Interesting Coincidence

New Realm Brewing of Atlanta, which was co-founded by former Stone Brewing head brewer Mitch Steele, has agreed to purchase the brewing equipment at Green Flash's now closed Virginia Beach brewery.  According to the article linked to above, it is not known whether New Realm will operate the equipment at the closed Green Flash facility or move it to another location.  New Realm is apparently already at capacity on its 20-barrel system and saw the opportunity to add the 50-barrel system.  I am sure the San Diego connection of Steele and Green Flash is nothing more than a coincidence, but I still found it interesting.

Lightning Strikes Twice and a Mouth Full of Dishsoap

Lightning Brewery has started brewing again.  The West Coaster reports on the brewery's smaller scale re-boot.  Lightning has re-tooled its business model to focus on its tasting room, rather than retail distribution.  Lightning was ahead of its time, offering a pilsner as its core beer right when IPA's popularity was crushing all other styles.  I never drank much beer from Lightning, but I liked its beers when I had them, and while I find myself in Poway even less frequently, I am glad for Lightning that it is open again.

In unrelated news, I recently had a crowler of pale ale from an Ocean Beach tasting room that had a persistent taste of dishsoap.  And no, it was not a glass washer issue.  I do not want to name the brewery because I like the space.  I know that is a silly reason, but a good tasting room atmosphere is not easy to achieve and I don't want to slam the place for one off beer.  But I have found this brewery's beers inconsistent, and unfortunately its beers are only fair at their best, so even small errors in the brewing process make drinking a crowler a challenge. 

French Beer Lit - "I Just Drink A Little Beer"

I continue my plan to note when I read worthwhile passages about beer in novels.  The following passage is from French Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano's Honeymoon, and is a conversation between an older woman and a younger man (spoiler alert - there is no romance between the two):

"Are you going to have something to drink?" she asked.

"No."

"Don't you drink alcohol? May I have some?"

She gave me an anxious look, as if I was going to refuse my permission.

"You may," I said.

She raised her head to the maitre d'hotel.

"Well then... A beer..."

It was as if she had suddenly decided to do something shameful or forbidden.

"It stops me drinking whisky, or other kinds of alcohol... I just drink a little beer..."

She forced herself to smile.  She seem to feel ill at ease with me.

"I don't know what you think," she said, "but I've always thought it wasn't a woman's drink..."

This time her gaze expressed more than anxiety; distress, rather.  And I was so surprised that I couldn't manage to find a comforting word.  I finally said:

"I believe you are wrong... I know a lot of women who drink beer..."

"Really?  You know a lot?"

An awkward situation not made easier with beer.

Dankness Mojo

I was in Downtown Los Angeles earlier this year and stopped into Modern Times' The Dankness Dojo restaurant and brewery.  What a cool place.  The light designs, concrete floors, tables with old church pews for seats, and vintage magazine covers on the walls gave the smaller than I expected space a funky retro ambience, yet it felt warm.  Every time I visit Modern Times' Point Loma Lomaland Fermentorium I feel a bit unhip, and too old, and out of place.  This feeling was even more acute at The Dankness Dojo.  It is nothing any patron or Modern Times employee says or does, in fact the Modern Times' employees are always pleasant, more so than the job requires, it is just my insecurities.  Fortunately, I have never been one to let a little self-conscientiousness get in the way of a good beer or a good place to get beer.  And The Dankness Mojo is a good place to get beer.

I could not stay at The Dankness Dojo a long time, and I had to drive, so any real beer drinking was out of the question, but I did taste one of the brewed-on-premise hazy IPAs.  I did not write down the beer's name, and I am now mad at myself.  Modern Times knows how to brew hazy IPAs.  So many have no more than a bland fruitiness, but the ones I have had from Modern Times are awash in distinct flavors, and so too was this cloudy offering (at right). 

If you are in Downtown Los Angeles, I recommend The Dankness Mojo.  There are plenty of parking lots nearby, and parking did not seem that expensive.  Next time,  I plan on trying some of the "boundary-pushing plant-based cuisine," in addition to trying more beer.

Positive Attitude Squashed

I tried to stay positive, I did.   No sooner did I finish my last post on my enthusiasm for Mikkeller opening its Little Italy tasting room than I read the latest news on Oceanside Ale Works.  Green Flash does not have a monopoly on bad business decisions.  West Coaster provides an update on the Oceanside Ale Works' clown show, the newest version of which lasted about three weeks.  It is never a smart business move to buy into someone else's legal problems, even if the price seems right.  I would not be surprised if Oceanside Ale Works' co-founder Mark Purciel's legal issues get more complicated in the near future.

Mikkeller In Little Italy

I need to look past the sad plight of Green Flash and Alpine Beer and focus on a positive beer development.  Mikkeller Brewing is opening a tasting room in Little Italy.  This news from San Diego Eater is from last month, but I find it exciting.  The beers I have had from Mikkeller's Miramar brewery have been great, and its new Little Italy location, traffic and parking not withstanding, is going to make it easier for me to get its frequent releases. 

Green Flash Foreclosed and Sold

Wow, that happened fast.  Two weekends ago week Green Flash announced it was scaling back its operations and closing its Virginia Beach brewery, then last Friday it announced it was closing its Cellar 3 barrel aged brewing facility and tasting room, and now this morning it announced that the company has been foreclosed.  According to The Full Pint, Green Flash's lender, Comerica Bank, foreclosed and sold Green Flash and Alpine Beer assets to a Michigan risk management company, WC IPA, LLC.  (I find it strange that the acronym spells out West Coast IPA.)  The West Coaster is out with its article, too.

This is a developing story, but there are a few points that I want to note.  First, Green Flash's financial problems were bigger and further along than its recent announcements indicated.  Banks do not just decide to foreclose and sell assets over the span of a few days.  Today's news was the conclusion to a months' long process.  Second, there is still value in the Green Flash brand, and especially the Alpine brand.  Extinguishing Alpine Beer and its beers would be a shame, verging on a beer crime.

Finally, I expect multiple stories on how Green Flash, craft beer's Icarus, went wrong expanding too fast and flying too close to the sun.  I think Green Flash's demise is simpler.  Over the past week I have popped into multiple restaurants and found no Green Flash beer on tap, with one exception, The Joint in Ocean Beach has Alpine Duet on tap.  I can't remember seeing Green Flash beers on any taps locally in a long time, and seeing Alpine beers is rare.  If Green Flash bungled its local market, the one that supported it for years, how could it expect to distribute nationally?  The lack of Green Flash beers in restaurants and bars lead to its local irrelevance, which played out nationally. 

Update:  This story dominated my twitter feed today.  I want to make clear that Green Flash and Alpine are both still operating.  The bank foreclosure and sale did not mean the breweries' business stopped.  The West Coaster article linked to above has information on the people behind purchase of Green Flash.  I changed the title of this post, too, to avoid any confusion.