Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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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.

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Covid-19

Update as of 3/16/20 – New game plan now that many places have been told to shut. Buy gift cards. Online, if possible, or purchase a 4-pack and add a card for those breweries that can sell to-go. Buy beer online. Tavour being an example. Join a brewery club. Or if your brewery does food and delivers, order that. Move your normal beer out spending to new places.

Fear and panic and toilet paper memes are at high levels. Sporting events, movie premieres and theme parks have suspended activity.

That inactivity means that money is not coming in and that can be very painful for small business, and let’s face it, most breweries are of this Mom and Pop variety.

So, what can the beer fan do? AND stay safe and diminish the spread of the virus?

If you are sick, stay home. Testing is probably not an option now so err on the side of caution. If you are not sick, keep washing your hands and make an effort to not touch as much door handles, drawers or anything that others will probably be touching. Obvious stuff really.

Then, go out and buy stuff from breweries. Gift cards are a great idea. As are 4-packs or other packaged items. If you have been meaning to buy a hat or t-shirt, do it now. It will be appreciated. And if you bought a ticket to an event or festival, don’t be an ass about it, demanding money back or explanations. Time spent massaging your entitled ego is time not spent sanitizing and keeping clean.

If you are reluctant to go to a tap room, find out when they open and arrive then to avoid any larger groups. If you plan on staying for a beer or two, give people space.

Lastly, enjoy the beer and talk about it on social media. We could all use less doom and more delight.

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New Hops

As ever, Stan Hieronymus has the hop beat covered and he has unearthed a pair of new hops that you might see in the future. Personally, Akoya sounds the most interesting to me, “Two recently named hops reflect that. Solero, previously known as #243/42, comes from the crafty line and the aroma is described as containing tropical fruits, mango and passion fruit. It is a cross between Cascade and a Hopsteiner male and grown primarily in Germany. Akoya, #99/268, is a cross between Zenith (a 1980s product of the Wye breeding program) and a Hopsteiner male. Its aroma is described as tea, spicy, green fruits and pepper, and it is considered a substitute for Perle or Halltertau Traditon.”

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Design Time

File this under, should be done more. Rogue is making a limited run of blank canvas cans for artists and beer lovers to adorn with their own design for the fall – Halloween staple from the Oregon brewery. If I had any (I mean any) skills, I would give it a shot.

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The Firkin for February 2020

Beer Advocated purchased by Untappd. To be more precise, by Next Glass, the owner of Untappd. And no, they are going to merge their ratings systems. They know better than anger that fan base.

This follows upon the “other” beer rating website (RateBeer) being bought by SABInBev. Quite frankly, I have not used RB’s site since I do not want Big Beer to grab any of my beer data and since the Beer Advocate magazine stopped, I haven’t really dropped by their website either. I have had subscriptions for pretty much every beer magazine down the pike, included Craft Beer & Brewing currently but minus Beer Paper LA and blogs, the writing game is pretty scattered now.

Which means a more than likely, money or time losing situation for a passion project (like this here blog). I can’t fault Beer Advocate for going this route. It will allow them to focus on events or other projects that could not have been done due to the lack of cash or hours in the day.

The question is, what is the future of sites like Beer Advocate and RateBeer. Both have passionate defenders but I feel the initial rush of giddy beer drinkers has passed and the middle ground of fans no longer deep dives into topics like they once did. I certainly do not even add everything I taste onto Untappd, and that really just requires wi-fi and a working finger.

Perhaps, there will come a time when there are different levels of beer rating services catering to passionate niches of people. Who knows what the future will hold.

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Mikkeller Down

I wasn’t expecting this news. Not with the Lakers-Clippers-Kings keeping Staples Center busy and considering that the brand is opening in Portland. They had a nice city chain working up the coast and now it is broken.

I don’t know if the space was too big or the coffee shop / bottle shop was not pulling people in but the few times that I went, there were crowds. It wasn’t the typical uncrowded restaurant that you can tell is not going to last.

