What Should You Expect from an Independent Craft Brewery or Brew Pub?
Our So Cal Craft Beer Bloggers have some thoughts
BeachRock Bill: Wife Helen and I did a road trip up the coast in March. We hit some good breweries — Humble Sea, Alvarado Street, Liquid Gravity, Fieldwork, There does not Exist, Humdinger. All were pretty good but I think I’m getting spoiled working at Pure Project. None blew me away.
Chauncey B. interrupts: I remember Sir Ted of Sonoma was really into Fieldwork for a minute, maybe back in the last decade? We’re Pouring often features Liquid Gravity. I’d only heard about Alvarado Street from a “Short-Lived” collaboration they did with MadeWest.
BeachRock Bill: The quality of the servers was especially disappointing at many spots. Alvarado Street I think was our favorite of the bunch.
EleanorJulieAnne: We visited Humdinger Brewing a couple of years ago. As I recall, using a three level rating system of my own design (Level One for beers that are standouts — Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, for example, Level Two for beers that are respectable — well done but might not linger in your memory, and Level Three for beers that don’t quite hit the mark) — Humdinger produced some solid Level Two beers. Their “Dinger Weisse” was sour, tart and fruity, but not overly sweet, and it went down easily.
BeachRock Bill: Speaking about tart and fruity, somebody told us we had to check out a new brewery I’d never heard of — Casa Agria in Oxnard. We hit it Sunday on our drive home, and while I was in no mood to drink at noon with a big drive ahead of me, we did some splashes to see if we wanted to buy something to take home. Everything we tried was delicious. Their sour program is really extensive with five big foeders in the corner fermenting wild stuff.
Chauncey B.: Eleanor and I hit up Casa Agria back in 2017. As I wrote in my “Sour Genies” post a while back, one of the things that intrigued me was that the brewery’s fruited sours used fruit purchased directly from farmers who grow them, as kind of seasonal, artisanal offerings. From the Ventura Highway (U.S. 101), all of Ventura County appears to be farmland, specializing in strawberries and citrus.
I didn’t know Humble Sea when you first mentioned it, but through a bit of serendipity, Eleanor and I had the opportunity to taste some, which I’ll write about below.
BeachRock Bill: Here is another issue–Wife Helen now only really likes drinking Double and Triple hazies. Pure Project/ Monkish/ Radiant and a few others have spoiled her.
Unfortunately, these aren’t styles many breweries do regularly. So a lot of breweries I want to visit I would have to do without her. As a perfect example — we hit Modern Times Far West Lounge near our house recently for some delicious plant-based food and beers. I had a delicious hazy called “Green Futures,” but Wife Helen had to settle for her OLD favorite style of beer, an Imperial Stout. She tolerated it, but she wasn’t thrilled by it.
Chauncey B.: Okay, thanks BRB and Eleanor. Now let’s hear from the Space Cowboy, Mr. Yippee-Ki-IPA himself.
BrewHead Ted: Thanks, Chauncey. What really grabs my attention, in discovering a new brewery, is a unique point of view. A brewery with a unique theme, vibe, or backstory will really stick out in my mind. This is one of the many reasons why I love Ogopogo Brewing, my hometown (and all-time favorite) brewery.
I love beer, and I also love mythology and tales of creatures like Nessie and Bigfoot. Ogopogo combines those two elements, to great success. I also think of Replicant Shell in Pasadena, which offers a large variety of great beer selections, out of a gas station! Or Del Pueblo, which highlights some amazing South American flavors, with their beer.
Another thing that I pay attention to, is what kinds of beers they have. In addition to “run of the mill” offerings, do they do any interesting spins on different beer styles? Can I taste something I’ve never tasted before, that will make the brewery stick out? Again, I think of Ogopogo, especially having just sampled their delicious Haliya Ale, brewed with ube. Brewing with such interesting flavors is not something I see everywhere, certainly not to such great success.
As far as visiting that brewery in person? For me, the two prime ingredients are (of course) good beer, but also, good service. I have been to places where I have enjoyed the beer, but have not gotten good/friendly service. And vice versa. And in either situation, I usually will not plan on making a return visit. Of course, in the case of service, I recognize that people have their bad/off days. If I enjoyed the beer, I’m much more likely to give the place another shot.
Chauncey B.: Thanks, Teddy. What are your great expectations, Steph?
Stephanie Thara Metzinger: We should expect a solid variety of beer on tap. Sometimes I have an IPA moment, other times I have a Lager moment, while most of the time I have a Saison moment. When I visit a brewery, I expect to see beers that match the season (e.g., stouts during winter), specialty beers, and “go-to” beer types that match any and all moods I am in.
I have visited a few breweries that lean heavily on one type of beer (I’ve encountered 3 different breweries like this), and I end up not purchasing anything. It astounds me when owners decide to put their own special interests before their consumers and only offer 1-2 types of beer.
