Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
As Los Angeles Beer Week returns this summer, so too does the Unity release from the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild. Last year, Eagle Rock Brewery was the host with a hoppy pilsner and for 2024, the host is, drumroll please…..
You can check out the announcement HERE
Climate change has weirded out the weather here in Los Angeles and in many other spots on the globe but this month is the time for lighter beers as we get higher temperatures. Plus the other fun stuff below….
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Australia for the Women’s World Cup
~ special featured reviews of beers from around the country
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads The Trackers by Charles Frazier
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Drifting Off with Joe Pera
~ Sports & A Beer returns with Bad Owners
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Technically the shortest month of the year, unless you know me, then it is sooo long because I really do like my birthday month and I like to find a really cool beer to have for that special day. So there’s that and…
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Sacramento area in preparation for the California Craft Beer Summit in March.
~ special featured reviews of my birthday beer!
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Let’s Make a Sci-Fi
~ Sports & A Beer returns for month two with All Star Games
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
There has been moving and shaking in the Los Angeles beer world as the clock runs out on 2022.
First was news that the original owners of Yorkshire Square Brewing in Torrance were leaving and that the brewery is in the hands of the Copley Family who are also involved with Project Barley.
Then the day after Christmas brought the news that King Harbor Brewing was closing up shop in its three locations after eight years in business.
Will there be a dip on top of three years of pivoting? The economic situation doesn’t look great for cost of goods plus a labor market that requires more pay with higher turnover. It is enough to make one look long and hard at opening and operating a brewery. And I do expect more new in Q1 of 2023.
Obviously, not a rosy picture but I was never under the impression that each and every Los Angeles brewery was going to last forever. Change is the only constant and maybe turnkey breweries or brewing equipment for sale or rents coming down as landlords choose lower rent over pie in the sky valuations will create a new surge next year or in 2024.
Halloween just passed, Turkey Day a’comin quick and before you can blink, Christmas. All of that means holiday beers and winter warmers and IPAs dressed up cold for the snow. Plus, this…
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Brewseum Breweries
~ special featured reviews of the Sierra Nevada Bourbon Barrel Bigfoot Barleywine
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Endless Night by Agatha Christie
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to The Briefcase featuring Casey Holdahl
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Mostly I am recommending this new to me podcast because it has the great combo of homebrewer Sarah Flora with beer scribe Tomm Carroll talking about L.A. beer…
…the podcast is the simply named Brewery Travels hosted by Joel Geier. If you like episode 47, there are a lot of other cities to explore on previous and future episodes.
The destination brewery. Is that next for L.A. ? SoCal is seeing a lot of second, third and fourth locations for breweries but the next step might be the one where you spend the day, or night.
Back in pre-Sapporo times, Stone Brewing had the idea of a Stone Hotel next to the brewery on Citricado Parkway so that visitors could spend the night travel the Hops Highway or just drink in their room if they so wished. Obviously, that never got past grand idea stage.
But there are options that do not involve getting into the hotel business. Glendale and Los Angeles has what could be called a wee glut of condos with ground floor retail. Many of which just sit there vacant or have one space leased. Putting a brewery into a space for a residency would be a better amenity for condo owners, I think.
A farmhouse brewery would be grand. Visiting Jester King’s acreage is on my bucket list but L.A. long ago removed orange groves but maybe a garden, an actual beer garden would be an idea.
One last idea is to merge a record store with beer. Portland has a shop where you can pick up some vinyl while also getting a beer. This could be transposed onto bookstores or other collectibles.
Creative ways to weave beer into life are out there.
August is a non travel outside California month so I will take the weekends to play catch-up with L.A. breweries that I haven’t been to in a bit. But if you do travel, maybe layover in NewJersey and show support to their breweries who have been burdened with some truly galling laws.
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from New Jersey who have been handcuffed by anti-beer laws
~ special featured review of pilsners and lagers
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to A History of Coffee
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Get your calendars (or should I say phones) out to mark off L.A. Beer Week for 2022.
June 18th through the 26th in what is being called “a modified format”. I will keep you apprised of cool events not to miss right up until the end.
The first thing to keep in mind is that the Unity 2022 brew was done recently and the host was Highland Park Brewery. Crossing my fingers that it is a pilsner and not an IPA.
We have made it to Summer. Or as close as we can get what with climate change making things hotter and colder and just plain weather weird. Here is what June has in store for you on the blog.
~ e-visits to (3) breweries related to June
~ special featured review of Nectar Creek Sting Ginger Mead
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East by Quan Barry
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Doctor Who: Redacted
~ Great Beer names and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.