This all being said without knowledge of the franchise style that operates the San Francisco and formerly L.A. locations. It is a loss that combined with Mega Bodega leaving last year in the same area that does not bode well for craft beer.

Maybe they can find a new location, plenty of mixed use space in the condos of Glendale.

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NAGBW 2020 Grants

The North American Guild of Beer Writers, with partner support from the CraftBeer.com website published by the Brewers Association, has chosen four winning writers to receive the 2020 Diversity in Beer Writing Grant.

Per, the press release, the writers and their projects are:

“Alessandra Bergamin will chronicle a cross-border collaboration between California’s Dos California’s Brewsters, SouthNorte Beer Co., and Tijuana, Mexico’s Lúdica Artesenal Cerveceria. The story will follow female brewers making a beer that will help fund scholarships for female peers in Mexico.”

“Stephanie Grant plans to report about the safety of women who work in the beer industry from a variety of roles and perspectives. Industry professionals will share stories and insight on the challenges they face at events, traveling, and more, as a way to give context to their experiences.”

“Louis Livingston-Garcia will tell the story of the leaders behind Minnesota’s Brewing Change Collaborative, a group made up of people of color and the LGBTQ+ community working to share beer with minority communities and support those who are trying to break into beer.”

“Jen Blair will connect plant-based food and beer to write about how these dietary options can work together to create a more inclusive environment at events and among those who love beer, especially among African-Americans, who have the highest percentage of vegans among all demographics in the U.S.”

Of those, the first sounds like the most interesting for me to dive into when it is published.

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AirBnB vs Can Release

I thought this was an Onion headline at first…

…nope. It apparently happened. A line of Other Half fans apparently got heckled and White Claw’d by a gun-toting person from a nearby AirBnB.

Here is my breakdown. If you are standing in line for special anniversary beers then you will be heckled and you have enough money to laugh it off. If you are staying across the street from a brewery, just laugh and enjoy whatever candy flavor of the Claw you have. No need to go back inside and get yo’ gun because there is only one way that ends. You in a jail cell.

Faith in humanity just lost a few points.

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Peel the Label – Ghost Kitchens

Ghost Kitchens keep popping up in the paper (L.A. Times) and the World Wide Weird (Eater) about the issues and ethics of Ghost Kitchens. Basically, a ghost kitchen just cooks food for delivery. They can be tied to one of the delivery services or be a central hub that prepares meals normally prepared at the restaurant proper.

So, how does this affect beer? If delivery becomes the norm, that means less people sitting down at a restaurant or sitting down at a bar waiting for their table. It could mean that the restaurant with the great beer list starts buying cheaper beer because they are being squeezed by PostGrubMates and their fees. It could mean that restaurants close. Now, here in Los Angeles, that would be less of a beer loss than in cities like Portland, Denver and Seattle where the two are interwoven unlike L.A. where they very rarely meet and breweries are creating their own restaurants.

It also means the potential loss of cheap space for breweries if this trend ramps up and ghost kitchens look for spots that will geographically work for the delivery swarms.

The last item that I see is that it will push more breweries to package. And ironically, beer will at least be the one thing delivered that will stay warm while the cheese congeals and fries become limp and cold. But these ghost kitchens might just become bulk buyers in a way that a stand-alone beer delivery wouldn’t work. That is, if they can move with the alcohol laws.

Then again, prepared food delivery is just going to be a no-go for many people especially rural but even in just a small city and their impacts will not ripple far or wide.

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

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The State of State Brewing

Sad news hit yesterday….

This was not the brewery that I thought would call it a day first in 2020. Not that I have a Arya Stark type list but State Brewing had both a quality of beer and a wide range of beer and enough hits in the top style categories that I thought would insulate them from financial trouble and keep them above the Mendoza line as it were. This is a blow for sure and even the most rosy hued (like me) won’t be able to wipe this away with a “this is an opportunity for another brewery” sentiment.

But this is not a triggering event. The competition is tough and capitalization is on a case by case basis so do not worry that a cascade of closures will ensue. Some times, you just have to walk away from the table.