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Malibu Brewing Company

Dec 07, 20221 hr 3 minEp. 333
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Episode description

Greetings from Malibu, CA! Greg had the opportunity to sit with the Malibu Brewing Company crew. Ryan Ahrens is the co-owner and co-founder (with Jill Ahrens), and Chas Cloud is the brewmaster.

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The recent winners at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival talked about winning their first year, opening their brewpub just a couple months ago, and planning (or pivoting) a brewery during a pandemic. Brewmaster Chas led us on a guided tasting of their delicious beers: Canyon Rose Lager, Happy Days Honey Blonde, Wild Grove Hazy IPA, and their brand-new Double IPA.

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We get into the pasts of Ryan and Chas as beer drinkers and find out when they got bit by the hop bug. Ryan talks about his background as a nuclear scientist and lawyer (and many other things), while Chas talks about his long experience in the local brewing community. They also share their process for recipe creation and why good ingredients are crucial to making great beer. 

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Chas and Ryan talk about the focus of Malibu’s beer program, what sets them apart from other local breweries, and why it pairs so well with the great food in their taproom. We also find out what Chas is excited about with upcoming brews, collabs, and new hops. And it turns out Ryan also has a bit of a background in brewing. Chas also indulges us with the most annoying beer to make. 

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We wrap up the episode with a round of rapid-fire questions!

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Malibu Brewing Company:

brewmalibu.com

Instagram: @BrewMalibu

Twitter: @BrewMalibu

Facebook: BrewMalibu

30745 Pacific Coast Highway, R4,
 Malibu, CA 

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Craft Beer Republic: 

www.CraftBeerRepublic.com 

Instagram: @CraftBeerRepublic

Facebook: CraftBeerRepublicPod

Twitter: CraftBeerRepub

(805) 538-2337 

Transcript

One thing that we're doing is we're just brewing beer that we like to brew. There's no roadmap or agenda. Hey, everybody, it's Greg here from the Craft Beer Republic. We were out doing a field trip today. Very excited to finally sit down and talk with not only Ryan Aarons of Malibu Brew Company, but also head Brewer that the right title had brewer brewmaster. Brewmaster. Brewmaster. That always sounds more official. Brewmaster. Chazz Cloud.

First of all, before we get into it, congrats on the GBV hardware. Thank you. You're very excited about having a medal this early on into our journey as a brewery. Yeah, that was so pleasant. I would say surprising. Not because your beer's not good, but surprising that it happened so quickly. We didn't even send a contingency to Denver this year because we didn't expect that to happen. So we were notified via text message from somebody that was there as like congratulations.

Like for what exactly? My reply was question mark, you know, and then yeah, we immediately fired up the computer and got to The View and it online. That is of course that was chance for happy days. Correct. So yeah. So congrats on that can grant congrats on getting the taproom open, which I know is a little bit of a feat. Thank you so much. Really glad to have the doors open. Yeah, I mean that if I can just indulge for a second. We were invited. Soft opening. We had no idea what to expect.

And besides the beer being good, which we had tried once or twice. I know we met you at a festival. Correct? Liked everything we had. We didn't know we were walking into and we get there like, holy shit. Now is the beer good? But like, the food is chef's kiss. Amazing. She, my wife is, who's sitting over at the table, still tells people that this is Chito Peppers. She won't stop talking about yesterday.

They're amazing. So. So congrats on getting all that go and getting the hardware, getting the taproom. Like I said, the food is killer in the beer is delicious. How's it been? At this point, as we're recording, it's been about two months since you. Yeah, just shy of two months. How's that? Two months. Been great and crazy as a. Yeah, it's been. It's been well-received by the community, which has been, you know, everything we could hope for. It's starting a restaurant.

Is it new territory for. My wife and I. And so we put a lot of time and effort trying to make sure that we really, you know, bring something that that people get excited about and to us, that means good beer and good food and in a great space to enjoy. And and so I think so far so good with trying to hit those marks.

But it's also, you know, we're, you know, dealing with figuring things out, figuring out what works and what doesn't and trying to make sure that you, the customer shows up, never sees, you know, behind that curve and what isn't working and what does work. So. Yeah, exactly. But no, but we have a great team. Yeah. And, and a great chef and in a great brewmaster so far everybody seems to be really enjoying themselves well. And you've done a great job hiring people.

It seems like everybody who's in charge of their area, whether it's brewmaster or chef or front of house, like they're all they're all on it. Like they're. Really good. Customer service was awesome. Oh, great. It was awesome. Like, it was it was not your typical brewery experience where you go to the bar or your beer, you go sit down. You don't hear from anybody ever again. To go up and get another beer wasn't like that at all. It was it was a really nice experience.

