Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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The Firkin for June 2019

There are still horrible beer names, pay rates which peeked into the news cycle for a bit won’t change overnight, gripes about beer styles predominate and more spiked seltzers seem to be the saving brewery grace.

So, you can take all this news as pure negative. Or you could see it as a maturing market that is grappling with moving up. I see it as a European soccer club that wins promotion to the top tier of competition. It is easy to become overwhelmed and the next season head back down a level bloodied from the experience. But you need to keep your head, spend wisely, brand yourself and forecast but not hold onto that forecast with a death grip in the face of change.

That change may mean going hazy or Kveik’y faster than you want. It might mean changing up which festivals you attend or the hours of your taproom. Maybe you slushy up that sour that is not selling or re-name it a popsicle sour and give it a fun, summery name. Or you can stand still.

Room is available for growth. big beer is still losing by dribs and drabs and that loss can be independent beers gain.

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Creating Traffic

File this under things I would love to see on the streets of Los Angeles. Well, actually, it would probably need to be safely stored on a bigger truck to avoid accidents from lookie-loos….

(picture grabbed from Twitter)
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Tax Extension

I know that the words excise tax either cause sleep or sleeplessness.  The first due to mind numbing legalese that need to be carefully read to be understood and the latter because, well, no one likes paying taxes.

But stick with this post a minute.  One of the few good things in the Trump “Don’t Tax the Rich but I Won’t Show My Tax Returns” plan was that there was relief for small brewers as well as other alcohol producers and importers.  The bad thing, the tax was temporary. 

That temporary status is on the road for a one-year extension with the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2019 which will be voted on by the full House of Representatives, then if all goes well, to the Senate and then for the Cheeto to doodle on before he realizes he has to sign it.

And if they do this enough times, maybe they can make it permanent.

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Four Corners – Interview

  1. Why come to Los Angeles in 2019?

Los Angeles has a thriving craft beer scene and one of the nation’s largest Hispanic populations, so bringing our flagship El Chingón IPA and El Grito Lager here is the perfect next step in the Four Corners Brewing Co. journey. We bring together the culture of craft brewing with Mexican-American bicultural heritage, creating flavorful craft beers accompanied by vibrant lotería-inspired branding. Four Corners is perched at the intersection of the growing popularity of traditional Mexican import beers and the innovative nature of craft brewing. This blend results in a craft brewery with the ability to appeal to L.A.’s wide range of culturally diverse beer drinkers.

2. Can you give us the origin story of Four Corners Brewing

Four Corners is our collective beer journey that has taken us from being better-beer enthusiasts and home brewers to launching and nurturing our brand in Texas for more than seven years. Four Corners was founded in 2012 in an effort to elevate craft beer culture in our hometown of Dallas. Our goal was to reflect the diversity of the neighborhood and bring together creative groups of people to celebrate a common passion.

Before founding Four Corners, Co-Founders Greg Leftwich, Steve Porcari and I had become enamored by the American craft beer movement and were inspired to share our passion with others. Our true beginning goes back to Porcari’s home garage where we gained a deeper appreciation of the styles, ingredients and brewing processes as home brewers.

We’re proud and excited that our journey now provides the opportunity to brew our bold, delicious beers in San Diego and raise a pint with the people of Los Angeles and Southern California.

3. What is the flagship beer for Four Corners and will it translate to the LA market?

We’re bringing two flagship offerings to Southern California– El Chingón IPA and new El Grito Lager. Both are available now throughout Los Angeles and San Diego in colorful seis-packs and on draft at popular bars and restaurants.

We believe our bold brews and Mexican-American inspired branding will appeal to Los Angeles’ bicultural beer drinkers as well as craft fans seeking new experiences. That’s what’s special about Four Corners — our beers hold their own against American craft brewers in terms of flavor and complexity and our vibrant branding attracts bicultural drinkers. 

4. What is the Dallas craft beer scene like in 2019?

When we launched Four Corners in 2012 in Dallas,there were only a handful of breweries in the state and only two in the entire North Texas region. These days, there are more than 250 craft breweries in Texas. We’re proud that Four Corners helped pioneer and shape the burgeoning craft beer scene in North Texas and added a unique dimension to the Texas craft beer landscape.

