Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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15 Dollars a Bottle

Before we begin to talk about Hanabi and their $90.00 six-pack, read this ARTICLE that started the fire.

Now that you are back, I expect you are feeling emotions from annoyed to pissed off. I certainly felt a spectrum of the negative kind.

It’s not the twee hair and outfit or the dabbling with artisanal fireworks. It is certainly not the malt sourcing or old-timey handmade brewing equipment. It’s not the only brewing four times a year.

It’s the privilege that practically drips off of each quote that galls me. I should know, I am a white male who has certainly gotten more than a fair share of it myself. In this case it is the privilege of NOT having to sell their wares. When you have an obscenely wealthy owner and you make a fraction of what you can sell and then you add another, even more restrictive boutique side project and price it outside the reach of 90+% of the people, you have a mash tun of privilege.

And if you don’t at the very least acknowledge that you are seriously in a dream job then I know that you may have extensive brewing knowledge but that you are missing a piece of the humanity puzzle. If you are not brewing a special batch to sell to help financially assist fellow brewers who aren’t in your rarefied financial air. If you aren’t donating to any other charity then it won’t matter how excellent your beer is, it will be found lacking.

I’m not posting an image of the bottle or even adding a link to their website because I have already devoted too much time to this beer. I almost didn’t add the Vinepair link. Buy local, buy quality but don’t buy from those who are more brag than humble.

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The Next IPA Craze

Yeah, that headline is facetious to a degree but I do not know how I missed the first go-round of the Horchata IPA…

Obviously, the star of this Mumford / Magnify collaboration is the lactose. Americans will suck down sweet no matter what. But the spice profile of Horchata seems to lend itself to more of a stout or a golden milk stout. I do not see how cinnamon and nutmeg would blend with hops. But maybe it is an opposites attract thing.

By the time this posts the beer will probably be sold out and trading online proving me to the contrarian yet again

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The Firkin for January 2021

I was reading an obituary of Portland Brewing on the Beervana Blog when the writer Jeff Alworth made the following (paraphrased by me) point, that Portland Brewing could have brewed the best hazy IPA and the customers would still go to Great Notion for their trend fix.

That made me think what it would take for an “old” brewery to regain hype credibility. Would it require a change in brewer? A new branding initiative? Sole access to a hop that everyone wants?

Being the Bernie like contrarian, I do not know the answer because I don’t buy based solely on hype or perceived market value. That is neither a plus or minus but it does leave me with blind spots when the next cool thing takes off. I am invariably late to the party and slightly jaded about it too.

I do think that there should be some sort of distribution channel for breweries trying to be bold and different from their past. Something that would let a customer know that a beer should be judged anew. Or, for shits and giggles one of these trendy breweries should put out a beer brewed by another brewery and likewise for the other. Let it sit in the market a bit before pulling back the rug on the con.

You might see people running to a heritage brewery right quick.

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Beer! A Love Story

If you have watched everything on Netflix, HBO to the Max, D+, and you need something new to watch, well you are in luck because Beer! is available to stream.

Here is the elevator pitch, “There’s no other film like BEER! A Love Story. This full-length feature documentary weaves together the stories of over 30 international protagonists across multiple countries who speak the universal language of beer, the world’s most consumed fermented beverage.”

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Malt via NAGBW

Already in 2021, I have improved on past performance by listening to another North American Guild of Beer Writers Zoom. This time about malt. Here are some two row bites of info….

  • Instead of thinking solely of a supply chain, think about the Value Chain
  • barley farming has a steep learning curve
  • only around 120 craft maltsters in the US
  • terroir of malt has not really been studied yet
  • malt has not been bred for flavor to hit attributes that a brewer has designed
  • brewers used to be their own malt suppliers
  • look out for different killing methods such as wind dried
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Back in Black

I need recent days, two fan favorite beers returned to distribution. First….

Stone Brewing stuck SS-R in its 12 Days of IPA’s box and then this year decidedly to re-release it all on its own. That was followed by…

…the label re-designed Wookey Jack from the SoCal Firestone.

How many more Black IPA’s do you think will cone back this year?

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Peel the Label – Social Media Defiance

I waited a couple days to ruminate before wading into the “I’m Right, You’re Wrong” Covid wars but felt that I should add my two cents in for a middle perspective.

The topic, you may ask, is posting on social media that you are going to open your brewery/restaurant despite explicit orders not to. Now I truly empathize with, in this case, Pedals & Pints Brewery up in the Thousand Oaks area. They grand opened a few days before California shut down dining back in March. That sucks. They seem to care about their employees and they say they will be stringent in cleaning, though you could clean every surface and one sick person without a mask will undo all the scrubbing.

They have been whipsawed by government at every label and received little to no actual help. Again, that sucks. I have railed against the haphazard, whatever is easiest approach multiple times on this blog that Newsom has decreed.

But, life is about timing and boy did Pedal & Pints not factor that in. You simply cannot say no when patients are being cared for in a hospital gift shop. Yup, that happened. Might still be happening. You simply cannot say no when each day brings new records for positive Covid cases. It sucks but all you are doing is asking the government to shut you down and fine you. And, you are dividing potential customers into the I don’t care about rules camp and the I ain’t gonna visit that hot zone camp.

I sure as heck ain’t gonna go there. It may be outside dining but I bet the air under that tent will have some viral component because people will be sitting there for long periods of time without masks. And the people there will be the Covid deniers / chin diaper mask brigade.

You just have to wait until the vaccine gets out there more and slowly open back up without posting it almost over the socials. It’s the right thing to do even though the government hasn’t done right by you.

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

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Which Way for Bubbles

Despite the official opinion of the Beer Search Party blog of anti-hard seltzer, I have tasted various options including the White Claw (which should be avoided) and even recently had a nice one from Wild Basin aka Oskar Blues with a melon/herb flavor profile.

If you had told me that seltzer would still be a thing in 2021 with practically every brewery having one on offer, I would have choked a bit on my predictions. I do think (now) that they are probably going to hang around for a few more years before completely fizzling out but it will be only because the market got overheated vs the customer base.

The final nail in the seltzer coffin will come from a new drink of the summer of ‘21 or ‘22 whichever will steal thunder and the bubbles will fade.

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New from the White Labs Vault

It is common to see posts about new hop varietals on this blog. Sometimes malt gets a high five but yeast and water rarely factor in despite their massive importance which is why I though this Instagram post from White Labs was cool…

WLP631 is in town. There’s probably won’t be any beers promoting that title on a label but it is important to see yeast terroir in action. Maybe there will be a Great Lakes Tart yeast or Big City SoCal version. The fact that science can cut these up into distinct little products is great because each time we gain a little more understanding of beer.

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Wolf Creek

Sad news to report this Monday. Rob McFerren co-founder of Wolf Creek Brewery and Restaurant in the Santa Clarita Valley passed away at the start of the year. Wolf Creek’s history stretches back all the way to 1997. That is a long time in the Southern California beer history timeline. Both Rob and Laina have been stalwarts in the LA County Brewers Guild. Those are just two reasons that this is a blow to the beer community. You will probably see many heartfelt remembrances from brewers and breweries impacted by his life.

R.I.P.