LA-beer-week-headerHeavy hitters of the Los Angeles craft beer scene gathered this week to create the official LA Beer Week brew. We were inside the Eagle Rock Brewery for the creation of this historic California Common style beer. It’s made with an L.A. twist!

The Camaraderie

Steve and Jeremy Raub of Eagle Rock Brewery (the first official Los Angeles-based brewery) were kind enough to open their doors to the LA Beer Week committee for the brewing of the California Common style beer. “The whole goal as a local brewer is to make L.A. a better beer town. It’s all about the camaraderie and everyone coming together to make L.A. a better beer town,” Jeremy tells us.

Unnamed Beer

The day started with placing about 1,200 pounds of grain into the mash-tun where all the members of LA Beer Week took turns raking the grain as the malted barley mixed with the extremely hot water. This process activates the fermentable sugars in barley and creates wort. Wort is the liquid taken from the mashing process. “The beer will probably be around 9 percent alcohol, so the more alcohol means the more barley we’ll use,” Eagle Rock Brewery’s Patrick Morse explained. “The beer should be fairly light [in color], a little bit of orange tan.”

Patrick explained to us that California Common is a lager style beer that uses lager yeast fermented at ale temperatures, which are very high. This method is historically significant due to limited availability of refrigeration in California during the 1800s.

A Word from the Committee

The brewers of the LA Beer Week beer included Eagle Rock Brewery’s Jeremy Raub, Steve Raub, and Patrick Morse. Dionicess VII organizer and food writer Gev Kazanchyan and Randy Clemens, beer distributors Jay Baum and Dennis Hartman, Tony’s Darts Away’s Paige Reilly and Dave Watrous, Nibble Bit Tabby Brewery’s Brian Lethcoe, Blue Palms Brewhouse’s Brian Lenzo, Clay Harding from 38 Degrees Ale House & Grill, Joshua Lurie from Food GPS, Dan Becker from TheFullPint.com, and Tomm Carroll from Celebrator.

“You see a market this size and see a community that can collaborate together and do something. You don’t see that with any part of the restaurant industry except for [those that are involved with] craft beer,” Clay Harding from 38 Degrees Ale House & Grill said.

Dennis Hartman is proud to brew the special beer for the festival. He said, “We’re taking a part of California and making it very unique to Los Angeles by mixing it, blending the grains and presenting it for a festival, where that will be the only place to get it.”

Jay Baum pointed out that the beer is really a celebration. “The combined efforts are from all of us that are the local beer scene. We’re all very passionate about our beer community. What better way to celebrate it than with a local brewery that produces wonderful products and owners that are very supportive of this local community.”

Los Angeles County native Randy Clemens is all about keeping it local. He added, “It’s an exciting process, a great addition to the events to really showcase not just what Southern California breweries can do but what L.A. breweries can do. I was born in Glendale, not far from here. It’s extremely local to me. Actually I took the bus here.”

The beer should be ready in about three to four weeks and will be available during LA Beer Week on October 17 at Union Station, as well as at the Eagle Rock Brewery Taproom. See you there and hopefully we won’t be hitting any traffic!

Additional Information
http://www.labeerweek.com/
Drink Eat Travel’s LA Beer Week Coverage!