Zoning Administrator Approval

Yesterday morning, myself and a couple fellow craft beer enthusiasts attended the public hearing in front of the Santa Ana Zoning Administrator.  It was an administrative review and open to the public.  After some trouble understanding the technical functions of a brewery tap room, the Zoning Administrator approved the proposal with some changes and sent it to the Planning Commission as a public hearing item.  Thanks to Jason and Joshua for showing up in support!  Here are the details on the hearing:

The Good Beer Company will be discussed at a public hearing in front of the Santa Ana Planning Commission.  The Commission is set to meet on March 25 at 5:30 PM in the Santa Ana Council Chambers, 22 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California.  The Planning Commission can approve, continue or deny the Conditional Use Permit application.  

I'm putting together a slideshow to give the Planning Commission members an idea of what the tap room will look like.  I'll be collecting photographs and short videos of tap rooms across Orange County.  Here is one of the preliminary renderings of the Good Beer tap room:

If you have good photos of local brewery tasting rooms, please submit them to brandon@thegoodbeerco.com 

Upcoming: Zoning Administrator Public Hearing

It's finally official: The Good Beer Company Conditional Use Permit will be considered at the Public Hearing before the Santa Ana Zoning Administrator.  The hearing will take place on March 6, 2013 at 10:30 am and will be open to the public.  Please attend in support of Good Beer!

Conditional Use Permit Application Submitted

Because The Good Beer Company is a use that will produce, distribute and sell an alcoholic beverage, we're required to submit a Conditional Use Permit Application("CUP").  The CUP is reviewed by the Zoning Administrator and the Planning Commission to determine whether the activities are acceptable in the location proposed and is of general benefit to the City, compatible with all surrounding uses, and consistent with the City's General Plan (that's text straight from the CUP form).

Well, the application, fee, and mailing information for all property owners and tenants within 500 feet of the proposed site were submitted to the City today.  Now, we sit back and wait for the Administrator and Commission reviews - which will take place in February.

"The Art of Beer" Trailer

Last Fall, I met Joshua Lang at a little get together at the Food Beast headquarters in Downtown Santa Ana.  Robyn, Jen and I showed up with a couple kegs of beer and were immediately pouring pints.  Joshua was shooting a video of the impressive musical performance at the party.  Robyn started talking to him and it turned out that he was in the process of shooting a documentary about craft beer with director Oscar Ussery!

Anyways, we exchanged contact cards and got in touch shortly thereafter to shoot some footage of a homebrew day and an interview about the Good Beer Company.  Here's the trailer and here's the full 15 minute film shown at the premier:

Check out their Facebook page for more information: The Art of Beer

The Art of Beer is "a documentary about the cultural impact of craft beer in Southern California. Dir. by Oscar Ussery and Produced by Joshua Lang"

Julian Brewing Company Brew Day

My brother Bryce was offered the assistant brewer position a few months ago and has brewed several batches on the Julian Brewing Company's 3 barrel brewing system in Julian, California.  Bryce calls me all the time to talk about what he's doing and I've stopped in several times to sample the house ales - and they never disappoint.  Bryce brews under the tutelage of Mike Gabbard of Pizza Port.

Bryce and I collaborated on the recipe over the last couple weeks of November and Bryce, Mike and I spent the day brewing a batch of Double IPA on December 1st.  Pale malt with a pinch of munich, caramalt, and white sugar made up the fermentables in this big beer that should have a light malt background with crisp dryness.  Warrior hops were used for bittering and Citra and Chinook hops were used in ample quantities for flavor and aroma addition.  I snapped a photo after our final hop addition - check out the green hop slime that coated the top of the boil kettle!

Photo: Bryce gets sacks of grain ready for the mill while I weigh out the munich and caramalt.

Photo: Bryce crushes the grain with the malt mill

 Photo: I'm mashing in (we used masks to avoid inhaling grain dust).

   

Photo: Bryce checks the temperature of the mash. We nailed it.

Photo: That's me monitoring the sparge.

Photo: Sparge arm distributes hot water on top of the grain bed.

 

Photo: I let Bryce do the hard work, like shoveling grain from the mash tun

Photo: Late in the boil, after adding four pounds of hops, the kettle looked like we were brewing green slime...

Photo: Julian Brewing Company's 3 barrel brewery

City "Approval"

Well, we received "approval" from the City's Design Review Committee.  Plans will be stamped on Monday!  It should be a time for celebration, but it doesn't feel appropriate.  There's a long road ahead, including additional plan reviews, public hearings and administrative review, before Good Beer can even think about breaking ground.

I also received a letter from the County Health Department.  They provided a list of changes to the plan set in order to make it compliant with their codes.  Nothing earth shattering, so it shouldn't be a problem to comply with.

Anyways, we're moving forward with the permitting!

On another note, I'll be up in Julian tomorrow to brew a batch of beer with my brother Bryce at the Julian Brewing Company!  Details forthcoming...

City Plan Review and County Health Department

 I have neglected the blog for too long.  Fear not, I have not neglected spending all my free time moving Good Beer forward.
 
In the past week, I have moved two necessary processes forward. I resubmitted a revised plan set to the City of Santa Ana and submitted the initial plan review package to the County of Orange Health Care Agency's Wholesale Food Program.  So we're moving forward through the heaps of licensing, permitting and regulation.

I received comments from the City, revised the plan set, with the help of my talented cousin and recent Architecture graduate, Jen Manckia, and resubmitted the revised plan for a second review.  It's my understanding that some of the staff at the City are getting excited about having Good Beer as a member of the downtown business community.

I had lunch with Vicky from Downtown Inc. back in June.  Downtown Inc is a non-profit serving as Santa Ana's Downtown Business Improvement District (BID).  Downtown Inc receives funding from an assessment on Downtown property owners and the BID's purpose is to market and promote downtown to the world.  Downtown Inc's mission is to facilitate the enhancement of Downtown Santa Ana as a vibrant shopping, entertainment, business and cultural destination for all. I imagine Good Beer will be working closely with Downtown Inc in the coming years as we share a mission to enhance Downtown Santa Ana.

As for the County review, I met with County staff a couple times over the summer and even had one inspector visit my building for a pre-submittal screening.  We came to some great solutions and I expect the plan set to move through the County permitting process rather quickly.  

Can you believe it!