Monkish Brewing (January 2017)

They kicked Lessons?

 

@erjaq If you come to this thread every few weeks with super low expectations and a bag of popcorn, it isn't so bad. I learned this lesson a long time ago. "Ignore" feature is also your friend.

 

Based on the website yeah

 

Yup. Only IPA is Smarter at the moment.

 

Cheers fellas.

 

Eric did say that they have another IPA going on for fills this week though.

 

I aim to please. I was just calling a spade a spade.

 

kicked yesterday

 

It sounds like they are starting to hit their stride... a nice flow going.

 

Oh those interesting days on BA when you joined in 2015...OLD SKOOL

 

Its not worth it, its people trying to take advantage of the beers popularity and profit.

 

I feel that recent haze craze has brought out the worst in the community. People cutting in line, ridiculous mark ups on the secondary markets, and overall snobby attitude.

With the location of the brewery being in the heart of industrial Torrance, Ca does not make it the most customer friendly location. With parking restraints this cant be a long term solution for the brewery, its neighbors, or its customers.

I submit that there are solutions to this mess. One being online sales. I get that Monkish wants to reward its loyal fans by releasing cans on a first come first serve basis, but with the timing of their releases mid afternoon on a weekday is not practical. The original fans of Monkish of course fell in love with their Belgians. Those beers went to online sales with in person pick up and i don't hear anyone crying foul. With online sales you will get the same amount of people that will buy to trade, drink, and resale. Online sales offers the fairness of not being cut in line or driving from a far distance not leaving the brewery with beer.

Two, relocation or additional location. From the very first time i visited i said this place cant stay here long. If the plan is to grow and increase capacity this place needs to move or find an additional brewing location. Parking is shared and not fair for their neighbors. Fermentation tanks are relatively small and most likely operating at close to 100% capacity throughput. I would not be surprised if i heard them relocating or adding a location very soon.

That is not to say that Monkish isn't making investments to expand and pump out more beer. The new canning line last year was a nice addition and showed a commitment to cans and IPAs. If anyone thinks that the haze craze is going away they are wrong. There is nothing wrong with haze. Just like there was nothing wrong with crystal clear ipas, pliny blind pig, etc. What i think the industry needs to be careful of is burning out their fan base. People are not going to get sick of the haze they get sick of the hassle it is to get the beer.

My own solution? If you can't buy it, make it yourself. I started making my own hazy beer. With enough research and careful brewing i did it. I have done blind taste tested the brew and no one could tell which one was home brewed. Started with el dorado and thinking about doing galaxy next. I am still a fan of monkish, tree house, and trillium but at the end the day there are only so many combinations of malt, hops, yeast and its definitely repeatable. So i challenge everyone out there that is willing to drop $100 on 4 cans to roll up your selves and make 5 gallons of it yourself and share it with your friends.

 

Great post!

 

Please come by more often erjaq

 

On a sidenote, is your name pronounced ear Jack?

 

I think it was inevitable.

Growing pains. I'm sure expanding production (and most likely a venue change with that) is on their mind but you can't put the cart before the horse. For example, they still have their current lease.

The online sales work for bottles that do not need constant refrigeration because the pick up window can be longer. To do that with IPAs, you need a lot of cold storage space which Monkish doesn't have.

But hopefully this will be addressed along with the production, parking/customer logistics in the future when the look to expand/move. I'd love for them to have enough production and cold storage so I could hop over and grab a 4-pack with a pint while only having to deal with a normal taproom line.

I'm sure this is the plan - whether an added taproom (which seems popular with Smog, The Dudes, etc) or an additional production facility... moving entirely to a new and larger venue (like the one Strand has)

Again, I chalk this up to growing pains. They took out a lease, were there for a few years and some increased national exposure has exposed the limitations of the current spot. I think the future is bright.

Agreed 100%.

As soon as I get a space cleared in my garage, its on!

 

You can make ipa's as good as el dorado from OT? That's impressive.

If you can make as good as galaxy, I think you are in the wrong industry. (Unless you are already starting up a brewery!)

I've had home brew, and it was good but definitely no 4 star . I don't think the majority can do, what you are doing.

P.S. I'd love to try your el dorado or galaxy someday!

 

That IP bottle release....

 

GODDAMMIT.

I was hoping those would stay as online sales because they made a whole lot of sense. That was the most enjoyable remaining part of the Monkish beer buying experience.

 

Ugh, how dare they do these safe IP bottle sales! Why aren't they doing a bottle release of a Joppenbier? Only then will they start getting their soul back!


I'm pretty sure that the haze bros in line right now are all sorts of confused on what to do.