Iron Triangle

They're essentially doing their soft opening this week before their grand opening. Was driving by the area and decided to see how far down into the arts district they were. The answer - Pretty far down. Saw some folks inside and figured what the fuck, why not. So I went down their tap line up with tasters like a playa MAKIN DAT NOISE!!!


1. Iron Triangle Ale 4.8% - Really just thought this was... meh

2. Iron Triangle India Pale Ale 6.7% - I guess they're really trying to model themselves after Golden Road, as this was probably taking a page back to the Jon Carpenter days of GR Point the Way IPA.

3. Iron Triangle Dark Ale 5.8% - serviceable enough. One of the only two that I killed off with the least amount of suffering.

4. 1581 Pale Ale 5.5% - Didn't care for it.

5. Mulholland's Stash Barleywine 10.8% - Very heavy in the residual sugars ( a problem with a lot of them) and just wasn't doing it for me at all. The least touched of the tasters.

6. Land of Fire Red India Pale Ale 6.2% - Probably the best of the bunch. Still nothing really to write home about.

The space was decent, but as spacious as it looks, the tasting area was actually pretty small. Unless they plan on converting the truck loading zone as standing room or tossing tables in that lower level, there's not that much room there.

Service was pretty friendly. The two girls who were behind the bar were helpful and brought some cheer to the whole thing. I do worry that if this place were to be busy, that bar area really wouldn't be able to handle much of a rush.

A couple of benches make up the majority of the seating - while a chill setting, it's probably not going to be helpful when there's more than two dozen people there. You can see the brewery facilities pretty easily from the tasting room. They do have a lot of capacity to make beer, it's really just a shame that they're putting growth before actually quality.

There's also a long black between them and the eating establishments that make up that end of the arts district. So it's really going to be hard to justify walking all that way in fairly dark/not so great looking streets for beer that isn't anything special.

I'm used to industrial parkways as breweries, but this was pretty much vacant of anything else and there's going to be very little foot traffic to pass them. Those who drink beer on the regular or are in the area eating and going for a drink would be much better served going to Little Bear.

Even worse though is that this is a solid 5-6 minute drive from that heart of the arts district that is the 82, Angel City, Wurstkuche and all that shit. So I really wonder who they're appealing to with their location as you're going to have to want to seek this place out to get to it if you just so happen to be chilling in the area. Actually driving to or ubering will have to do. But by that point I do think that Mumford, Arts District Brewery or Angel City will have already got the attention of those seeking libations of the "craft beer" variety.

Anyway, if you playas go to the grand opening, I hear there's going to be a

Creamy Mango cream ale, Creamy Ginger Cream ale and I believe a coffee stout on nitro(?) One other one was said but I just stopped giving a fuck.

 

The rest of that block between Iron Triangle and Alameda St is going to be bulldozed and turned into a 240 unit mixed-use development with ground floor retail, so their tasting room won't feel as stranded as it does now once that project goes through. Here's an older article, I haven't heard of any updates recently:
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/southern_arts_district_getting_big_lohadesigned_mixeduser.php

Rarely do I get to combine my two hobbies of beer and real estate development watching, this is fun.

 

ROW DTLA is also coming in at 7th and Alameda, and that's going to be a huge complex.

 

Has there been any movement on those projects? Seems like with the northern part of the arts district just repurposing the already old buildings, those have been quick to move forward. But with these plans to demolish.. yeah, that's going to take a while as I saw no sign that construction had even begun.

Either way, even in that area there's options and unless IT works on those recipes... I don't see them lasting too long in a pretty competitive area with what I tasted.

But hey, Let's rock with that SoDoSoPa

 

Heard they were serving out of plastic cups and restroom access for VIP only.

 

Trolling, or is this for real? I wouldn't put it past them... But I don't want to believe it haha

 

I wasn't there but heard from a friend that did.

 

Wow

 

Asked him this on his instagram post he did about an hour ago. Comment immediately deleted.

 

I apparently have been blocked my iron triangle on Instagram and Facebook. Lol I'm sure I'm not the only one.

 

That would confirm it for me.

 

I made a pit stop there tonight, waiting for a friend to get off work so we could meet at HPB. Honestly, I tried to be as unbiased as possible. There's been a while lot of noise on BA (that I agree with, full disclosure), but I wanted to give the beer a chance. After all, it's all about the beer. Right?

Everything I sampled was mediocre at best. The IPA was decent and drinkable, nothing was memorable. The stout was straight home brew, the barley wine was lacking but "should age well for a year." I got the vibe that good hops were simply not available or not considered. Everything tasted like a decent home brew, that's it. I couldn't help but notice that all of the equipment there was pristine and looked unused. All the kegs looked brand new, and I supposed they should. Inspite of the great decor, everything felt a little soulless. Comments about the tasting area being a bit small for larger crowds are accurate, there's three picnic tables and 10-15 bar stools. It's a contradiction to the size of the brewing equipment there and the space. It's fucking huge...

I didn't want to bad mouth this place without trying it, but after heading to HPB (and gleefully enjoying their beers) after sampling 4-5 beers here. At this point, I feel like there is no heart involved in the beer being pumped out of IT. They may find success in the Corona drinking market, but for BA's there's nothing great to be found here. Head on over to decide for yourself, but this BA won't be making a second trip. It's a block away from some pretty cool spots on Industrial, but it really felt miles away from them. Overall, meh... Way too much competition in LA these days for half ass beer to succeed.

This guy even made a "bottle share playER" shirt, trying to poke fun at what happened, but totally missed the mark. We all know "it's a bottle share, playa" and this spot won't be around for too many if it continues along this path. Head to Arts District or Mumford or Dry River instead. In the words of MC Breed... "there ain't no future in your frontin"

 

I didn't think so either, I went to pick up a couple bottles at the farmers market and dude said people are welcome to check out his spot and sample right now. He wants to get word out about his set up, etc. I don't know if you have to call ahead or what, but he said he's hoping to open a true tasting room soon as well.

 

But according to their IG account, this was "the most successful brewery opening in Los Angeles history". Cause clearly, they've done their research.

Am I the only one turned off by the arrogance?

 

Nope

 

What exactly are the metrics that they're using for "the most successful brewery opening in Los Angeles history" I wonder? Also, some pretty solid grammar in that IG post:

"I want to thank each and everyone of you from the bottom of my hart for attending Iron Triangle Brewing's (The Grand Opening)."

Everything I read about this place makes my head hurt.

 

Number of plastic cups used and number of people denied to use the restroom.

 

They either have shills on yelp or the bathroom rumor must be false.

All post-weekend yelp reviews are 5-stars.

Although, maybe all those reviewers were on the V-I-Pee List.