Here in SoCal, we don’t get a lot of Moonlight beer which is a pity. But we may be seeing this beer down here….
…since it has the push of Lagunitas behind it. Love to see a bock, be it pale or otherwise.
1st Visit – Lagunitas Azusa
I rode the rails to Azusa a few days back to check out the current state of the mega complex that Lagunitas is building since they now have opened up a temporary taproom, to taste their wares in.
Here is my report in photos….
I will talk more about my OK first visit on Food GPS.
Lag Time
Pop-Ups are not just for restaurants and fashion, they can also be for beer as Lagunitas is proving with their Azusa Pop-Up TapRoom which opens April 8th. This will be the temp while the permanent space is being constructed with a hoped for opening date of August this year.
Here are the details….
– TapRoom hours: Wed-Sun 3pm – 9pm
– Live music begins at 4:20 and goes til 7:30-ish
– Local food trucks will provide tasty food until our kitchen in completed
No news on whether brewing is happening yet or is also set to begin later this year.
Born Again
It seems that IPA’s have well defined life cycles now. It starts with an IPA. That IPA then becomes unfiltered. (Case in point, see above). Then the IPA gets draft only special dry hops. Then it gets fruited.
I have been impressed with the Born Yesterday beers that I have had and I can’t wait for Lagunitas to open in Azusa but I fear that blood orange Born Yesterday is coming down the pike.
Scotch One Hitter
The cities listed on the label for the next One Hitter beer from Lagunitas Brewing tell me that the upcoming Azusa location is still down the road…
…but at least we have these new beers to enjoy while adjusting our countdown to new brewery clocks.
(Which seem to be resetting a lot what with all the newbies coming around)
Review – TuberFest from Lagunitas
This isn’t my first rodeo with a tuber themed Oktoberfest beer. Widmer Brewing did one a year or two ago, but this is one that makes the connection of spuds to Idaho to the new Idaho 7 hop.
Let’s see what Lagunitas has cooked up….
The Tuber pours a clear orange color and right off the bat there is some hops to it on the nose. It tastes to me of a beer with two minds to it. There is a hoppy red half and a Germanic Marzen half. New World meets Old World. The hops add a juicy quality that works against the malt to me. The lingering bitterness is a bit more off putting to me. One of those beers that is working right up until it makes a turn. Maybe more spuds are needed?
Lagunitas Day – 13th of Never is Next
One day, I will look up who coined the term 12th of Never.
It is so catchy that I am surprised it hasn’t been used for a beer name before 2016.
But now Lagunitas has claimed it for their very first canned beer. Something the Azusa facility will no doubt be canning. The brewery describes the beer in their usual oblique fashion as a “bitter-esque, pale-isa ale”.
Which basically means IPA. It will start showing up on shelves in July.
Lagunitas – Azusa – The Words
I didn’t know what to expect when I got off the bus filled with City of Azusa government officials and a few beer media folk at the 3rd location of Lagunitas Brewing.
I have been to location 1 in Petaluma but not location 2 in Chicago. What I saw in Azusa is probably closer to 2 than 1.
It is ‘uge as Bernie Sanders would say. You wouldn’t be faulted for wanting a golf cart to get around. There are three massive airplane hangar sized buildings. Currently they are empty of brewing equipment and bottling equipment and taprooms so it was hard for me to envision the final “look” of the campus. But to give you perspective, the first building that you see upon taking a left into the parking area is where they held their first bash held a bunch of people, three pouring stations, a bunch of couches (of course) and still have room to rope off a circle for some roller derby action. All without feeling elbow to elbow with people.
All I could think of was that you could probably fit 20 or so L.A. breweries into the space that Lagunitas will be using. It is set-up to accommodate delivery trucks with roll up doors on one side. Tanks will be stationed like sentinels outside. And you can just make out (on a clear day) the iconic Miller sign in next door Irwindale. There will be a beer garden and an amphitheater for musical acts and as things ramp up some cellaring action as well as a merchandise store.
We all will need to wait basically for a year from now before visiting. The expected opening time is spring 2017. In the meantime, there will be the Lagunitas Circus in September
Lagunitas – Azusa – The Photos
We are now about a year out from drinking Lagunitas beer in Azusa because (as you will see) there is still much work to be done.
Split Second Lag(unitas)
One moment Lagunitas Brewing is trumpeting their SoCal Azusa location and then as the ink dries on that deal, comes the news that Heineken will be a 50/50 partner with the outspoken and brash Tony Magee and his Petaluma based brewery.
You could reasonably ask if these deals are coming more and more because people are now semi-used to them and the reaction isn’t as negative as when Goose Island changed hands.
But in my opinion, there are a crop of breweries that need access to cold, hard cash to grow. Adding more debt or going back into debt may not hold the appeal that it never did and with the big breweries seeing that their feeble attempts at “crafty-ness” were not flying, they are going after the next best thing.
You can read the brewery side of it HERE and then the more introspective and literature based version from Magee himself HERE. I won’t add anything extra to either because the proof lies down the road.
Part One – If you trusted the owner and the brewer before and they do not change, then you should remain optimistic but watchful. If I won a cash haul tomorrow, I wouldn’t change overnight. I might change but I would hope that I would remain the somewhat snarky fellow that I am. Keep the same thought for a company ’cause the Supreme Court says they are people like you and me
Part Two – As I have instructed before, now is the time to try Lagunitas beers and jot down your flavor thoughts. Then do so again in 3 and 6 months time. If those thoughts are similar, then worries were overblown. If it is drastically different, then tell the world. Just don’t go about moaning right now.
