Gonna have a little whiplash as we go from shandy to stout from Santa Monica Brew Works.
And surprisingly, I found the shandy to be the better beer by far. I have never eaten at a Hot Dog on a Stick so no fond recollections of days at the mall cloud my memory. It was a nice sugary lemonade balanced out by the 310 Blonde Ale. I would have up the beer percentage a skosh but it was refreshing.
The stout was OK but it had no life to it. It was neither rich and viscous nor light and bubbly. No chocolate or coffee notes jumped out at me either. Had a bit of a metallic note to it as well. An addition of something else to add a secondary flavor might have helped here.