Meet the Homebrewers of Los Angeles – Drew Beechum

Did you know the oldest homebrewing club in America is from Los Angeles? The Maltose Falcons were founded in 1974 by Merlin Elhardt, when it was still illegal to homebrew. Since then the club has grown to 250 members, begetting some of our city’s most talented professional and amateur brewers. Above, one of their longtime members and former president for four years, Drew Beechum, cradles a jar of one of his closest friends – Saison yeast! For our third spotlight on L.A. area homebrewers, Drew gave us a look into his homebrewery based in Pasadena, CA.

Brewing, Writing, and Arithmetic

Drew is a man of many titles: homebrewer, Smarty Pants Beer Education Officer, MIT graduate, programmer, tinkerer, not to mention author of The Everything Homebrewing Book. When he’s not working on expanding his garage brewery, he can be found sharing his knowledge via articles for Celebrator and Zymurgy magazines, hosting beer education seminars at Eagle Rock Brewery, and giving speeches at the events like the National Homebrewers Conference this June in San Diego.

I Think, Therefore I Brew

As an uber-creative homebrewer with 12 years experience, he’s made just about any kind of beer you can create at home – if not, chances are he will be brewing it soon. You want a homebrewed version of Russian River’s Temptation? Drew’s done it. Need to make a beer with Chardonnay soaked oak cubes, cinnamon, Tahitian vanilla, chicory coffee or avocado honey? The man can help you. Maybe you’re interested in what it takes to turn your failed homebrew into whiskey? He might be able to shine some light on this subject.

How did you get into homebrewing?
Back in college, a couple of friends tried their hand at brewing and I helped out. A few years later, bored and restless, I remembered that batch of beer and decided to toss my hat into the pot. This came after a tough project at work where a weekly trip to the now defunct Crown City was my only solace. Turns out that brewing plugs into my need to create via cooking, be scientific, be artistically sloppy and have a beer. Haven’t looked back in the 12 years since (as of this March!)

Have you taken any prizes for your brews?
I’ve got a drawer with a hidden stash of ribbons. I’ve never really been into the whole beer competition scene. Knowing how competitive I am with everything else, I chalk it up to laziness.

What has been your best brew? Worst brew?
Hmm, best brew? That’s tough, it’s like “which of the cows is prettiest”. I will say, I’m a huge fan of my Saisons. They give me room to run around and play like a kindergartner with finger paints. Last year, on a whim, I made a new recipe for a Saison showcasing Citra hops, a new variety I’d never used. Fresh out of the keg it was like burying your face into the best mango orange creamsicle mankind has never invented.

Worst brew that I didn’t somehow mess up easily belongs to an Historical Porter recipe that a friend of mine and I designed. We were still relatively new brewers and didn’t understand that “Brown Malt”, a key ingredient in old porter formulations, had changed drastically. We used it for a third of the batch and the modern stuff is really used as an accent, a spice. That beer tasted like someone mixed together cinnamon, sandalwood, coffee, leather and Comet cleanser. It would have been good except that last bit!

What’s the most unusual brew you have attempted?
One that makes me chuckle is the “Gonzo Hemp Poppy Spirit Barleywine”, a big brash American Barleywine brewed in honor of Hunter S. Thompson. It’s spiced with hemp seeds, poppy seeds, Shiitake mushrooms, bourbon, tequila, whiskey, and a splash of Coke. Oh and then there was the time I made an ancient Sumerian date beer for a lady’s article about homebrewing in Hustler.

What are your three most creative brews?

Speedy Cajun Russian Imperial Stout – The Superbowl stout with Cafe du Monde Chicory Coffee and Lactose (aka milk sugar).
The Audacity of Hops / The Audacity of Aretha Franklin’s Hat. – Brewed with one of my kookier brewing partners a few days after Obama’s Inauguration. Probably one of the hoppiest things I’ve ever made. Absolutely astonishing.
The “Brut” Beer Series – Another partner and I developed a series of beers based on the idea of “Champagne Beers”. The beers go through the whole Methode Champenoise to produce strong, effervescent, yeast driven beers. The series was inspired by the Belgian brews that appeared a few years back – DeuS de Bosteels and Malheur.

