Private Events at Lama Dog

Searching for the perfect venue to host your next event? Look no further than Lama Dog Tap Room + Bottle Shop! Whether you're planning a corporate gathering, a milestone birthday, a holiday party, or any special occasion that deserves a memorable celebration, Lama Dog offers a unique and versatile space that can cater to your needs. With a fun indoor tap room, a charming outdoor patio, and an impressive selection of beverages, your event is destined to be a hit.

Treat your guests to a remarkable selection of craft beers, wines, hard kombuchas, and bar bites. With 20 beers on draft and a curated bottle shop, Lama Dog ensures that every palate finds something to relish. The Nook is also available for bar bites that perfectly complement the beverages.

Options to Suit Your Gathering:

We understand that each event is unique, which is why they offer three distinct options for event space rental:

Whole Space Rental (Up to 115 People): Whether it's a grand celebration or a corporate gala, the whole space rental option provides ample room for mingling, dancing, and creating memories.

Patio Rental (Up to 60 People): Bask in the California sun or enjoy the starlit sky on Lama Dog's charming outdoor patio. This option offers an intimate outdoor experience.

Half Patio Rental (Up to 30 People): Hosting a smaller gathering? The half-patio rental is ideal for creating a cozy ambiance while still enjoying all Lama Dog has to offer.

Let's Get Started:

Ready to make your event a reality? For detailed information on pricing and availability, reach out to our Tap Room Manager at info@lamadog.com. We’re here to help you bring your vision to life, ensuring that your event is a memorable one!

July at Lama Dog

We’re excited to announce the newest recipient of our Charity Tap! For the month of July, we will be donating 10% of all pint pours from tap #17 to The Friendship Paddle, a local organization that provides emotional and financial support to members of the Santa Barbara community who are fighting life-threatening illnesses. Check out their website to learn more, and come on by the taproom and join us in supporting this incredible cause.

Upcoming Pint Night

In addition to our charity tap, we’re hosting a Pint Night on Wednesday, July 26th, featuring JuneShine Hard Kombucha! Pours will start at 5pm and end at 10pm, plus you can expect some giveaways while supplies last. Come in and enjoy a kombucha with friends, and catch the US Women’s World Cup game, which starts at 6pm (US vs. Netherlands).

Join us in supporting Our Community

At Lama Dog, we take pride in offering the largest selection of craft beers in Santa Barbara. With a community-centered approach at our taproom and bottle shop, we are proud to be able to support local charities and organizations that make a difference in our community. If you want to stay in touch and hear about our upcoming events, be sure to sign up to receive our monthly newsletter below.

The Art of Beer Selection

In the ever-evolving world of beer, where new styles, breweries, and trends emerge at a rapid pace, we have made it our mission to stay ahead of the game. As a taproom and bottle shop dedicated to providing an exceptional beer experience, we take great pride in curating a diverse selection that caters to a wide range of tastes. Here’s an inside look into how we select our beers, providing the best craft beer selection in all of Santa Barbara.

Staying Attuned to Consumer Preferences

We recognize that while personal preferences play a role, it's crucial to offer beers that align with what our customers like. We enjoy actively engaging with our patrons and paying attention to their feedback in order to gauge the evolving tastes and trends in the craft beer community. So if there’s something you’ve been looking for, let us know!

Brand Recognition and Quality

In the vast sea of craft beer options, brand recognition can play a significant role in consumer choices. We carefully select well-established brands that have built a strong reputation among beer enthusiasts. These brands, known for their consistent quality and unique offerings, ensure that customers can find familiar favorites when they visit Lama Dog. This approach also serves as a bridge for introducing newcomers to the world of craft beer, allowing them to explore trusted names and expand their palate.

Curating a Diverse Range

While brand recognition is important, our commitment to providing an exceptional beer experience goes beyond that. We strive to create a space where beer lovers can discover new things. We diligently seek out breweries and beers that push the boundaries of traditional brewing, introducing customers to new and exciting taste experiences. From hop-forward IPAs to rich stouts, crisp lagers, to funky sours, Lama Dog ensures there is something to satisfy every palate.

Quality as the Top Priority

Above all else, we prioritize quality when selecting and sourcing our beers to serve on tap and sell in our bottle shop. We believe that every beer we offer should meet the highest standards, providing a consistently excellent experience for our customers. Our team carefully evaluates each brew, considering factors such as flavor profile, brewing techniques, and the reputation of the brewery. By upholding stringent quality standards, we ensure that every sip is a memorable one.

Experience Our Selection Firsthand

We aim to create a beer experience that delights both newcomers and seasoned beer enthusiasts alike. So, whether you're seeking a familiar favorite or eager to explore new horizons, Lama Dog has something to satisfy every palate. Visit our taproom and bottle shop to experience our meticulously curated beer selection firsthand.

