Growing up in Eugene, Oregon in the Pacific Northwest, I was practically weaned on delicious microbrews. (My mother would shudder if she read those words, but I digress...) At first, back in the early 90's, there were only one or two. Widmer Hefeweizen comes to mind, because they seemed to find their way into all the bars on the U of O campus, but I believe Bridgeport Brewing Company in Portland claims that their Blue Heron Ale is the "oldest" microbrew in the state. Regardless, fast forward to 2008, and there are more microbreweries per capita in Portland Oregon than anywhere else in the U.S. But this is a Hollywood blog, and when it comes to quality beer, L.A. makes it all too clear that we ain't in Portland anymore (or even Eugene, for that matter.) Angel City Brewing makes a few decent beers, but they're not great, and they're actually based in Torrance, which is so far from the city center that it's actually...Torrance. Craftsman brewing, in Pasadena, turns out beers that are far superior to Angel City, but, still, Pasadena is not L.A., and both Angel City and Craftsman are really not that easy to come by. Kind of makes a beer lover want to take things into their own hands, which is exactly what my friend SB and I decided to do. We started by travelling down to Huntington Beach to a Brew-On-Premises establishment called Brewbakers. They do most of the heavy lifting for you, in terms of equipment, bottles, ingredients, etc, but technically, you're still brewing beer, and for about $100, you walk away with a LOT. The downside is that the place is run by a bunch of drunks, and the head drunk makes extra money by inviting troops of girl scouts in to make pretzels. After two batches at Brewbakers, we decided we wanted to take it to the next level and start really and truly doing all of the work ourselves. We discovered the Culver City Brew Supply Company, where they make it possible for anyone with $200 and a little ingenuity to start making beer of their own. The two bills will get you all the equipment you need to get started, including a couple cases of bottles. Then every time you want to brew, you can get a recipe kit with everything you need (grains, hops, malt extracts) for around $30. This will produce about 5 gallons of beer, which is a helluva deal if you do the math. Our first batch was a Belgian, BoiesnBecky Blonde, named after our fair haired wives, who have so graciously put up with our new hobby. Definitely drinkable, it got decent notices from our friends with the one criticism that the carbonation level was a bit low. I'm happy to report that our second child, Aviation Amber, has overcome that problem. Behold a frosty mug poured by SB just minutes ago: This brew takes its name from SB's other hobby, flying planes. Next week he takes his test for his pilot's license. I'm betting that coming home to his next frosty mug of Aviation Amber will be an excellent motivator. Stay tuned for future Steverson Brewing releases, or better yet, go out and brew some of your own. All four of you.
Growing up in Eugene, Oregon in the Pacific Northwest, I was practically weaned on delicious microbrews. (My mother would shudder if she read those words, but I digress...) At first, back in the early 90's, there were only one or two. Widmer Hefeweizen comes to mind, because they seemed to find their way into all the bars on the U of O campus, but I believe Bridgeport Brewing Company in Portland claims that their Blue Heron Ale is the "oldest" microbrew in the state. Regardless, fast forward to 2008, and there are more microbreweries per capita in Portland Oregon than anywhere else in the U.S. But this is a Hollywood blog, and when it comes to quality beer, L.A. makes it all too clear that we ain't in Portland anymore (or even Eugene, for that matter.) Angel City Brewing makes a few decent beers, but they're not great, and they're actually based in Torrance, which is so far from the city center that it's actually...Torrance. Craftsman brewing, in Pasadena, turns out beers that are far superior to Angel City, but, still, Pasadena is not L.A., and both Angel City and Craftsman are really not that easy to come by. Kind of makes a beer lover want to take things into their own hands, which is exactly what my friend SB and I decided to do. We started by travelling down to Huntington Beach to a Brew-On-Premises establishment called Brewbakers. They do most of the heavy lifting for you, in terms of equipment, bottles, ingredients, etc, but technically, you're still brewing beer, and for about $100, you walk away with a LOT. The downside is that the place is run by a bunch of drunks, and the head drunk makes extra money by inviting troops of girl scouts in to make pretzels. After two batches at Brewbakers, we decided we wanted to take it to the next level and start really and truly doing all of the work ourselves. We discovered the Culver City Brew Supply Company, where they make it possible for anyone with $200 and a little ingenuity to start making beer of their own. The two bills will get you all the equipment you need to get started, including a couple cases of bottles. Then every time you want to brew, you can get a recipe kit with everything you need (grains, hops, malt extracts) for around $30. This will produce about 5 gallons of beer, which is a helluva deal if you do the math. Our first batch was a Belgian, BoiesnBecky Blonde, named after our fair haired wives, who have so graciously put up with our new hobby. Definitely drinkable, it got decent notices from our friends with the one criticism that the carbonation level was a bit low. I'm happy to report that our second child, Aviation Amber, has overcome that problem. Behold a frosty mug poured by SB just minutes ago: This brew takes its name from SB's other hobby, flying planes. Next week he takes his test for his pilot's license. I'm betting that coming home to his next frosty mug of Aviation Amber will be an excellent motivator. Stay tuned for future Steverson Brewing releases, or better yet, go out and brew some of your own. All four of you.
