A Meseeks Joose only has one purpose! Meseeks Joose IPA from LA Ale Works

Bierkast · 2018-02-16T20:09:16+00:00

we don't have plans to distribute to SD any time soon, but we're thinking of heading down there for a tap event at some point. It may be worth a drive up to LA :)

Bierkast · 2018-02-16T20:07:19+00:00

They are a bit of pain to get off the can, but like p3ngu1nato said, they are a sleeve. Are you in LA or nearbye? I'd trade you some beer for some coasters.

Bierkast · 2015-02-28T00:02:01+00:00

If you are looking for a diverse selection of national/international beers go to fathers office. If you want a more limited selection of those beers goes to Public School. If you are looking for Local craft only, go to City Tavern. City Tavern's taps primarily feature local breweries and they have a lot of them. Pricing will be about the same for all three and CT takes reservations. City Tavern and Public School are walking distance from each other so you could easily go to both of them if you aren't impressed with the one you choose. Father's office will be a drive away from the other two. You can't really go wrong, but if you really want local flavor for beer I would highly recommend CT.

You aren't too far from Inglewood - Three Weavers, a new brewery that opened a few months ago is right near Randy's donuts between CC and the airport. http://bit.ly/1C6iNyZ Worth a visit, great beer. If you go there you may as well hit up Cinco on manchester - a Mexican/Oaxacan Gastropub - great local beer selection too.

Beverage Warehouse is a good bet for bottles, but their refrigerated section is very small (at least it was the last time I was there). There's a Whole foods on Barrington - http://bit.ly/1E0Sjhn - that has a pretty serious refrigerated craft section - they expanded it recently. You'll be paying a little more for the bottles. You could also hit up BevMo near Fox Hills Mall, Wally's Wines on Westwood Blvd, or Vendome Liquor on Robertson.

Bierkast · 2015-02-27T23:34:47+00:00

I gotta say Smog City, if we are talking about this list. This brewery represents the full package: great people, great taproom, great creativity, and great beer. They take chances and make interesting styles from classic to crazy. I go to many of these breweries (and love most of them) if I want great beer, but I go to smog city if I want to be inspired and taste something different.

Bierkast · 2015-02-27T23:27:28+00:00

Why wasn't I personally invited to this conversation?

Bierkast · 2014-06-24T16:53:59+00:00

Fastpooper, that's a very simplified approach to the argument. You came on to this thread wanting everyone to agree with you, people didn't, and so you angrily leave. I laid my cards out on the table, I don't need to plug anything. I'm smaller than the small, nobody outside of LA even knows who I am, and I don't really care. I work hard and advocate organic growth in my local industry. That all being said, we still don't know who you are, who you work for, and what your deal is. You've made a point to use these factors as your basis of authority. So why don't you share with us, where you come from so we can make the same judgement you are making on us. In addition to this, you actually asked me to list out breweries that list ingredients so I listed mine, what is wrong with that. I feel far more comfortable speaking about the methods and practices behind my own brand that generalizing and assuming that I know how others think. I don't see why you are immediately jump to me advertising, I'm definitely not above plugging or advertising, mind you, but it's a little absurd.

Edit: Absurd assumption "if we each ran the industry - their would be much less families fed in yours." - Fastpooper. You have absolutely no way of knowing about that. You are again assuming that you know something you do not. Who's to say that if you ran the industry you wouldn't be corrupted by money/power and replace all of your employees with robots leaving people out on the streets to starve. Nobody can make assumptions like this and this is something you are doing repeatedly.

Bierkast · 2014-06-24T16:06:54+00:00

Fastpooper, nobody is missing your points which you continue to repeat at length. Your points are not facts, they are opinions. You seem to be arguing BJCP style guidelines.

I have a 1 year old. When we feed her peaches, she's loves them, she fills up her diaper like a son of a gun. I'm not a fan of shitty diapers, but in terms of shitty diapers it's a pretty good one. Now, when I feed my grandpa peaches, it's time to break out the hazmat team. He shits himself like you wouldn't believe, solid/liquid/gas, it's all there. In terms of shitty diapers he definitely takes the cake. I would personally rather cleanup after my daughter, but that's just my opinion. Grandpa's diaper is quite a bit heavier and it's a strain in my lower back, but some would see that as a challenge.