Celebrating our 7th Anniversary

Celebrate With Us

Calling all beer lovers! Get ready to party with us as we celebrate our 7th anniversary! Can you believe we’ve been serving up the best brews in town for 7 whole years?! We couldn't have done it without you, so come raise a glass with us starting  June 8th and celebrate through the weekend. We’ll have amazing beers on tap, awesome company, and we might even have a few giveaways in store for you! We’re proud to offer the largest selections of craft beer in Santa Barbara, and we're always on the hunt for new and exciting brews to share with you.

Upcoming Pint Nights

But wait, there’s more! Don't miss out on our upcoming Pint Night. On June 1st, we will be featuring Alvarado Street Brewing with 10+ taps! Plus, you can keep the glass while supplies last. And stay tuned for a Pint Night collaboration featuring MadeWest Brewing, Ventura Coast Brewing, and Enegren Brewing.

Charity Tap 

Our charity tap is in full swing! Up until June 30th, we will be donating 10% of all pint pours from tap #17 to Therapy Dogs of Santa Barbara. Tap #17 usually features a lager or pilsner, frequently changing between different breweries and styles. Stop by for a pint and support this organization and their four-legged friends.

Stay in Touch

And if you haven’t visited our Tap Room + Bottle Shop yet, what are you waiting for? We do craft beer a little differently, offering 20 revolving taps that change daily, local wines, hard kombucha, cider, and more. We're constantly seeking out the finest craft beers to serve you. So come on down and enjoy a pint or pick something up from our bottle shop to go! If you want to stay in touch and hear about upcoming events, be sure to sign up for our newsletter below.

Our Charity Tap is Coming Back!

Lama Dog is excited to announce that our charity tap is coming back! From May 1st to June 30th, we will be donating 10% of all pint pours from tap #17 to Therapy Dogs of Santa Barbara, a charity that empowers people to live more fulfilling lives through the human-animal bond. As a dog-loving taproom and bottle shop, we are stoked to be partnering with an organization that loves our four-legged friends just as much as we do.

Featured Tap #17

You can expect tap #17 to feature either a lager or pilsner, frequently changing between different breweries and styles. We invite you to come in, enjoy a refreshing pint, and support a great cause while you’re at it. You may even get to meet a therapy dog. The team at Therapy Dogs of Santa Barbara will be on-site periodically throughout the two months to enjoy our rotating beer selection and share the love of their canine friends. Keep an eye out for the purple bandanas and happy pups!

Upcoming Pint Night

In addition to our charity tap, we’re hosting a Pint Night on Thursday, April 20th, where we’ll be pouring Fremont Brewing from Seattle and Long Beach natives, Beachwood Brewing. Pours start at 5pm and stop at 10pm. Come in and enjoy a cold beer with friends, old and new. Plus, your furry friends are always welcome to join us in the taproom.

Stay in Touch

At Lama Dog, we take pride in offering a selection of over 400 hand-picked craft beers, wines, ciders, and hard kombucha that is powered by extensive knowledge of the industry. As a community-driven taproom and bottle shop, we believe in supporting local causes and organizations that make a difference in people’s lives. If you want to stay in touch and hear about upcoming events, be sure to sign up for our newsletter below.

To Keep or To Drink. How and when to age beer.

Does beer expire? Should I age this imperial stout? If an IPA is two years old, can I still  drink it? Have you ever asked yourself or your friend who is a self-proclaimed beer cognoscenti these questions or something like it? We are going to do our best at clearing these questions up  for you! Let’s get into it.  

First, let’s talk about the life of a beer. To clear the air on this one from the beginning,  yes beer does expire, all beer will see its last day at some point. Now, the fine print on the  topic. Most beer that is consumed on a regular, IPA’s, Pale Ales, Hoppy Lagers, Amber Ales,  Brown Ales, everyday drinking beer styles, basis expires somewhere within 60 to 120 days. We  recommend that beers, in general, are consumed as soon as possible. During the natural aging  process of beer, most ingredients with more subtle flavors will start to diminish. Hoppy flavors  are a good example. Here is a little science experiment for you. Grab a can of your favorite IPA,  make sure it’s available year-round. Save it for 4 months and grab the same beer, but real fresh.  These beers should beer noticeable different. It should be very clear which one is older. Shout  out to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale though, that beer can be 100 days old, warm on a shelf in  Walgreens, and still taste good. Not sure how to check how old the can is? On most cans and  bottles, there should be a DRINK BY or CANNED ON date. That’s your reference.  