5. What has been the impact of Constellation for the brewery?

We’ve embraced our partnership with Constellation Brands. It has provided the opportunity to share our beer with more people, first throughout Texas and now in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Our standard of brewing has remained unchanged because our management team and employees have continued delivering the same innovative and fresh flavors consumers enjoy today.

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No Labels

As readers will know, I am a fan of stealing great ideas from elsewhere and here is another fine example….

The Growler Magazine of Minnesota has launched—Unlabeled: A Blind Tasting Showdown.

The twist? Well there are two. First, “the tasting is 100 percent blind and only one specific beer style will be poured at each event in the Unlabeled series. Each beer will be “unlabeled” and guests won’t know which brewery made which beer until the grand reveal at the end of the event.”

Unlabeled No. 1, will have Minnesota-made Hazy IPAs and No. 2 will be an Oktoberfest both will use an app custom-made for the event to register your tasting notes and guesses.

I would love to see maybe ten breweries max do this in LA. Start with IPA cause that do sell tickets and maybe add in a food pairing component too.

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LABW12

Now that LABW11 is in the past, now is the perfect time to look ahead at the tweaks that can be made for next year. Here are (3) suggestions that I would make if my red phone rang…

Settle on a 2nd Weekend Featured event – My vote goes to Cellador and Sour Friends. Move that to Sunday and promote it as the bookend to the week. Years past has seen a whole separate festival, be it Sierra Nevada or Vegan Fest but I think those dull the shine of the Kick-Off festival and some people probably pick one or the other since the same breweries (basically) are at both. Focus on L.A. and focus on a niche.

Have one Unity Night – I would make Wednesday night a Unity night. List all the establishments that have the beer on tap or in cans and have a simultaneous raising of the glass to the beer. Also, can we go back to the beer telling an L.A. story. A West Coast DIPA is fine but how does that separate L.A. from other cities?

Go Hyper Local – Each day of the LABW should have a fun food and beer pairing from a different part of our sprawling Metropolis. Maybe seafood with a Santa Monica Brew Works beer, BBQ and IPA at HopSaint in Torrance, tacos in DTLA, dessert in Palmdale/Lancaster. Something to stitch together the whole fabric of LA.

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Will Thor be Brewing?

Fresh off the big crowds for new food and beer options at their newly opened Star Wars Land, comes news that the Earth’s Mightiest Defenders will be mashing out and dry hopping inside the park to keep Galactus and Thanos from getting too thirsty.

Maybe this is what Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Daredevil will be doing now that they are not on Netflix.

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With the 25th Pick

Late Thursday night, while I was enjoying pizza and Beachwood beers at We’re Pouring, my beloved (and often shouted at) Portland Trailblazers made their pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. I know that free agents and who can be afforded is of more importance but let’s get to know….

from ESPN

Maybe Little Beast could create a North Carolina Paw Paw sour called Nassir. I don’t know how he will impact the team, especially with last year’s pick Gary Trent Jr. in front of him.

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Biting Tires

Every once in a while, a beer menu for an unknown new brewery explains in ways that vagueness elsewhere on a website does not. Such is the case with Tirebiter Brewery which came onto my radar via Hopped LA.

Notice the SABInBev stable of beers. Tirebiter made a distributor happy with the easy order. Also notice the high prices. Who would pay $8 for Spacedust when you can get at least 8 bottles of it at almost any grocery store in SoCal. Dollars to donuts, this place has no physical brewing space. Not that contract brewing is bad but I have a feeling this place ain’t gonna lure people from the DTLA core to USC.

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Cold as the Mountains

I have started seeing mention of a Mountain IPA…

Pro – Strata Hops! My new favorite varietal

Con – MIPA does not roll off the tongue. Sounds like something a Muppet would say.

I would say that for a style to truly take hold it needs to start with the consumer clicking with an experimental beer, then it goes viral from there and THEN gets a name or appellation. This may be putting the cart in front of the horse.