Casa Agria Specialty Ales

There is a lot of naysay going on regarding CASA. First off...$300 for 10 bottles is extremely inaccurate...they mentioned some merch (glassware, tshirts, etc) a huge "end of year" benefit for member. This may come out to be simply $20 per bottle plus $100 in merch. Look at places like Modern Times which came out with $25-30 right off the bat. If you cant/dont want to afford this...maybe wait a year. But I have had the luxury of having their "condolambics" through shares and been thoroughly impressed. I can only imagine these beers aged in oak foeders being even better.

Don't hate on new breweries wanting to open. New breweries and new ideas/recipes is what drives the craft beer industry to new heights. Some of the best breweries started from homebrews. Instead of going through "kickstarter", where you get practically nothing in return...they want to give you their beer and merch...and a lot of it. Instead of hating, just try their beer when they open. If you don't like it then....give your true and informed opinion of how the brewery is. But I can only imagine their amazing homebrew turning to gold on a real production scale with these new foeders.

 

Asking questions and having concerns is hating and naysaying. Got it.

 

Dude don't get defensive. I'm not singling anyone out here. And yes there has been naysaying, maybe not by you, but by others. I'm just stating a few points trying to get people to look at the other side of the coin and not giving them a hard time regarding their price of the membership, and hating on them without giving it a shot. Memberships aren't for everyone, and if you don't wanna be part of their first year experiment then step aside and let others who are willing to without discouraging people.

 

So only say good things about your pals brewery or.... "step aside"?

You know this is a public forum right?

 

Why would anyone want merch for someone's unproven home brew operation? This is indicative of the entire issue here: These guys are acting as if they're an established brewery when they're just dudes with some friends who like their home brew. Plus, any Casa Algria merch would be misinterpreted by many to be that Mexican Restaurant that resides as Eric Cartman's venue of choice for awesome grade school birthday parties.

 

I think the thing that turns people off is lack of visible experience. You used Modern Times as an example, but that team had so much going for them, the number 1 I will highlight being this guy (http://www.themadfermentationist.com/) Awards, a book, a blog showing where he has come from and what he has learned. It wasn't hard to hear about MT, do some research, and feel reasonably comfortable that they would produce some good stuff.

I'll offer up another, TRB, that came right out of the gate with a Society. What did they have going for them? Oh, you know, just a guy from The Bruery that basically built their sour program, no biggie. So he has experience, awards at a pro level, and a huge base that has proven what he does is good.

Now we are offered Casa, we can't find any information on who the brewers are besides what is posted in this thread, seemingly no awards or competitions entered. Even the post here just states "Eric and Mike have been long time home brewers and have recently been trained using the commercial system". So they may be over their heads on trying to keep up this pro schedule and everything that comes with it. Finally, you say you've had their beer and can only imagine it will taste better aged in oak. Well, unfortunately, that doesn't always work, not everything gets better just because you add wood, especially when there is inexperience involved.

I think it's great that they're going for it, and honestly, I hope they do become another sour brewing powerhouse in CA. But the way they came out of the gate? People have legitimate reasons to have reservations, and to brush that aside as "naysaying" is foolish.

 

A partner from the brewery explained rather clearly why they opted to start the membership. They don't appear to be acting like anything, except kind enough to answer some inane questions from a bunch of pretentious blowhards.

 

That's pretty ironic, since the definition of pretentious - "attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed" - succinctly defines the little "club" they've created.

 

Casa bffs sure dont take to critcism very well.

Too bad xline cant fire them too.

 

Isn't the story that they are only responding to demand? Like they did not intend to jump right into membership, but that's what most people wanted? Xline, correct me if I'm wrong.

And again, if you have no interest in it...maybe don't buy it?