From where do you draw your recipe inspiration?
Everywhere. Sometimes I’m inspired by an ingredient, like a new hop, yeast or fresh produce from the market. Other times it’s something I taste in a commercial brew. Then there’s all the random things, something I read, a holiday, a name that needs to be attached to a beer. (I’m still trying to find a perfect recipe for a beer called “Bleeding Edge”)

What’s your most disastrous homebrewing story?
A brew day with the club years ago. We were using super traditional ingredients and processes to make a by the book version of a Bohemian Pilsner (e.g. Pilsner Urquell). The brew day was already going to be monstrously long, but we paid a price for our ignorance about our old fashioned ingredients and the mash turned into a pile of dough refusing to give up the sweet sugar we needed for beer making. We started our day around 8AM and I shut everything down just a little after 11PM.

What’s the biggest challenge for you?
Finding the time to brew all the stuff I want to make!

Have you attempted making other beverages like mead or wine?
I’ve made mead, sake and wine. Sake is an enormous amount of work so my hats off to those guys. Mead is surprisingly easy to make. I make mead in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. It takes 45 minutes to get a batch fermenting. While I haven’t made wine in a few years, I used to have a refreshing and fruity Sangiovese on draft. It was made with grapes sourced from Temecula. Cider is also stupidly simple and in the fall the L.A. area has a couple great orchards making fresh juice.

What are you brewing right now?
Right now, I’ve got a bunch of things in the hopper. The red rye beer, an Adambier (an old, virtually extinct German style) and a ton of Saison variants. It’s going to be nutty Saison season since I have four different obscure strains that are just crying out to be played with. I better get brewing because the busy season for the SoCal homebrewer is right around the corner!

How can someone try your delicious beer?
Easiest way, besides breaking into my garage, is to show up at a Maltose Falcons meeting. Beyond that, get thee to the Southern California Homebrewer’s Festival or the AHA Conference in San Diego!

Are you a lone brewer or do you brew with others?
I usually try to brew with other people, if for no other reason, so I have someone to share a beer and the blame with. When I’ve got a lot to brew, I tend to brew by myself though since I stay more focused. But I really love teaching. My best friend and past roommate Derreck Bourdon picked up the hobby from me and eventually ran off and joined the professional brewing world.. He became a brewer for BJ’s Brewhouse in Woodland Hills, but then sadly he ruptured a couple of disks in his back and had to quit brewing. (Remember folks, kegs are shockingly heavy and can wreck your back in a hurry).

What’s your current position with the Maltose Falcons, and are you part of any other associations?
I’m the webmeister and “Grand Hydrometer” (aka smarty pants beer education officer) of the Maltose Falcons. I am also a member of the American Homebrewer’s Association’s Governing Committee

Is there a good network of homebrewers in Pasadena?
There’s a few of us in Pasadena, but what I really love is the whole SoCal scene.

Do you have any involvement in established breweries or beer bars?
I’m on really great terms with the folks at Eagle Rock Brewing. They invite me in to teach beer education classes and other goofy things. Last year, we brewed a saison of mine that was released as Limbo. Last month, they helped me out with an experiment for a talk I’m giving in San Diego. We brewed a small batch of a table Saison and hit different portions with each of the commercially available Saison yeasts.

The project involves 11 different “Saison” oriented strains. We fermented 13 batches of wort, one with a neutral strain. The strains included a couple of special unreleased strains. The coolest are the ones from a small yeast company on the east coast and The Bruery even kicked in a strain isolated for them from Fantome. The resulting brews will be analyzed and tasted and the conclusions presented at conference.

What do you think your next beer might be?
Either the Adambier or something else large that could use a few months to mellow before serving.

Have you ever considered expanding to a nanobrewery or brewpub?
Who wouldn’t have dreams of opening up a pub or brewery? I have a half formulated plan for “R&D Brewing Company”, but it’s still in vaporware stage.

drew-beechum-newbie-homebrewing-advice

What do you do when you’re not homebrewing? Have your other hobbies provided you inspiration for your brews?
Not brewing? Umm… drinking? Actually, most of my time is spent working on a beer or cooking project. I write routinely for a couple of magazines and moderate discussions online. I’m also something of a trivia fiend.

Your advice to a newbie homebrewer?
Cleanliness is the biggest critical factor in your success, but really don’t fret too much. As long as you don’t spit in your wort, you’re going to end up with beer. Chances are, it’ll be good beer too! If you really want to learn and become a whiz, find a club that suits you and can help you grow.

Your final two cents?
I believe that brewing is about playing around. If you’re not having fun, why are you doing it? I always need to have something different happening with the brew.

To try some of Drew’s brew, check out Limbo at Eagle Rock Brewery this Wednesday, March 2. At 4 PM they’ll be tapping a rare keg and hosting trivia night. See you there!