Like the term. Cool. Well, that's that's the whole basis for exactly what we're doing. We've we we go to it where I like to go to breweries and I think we modeled this after the experience that we want to have it a brewery is kind of having your hand held a little bit and learn, have a good learning experience about craft beer. Try some things you may not normally try. And and then we have a lot of people in our community that are just not craft beer fans yet.

And that's kind of how I look at it. And so if we can get them in the door and and have them try something new, then you can convert some people. And, and so that's the goal. Come away with a little more beer knowledge. And you're the first taproom in Malibu, correct? So it's a blank slate for you. That's right. We got some we got our work cut out for us to convert. Convert all this. Probably a lot of wine drinkers. A lot of wine drinkers. Yes, for sure. Yeah. Come on over.

Drink some good beer. All right. That other the way. Let's let's bring it back to the beginning for both you guys all the way back to your history as a beer drinker, it's like the most important thing. Just kick us off where it all began for you. What was your first beer drink and like PBR in college or you know. I'd have to say my the first beer I had was always drinking like the shorts, my dad's beers. He'd be like, Oh, get me a beer. And hand me the empty. Bags to the trash.

I'd have to say Rolling Rock is probably that he was a devout Rolling Rock drinker. Likes that Skunky Beer. Yeah, right. I grew up in Pennsylvania, so Rolling Rock was our local beer when I was growing up. But through college, you know, I never really got into the light cheap beer. I still remember going out and my friends would be buying their, you know, 30 packs of whatever was cheap and available, right?

I'd scrounge my money together, you know, get a six pack in Sierra Nevada or something that Sierra Nevada anka's team were like the real kind of indulgent beers that turned me on to the turn me on to craft beer. That also probably made for a very interesting game of beer pong. Yeah, yeah. You'll play with or something. That'll get dicey real fast. Yeah, I lost a lot. Yeah. What about you? What kicked it off.

My first beer, I remember, was a Coors banquet, grabbed out of the ice chest at my high school graduation, and my family was there. So I remember that distinctly. I was I was pretty good kid in high school and didn't drink and that I remember. This is was. I think well and we were. Yeah. We were homebrewing then too. So we were, you know, not drinking packaged stuff and, but that beer was terrible. But, but that was Mario's my first, like, real, you know, like real beer that I remember.

Yeah. Like picking up and and then finding craft beer. Redhook, ESB was like, my kind of, my, my. I guess I was like, Wow, this package is cool. The beer tastes good. It's totally unlike anything I've had before. And so I remember that one being a distinct, distinct memory in early on when I was getting turned on the craft beer. But I drank like a ton of Coors Light in college and that kind of stuff too. So yeah, it's like. Yes, and. Miller Lite. Yeah, you know.

So well my next question was sort of been half answer about you guys is going to be what was your gateway into craft? It sounds like maybe Sierra Nevada was sort of your your gateway and and any other ones early on. Yeah. Sierra Nevada anchor Steve just in I guess in Pennsylvania at the time there was a brewery, Dock Street. They had an incredible double bock that was called Eliminator. That really was amazing.

Yeah. And I remember going showing up to college and I had a home brew kit with me thinking I was going to, you know, make up brew homebrew in my dorm. That never happened my sophomore year. I wound up homebrewing at my friend's in my friend's basement. We were really having having a lot of fun. Mister beer kid. Or just pretty much, yeah, pretty much like a mr. Beer. Just, you know, some buckets. The old red butterfly capper. Yeah. Making making just terrible beer that I thought was awesome.

Some apple juice, a little bit alcohol. We've all had those. And anything else besides Red Hook for you that got you after all those college cures? No. Then that was. Then I would go after that. I would go shopping by and I was just a pure consumer. I was shot by label and just go try stuff that I didn't even know what it was. I was like, I'm going to grab this. It looks cool, like I'm going to go drink it. And it was just not like light lagers anymore.

And so just trying image stuff, I don't remember. That was just one that I remember that was like, Oh wow, somebody can make really good craft beer. Yeah, it has flavor. Exactly. And but yeah, after that, it was kind of like, I'm just going to go try a bunch of different things. So yeah. So you took the flex way of trying beer pretty. Pretty cans. Yeah, no, I'm a, I'm a sucker for it for sure. I like it.

Well, speaking of all this beer, let's we have a nice looking flight laid out in front of us. Let's, uh, let's start with number one. Yeah. First here we have our canyon rosé lager. So it is it is pink. This is a the base beer. This is a like a pretty straightforward rice lager olla, you know, Rolling Rock. Mm hmm. And we're adding some hibiscus at Whirlpool, and then we're aging it on cranberry puree. Cranberry?