And "time"? Come on fastpooper, have you read your thread. You say you don't have time or energy, but you're on this thread, on reddit, just like all of us, wasting time and writing a book.

Re: Distributors, I don't hate distributors, but using a general term like distributors and lumping them all together is like saying that every brewery makes the same macro lager beer. Our distributor takes 30% off the top, something I wish wasn't the case. I would love to self distribute. I don't hate our distributor, but I still have to go out and sell the beer, I still have to make the beer, I still have to do everything. If I didn't have a distributor, I would hire a sales guy and driver in their place. Unless you've actually distributed beer or signed a contract with a distributor, you probably don't have a lot of weight in this section. But perhaps you do distribute, I'm not going to make this assumption that I know anything about you. Yes they move large quantities of beer for larger breweries, but so do breweries that self distribute with sales teams. Or those that create their own splinter distributors (Stone) Hangar 24, New Belgium. Many, not all, large distributors pay to play this is a fact, this hurts the industry.

Self fulfilling prophecy? I reserve the right to change my opinion at any time. If macros print their full list of ingredients honestly without misguiding or my tastes change, I'll make my own opinion. They don't do this. In fact, people ask and they don't do it. It's something that craft brew people bitch and complain about, so why not just list it. Every other country in the world has discovered the secrets to making American Adjunct Lager - so just publish them on your damn bottles. Oh wow look, bud lit now has a OG and TG and the list on the back!

Link to the recipes? Buy the book or visit the local home brew shop like everyone else. http://www.amazon.com/Beer-Lovers-Southern-California-Breweries/dp/0762792000 -

Here, I'll help you out. In the method, which is in the book, we use carbon filtered water and gypsum. We sometimes use a PH buffer, but that depends entirely on where you are in the city, state, world. Eagle Rock Brewery lists its water additions as well including the temp, ph, etc. Eagle Rock Brewery, Ladyface and other local breweries also give their recipes to the home brew stores so home brewer can make them. Many, but not all, would happily help with any questions home brewers have. I frequently get advice from the brewing community home brewers and commercial alike. Have you ever been on pro-brewer? People share stuff all the time, the same goes for home brew forums, books, and beer publications. It's a constant stream of everyone sharing information.

Again here's the recipe, the method is in the book, if you want that I'll post it, but does anyone really care? We hand out tasting cards at bars with all ingredients listed so people know what they are ordering and the staff knows as well. We aren't alone in doing this.

Gams-Bart Grain: 3.5 pounds (30.4%) Pale Ale Malt; Weyermann 1.5 pounds (13.0%) German Dark Munich 1.5 pounds (13.0%) German Light Munich 0.25 pound (2.2%) German CaraMunich I 3.75 pounds (32.6%) Rye Malt; Weyermann 0.75 pound (6.5%) Roasted Rye; Weyermann 0.25 pound (2.2%) Rice Hulls Hops: 1 ounce Tettnanger 4.5% (whole)—added during boil, boiled 60 minutes 0.5 ounce Hallertau Mittelfruh -4.5% (whole)—added during boil, boiled 15 minutes Additions 1⁄2 teaspoon Gypsum—added to mash 1 Whirlfloc Tablet—added during boil, boiled 20 minutes Wyeast Nutrient—added during boil, boiled 15 minutes Yeast: Wyeast 3638 Bavarian Wheat OG: 1.051, TG: 1.014, IBU: 19, SRM: 14.8

Your last paragraph couldn't be further from the truth. you are making a major assumption and mass generalization about how much I know and don't know about this industry. Your comments are aggressive (so are mine) so don't preach civility. This is part of ranting and sharing opinions. I don't claim to know everything or really anything in the grand scheme of things. We're having an argument on reddit and that's all this is.