Okay, now on to the topic of beers to age. First thing we recommend is have a space you  can put them in that is as close to cellar temperature, somewhere between 50-55 degrees 

Fahrenheit is the sweet spot. Warmer temperatures age beer much quicker, avoid them if you  can. Generally, beers with higher alcohol by volume, or ABV, age better than lower ABV beers. The higher alcohol content will help fight against oxidation. Higher ABV beers are generally, not  always, malt balanced beers, with the emphasis or intentions of the brewers being to showcase  the malt they used. Of course, these beers have almost always have some hops, but just like  any other beer, the flavors coming from the hops will fade with time. Also, wild beers in general  age well. These beers are going to contain wild microbes like lactobacillus, pediococcus,  brettanomyces. 

So, age your beers if you want to. But make sure to pay attention to how they taste, try  to, if you can, have a reference for what it tastes like when its fresh. How else will you know  what happened to the beer overtime unless you drink it yourself. Cheers!

Pliny The Younger Release

The time has come once again to search out and find the coveted, Russian River Pliny the Younger.  For the past 16 years, people take the time to spend hours lined up outside of a few lucky establishments to witness the power and greatness of this revered beer.

For those of you who do not know what beer we are talking about, here is a little history on the beer, and the name behind it. Pliny the Younger was the nephew and adopted son of Pliny the Elder. He was a lawyer and an author in Ancient Rome. In terms of the style, we will let our friends from Russian River explain it. “Pliny the Younger is considered a “triple” IPA, simply meaning that it is higher in alcohol and has tons of hops. The alcohol should finish at about 10.25%, although it is remarkably dry for the amount of malt used in the recipe. It is loaded with hop flavors, bitterness, and aromatics.  We brewed Younger for the first time in 2005 as a winter seasonal, building upon the Pliny the Elder recipe while pushing the envelope with malt, hops, and alcohol just to see how far we could go!

This year’s hops are hand selected by from the 2019 crop and include Amarillo, Chinook, Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe and more! It is always brewed only once a year and released the first Friday in February, rain or shine.” For those of you who have taken the time to stand in line, shoulder to shoulder with your fellow craft drinking buddies, we salute you. Keep your eyes on the Lama Dog social media pages for updates on this wonderful beer and where you can find it in the beautiful town of Santa Barbara. Cheers!

Hoppiness: What It Means To Your Beertender

            Hops are one of four ingredients used to make beer. In your “hoppy” styles, or overly-hopped beers, i.e. pale ales and IPAs, it plays a larger than a quarter role. Hops contribute many different things to a beer’s overall profile, so when you come up to the bar and order “something hoppy” or ask “how hoppy is that beer?” you could be asking for many different things. “I want an IPA that’s not too hoppy.” Is like ordering a steak that’s not very meaty. 

            One of the largest and most common agents of “hoppiness” is bitterness. Hop cones are rich in lupulin, which in turn is full of alpha and beta acids. When you add hops to wort (unfermented beer) at different stages of the process, it does different things. After you’ve added your grains and let those steep and all the relevant sugars are extracted, you boil that liquid and add hops. Typically boils last for about 60 minutes. When you add hops at the beginning of the process, those alpha acids get a chance to go through a process called isomerization. Beyond the chemistry, isomerized alpha acids are the base elements that taste bitter. The often used stat IBU or International Bittering Units is physically measured as parts per million of isomerized alpha acids. So an IBU of 10 means there are 10 parts per million of isomerized alpha acids.

            Another common misrepresentation of “hoppiness” is the Pacific Northwest hop profile, which tends to highlight more piney, woody notes. In large quantities, those hops can err on the aggressive side. The rise of the west coast IPA in the 00’s definitely polluted the field a lot, with the style highlighting extreme bitterness and low malt character. 

            The rise of the hazy IPAs operates in stark contrast to the old west coast styles. While still hopped aggressively, the high oat and wheat content in the malt base contributes a softer body and the sweetness of the styles cuts back on the dominance of whatever bitterness prevails. One of the tenants of hazy/juicy IPA is that most of the hops are what’s called “late addition”, which just means they are added later in the boil. Most hops added within about 0-30 minutes left in the boil contribute aroma and flavor, and not much bitterness, as the alpha acids don’t have time to isomerize. 

            Hops contribute many different flavors into a beer. Like wine grapes, hops have an extensive variety that all taste and smell different. Different hop growing regions tend towards certain profiles, and hop characteristics of some regions can be interpreted differently by different people, while still not necessarily being “hoppy” by any vague definition of the word. Hopefully this helps in your choosing of Hoppy style beers as well as asking your beertender about them.

Beer & Healthy Living

            If your New Year’s Resolution was to make healthier changes in your life, you don’t have to cut beer out. There are plenty of stories about people dropping lots of weight by cutting beer out of their diet, which is probably a big factor, but beer does have lots of positive benefits. Like all good things, moderation is paramount.