The hibiscus brings, like, a really subtle pink color to it, but the cranberry really amps up the red notes. I it's hibiscus. I get that really upfront on the nose. The cranberry brings a little tartness, but it's just a clean crushable. Beer. You don't necessarily taste cranberry, but you get the tartness from it. That citric, I don't know. Like in the back of your tongue. I don't know if that's a technical term or not, but. We buy it. Yeah, it it is now coined.

Yeah. So has this touched like grapes at all or no or wine barrels or anything wine related? Nope. Nothing. Nothing. Wine like in here, aside from I mean, technically, the fruit of the cranberry, but it's not that much. Yeah, it's a couple, you know, a couple hundred pounds they were adding on a 15 year old batch. Okay. Ah, not even a couple less than 200. But anyway, it's pretty much just a light crushable crisp beer. This is your, your super crisp blogger with a little something else going on.

Just keep it interesting. Yeah, super light. You don't forget their rice lager based on the nose. Yeah, it's real light on the nose. Do you like a little bit of hibiscus coming through. Color brunch, beer? Yeah. It's like a good taco. Yeah, it does. It pairs with so much stuff. And then when you and I know your listeners can't see it, but, you know, we're looking at it's a very rosy colored beer. So a lot of people, you know, see that at the taproom. They're like, what is that? It's a pink beer.

Or We take it to a festival. And we have that wine. You got to. Yeah, it's not it's not a rosé of like that's that pink beer. But it's, it's it's been a big hit for us because people are kind of intrigued by what it is and it is they kind of that that seem it gives us that opportunity to bridge that gap between wine drinkers and beer drinkers and say, you know, this might be something you should try. And and it already kind of sets them up to something that they're not. Yeah, they're great.

Drink full disclosure, when you first had me try it at that first for a super afraid of us. We're like it was. A specific, larger named brewery that it was established in California. Has a or had a rosé something. Yes. And I could not stand it. In fact, I don't think I'd know anybody that liked that beer. Looking for approval from the wife. Yeah, it tasted like all the horrible things about a rosé mixed with, like, light beer. It was so bad.

You'll hear tiny rose is like, okay, try not to make the bitter beer face in front of the guy who's pouring me a beer. Let's see. We can do this. No, it's. It's really good. I would absolutely drink. I would. I would order this. Which is high praise for Rosi. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it's really good. Really like great football, beer drinking all day. Totally. Yeah. Not get too crazy. What's the. ABV? It's like. Like 40. Two. Yeah, it's 45. Some are ready. Yeah, very approachable.

Very much. Look at the can. Oh yeah it is right. 4.2. There we go. We could also know that information. Yeah, we should. Yeah. This is a beer. When I'm full disclosure, I've only been with the brewery since June. When I started here, I thought kind of rosy beer. That seems kind of gimmicky. This is now like heavy rotation in my beer fridge. Nice. It's just a enjoyable beer. Does a lot come from the brewery? If you like it, then, yeah, it's good to be here if we go to some backgrounds.

I did some light internet stalking on both of you. What? We'll start with Ryan. You can correct anything that I get wrong, but the Internet's always right. So you're a graduate of the Naval Nuclear Power Program. That's true. So are you like a scientist? No. I mean, I have a defense, you know, that sounds way cooler than it's actually I mean, it is it's an important job of the Navy. Yeah, I. I spent some time in, in the in the Navy, and I'm super thankful for for that opportunity.

Help me grow up quite a bit. And my job was actually to go to school and learn how to run reactors for the fleet. Nuclear reactors on submarines and aircraft carriers. And so yeah, so that's all. So it's a specific school for that and, and yeah so. Did you turn that into a career at all? I didn't know. I, I spent some time in the Navy, graduated from that school and then got out of the Navy because I had a medical condition.

That was it was a weird situation that they had never even encountered where I had oh, I don't even we may want to edit this part out because it's like this is going to be super boring. But I had my, my skull already fuzed together when I was born. And so I had to have surgery to allow my head to grow. And as a result, I have a dent that is on the side of my head right here where where your firefighting mask.

I was going to go to the sub fleet and my mask has to form a seal and my mask could not form a seal right there. So basically, after all that training, you do your firefighting training to go to your assignment and my mask would not form a seal. And so there's a, you know, that's super weird and yeah, and we never anticipated this. And so it was one of those situations where they said, thank you for your service. And so I got my GI Bill, got got out and.

