I know everyone is talking about their core beers, but for me MT really shined with their experimental beers. Anytime I would visit, I would get flights of stuff you only found at the tap rooms and more often than not it was really interesting and very tasty
Talk about flying too close to the sun! It sucks because I’ve made friends there, but reckless expansion, broken promises, scandal, and then a sudden and severe contraction did them in. You know, from a former League member’s perspective, I feel so bad for League staffers Steven and Leanne. Both absolutely amazing people, bent over backwards for members, and when shit hit the fan, they were the ones who had to be the bearer of bad news and deal with the backlash. When Oakland closed, I was so heartbroken for the staff, who were always great to me! It’s so sad that, at one point, Modern Times were showing others how it’s done right, only to do so many things wrong.
This is all pretty disappointing. Sure, the writing was on the wall. Still, I really enjoyed visiting Lomaland and, as a current member of the League, I have really enjoyed interacting with the people who run the club. They have done everything to make it a great experience, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the beers so far. Sounds like they are dissolving the League after this year, and only moving some of the filled barrels to Alesmith. Selling the remaining filled barrels to other breweries, which is interesting.
I stopped drinking the kool-aid on these guys after they launched Theory. The League was the premier beer club to be in in southern California, and then they made it lesser-than by introducing Theory. I'm not sure who thought that was going to be a good idea (elevating a tiny tier of fans while basically demoting the rest--awesome way to kill a good thing) , but in hindsight, it's not shocking they tried to find a way to squeeze even more $ from their most loyal fans.
RIP. MT was my favorite brewery during my time in SD, even while bartending at MKSD. The years in the league, the volunteering group at the caffeination and dankness festivals, and everyone that helped make my bottle shares so popular, had the best group of people in the area (except for that one flat earther guy). If anyone has any MT BA they are trying to get rid of, hit me up.
Maybe BA types are too wild and crazy? We went to a resort with my kids and grand kids. I can report back that the swim up bar didn't seem to cause any problems. An occasional beer for me, mixed drinks for my kids, and milkshakes for the grand kids. Other people were also well behaved.
It was great. They had that beautiful core of four beers, and would release seasonal stuff in bombers. It was almost kind of Alpine style (not that their seasonal’s could touch Bad Boy or Hoppy Birthday, etc.), but it was still nice. Then Blazing Worlds was no longer a hoppy amber, and they took they word “wheat” off of Fortunate Island cans… Speaking of Alpine, I was hoping that Mchilhenney would just reincarnate as them, but they release new beers like crazy. Not a fan
Don't forget when they made Orderville hazy. That beer was initially a crisp, light and hoppy clear beer.
not a fan of the actual beers being released or that they are releasing so many new beers "like crazy"? asking as always respected your beer knowledge. cheers.
Blazing World was amazing. This beer came at a time when Alpine was going through some things (Green Flash ) and a good Nelson hopped beer that was readily available became a nice alternative to Alpine Nelson. When they changed the recipe I was devastated. It was still pretty good but it was retired soon thereafter. I feel the Mcilhenney sentiment. I hoped they would simply be the Alpine reincarnate but they’re not quite as good. Muntz doesn’t touch Nelson and the other regulars come nowhere near the level of Duet or Pure Hoppiness. Still a good brewery but nothing that compels me to drive 30 min east of SD proper whenever I’m down that way.