            Beer has many health benefits though. Much like wine, there is something to the calming and relaxing benefits of alcohol in small amounts. A beer or a glass of wine at the end of a stressful day is found to be beneficial to stress and anxiety levels. For high cardio workouts, a beer at the end is great for recovery. The carbohydrate and protein levels in beer make it an ideal workout recovery. Your body craves these energy sources to help with muscle building, and the hydration benefits of beer are well known.

            It’s hard to argue against the high carbohydrate levels in beer, so if you’re choosing a keto/low carb diet for the new year, beer is going to be hard to factor in, but there are still lots of solid options. Many lagers are low in alcohol and sugar, and often have very few calories/carbohydrates per serving. Many dark beers are rich in protein and are a nice way to juice those protein macros a little bit while still keeping your carbs down. In addition to tasting great, foreign export stouts and other dark English ales are so full of protein, they’re recommended to nursing mothers looking for a drink.

            At the end of the day, the healthiest decision is to cut out alcohol all together. But that’s no fun.  So you want to find that balance. Cravings are too real, and moderation is good for all things. So make the choice to drink beer, and exercise.

Giving the Gift of Craft Beer

Craft beer stores can be overwhelming and intimidating. For most beer buying folks, their comfort zones of IPA or Lagers do just fine for them. But, when purchasing beer as a gift for someone who knows more than most, terror may strike into the hearts of those who enter the beer fridge hoping to find something that will bring joy to their loved ones heart. 

With that said, we here at Lama Dog are here to help with your gift getting, holiday cheer filled purchases. Here are 4 tips that we believe will make your lives easier. 

1. If you have an idea what style they like to drink, stick with that. You know they love crush cans of some fresh Hazy IPA? Get it! Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stouts with all sorts of delicious goodies in it like pistachios, cocoa and vanilla? Get em! Lambic? We gotchu. But, with all of this said, this brings us to tip two and three. 

2. Ask for help from the bartender, or if you can ask if the beer buyer is working. The beer buyer will have the best idea what is in stock, and will understand what styles you throw their way. Asking the bartender is also a solid way to get what you are looking for. Also it’s worth noting that they will also be able to help if you have a specific style in mind. Remember, our jobs involve trying all sorts of beer and we are here to help save the day. This leads us to the third tip. 

3. Let the person who is helping you know your price range. Well stocked beer stores will have beers ranging from $2 to $250. So let them know from the jump what you want to spend. Also have in mind whether you’re looking for a mixed six pack or one or two larger format beers.  The more info you can comfortably give, the easier the brainstorming process will be.  

4. Our final tip, gift cards are always cool, especially ones that get you beer. Giving someone purchasing access to a few beers should greatly improve the quality of their lives. 

With these tips, we hope that you can walk into a beer store with the confidence to get some delicious beers for your loved ones. 

With best wishes, Lama Dog. 

Training Wheels: Dad Let Go A While Ago Craft Beer Guidance

Beer has evolved an insatiable amount over the last few decades, but most people still have had only Big Beer experiences. It’s not unreasonable to think that if your only interaction with beer has been macro lager, i.e. Bud, Coors, Miller, or a big bitter IPA that you might be turned off to the idea of beer. Which isn’t to say that beer is for everyone, but there is probably a beer for 99% of drinkers.

If you identify as a wine drinker, beers from Belgium and American made Belgian styles are an easy gateway to the other side. Belgian yeast tends to produce more esters (fruity characteristics like banana, floral notes, orchard fruit) that ping as desirable for white wine fans. 

• For fans of sparkling wine, saisons are a highly attenuated (high carbonation and very dry) farmhouse style that accentuates spicy grainy notes and high ester characteristics. 

• If French whites are more your speed, look no further than many Belgian made pale sours, also in saison or grisette (a wheat heavy farmhouse style that tends to have a slightly softer body, but is a lovely starting point for lighter sours)

• If Napa Chardonnay is your beverage of choice, trappist tripels are perfect. Big, rich, softer bodies than some of their smaller cousins, tripels are pale in color but large in flavor and alcohol. 

• Santa Barbara pinot noir is known for it’s bright cherry, plum, and floral notes, which are very common flavors found in trappist dubbels, usually with a little less acidity than the wine, but trades that off for a nice bright carbonation.

• Full bodied, high alcohol, pouring a deep garnet/purple, quadrupels are a nice fruity jumping off point for Cab lovers.

Not all wine translates directly into Belgian styles. One of the ‘newer’ styles that’s gaining a lot of traction is Hazy IPA. These are IPAs characterized by low to medium-low bitterness, softer body, bright hop aromas, and an opaque golden orange color. Some of the larger scale commercial examples of these beers present with a lot of tropical fruit and melon character, perfect for any viognier or pinot grigio fan.

