Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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Dry

About now, some who were on the Dryuary train may have gotten off while others are moving forward in their alcohol abstinence. Those in the middle should probably read this handy guide from NPR, HERE.

I have been taking (2) days off a week from drinking since 2016 which I feel works better for me but I understand the whole resolution side of the ledger as well. But I would say that January need not be the month that EVERYONE stops drinking be it a few days or full month.

Maybe, December is a better month for people to press pause to better deal with relatives over the holidays. Maybe Half of June and Half of July is better. The month doesn’t really matter as long as you are looking into your relationship with alcohol. Dryuary is handy as a reminder but is not the gospel.

Because the goal is not to drink everything as fast as you can but to enjoy what you have. I find that after beer two, subtle flavors are lost so I would much rather limit now and enjoy for my whole life than to go crazy in the present with diminishing results.

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Whittier x2

Poet Gardens, the home of the Whittier Brewing Co. won’t be the city’s only brewery for long as a 2nd brewery has gained approval from the Whittier Planning Commission.

The brewery is La Bodega, owned by Erik and Raul Tapia.  They plan to operate a brewery, as well as a retail store to sell beer and wine alongside a restaurant in a former optometrist’s office.

Abraham Mercado, a friend of the owners will be the brewmaster and the hope is for a 2020 opening.

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Food Waste

I don’t think that brown bananas or lumpy apples will be the new hazy IPA but with an emphasis on upcycling and making the most of the fruit and vegetables that are grown, one company, Hazel Technologies is creating products to slow the inevitable decay of food. 

Per a recent article in the Los Angeles Times that leads to its own waste.  R&D has to be done on actual fruits and that creates a whole separate waste cycle but Hazel has gotten creative and is taking “discarded passion fruit and making a sour IPA, and discarded bananas and making a banana rum. He (the company founder) has a fridge full of dragon fruit and is considering making a dragon fruit beer.”

I have heard about re-use of hops and small beer but this would be a whole new world for whatever brewery is really into conservation.

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Hot Takes to Hate Early

Over on the main Eater website, this POST recently popped up about easy headlines for 2020 stories. I am going to take that idea and add a beer spin to it. Though there were a couple takes that were beer related or beer adjacent:

• Let Your Children Run Wild in restaurants

• Only Assholes Drink Sours

Here are my hyper-specific beer takes:

~ Pilsner is the beer of the future (stolen from 2019, 2018 and 2017)

~ Don’t put [insert ingredient] in beer, it is sacrilege.

~ The craft beer bubble will burst (must use both “B” words for this one)

~ My review of this super rare beer that is made in such ridiculously small quantities that you can live next door to the brewery and not be able to score a bottle.

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The Firkin for December 2019

Many people approach the New Year as a chance to project what new adventures can be embarked upon. Travel is an obvious one as are improving ones future health or finding a new job or just general steps forward.

I see that view but also look at the calendar change as a chance to leave 2019 things in 2019 and not re-visit them. Don’t expect me to say “OK Boomer” in 2020. And there are quite a few beer things that need to stay in the past….

Sexist beer names and the social media shaming that comes with it. If you are still finding any body part humor funny, well, I cannot help you and I am not going to publicize it either.

Lining up for special release beers. We should all agree that there is literally more than enough great beer out there that waiting to buy your max amount possible is not the best use of time.

Dryuary. Oh, how the articles about you are all the same. I felt better. I lost weight. But I didn’t have as much fun and didn’t socialize as much. Blinding glimpse of the obvious the whole experiment is.

Bagging on Untappd. I understand that the reviews may not be helpful but at least it isn’t as bad or mercenary as Yelp. Take it for what it is, a small form of free advertising when I post what I am drinking.

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Be Safe

Each year, I take a post to super strongly recommend that you do not drink and drive tonight. It goes without saying that you should not do it any day of the year but especially tonight.

There is zero excuse for not staying safe. You can Lyft practically anywhere for much less than a ticket. You can order food and in some locales drink to be delivered right to you. (At least until the gig economy workers revolt and take over the streets).

Besides, there is too much good beer out there and 2020 will probably be just as crazy as 2019 and you do not want to miss it.

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Popular in 2019

Each time that Bud and Miller Lite hit the Untappd Top 10, I wonder if there is an intern somewhere with multiple fake accounts, making sure that the brands stay relevant in this corner of the beer universe. Who else would tick these beers and to this degree.

Diatribe aside, there is little that would make one go “Wow” from this list. The fact that Guinness blew away all other comers by a healthy margin despite having multiple variants is a healthy sign. How Lagunitas is #3 is a thinker but maybe that is due to a nationwide footprint and possibly global and nothing to do with the shuttering of locations. But landing #2 and # 3 has to take that sting out a bit.

I was hoping to see more craft represented. Really only (3) on the list with BrewDog, Bell’s and Sierra Nevada and all of them are on the larger side.

I am looking more forward to the deeper statistical dives that Untappd will release.

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All Four

Arts District Brewing begat Imperial Western Beer and now brewmaster Devon Randall will add another name to her resume as All Season Brewing Company is set to open sometime in (maybe) early 2020 at the former Firestone Tire Building on La Brea near Wilshire.

The space will hold the new brewery as well as a Chicas Tacos location and marks, as far as I can tell, the only real mid-city brewery in Los Angeles.

When more information comes available, I will pass it on. Along with other jokes about how SoCal only has one season.

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A Greener Forge

A few days ago I saw a cryptic post about the timing of the sale of Barley Forge. It seemed on its face as a simple explanation for fans who might want to schedule last visits to the Costa Mesa brewery, but it also was a foreshadowing that the brewery was changing hands. Greg Nagel from OC Beer Blog broke the news that new that….

It looks a strategic parry to their neighboring brewery, Gunwhale Ales which opened a second location near Green Cheek and now Green Cheek is returning the favor. Also, it is interesting that this will be the second brewery space that Green Cheek will take over.

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The Firkin for November 2019

The only constant is change. Nothing stays the same. Your favorite beer or local brewery may not be the same next year.

And we as beer consumers need to lean into that. We need to be pro-active and not get stuck in ruts just because they are easy and safe. If you stay in the rut, you will soon not be impressed by anything and you will miss out on beers that you really should be trying.

The rut might be of chasing hazy IPA or eschewing new beers for classics or just being loyal minus critical attention. Whatever path you are on, you need to add more paths to your repertoire. Hike them all and store that knowledge for later.

If you are the same beer drinker in a year as you are today, then all of this beer plenty we have will have been for naught.

I am thankful for all the choice and all the beers that I have had (even the bad ones) and I hope that #independent keeps on changing and evolving with me.