire for alcohol or nicotine in progress (and probably more planned).  And also obviously, alcohol and nicotine have big weight effects so being able to curb excess would help in weight loss.

This is another bit of a blow to beer though, since it is a high calorie alcohol. But the question is, are the people utilizing the drug in the beer buying camp?   Or will this hit another spirit or wine harder?  And of course, the main two questions are, does Ozempic work not just anecdotally against addiction and if so for how long? 

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Peel the Label – AI

I like cool architectural designs and home interiors. I am also a fan of nature photography. Both of which are easily manipulated or entirely created by Artificial Intelligence.

Don’t count me in the AI enthusiasts club but don’t count me in the scared of it club either. Mostly because both of those clubs seem to be talking not about AI today but about AI in some nebulous future. Because currently, AI be janky as hell.

How does this relate to beer you might ask. There have already been AI generates beer recipes and probably some AI labels as well. Some beer writers have toyed with tasking AI to write a beer piece.

But all that is predicated on earlier content. Much like this very blog, AI must draw content. I need a brewery to brew a new beer, or for there to be a festival or a silly gadget otherwise what do I highlight or comment on? And that is what AI needs.

For example, you can ask AI to design a taproom layout. All it can do is maybe (if it is actually learning) use a size dimension alongside examples of other taprooms it has scraped from the web to create an amalgam of a layout. It cannot take into account so many things. AI cannot know how customers in your area will behave in it. It cannot incorporate nods or Easter eggs about the community. It cannot find a happy medium between two owners.

The only way AI can be effective is if you plug so many variables into it that you won’t get an actual response OR you plug in a generic ask and then work from the response as a mere base. And either way, guess who will actually do the work? An actual person.

There are a lot of cool things that computers can do but they still cannot be an actual person.

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

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ERB – RIP

When a brewery in Los Angeles calls it a day, it is sad. But when a real path breaker does it, it is doubly sad. If not quadruply sad with it happening smack in the middle of L.A. Beer Week. Such is the case though as Eagle Rock Brewery has decided to end its run at the end of June.

Founded back in 2009 by two really great people, Ting and Jeremy. They have run government gauntlets, brewed many a Unity beer, were there at every early beer festival and so much more.

Who knew that a tiny little brewery in a weird corner side street off a freeway exit with a mild ale as a torch bearer would have such an outsized impact on the direction of craft beer in Los Angeles.

Now only Ladyface Ale Companie stands from the trio of early L.A. breweries. How this will affect The Landing in Burbank or Party Beer Co. who was using the facilities is unknown at this point but this is a real dent and one that I will be processing for a while.

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A New Home for Beer History

Beer history got another place to call a potential home as The Museum of Beer and Brewing opened on May 11, appropriately enough in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Historical Society spearheaded the effort and according to Gary Luther, the President Emeritus of the museum, “There is so much history in Milwaukee, not just related to great breweries like Schlitz, and Pabst, and Blatz, and Gettelman, and Miller, but also the entire industry…”

Other features include an oil painting from 1935 that shows the history of brewing and a beer hall of fame display.