One of the primary roadblocks for a lot of wine drinkers is the oft required bitterness found in most beers. People find a lot of comfort in stouts for this reason, as they tend to mask the bitterness with high roast and chocolately characteristics. Another style on the rise is the idea of a pastry stout, or dessert inspired stouts with lots of adjuncts (anything not one of the four core beer ingredients which are water, malt, hops, and yeast). 

The next easy step into craft beer for many is into the expansive world of sour ales. The most accessible sour is typically a gose, which is a sour salted wheat beer with coriander. The style lends itself to fruit additions wonderfully, and as such, is how most people experience their first sour beer. The acidity, the salinity, and even the malt bill of mostly wheat tends to be in even values, all very light and refreshing. German in origin, Gose isn’t supposed to be strong or dominant. The German’s also came up with another great even-tempered sour, the Berlinerweisse. A light sour wheat beer, low in alcohol and medium-high in acid, is typically served with a fruit syrup. Raspberry or Woodford syrups are most common, but American made berliner weisse often come with fruit additions done at the brewery. It’s a great base to do all sorts of experimentation with, and many brewers have done exactly that. The Bruery, based out of Placentia in Orange County, uses a berlinerweisse for most of it’s dessert inspired sours, and Grimm (gypsy brewer mostly based in New York) makes a series of beers called Pop!, a “desert berliner weisse”.

Long story short, even if you don’t fancy yourself a beer drinker, there’s probably a beer for you. If you don’t want one, that’s ok too. There’s also no such thing as a “girly” or “manly” beer, there’s just beer. Whether you want fruit, light, dark, sour, hoppy, thick, high ABV, beer is made for the masses. Most taproom, liquor store, brewery, or watering hole staff will be more than happy to guide you on your journey. To quote the great philosopher Simpson, “Beer is the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.” He is also quoted as saying “Mmmm… beer 

Upcoming Beer Classes + Events

DEAREST LAMA GOERS:

Hey all, our blog has missed our typing + photos & is in need of some TLC (& beer) so here's a little update on some upcoming Beer thangs we are doing. 

BREWERY NIGHT with FIRESTONE WALKER

Happening Thursday 2/22 at 5pm. This will be a full tap takeover + David Walker himself will be at Lama Dog to hang out + chat about beer. Don't miss this tasty brew fest.

Interested in Beer Classes? Signup here:

LAMADOG.COM/BEER-EDUCATION-CLASSES

Thomas Fire Fundraiser

The Waterline, which is the building we are located in, will be having a building-wide fundraiser where proceeds will go directly to those affected by the Thomas Fire. Toad & Co will also be on site handing out clothing to those affected by the Thomas Fire and selling clothes to all others at sample price. Come and support our community! This is happening Thursday Jan 4th starting at 5pm. 

Fundraiser & Community Updates

First off, we are devastated by this fire and so sad for the enormous amount of people who have been evacuated and for those who have lost their homes. This is a heavy time amongst the Ventura and Santa Barbara County community. 

We are currently open but every day we have kept updated on the fire and realize that everything can change. For any fire fighters who come to Lama Dog there is a 25% discount and we hope they are able to find a moment of quiet and a break. 

We plan to hold a building-wide fundraiser to support the community as a result of the Thomas Fire once things settle down. At this time no one knows when this will be. Stay updated on our Facebook and Instagram. 

We truly hope all are able to stay safe and healthy during this time. 

PUMPKIN + FALL BEER STYLES Beer Class OCT 9th

Love them or hate them, pumpkin beers are an annual fall tradition in this country. It's becoming such a craze that they're already hitting the shelves as early as July! Just as there are many ways to carve a pumpkin, so are there many ways to add it to a beer. Join us for a tasting of a wide variety of pumpkin beers. From beers brewed with pumpkin pie spice to fresh roasted pumpkin and even Belgian Sour Lambics made with pumpkin, we'll cover it all. Get ready to pump up the yams! $25 per person. Approx. 10 beer samples + 10 people max.

Want to secure your spot? Click on our Beer Class tab, click on the class image, then add to your cart :) 

Oktoberfest: A Tale of Two Styles

The season to celebrate German beer culture is upon us. That’s right, it’s time for Oktoberfest! This year’s festival runs from September 16th through October 3rd. 

The origins of the festival date back to 1810, when Crown Prince Ludwig wed Princess Therese and invited the citizens of Munich for celebrations held for the wedding. 

Obviously there’s a lot more in depth history to this annual event, but we’ll save that for another time. Today we’re going to talk about the beer style, or should we say styles, that share the same name as this beloved festival. The two styles in question are Mårzen and Festbier. 

First let’s talk about the original style, Mårzen. Derived from the German word for the Month of March (Mårz), this lager style was typically brewed at the beginning of Spring, in March, and then fermented and cellared throughout the summer, to be enjoyed in the fall. This long maturation time allowed for a complex, yet incredibly clean lager with brilliant clarity. 

