Iron Triangle

Is it wrong to want this brewery to fail? This operation is textbook artificial LA steez.

 

I'm not sure if it's wrong to want that, but I can't help but want it to, if only because of his atrocious spelling.

 

One word... Schadenfreude. ITB strikes that chord.

 

I don't want any business to fail, more choices the better. It is just hard to root for them.

 

You're being nice. This guy isn't interested in craft beer. All he wants are fat stacks and to give the impression of major swag while doing it.

 

I reported that review to yelp and it was removed. Obviously a BS review.

 

I don't have any skin in this game, just enjoying the entertainment of this thread, but just out of respect for their brewer, you don't become the director of operations at a brewery of Maui's size with out brewing experience. It takes a handful of brews to dial in new recipes, even for experienced guys. That being said, it may not be the most exciting beer line up I've ever seen.

 

The real comedy is how bad they poached that Maui dude. Basically Nathan "Playa" Cole gave him a brief window to decide to jump ship and the Maui owners didn't realize he took the job until it was announced. Left them holding the bag since they were geared up for an expansion.

Guess Nate "craft peddler" Cole must have offered some mean incentives and some % of the company. Which, hey, if they're shooting for that big sell out down the road will be worth something.

But it was a douchy way to leave an employer.

 

It actually was nate's fault. He did a poach job. part of that is blame on the poacher for the sneaky practices they did in forcing the hand. Basically stated that the dude had a very very short window of time to make the choice and leave the other job proper like or Nate was going to go with another (which I doubt there really was). Nate was desperate at the time to get a brewer considering he had all this time deadlines he kept on running his mouth about meeting.

So yeah, some blame can be placed on him. Either that or I'm just throwing more info out there about how shady this business can be, playa.

 

You're acting as if the complete blame is tossed off the Maui guy. But hey, you do deal in extremes, so whatevs, all I'm saying is that it takes two to tangle and the poaching tactic doesn't help the "Craft peddler's" image any.

 

So, I decided to go and at least give a fair shot to IT today. I will go ahead with the positive. The actual structure is nice. The bar looks good. The drinking area is tiny but acceptable. The equipment is nice and shiny. Th overall first impression upon walking in was that this place may actually be nice. Unfortunately, that was about where the positives stopped.

This place is in a pretty sketchy location. On one of the side streets there were 2 cars with windows freshly broken out. Decided at this point I wasn't going in unless I could see my car. Found a spot within eye distance of the window, so I decided that would be good enough.

I walked up to the bar to order while my wife went to find a seat, which there is not nearly enough of. After several minutes of the 3 bartenders just chatting with other patrons who didn't happen to be ordering, I was finally able to flag one down. I ordered my two flights, and the bartender just starred at me like I was speaking Arabic or something. Finally she took my order and asked for my credit card. After stating I wanted to pay cash she again looked at me with a dumbfounded look on her face. She finally was able to get out "how are we going to keep track of your tab without a card?" I replied I was going to pay cash as I got my drinks. She again looked at me like I was crazy and said nothing for a few moments. Finally "$16" came out and nothing more. A few minutes later my beer came.

Walking from the bar to the table I was honestly afraid that the taster glasses were going to fall through the paddles. They were definitely cheap sets, or the glasses and paddles came separately and were very poor fits. Finally after about 7 minutes of astonishingly mind numbing awkward ordering with the bar tender and strong prayers that the beer would make it back to the table I was ready to try the beers. Luckily the bartender put them in order 1-7 as the menu was listed so I could tell the difference.

My notes on the beer.

Iron triangle ale - metallic. Very malty. Very slight hint of citrus. Almost clear in color. Almost no nose at all and the faint odor cannot be placed. Honestly it was barely drinkable. It was best compared to a lower quality Bud Light Lime, but with less body. Could have been lemon water and I wouldn't have been shocked. 2.5

Iron triangle IPA - straw color. Almost no odor, very very faint pine scent. Pine flavor. No malt backbone. Absolutely no balance. And when I say pine flavor, I mean I might have been chewing on a pinecone. Again a beer that somehow has no/very little odor, and feels like water. It was a stretch for me to even smell the slightest hint of pine. 2.5


Iron triangle dark ale - strong coffee scent. Dark nearly opaque. Tastes like coffee. No malt or hop flavors. When I say "tastes like coffee" I really mean "tastes like one part coffee and twenty parts water". I guess tastes like water ran through a used coffee filter is a more appropriate taste description. 2.75

1581 pale ale - golden color. Water flavor up front. Slight citrus peel flavor on swallow. No odor at all. Pattern seems to continue here. None of these beers have any scent at all unless you strain yourself trying, and they all are watery. If I wanted something that tastes like water, I prefer water. I can chew on an orange peel after to get the flavor of this beer. 2.75

Mullholland's whatever Barleywine - overly bitter. Grass flavor. A bit of dirt. Residual sugars. No odor? I really don't know what to say. Not sure I have ever had a barleywine that tasted like I was grazing my lawn that was covered in sugar. This beer had so much unfermented sugar it will make the person that drinks more than a taster a diabetic. 2.25

Bindlestiff stout - opaque. No nose. No body at all about as heavy as water. Sour flavor. Almost sour milk. I have had some awful beers, and I have had infected beers, but this one probably moves immediately to the worst beer I have ever had. I took a sip, thought I must have tasted wrong, took a drink, and nearly gagged. This is the first beer I have never been able to force myself to drink. 1

Land of fire red India pale ale - hey one I can smell something. Citrus nose. Citrusy flavors. Well balanced. Lacks body. Continues the pattern of poor body, but I found one I could drink again. Maybe it just followed that stout, so it just seems so much better flavored than the others. Strong nose on this one. I was shocked. I think I would drink this one again, but only if I don't have better options. 3.5

The "specialty" beers were already gone, so no review on them. There was really one drinkable beer out of the 7. I MAY try that beer again in the future. There is no way I would have opened with this lineup. Not in a million years, and the stout should have been dumped as soon as it was tasted. This needs A LOT of work before it is on the right path. If I go back it will be in a few years. No time soon though.

 

I'm all three, but I'm pretty much eating popcorn and watching the thread.

 

Just curious, on scale are you rating? 0-5? If so, you seem quite generous. You say how bad the beers are yet you still gave them a 50%. Maybe I'm guessing wrong though.

 

1-5 rating. 1 is the worst quality you can get. 3 is average. 5 is the best. Was going by the grading system here where 1 is the lowest you can give. The score of 2.5 in percentage would be 37.5% out of 100%

If you want to start at 0 knock between .5 and .75 off the scores.

 

It's funny how so many people are scared of this neighborhood. I used to park on that block regularly 4-5 years ago, back when it actually was sketchy. Ever since they repaved Mill things have been a lot nicer.

 

I've been going to shows in the area since 1980. And, yeah, I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by sketchy. Although maybe it has changed for the worse recently since so many targets are moving in to the neighborhood.

 

Maybe as Trystero said things might have gotten worse recently, but I lived right down the street from ITs location for two years, and there were hardly any homeless people on Industrial. Maybe Alameda and 7th.