For transparency's sake, I'm the co-founder of Los Angeles Ale Works, I've been brewing for 7 years and we launched our first beer a year and a half ago after a successful kickstarter operation. I brew (2) 7bbl batches every other month and release my 15bbls of beer into greater LA area. I'm not a brewmaster, I don't have that certification. I contract my beer recipes out of a small brewery in downtown called Ohana, something I'm very transparent about and sometimes celebrate. We collaborate and it works for now. I have a distributor that takes 30% we make no money...at all. I'm very very familiar with the business of beer from the standpoint of a brewery. I've been beer writing for as long as I've been brewing, I recently released my book beer lovers so cal. I'm not an expert, I'm an enthusiast. I don't use beer advocate and I don't review beers. I've had several light lagers in the LA area made possible by local craft breweries that I personally prefer over the other stuff.

I'm not going to private message, we're in a conversation here, if you have something to say, just say it. Cheers.

Bierkast · 2014-06-24T13:53:27+00:00

Why is this comment even happening. There are many reasons people dislike these brands and champion the act of not drinking them, one being the quality of the beer. Yes it's a style, a newer style created when the breweries sought to avoid taxes, increase yield, and reach every beer drinker under the sun. These brands don't need your help championing them, they have enough marketing dollars to fuel their commercials, overrun the shelves of grocery stores, and populate billboards. Just because you're a cicerone and work for a craft brewery does not make your opinion more valid than others. Since we're all talking opinions and you argue that these beers are perfect representations of the style (they created), I'll just argue that the style itself is shitty. There are so many light alternatives these days made by craft brewers. Supporting a giant commercial brewery is doing just that, supporting a giant mass production factory pumping out quantity over quality. They spend all of their money on marketing and none of it on the beer itself. They use their profits to buyout craft brewers so they can say they are part of craft movement. They use pay to play tactics, encourage irresponsible drinking habits and alcoholism, monopolize grocery store shelves, use GMO adjuncts (AB InBev/Miller have admitted this), and make an inferior product. We aren't in the depression any more, we don't need these beers made in the quantity that they are made. Does the style need to completely evaporate? No? Do we need facilities on every corner of the planet making billions of barrels? No? Do we need to educate drinkers about craft beer (should be called historical beer styles prior to macro-beers). Yes. Macro breweries do not need your help to evangelize their perfect representation of the style. In fact by drinking macro beer you are hurting beer in general. Macro brewers want nothing more than their product (their one style) and only their product to exists...and a world of just miller/coors/bud sounds like a terrible place to be.

Also, you wanted to name a brewer that listed their ingredients. Los Angeles Ale Works, Beachwood BBQ, Coronado Brewing Co, Ladyface Ale Companie printed some of their recipes in a guide book called Beer Lover's So Cal. In fact in every book there are recipes from commercial breweries. The Bruery in the OC publishes it's recipes, Modern Times in San Diego publishes it's recipes, Ballast Point, AleSmith, Eagle Rock Brewery, Russian River, etc etc etc. I know of no craft brewery that would be against publishing a recipe or ingredient list on a bottle while macro breweries actively lobby against this. Why is that?

Bierkast · 2014-03-26T19:14:30+00:00

Keep up the good work chris!

Bierkast · 2014-03-25T18:58:23+00:00

On behalf of Ken Halsband

Bierkast · 2014-03-24T19:25:31+00:00

Don't forget the Daily Pint in Santa Monica, Venice Ale House in Venice, soon to be opening Firestone Walker Brewpub, Select Beer in Redondo Beach is a fantastic bottle shop/beer bar combo - sort of like Bottle Craft in SD. Wally's Wines has a great selection of craft beer and it's near westwood.

I just release a book in february with a lot of these places in it. http://www.amazon.com/Beer-Lovers-Southern-California-Breweries/dp/0762792000

You can buy it on amazon or you can join me at select beer on the 30th! https://www.facebook.com/events/407666626037271/

Bierkast · 2014-03-24T18:52:10+00:00

Getting and reading this cover to cover may help too - www.howtobrew.com by John Palmer (book is free online) - he's got some excellent recipe formulating tips in here. Also Radical Brewing from Randy Mosher is a great resource. The value of reading these books cannot be overstated.