The original Mårzen was much darker than what we know today. Historically, these beers were more of a rich brown color with moderate bitterness and higher alcohol strength, similar to a higher strength Dunkel. It wasn’t until the mid 19th century that the current Amber colored Mårzen came to be. 

The current Mårzen style is typically orange to amber in color with bright clarity. Aromas of fresh baked country bread and mild toasted character dominate with flavors of moderate sweetness and bitterness, finished with clean bread crust. In some cases, moderate alcohol can be detected due to the higher alcohol content to aid in long-term storage. Typically, the ABV of the style hovers around 6% but many modern American versions aim lower around 5-5.5% ABV. 

This style of beer was the official style of the festival from the mid-1800s up until 1990, when the new, lighter style, now known as Festbier was adopted. This style had been toyed around with since the 1970s, in an attempt to create a lighter festival beer that would allow for additional consumption without feeling so weighted down by heavier malt sweetness. 

The Festbier, or Wiesn as the locals call it, is essentially an export Helles Lager. Straw to golden in color with moderate sweetness and bitterness and fresh lightly baked bread character and a brilliant clarity due to long term cold maturation. The main difference between the Festbier and a Helles Lager is a slightly higher alcohol content due to increased malt usage, as well as a slightly higher hop content to counteract added sweetness and act as a natural preservative. That being said, they should not have a pronounced bitterness, or hop aroma and flavor. 

Oddly enough, when it comes down to the hard data, Festbiers are really no lighter than Mårzen in terms of richness or calorie content as both styles have roughly the same measurements of residual sugars and roughly the same alcohol content. Largely the perceived heaviness is psychosomatic due to the darker color of the Mårzen versus the lighter color of the Festbier. Although, some breweries chose to make their Festbiers even lighter to encourage additional pours. 

Whichever route you go, just remember to appreciate the long, hard work that goes into making these clean, refreshing styles.  And don’t feel the need to only enjoy them during the roughly 17-day span of Oktoberfest as many breweries make these styles year round now. Prost!

Sour Beer Production

Once a style relegated to the shadows and certain regions in Belgium, sour beer is now in the mainstream. So much so, we have to dedicate several of our taps specifically towards sour beer. We get asked all the time about what makes beer sour, so we thought we’d take a second to give a quick lesson in what makes beer sour and the different methods used to produce it. Please know that this will be a quick, barebones overview. 

The main cause of sourness comes from bacteria, typically two different species known as Lactobacillus or Pediococcus, and in some rare occasions, Acetobacter producing bacteria. 

All of these bacteria utilize the sugars and carbohydrates found in wort or beer to create lactic acid (or acetic acid), which in turn lowers the pH of the final product, which causes varying levels of perceived tartness on the tongue. 

While brewers go through painstaking lengths to ensure their ‘clean’ beers contain none of these bacteria, when producing sour beers, they can be added in a few different ways. Additionally, sour beer production can be broken down into 2 different macro-production methods, quick sours and aged sours.

Quick sours can be produced in generally the same amount of time as a normal beer (usually 3-6 weeks depending on other factors).  They are soured in one of two ways. Sour mashed or kettle soured. Both involve building up large amounts of lactic acid producing bacteria so they can consume some of the carbohydrates, thereby lowering the pH of the wort. 

Sour mash utilizes naturally occurring bacteria present on the grain, by heating the grain with water (roughly around 100F). At this temperature the bacteria begin to consume carbohydrates in the grain and multiply, a process that typically happens overnight. Once the mash has reached its desired pH, it is brought to sugar conversion temperatures, the liquid is run off, and then boiled just like a standard beer. The boiling kills any remaining bacteria and locks in the pH of the beer. 

Kettle souring is a similar process. The mash is heated to starch conversion temperatures and run off into another vessel. At this point, bacteria are added or ‘pitched’ into the un-boiled wort and the same process takes place overnight or until the desired pH is achieved. Once again, the wort is boiled, killing off any remaining bacteria. 

Both of these styles of ‘quick sour’ beer are fermented normally, typically with a clean yeast strain. These sours tend to be fairly simple with a basic tartness and little additional character. Typically these types of sour don’t benefit with any additional aging, as they don’t contain any living bacteria. Although, in some cases, wild yeast added in secondary fermentation may give additional character. 

One of the main drawbacks to quick sours is that they are prone to off flavors. Some common ones examples are THP (Tetrahydropyridine), which gives flavors of Cherrios or Cap’n Crunch. This typically disappears with extended aging. Another one is Butyric Acid, which gives aromas and flavors of vomit. Only the addition of a Brettanomyces yeast strain and extended aging will cause this flavor to turn into a compound with aromas of pineapple. 

