Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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All Together

Other Half Brewing Co is taking a page from the Resilience handbook with their new All Together, worldwide beer collaboration. It was “created to raise funds & awareness for the industry we love so much. Regardless of location or circumstances, when one member of the hospitality industry struggles, the rest of the group (including brewers, servers, bartenders, bussers, dishwashers, GMs, buyers, chefs & owners) steps in to help and lend a hand”

More info, “How does the project work? #AllTogetherBeer invites any brewer, from any corner of the planet, to participate by providing the tools needed to make the beer at the lowest possible cost, including an open-source recipe, artwork, and name. In exchange, the collective asks that a portion of the proceeds go to supporting hospitality professionals in each brewery’s own community. The rest should be donated to keeping the brewery in business to weather this storm.”

Go to the website to find out if there will be togetherness near you. I know that Long Beach Beer Lab and Bodega did a version.

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Great Beer Names / Labels for April 2020

First up for April is a special sour release from New Belgium, UK Spring Break. This ale combines Earl Grey Tea and red currants and I like the playful tone of the label and the name is just a touch funny too.

The second beer is from right here in L.A.. Mumford Brewing brings Sunnyness in the form of Motueka hops in this NEIPA. It also sports my college colors too.

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Beer Buyers Club

The Beer Connoisseur magazine with great 20/20 2020 vision launched a new Beer Buyers Club, a partnership with beer delivery service, Tavour. Breweries are shutting taprooms and sales are limited so a good way to support craft beer might just be to have it delivered to you. I have a friend who has used the service and it worked well.

Head HERE to start checking out the details. Use promo code “BC2020” at the Tavour check-out.

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The Firkin for March 2020

This has been a shitty month. No sugarcoating it. But part of human nature is to make lemonade out of lemons and memes out of Michael Jordan crying, so it is no surprise that quarantine named beers have started popping up.

I get it and some are quite clever but part of me thinks that this may be a thing to stay away from or now. Granted, I have thought that a brewery should Barrel-age a beer they normally would have sold immediately and name it Newsom’s Private Reserve or Mayor Garcetti’s Non-Essential ale.

But neither would get the joke and would just fall back on their safe public safety arguments while we who are left feel the brunt of the economic fallout zone they pushed us into.

So, instead, I think it would be great for breweries in Los Angeles to collaborate on a beer or two to honor the breweries that did not make it through this crisis. Not something bitter or sour, but maybe a golden ale. The Sun is Out Again rings true to me.

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Aftermath – Part 1

As I write this, the rain is outside my office. Yes, the times are so strange that Los Angeles is wet.

And it may be too soon yet to look to the future, what with the daily really everywhere around us. But I want to tackle what the craft beer world will look like after this crisis passes.

Instead of diving into the whole picture, let’s look at those breweries with extensive barrel-aging programs. This has stuck with me over many days as bans and stay-at-homes have proliferated.

Because, what type of inventory that a brewery had could well dictate how they look on the other side of it. Logistics of brewing are hard enough. Trying to time ingredient ordering and to have staff on hand and then juggling tank space is pretty close to an art form.

Now, you add uncertainty of selling your finished product. I would not sleep a wink with all these variables swirling in my brain. I would assume that production would slacken until, taprooms can reopen safely. When that blessed time comes, taps will not be at full strength.

But if you have beers aging and ready, well, now you are not only open but open with a bang, with something special. Maybe that higher end product can be the first lifeline to a brewery that is in need of an infusion of cash

IPA may be king but it may not be the beer that will come to the rescue. If rain can dampen SoCal, other minor miracles can happen too.

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Athletic in San Diego

Non-Alcoholic East Coast brewer Athletic has pounced on the former Ballast Point “Trade Street” brewing facility and will be shipping their beer out the door in mid-May. This new production hub will increase their capacity and help them meet a demand across its 10 state distribution footprint. And maybe they will even add a taproom to this spot as well.

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Federal Relief?

So, despite some light Republican siding with corporate interest resistance, the first of what may be many CoronaVirus bills has been signed into reality.

Phase 1 is about free testing, sick leave and expanding unemployment benefits.

Phase 2 would have small business loan assistance

Also, the Brewers Association is going to push their weight behind the following initiatives…

  • “A temporary suspension or deferral of federal excise taxes;
  • A waiver of penalties for payment of late excise tax fees;
  • A business tax credit for lost sales;
  • Flexibility in submitting amendments to licenses for current permit holders;
  • An increase in funding for Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Relief Assistance programs;
  • Deferment of SBA loan payments/no interest loans;
  • Deferment of payments with no interest accrual for loans with commercial lenders;
  • A freeze on premium increases for unemployment insurance;
  • Suspension of payroll taxes;
  • Compensation Fund.”

That list is taken from information from the BA and of those items, the last one is the most important. Breweries need a replacement cash flow and hopefully they can get it.

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Make a Beer Wish

Who doesn’t like a good raffle? And you can win some serious beer too. Follow this LINK Whale Hunters and buy a few tickets to help the Make-A-Wish foundation. Personally, I went for the Cantillon package.

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Beer Bracketology

Well, no March Madness this year, BUT… Silva Brewing, released their “Sweet Sixteen” earlier this month and this bracket could be filled out and won, no matter how you picked. Maybe next year, I will get my act together and create a bracket of L.A. beers to vote on and find out our local “Final Four”.

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Closed

If you were told to go home today, and not return to work until April, without pay, could you do it?

What if the return date was unknown?

Well, Los Angeles bars and restaurants have been forced into that choice by the governor of California and the mayor of Los Angeles.

After those paragraphs, you might be surprised that I am for the halt. What I am fully against is not having any other part to the plan. If a restaurant chain lays off or furloughs their staff or is at a small margin and cannot survive a week off, then the results will be massive. And not in a good economic way.

Your favorite restaurant might be gone. Or breweries will close and not just temporarily. Without a second part to this plan, that involves supplementing income for both affected businesses and workers, then we will be forced into an economic panic and we have seen that Americans will panic and panic hard.

Closing bars and restaurants will put even more pressure on grocery stores and speaking as someone who waited 1 1/2 hours just to enter a well run Trader Joe’s and also saw the empty shelves at Amazon/Whole Foods can attest, that pressure is going to be too much. Then we expect underpaid gig economy workers to deliver food and groceries! Until one gets the virus, of course.

There needs to be a full multi-pronged effort. Even if the details are not ready, it should be made crystal fucking clear that restitution will absolutely be made. Or that a the very least that delays in payments will be vigorously enforced as business practice for now. All there is now is vague promises of support.

Health now is vital. But to sacrifice tomorrow in the process is just a Ponzi scheme. One that individuals and small business should not have to shoulder the cost of without a promise of having that favor be returned.