 

One thing I want to make very clear is we recognize that we have to prove ourselves as a new brewery. The reality is we have made some very good homebrew that people have really enjoyed. The result of that was a marketplace demand for our product and memberships. As a business we have decided to listen to the demand for memberships. The strategy can be debated and the price can be debated, but CASA is going to be a company that listens to its customers. Just as I am listening to all of your feedback. We have our work cut out for us, we are going to work our tails off to make the product and the membership a successful one. Despite early poor decisions that really gave us a "Sour" reputation, we are a group of humble guys just wanting to bring good beer to the market. I am optimistic over time we can rebuild our reputation with those who were turned off. This isn't something we are taking for granted, we recognize we don't have the resume of others, but we do have confidence in our ability to make a great product.

 

And good luck to you guys, I just think that the decision to do a membership because you got some emails was a poor one. You essentially turned off a large population to satisfy a small one it seems.

Now I have just one direct question that would clear this all up for me personally and I'm sure for a few others.

Can you point me to the brewers' qualifications? Any awards between the two of them? Even any contest entries? Because right now it seems like they have a group of friends that are really cheerleading for them, but no recognized or larger sphere of acceptance.

 

I can respect your opinion. Honestly, we were blown away by the number of people who emailed us about a membership. On the conservative side without counting, I would estimate well over 500 emails regarding memberships have been received. Now obviously not all of those people will sign up, but as a business owner you have to listen to that large of a demand. While this decision has turned some people off and we have a handful of people not happy on this thread, I am not sure I agree that we turned off a "large population."

Eric won best of show in the Ventura County fair in the sour beer category, he also placed 3rd in the NHC San Diego regional for sour beer, which placed him in the final round of judging at the National Homebrew Competition. Eric has also placed in the Thousand Oaks homebrew comp, taking 1st and 2nd in the French and Belgian Ale category, and placed 3rd in the English Ale category at the Barrelhouse Brewing Homebrew Contest. Eric also placed 1st in sour beer category and 3rd best of show in the Socal Homebrew Supply comp. Michael placed 2nd in the Ventura County Fair Red Ale category.

 

These should really be highlighted more somewhere on a web page, facebook.. somewhere. This would alleviate some people's concerns quite a bit.

 

I'm not sure why some people can't respect CASA's own opinion and decision to opt for memberships, when it was the"CASA bffs" who suggested they do it. Agree to disagree, folks. It's just beer.

If you guys have too many sour breweries in Cali then feel free to send them to TX. People would pay 2x the membership fees here.

 

Feel free to sign up @Penguin and find a trustee.

 

I'm sure you'd have no problem posting FT: Jester King ISO: Casa Agria...

But yeah, through all the snark, I do hope they have a product that makes me pee a little when I sample it.

 

Thank you, this makes me feel more warm and fuzzy

 

Planning on it. Love sours and willing to give them a try. It's a gamble, but so is the 3 hour drive to JK to fight for a 1pp bottle limit of fruited sours. I understand all the concerns with spotting a brewery so much money up front, but you guys out West have it so good. If it's not your thing then move on and let the rest enjoy. Either way, you guys are giving an unknown home-brewing crew tons of publicity, which led me to join BA, and to my first IP trade post.

FYI, some unknown home brewer in TX was charging way more than this for a "lifetime membership" and people ate it up. To my knowledge this place still has not released any of their beers to the public, either. I may be wrong, but I also believe bottles weren't allocated in the membership price for this new brew pub.

 

There are many sour producers now all over the country with Societies. If you really have that much extra cash to spend on every single one - then go for it. But I trust established brewers/breweries with my money first before awarded homebrewers.

For example, I am not sure If you are a Wolves and People member, but they are new sour brewery south of Portland, started by Jordan King, the ex-brewmaster of Jester King. Their society is 12 bottles, stemware, 15% discounts on bottles, etc... for $350. To me that seemed steep for a new brewery (especially in Oregon), but the brewmaster is from Jester King so there is definitely some clout there. I would rather give them my money than Casa Agria.

I'm just saying, (and sorry Casa Agria), but there are more sour breweries than you realize who have societies and a reputation.

Like I said though, If you have the money to spend on all of them - go for it - but if you are trying to be more selective, some research could get you the best value.