Monkish Brewing (December 2016)

By 7 PM yesterday there was no line

 

Thanks although the website does say next "IPA" release. Yesterday's release was a Pale Ale

 

I wouldn't use a can release day as an example of an "off night".

Monkish releases tend to be heavily front-loaded - despite the massive lines at open, I rolled through at 5:30 and scored cans with no wait for Ghetto Proverbs and the taproom had died down enough that I stayed and had a drink. The GoD growler fills were the same - you'd wait for an hour if you showed up the first 3 or so hours after open but by 9pm, few were there still.

Also, the holidays could have played a role since a lot of people have or take time off this time of year.

 

Can release or not, there are no off days anymore at Monkish and with all due respect, I'm nowhere near a brewery at 9pm.

 

Was there on a weekday before the Christmas season started and it was dead. No bros for miles.

 

There was a line out the door last Wednesday, which was a normal, non-release day. Staff looked like they were working hard and tired even though it was only about an hour after opening. I'm not sure if the rush is constant for the entire evening as I've never been there late though.

 

I was there on a Saturday night about 3 or so weeks ago and there was maybe 2 or 3 people in line at any given time.

 

The recent daily rush can be contributed to Gift of Death Growler fills and an influx of folks back in town for Holidays, aside from the can releases. But in general, there's plenty of slower periods that the brewery goes through.

 

Where was "Monkish" before April 1, 2016, the Day of Dankness that came upon LA/OC? I know they were in existence in Torrance. And I know they had a group of fans back before the haze showed up. I visited once before all the circus people showed up. Where would they be now if the haze never came? I'm sure they would still have the same group of fans. But no circus.

 

Despite what most people are saying, there are definitely off days. I live about 5-10 minutes away and frequent Monkish. This past two weeks because of the holidays have been different with Gift of Death growler fill and two recent can releases but more often than not, as long as there's no can release, Tuesday and Wednesday are pretty quiet. We usually go on Tuesday.

And even on can release days, usually by like 7PM (4pm can release - as someone else posted) it's starts to get quiet. On weekends, you tend to have those beer tours so it can get busy.

Even the Monday when they put Fruit Cart bottles for in house consumption on a Monday, I was expecting it to be packed and sold out, but it was neither. It was a little bit more crowded than an off day but still was able to easily get a seat and enjoy a bottle.

Just avoid can release days and you should be fine.

 

I have a different experience.

 

They were doing fills of Gift of Death last week... and they also had some pretty sweet bottles for in-house consumption (Fruit Cart, Black Kisses, Same Tree) that brought people in.

 

IIRC, when I picked up from Trillium, it was a case limit regardless of which 4-packs you filled out that case with.

 

Fills of GoD weren't happening the day I went though they did have bottles if I forget what for in-house. Looking around the tasting room, I don't recall seeing bottles on tables and barrels during the time I was there. There was a steady stream of people getting their growlers filled, however, and at least two parties who were visiting for the first time.

 

I concur

I don't visit as often as you, but I've never been at monkish when it's crazy . (I don't go on can releases)

In my experience, even on weekends when a new bottle is available for pickup, it's fine.

 

Wouldn't be surprised if people came in looking for GoD since it had been on that same week. The in-house bottles brought in a lot of people, especially Kiss the Sky since there was only 1 case available. Also, a holiday week.

I probably wouldn't use last week as the measuring stick for most regular, non-holiday weeks.

 

Oh yah... totally agreed. People need to get to Monkish and line up just to have a shot whereas Trillium has the inventory to service people throughout the day.

Good call out on the production capacity.

 

Yep, the bottles tend to have pretty wide pick up windows so you aren't concentrating all the people at one time.

The common issue with the weekends is the beer tours.