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Wednesday

This Wednesday has me feeling a lot of emotions.  Sad, angry confused to name check just three.  But the main takeaway from election night 2024 is that The United States of America is populated by a mean society that must live sad, angry and confused every day.

I am not despairing though.  I will not be one of the many voices on the interwebs that says we have lost our fragile democracy.  Our institutions are made up of people and the American people are majority mean.  So please do not give me your plea to save democracy, we have been barely clinging to it since this country started.  We live in a mean quasi free land. That means our government is mean and quasi free too.  It is a reflection of us. 

Some may be on this blog for some ray of beer sunshine instead of this jolt of reality.  I get it.  I would much rather post about a new beer or some funny beer gadget than type the word mean over and over.

So, as John Oliver would say on Last Week Tonight, what do we do?  In general and in craft beer.  First, come to accept that there are a lot of mean people in this country and that this incoming government will embolden them to be 110% mean instead of hiding it.  Life is going to get harder for a lot of people.

Second, we need to call out all shitty racist, sexist, all the -ist behaviors fast and hard.  We have to let the mean people know they are mean each and every time.  This blog will speak up anytime meanness enters craft beer. And we all need to say something if we see something mean.  Don’t let them normalize hate.

Understand that the other key attribute of this country is that it is reactionary.  This means that the pendulum will swing back and that we will have to do some clean-up and it will not be pretty or easy.  As Americans, we should be well used to hiding skeletons in closets.

For craft beer,  join your local and state guilds.  Link arms with distributors and shopkeepers.  Serve your specific community knowing that it will more than likely enrage the mean because your community of beer fans will look similar to those who gathered in pubs back in the 1770’s.  The cozier you are with your neighbors the better. 

Most importantly, include anyone that wants to be at your brewery.  Craft beer needs to expand the customer base.  That was true before Tuesday and is still true.  Let’s keep bringing open minded people together over a pint, or two.  I will probably need that many, at least, today.

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Featured Review – The Last Sipper from Lost Abbey via The Rare Beer Club

Every once in a while I will get a happy email from the Rare Beer Club wanting to highlight some of their great beers that you can get.

I will be reviewing two of them this month and if it sounds good, you should check out the club.

It has been a bit since I have had a blended ale and I could not have picked a better beer and brewer to return with than The Last Sipper and Tomme Arthur.

This is a mix of quadrupel and strong ale. The aroma is candied dark fruit and hints at the texture of the beer which is not thick as some big beers are but has a minerality, along with chocolate and coffee. There is a brightness at both the beginning of the sip as well as the end. It is a complex beer for sure.

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3 Quarters Down

Time to take a peek at my beer drinking statistics as we are now in the last quarter of the beer drinking year.  

I have been doing a pretty good job of keeping it local. 180 out of 431 were from the greater Los Angeles area with 353 total from California. My foreign beer game jumped too to 20 with my home state of Oregon notching 44.

Most of the beers were IPA with 212, 108 being straight up West Coast style and a dip in hazies to 36. Maybe I am just not as into them as in the past. I drank slightly more Pils (37) than lagers (31) maybe to our plethora of hoppy pils here in L.A. and there has been a respectable amount of barrel-aged beers as well, more than hazies at 38 tasted.

The average ABV is not super high at 7.10% but considering that my highest ABV week was 10.22%, I feel that there must be a lot in the 7% to 8% range,

Brewery wise, Firestone Walker is the big leader at 50 and even if I don’t visit the Propagator again this year, will probably win the year still. Stone ranks second with 18 beers and Santa Monica Brew Works at 15. There are a few at lucky 13: Beachwood, El Segundo and Smog City.

Expect a jump in non California beers since I will be in Colorado for enough days to make a dent in the total 2024 numbers.

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Wheelin’ & Dealin’

The Modern Times fallout continues as Craft ‘Ohana, the parent company of Maui Brewing Co. is partnering up with San Diego based Wings & Arrow Beer Co. to kinda-sorta supervise Modern Times operations.

This is where it gets even more complicated though.  Wings & Arrow is part of Great Frontier Holdings which is the overarching group for Ninkasi and Ecliptic Brewing amongst other seltzer holdings.  

Got me to thinking about how one cqn have a manager, who has a manager, who has a manager.  Eventually there is too much distance between the brew floor and who owns the business.  

I have a feeling this will be ongoing.

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A Podcast & A Beer – My Unsung Hero

Since it is the month for giving thanks, there is no more fitting choice of podcast than My Unsung Hero hosted by Shankar Vedantam.

“Each episode reveals what the news ignores: everyday acts of kindness and courage that transformed someone’s life. Listen — and renew your faith in humanity.” Boy do we need that in our lives.

For a craft beer to pair with this, I would suggest asking the beertender at your local brewery what beer needs a little love on the tap list, one that needs a craft beer drinking hero to come to the rescue. Oh, and then make a generous tip as well.

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Hug it Out

Now Los Angeles rarely sees actual winter but Benny Boy Brewing and Cidery has our back anyway with Winter’s Hug, an Ice Cider made with Newtown Pippin and Dabinett apples. “Ice Cider is made from sweet juice extracted from frozen cider. This special method produces a higher alcohol content than traditional cider, and the result is a lovely, premium, barrel-aged, dessert-style cider.”

Sounds good for even a SoCal winter.

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Pub in the Woods

As SoCal finally cools down into our approximation of fall, I do long for a serene outdoor spot to drink craft beer like the full introvert that I am and this spot, Pub in the Woods, has the right idea….

…there are spots like Stone HQ where you are in a garden atmosphere or a similar feel at Topa Topa and their HQ but what I wouldn’t give for a short hike to a secluded area with even just a tiny good beer selection.

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Colorado Report # 3

After walking through Sloan Lake Park, I emerged in the Edgewater District and on the corner was Joyride Brewing. Opened in 2014, this local is kitty corner to the park. I went with two IPAs, a fresh hop and an experimental IPA. Their 35th one. Both tasted super fresh. 

Also near the lake is the pilot brewery of Odell Brewing. Earlier in the trip, I had the flagship IPA and the flagship 90 Shilling and neither were on the menu here. I opted for a flight.  Where I went all over the map from table beer to fruited lager to pumpkin beer.  The five beers got better as I moved along with the pumpkin, double IPA and sweet stout being the best of the bunch.

For the third point in the beer triangle, head to Toast – Wine and Spirits a truly lovely little curated neighborhood shop.  I got a sixer of Lady Justice Sandra Day IPA but man, if money and airport security were no object, I would have bought more.  Leopold Brothers and Laws Whiskey and a whole pumpkin beer section.  

In a week of ticking beer bucket list items, heading to Hops & Pie was a coupe de grace.  A real “peach” of a final hurrah as I got to taste the Peach version of Weldwerks Brewing’s Juicy Bits IPA. I did not order the hoppy fries but the pumpkin soup and roasted pear salad were great.

To conclude, a special shout out to Chip and Erika for shuttle service and helpful tips.