In early May, I attended the Brew Expo and annual Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego. Most of my time was spent browsing potential equipment and raw good provider booths and learning about the intricacies of hop contracts and ordering yeast, but I also met a bunch of amazing brewers and business owners.
In particular, I met Owen Williams of Ritual Brewing Company. Owen was super nice and offered his extensive knowledge base to me if I should have questions along the path to opening The Good Beer Company. His brewhouse was on display at CBC as well, which was pretty cool to see.
I also met Rick Smets, the brains behind the start up Stereo Brewing. It's great to meet people that are passionate about beer and are planning breweries close to Santa Ana. Rick is planning to open Stereo in our neighboring City of Costa Mesa. I can't wait to see the craft beer community in Orange County grow into something that rivals what LA and San Diego County have.
I also had a chance to talk with Steve Hindy of the Brooklyn Brewery. I had read his compelling story about his transition from overseas war correspondent to homebrewer to successful brewery owner, and it was very cool to meet and talk with such a successful brewer. And his keynote speech at the CBC was right on target - brewers represent more than just a local business, they are an integral part of a community. (As a side note, I met his daughter at a friend's wedding the following weekend - what a small world!)
More recently, I attended the California Craft Brewers Association meeting at Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles. They are working hard to become LA's brewery, which is probably the reason why I don't see Golden Road brews too often down here in Orange County. They're also canning their beer in tall boys, which is pretty interesting. The brewery tour was fun and interesting, and we spent a lot of time in their tasting room/restaurant and on the porch enjoying the beautiful weather.
The CCBA organized presentations by Candace Moon and Melani Gordon. Candace is a Craft Beer Attorney and her knowledge of the ABC was obvious. She offered to act as a liaison between the CCBA's brewery members and the ABC in the event that a brewery needs an interpretation of the law. Melani is the co-founder of TapHunter, a beer-oriented social media app that tracks beer menus at local restaurants. Melani offered some great social media marketing recommendations (that I can hopefully employ here at blogger, and via facebook and twitter).
At the CCBA meeting, I was introduced to Jeff Hansson from Coronado Brewing Company. Jeff has spent some time in Downtown Santa Ana, so he's familiar with how amazing this community is. We are going to have to get together for a pint sometime soon.
I also recently introduced myself to Jason Quinn and Jarred Dooley at the Playground, a local craft beer-centric restaurant with fantastic beers and eats. They're super cool, very close by, and extremely knowledgeable about food and beer. I look forward to being their neighbors here in Downtown Santa Ana. (I also love their food and Robyn and I have made Friday nights at the Playground a regular occurrence. There's always several fantastic vegetarian dishes, which works great for Robyn and I.)
I learned a lot at the Brew Expo and CCBA meeting and look forward to working with all my great new friends.
Also, the first weekend in June I attended the Firestone Invitational Festival up in Paso Robles with Robyn, her sister Ann, Kevin, Alex, Shawn, Eric and Lea, Chief, and The Cuss from Santa Cruz (all Good Beer drinkers). That was a lot of fun.
We definitely hit up Patrick Rue from the Bruery for some Black Tuesday and fancy sour beers. Patrick's beers were at the top of the list with other great breweries right behind him, including Founders, 3 Floyds, Sun King, Alpine, Russian River, Golden Road, Boulevard, Revolution Brewing, to name a few. I ended up meeting some really cool people in the craft beer community, including Brad Grider at Beer Geek Radio, Bryant Goulding from Golden Road, and Shawn McIlhenney, the head brewer at Alpine Beer Company (Pure Hoppiness... drool...) whom I admire greatly for their commitment to maintaining an extraordinary level of quality.
When's the next beer festival?!
Brooklyn beer is delicious! I had some last week! Its awesome to hear about the community environment of craft breweries! Keep up with updates. it's good to hear about the happenings of good beer
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