Long aged sours are pretty self-explanatory. These are beers that go through roughly the same brewing process as clean beers until it comes time for fermentation.  Once the boil is complete, the beer is either cooled and wild yeast and bacteria are pitched into the finished wort and allowed to ferment in a variety of containers or, in the case of spontaneous fermentation, the wort is allowed to cool naturally overnight and yeast and bacteria present in the air find their way in. The wort is usually then pumped into oak barrels to ferment for 1-4 years, before being blended and/or packaged. 

This long-term aging allows for the beer to slowly develop more subtle, rounded, and intertwined flavors. Additionally, the presence of the living organisms in the beer allow for long-term aging like a wine. 

We’ll do some more in depth posts about the specific biology and chemistry that’s involved in sour beer at a later date so keep checking back. 

The Three Tier System

We get the question all the time. “Can you get ‘X’ Brewery’s beer from ‘Y’ State?” or “You should really get ‘X’ beer from my hometown. They’re great!”

We love getting in new beer. And we love to hear about new beers that are available to us. Our vast and wide selection is one of the things in which we take great pride. There are just a couple of things that might stand in the way of us getting your favorite beer in stock. That main one being 3 dreaded words, the Three Tier System.

What is the Three Tier System you ask? Well, it’s a system of alcohol distribution that, well, consists of 3 tiers, or levels. It was introduced after the repeal of Prohibition as a way to keep tight control over alcohol sales and help crack down on any unfair practices or unlicensed sales, in theory.

The first Tier is obviously the manufacturer or importer. This is the company that produces the product, like a brewery, here in the US, or is the company that imports the product into the US in the case of international breweries. 

The second tier consists of what are known as distributors. These are companies that negotiate pricing, and buy the beer wholesale from the manufacturer/importer for distribution into the marketplace, usually in specific geographical areas. In many states, small producers can act as their own distributor, rather than rely on a 3rd party to sell to retail outlets.

The third and final tier is the retailer. This could be anything from a restaurant, to a bar, to a beer shop, and in some cases, public wholesale shops. Basically, the third tier is where the everyday public can buy a beer for their personal enjoyment. 

In California, most craft breweries are allowed to self distribute, if they don’t already have a contract in the geographical area they’re distributing. We’re also lucky enough in our state that the brewery doesn’t even have to deliver. As long as they have set distribution pricing for our area, we can pick up beer ourselves. You may have noticed some of the great breweries that we have on tap and in our bottle shop that you don’t typically see anywhere else in town. 

However, if a brewery doesn’t have pricing, or doesn’t have a distributor in the area, we can’t sell their beer. One of the most asked for beers in our shop is Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. Sadly, Russian River has completely cut out pricing and distribution for the Central Coast. So we’ll never have their beers in stock, that is, until they chose to expand their distribution footprint.

It could be worse though. We could be one of the dreaded states that only allow sales of alcohol through state owned stores. At the same time, we could be lucky, like Washington D.C., which doesn’t have any real distribution laws for beer. Bars and shops in the District can simply buy beer from a brewery anywhere in the country, and then simply sell it at their shops, so long as they can get the beer back without being caught violating any interstate shipping laws. 

One of the biggest downsides to the Three Tier System is how large-scale macro breweries can use it to their advantage. Many of the large conglomerates, such as AB-InBEV and MillerCoors, own distributers in states where it’s legal for them to do so. This allows them to shut out smaller, more independent breweries from certain areas where only one or two distributors exist. We’ll save those details for another blog regarding our stance on Macro Beer and their predatory practices. 

In the end, always ask us if we can get the beer you’re looking for, and we’ll happily check it out to see if it’s legally available to us. Just don’t get your hopes up for pliny any time soon. 

Santa Barbara Beer Scene

With 18 breweries in Santa Barbara County - 10 of those in just the last 5 years and more on the way - the craft beer boom doesn’t show any signs of slowing down in the 805.

From the opening of the Santa Barbara Brewing Company in 1995, the now nationally recognized Firestone Walker Brewing soon followed in Los Olivos, along with The Brewhouse in SB and Island Brewing Company in neighboring Carpinteria. 

The scene picked up again in 2006 when the city welcomed its first brewery devoted to Belgian and English styles in 2006 with the arrival of Brian Thompson’s Telegraph Brewing Company.  In that time, Firestone Walker moved to Paso Robles and Hollister Brewing was just a year away from opening its brewpub doors.

It wasn’t long before Solvang Brewing Company and Figueroa Mountain Brewing opened in 2010. Fig Mountain added a second location in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone in 2013 and a new era was born. From 2014-2017, 9 new brewery locations opened in SB County, many by Santa Barbara natives and alumni of the founding breweries.