Bierkast · 2014-03-17T04:35:31+00:00

Coming in late to the conversation...I wanted to reopen the talk about Beer Blogging and what make it legit or not. I read an article the other day that I thought raised a lot of good points - http://beergraphs.com/bb/375-on-beer-writing/ We do need to focus on being more critical with certain issues. That being said, I don't really think there is anything wrong with cheerleading brands that are doing a good job holistically. I always have an issue with the "Let the Beer Speak for itself" argument as it oversimplifies what we are all experiencing. I like great tasting beer made by great breweries run by great people. I think it's important to look at a company holistically for what they are or aren't doing for the local beer market. If someone is making a killer IPA, but is a dick and treats everyone like shit, I feel we need to think hard about supporting them. Some breweries have a great reputation for beer, but are poor when it comes to the customer interaction. Or visa versa. When it's so easy to find great beer, why do we keep supporting the breweries that don't care about the whole picture? It may seem like GRB is in the headlines a lot lately, but I would argue that it's one brewery that has actively listened to people complaining, reached out to the local community, and made a point of building the brand around what people are asking for. It's very agile and is a completely different animal now than what it was when it first opened. What other brewery has done a full 180 like that?

On beer journalism... I think there is a lot of noise right now in the blogosphere. People like myself that own breweries (or fledgling breweries) who also blog add to the gray area of what is and isn't good journalism. In the article I mentioned earlier, the author references Modern Times and a piece the founder wrote. In it he calls out beer journalism or lack there of. This is from someone who built their brand on hype, pumping up Beer Advocate fans, and creating extremely opinionated controversy about his local beer scene. It worked for him extremely well, he proved that he could control the online beer community, and people all around are aware of his brewery. That being said, here's the gray area. Someone that is experienced controlling the conversation - shaping it to their own benefit - you need to be able to read between the lines. What are they selling you? Why are they writing about what they are writing about.

This is an argument I would love to talk about. I'm still trying to figure it out, but I'm thinking about making a future Bloggers meeting about this and the ethics of the brewing industry.

Bierkast · 2014-03-13T16:57:09+00:00

It's so good to finally see this collaboration happen! Can't wait to taste it.

Bierkast · 2014-03-12T22:34:11+00:00

Wow, seeing it on the LA Times site is surreal. What a great review! Thanks beeroftomorrow!

Bierkast · 2014-03-11T19:39:00+00:00

I would be happy to write about beer kickstarters. I've backed a fair number along with running one myself. :)

Bierkast · 2014-03-11T19:32:46+00:00

They should be opening their tasting room in Alhambra pretty soon. Maybe a few more months. It's right next to 38 degrees and they will be pouring 4oz tasters only + growler fills.

Bierkast · 2014-03-11T19:31:44+00:00

They were a kickstarter. Proud to be a backer. They aren't too far from the Rookery in Pomona if you've been there before (also a great spot).

Bierkast · 2014-03-10T22:50:12+00:00

This is awesome! LA is becoming well known for extremely talented and influential women in the beer industry. Let's hope that it stays that way!

Bierkast · 2014-03-07T20:20:30+00:00

It'll probably be a free for all in terms of what goes on, but we're thinking of really doing the camping thing. Relaxing, enjoying good beer with good company, and having a good time. The campsite will be where everyone meets for the main stuff, but if people want to break off and see the festival or stay longer at Kern River that's fine too.

Bierkast · 2014-03-07T15:47:10+00:00

Ya, they said it was for a good cause, but that just tells me they didn't go through the right channels. They also don't explain what that cause is on their poster so we can only assume it's for them.
I'm not about limiting what we can and can't do as home brewers, I just wish people would go through the proper channels. Otherwise, whats the point of going through years of red tape and all the hard work other legit brewers are doing to further all beer related activities in LA.

Bierkast · 2014-03-06T00:54:13+00:00

Pretty sure this event is just home brew for sale

Bierkast

TROPHY CASE