Chauncey B.: Thanks, Stephanie. You all have got me thinking. And this is what I realized: in my day job, I’m an educator. So naturally, in addition to good beer and good service, I want to be educated, submerged in a zymurgic syllabus, have my hop horizons expanded — i.e., get schooled. And one of the best places near me for that to happen is Glendale Tap, where the Elusive Isabella recently took Eleanor and I to meet Natty Nico, the bartender who recommended the Jester King “Enigmatic Taxa” for my birthday.
Stephanie Thara Metzinger: 57 beers on tap?!?!?!?! If Glendale Tap wasn’t so far from me, I would definitely be a regular there!
Chauncey B.: I know, right? Anyway, I follow GT on Instagram, and they frequently have tap takeovers by breweries that I hear about from Sir Ted of Sonoma or BeachRock Bill — but I never seem to get there. Natty Niko and Elusive Isabella scoffed and said, “That’s ridiculous.”
The evening we visited, my eyes popped as I perused the tap menu and saw a veritable school of Humble Sea creatures, including “Swordfish Fencing,” a 7.2% ABV New England IPA, which Eleanor ordered without hesitation, and “Otter Romp,” an 8.6% ABV Imperial IPA collaboration between Humble Sea and Pure Project, where BeachRock Bill works as a bartender.
BeachRock Bill: Helen and I both Loved Otter Romp!
Chauncey B.: That was my favorite, but I also tried Humble Sea’s “Playita” Mexican Lager and “I’ll Take the Oatmeal Stout For” [sic] 5.1% ABV. It seems that Mexican lager is one of the new beers that a lot of brewers feel they have to try their hand at — so, I use it as a litmus test: can you do a flavorful, low alcohol brew in a distinctive manner? Playita did not disappoint.
EleanorJulieAnne: I had to go to Level One on my second pour, with a Russian River “Damnation,” a 7.5% Belgian Strong Golden. You can’t get this ale just anywhere. The only other place I’ve seen it in recent memory is We’re Pouring on the opposite side of Glendale from GT.
Chauncey B.: The Elusive Isabella surprised me by going first with a small pour of a Craftsman “Mesa Verde” sour (7% ABV), followed by Beachwood’s “Uno” Belgian Single Blonde (5.7%), finishing with a “Passion Blast” 4.6% sour, fruited from Shred Beer in Rocklin, CA.
One look at Shred’s current tap list confirms that this is a place we’d all want to go if we lived in some Beermuda Triangle bounded by Sacramento, Yuba City, and Lake Tahoe. The fact that they were named 2023 Great American Beer Festival Brewer of the Year (in the 1-250 barrel category) tells me we’re not the only ones.
Shred has seasonal selections that might intrigue Stephanie and I, like “Cinco, Cinco, Cinco” Mexican lager, a 2023 GABF Silver Medal Winner (“Lagered and conditioned for months, this Mexican-style lager is a steady crusher with a supporting malt foundation of flaked maize”).
“Morning Brunch” — a 13% ABV Imperial Stout made with with Guatemalan Coffee & Vermont Maple Syrup — might appeal to BRB’s Wife Helen, perhaps?
And I could see BrewHead Ted tempted by an “Aroma Spider” (6.3% ABV — “A complex lupulin web of Nectaron Cryo, Nectaron, Mosaic 702, Simcoe, HBC 586, and HBC 586 Cryo hops” tasting of “Bubbleberry, Resin Sauce, and Muskmelon”) or “Murkside of the Moon” (7.3% ABV — “Citra and Motueka hops take you on a murky journey through space and time,” with a flavor profile of peach, lime zest, and lychee).
Eleanor and BeachRock Bill would probably enjoy the Murkside, too, or its stronger, more shredded big brother “Murk Level Midnight,” an 8.5% Hazy DIPA which just happens to be a collaboration with … you got it, Shred and BRB’s own Pure Project.
I feel thoroughly educated — by my fellow So Cal Craft Beer Bloggers, by the Elusive Isabella, by Natty Niko, and by Glendale Tap. Thank you, one and all!
Now, how about you, dear reader?
- What makes a brewery or brewpub stand out for you?
- Have you tasted any of the brews or brew offerings that we’ve mentioned in this post?
- Do you concur with our assessments, or do you take issue with them?
PLEASE, LET US KNOW! Send an email to us care of me, Chauncey B., at [email protected]. I’ll be happy to publish your reactions in a future post.
From all of us at SCCBB,
Cheers! And happy exploration,
— BeachRock Bill
Instagram: @beachrockbill
Email: [email protected]
— Cheers, EleanorJulieAnne
-Brewhead Ted
Instagram: @tedc79
Email: [email protected]
— Stephanie
Instagram @stephzinger
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniethara
Chauncey B. out…
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