And if you thought these breweries were just pumping out the same boring and tired light lagers or overly bitter and malty IPAs, you’d be way off. The style wheel of Santa Barbara’s brewing scene covers just about every shade there is. 

Looking for some world class and award winning lagers? Fig Mountain’s Creative Director and Head Brewer for SB, Kevin Ashford is pumping out some of the cleanest, most authentic lagers around. If you’re looking for hype styles like hazy IPAs, check out newcomer Third Window Brewing or Captain Fatty’s in Goleta.  

Looking for sours? Telegraph Brewing has an extensive and creative program of sour and wild beers. Barrelworks, the sour and wild arm of Firestone Walker Brewing Co. is well worth the short drive up to Buellton for the chance to sample Firestone’s award-winning wild beers at their source.

In addition to classic Pales, IPAs, and twists on familiar styles, like an Amber brewed with avocado honey, Island Brewing Company in Carpinteria has your Bourbon barrel aged beer fix. With its award-winning strong ales, like the underappreciated Barleywine, Island is putting just about everything into Bourbon barrels.

Want to try beers that are a little more experimental? Fellow Carp brewery BrewLAB does very small batch, innovative styles, many containing locally-sourced produce and herbs.

Not in the mood for beer? Don’t miss Apiary. Located right next door to brewLAB, Apiary is pumping out small batch meads and ciders made from local apples and honey, infused with foraged botanicals and fruits.  

And if you’re looking to try all of these in one place, hit up one of Santa Barbara’s beer festivals. With a great sampling of local brews, rest assured your ticket is likely supporting worthy local non-profits. 

Don’t miss ZooBrew. Benefiting the SB Zoo, this popular fest sells out every year. Or sample both local and other West Coast brews while strolling through the beautiful 230-acre Elings Park at the Santa Barbara Beer Festival. 

If you’re looking for an intimate, curated experience, Zach Rosen’s Santa Barbara Beer Garden features local breweries producing malt beverages that use ingredients sourced from and benefiting the SB Botanical Garden. 

Whatever the style, atmosphere, or location, don’t underestimate Santa Barbara’s diverse beer culture. While our area is known for its wine, you’re just as likely to hear, “So where can I grab a beer?” 

Exploring Beer: ITALY

Italy is well known as one of the premiere countries producing wine, but has seen a boom in craft beer over the past 15 years. The same strictures that have helped maintain Italy as a great wine country have also stifled a lot of creativity in the market, which has shifted focus towards beer.  Beer production is mostly unregulated there, with the major producers like Peroni and Moretti having a comfortable hold, but not regulating out smaller breweries.  Thanks to this lax regulation, there’s been a lot of incredible innovation and beer coming out of the country that has started to gain notice in the United States.

It’s not hard to credit Teo Musso from Birrifico Le Baladin and Agostino Arioli from Birrifico Italiano with helping form the Italian craft beer scene.  Both of them starting in the mid 90’s, they helped forge an Italian identity with their beer. Looking to stand apart from Germany’s purity laws and rigor and create separation, they started to focus heavily on local ingredients that gave their beers a decidedly regional flavor. From chestnut featuring in a lot of central Italian breweries, citrus heavily in the south, and northern Italy having a strong heritage grain flair, Italy has embraced their local flavor. Teo and Agostino have both turned their small microbreweries into much larger productions, gaining international acclaim for their beers.

Due to the rather youthful state of Italian beer outside of mass produced lager (which is still fairly decent considering the scale), there is no definitive Italian style.  There has been a lot of experimentation on tradition by the newer craft brewers.  Due to Italy’s rich wine heritage, there have been quite a few wine/beer hybrids coming out, one of my favorites being L’Equilibrista from Birra del Borgo, a Chianti/beer hybrid that utilizes yeast found on Chianti skins, co-fermented with the Sangiovese must, and then finished with a champagne yeast strain that bursts with effervescence figgy wine character.  Del Borgo also produces a style not many other breweries touch, but is an odd favorite of mine, oyster stout.  Perle ai Porci utilizes 15kg of oysters for every 500L of wort and a small addition of bean clams that add a rich salinity and body, borrowing from a more northern European tradition of stout. LoverBeer produces BeerBrugna, a sour ale with local plums, LeBaladin makes a beer called Terre with barley grown in their own grain fields and utilizes local black rice and then aged in second use wine barrels, Birrifico Grado Plato makes a fantastic amber ale called Strada S. Felice that uses Piemontese chestnuts, and that is just a fraction of the beer that uses local ingredients to produce flavors unlike anything else in the world.

If you ever find yourself in Italy, don’t think of it only as a great food and wine destination.  There’s also a lot of really great beer to be had, and you’d be remiss to sleep on it.  For the time being, you’ll just have to be like the rest of us and try and scrounge around your local bottle shop and find the hidden Italian gems.