Well, so now do they try to fit people with the mask first? I think I would hope that they check that and it. Seems like an easy test. Exactly. Or yeah, put that at the front of training and that was you know, that was late nineties is when I was in. So, you know, I'm sure they maybe learned a thing or. Two but so yeah but still that the nuclear yeah it. Was it was it was great I knocked all my science credits out, no problem. So when I went back to college, it was already way ahead.

And I think we're going to have to make a Homer Simpson beer now. I know. I agree. There's some crossover here that could get pretty interesting. Duff beer. And then you became a lawyer. Correct? And then you were well, I had real estate agent, but it was real estate brokering, right? No, not even that. Just real estate development. So, yeah. You have your pilot's license. That's true. And of course, you're a co-founder of a film company, right? Anything else I'm missing.

And now a co-owner of a brewery? Yes, owner. Founder of a brewery. Which is the most exciting. Yeah. Do you ever stop going to school and working? I need to take a break. Yeah, I don't sit still very well. And. And once I find something I'm interested in, I. I try to. To dove in for sure. It's been an interesting career. Yeah, I've done a lot of things for sure, and none of it has been by design or by plan. It's been like, let's, let's go try this new thing.

And so my wife and I, we, we met while we were in law school. And so we've been married 15 years this month. And who's shot? Yes. Hi, Joe. She's the brains behind the operation. We all know that. So she's she's amazing. When I got out of school, I practiced law for a bit, but she went and worked for a real estate development company. That was kind of the the start of that. And so we started doing that together and. So how did that all lead into I want to open a brewery.

In. The middle of a pandemic. Yeah, in the middle of a pandemic. Well, that timing was definitely not planned long story short, we moved to out here to Malibu six years ago, and we got here and are like, where is our brewery do about you. Came from. Colorado. Oh, yes, exactly. Exactly. They were. And that was where I was really you know, I was homebrewing and you couldn't throw a rock and not find a great local brewery. Yeah. So we got here, we're like, where's our brewery?

And and it was kind of one of those situations where it was like, okay, I'm a dog with a bone and I'm not going to let this go. We're going to be we're going to finally bring Malibu, a brewery, this project that we're talking about now, it started six years ago, and it just took us a very long time to find the space, come up with a plan of what we were going to do, build the brewery, build the taproom and restaurant out. And so it's been quite a long process.

But you weren't planning this like come 2020 had been in the works. IT No, it's definitely been in the works. And, and yeah, the taproom took two years to get done and the brewery was a lot quicker. And then again the timing was just terrible. We literally got the space right as the pandemic began. For both locations, the brewery was a lot quicker to build, so we were able to start producing beer just over.

We've been making beer for over a year at this point and then the taproom, we finally got it opened a couple of months ago and so it just was the timing of everything was kind of thrown up in the air.

So not our timing of choosing, especially during the pandemic, but we're also glad that we're able to to open now, kind of not, you know, just on the other side of this, where we can give people the experience that we wanted them to have and come in and enjoy the space and kind of change a few things up with how we operate like every other brewery is trying to, having to adjust now and and we just have the benefit of kind of kind of adjusting now later later in the process.

Well, you guys have been selling cans out of the production facility for like a year now, right? Yeah. We're making beer here for for a year. And then we decided to package during the pandemic just because we needed to put the beer somewhere. And so trying to get started, getting it out the door because the taproom, the idea was to have the taproom open at the same time that we'd be, you know, making beer and that just that would just wasn't reality.

Yeah. Any previous brewery, restaurant, anything related? Experience? None. None. So this is this is ground up learning as we go, but really trying to assemble a team that has plenty of experience and who can take those ideas and take the dream that we all have and, you know, turn into reality. And had a chance come into the picture.

Chaz was somebody I met at his previous brewery, and we were on the hunt for our brewmaster, and I had had Chaz's beers at festivals and, and, and then actually met Chaz before this was even an available opportunity for him and was like, Oh man, this makes good beer. Like, you know.

And I remember drinking it being like, oh, wow, that's, you know, I was impressed, you know, and, and, and I got to chat with Chaz and I was like, he's got this very cool, scientific and scholarly approach to the beer making process that I really appreciated. But it seemed like he was one of these guys. It's like kind of like just on that pursuit of, of always improving and learning, especially in this craft.

And and so I just it was something that I remember and then when the opportunity came up, just talking to Chiles and being like, Would you be interested in taking this leap and kind of moving forward with the brewing company and and he said making some some good beers. And he I don't know what he thought, but that was my impression. Well. Then the second. Before we do, let's talk about the second beer in our lineup here. There, the second beer is our happy days, honey blond.

This is our ABV bronze medal winning beer based beer is a marion Blondell and we're adding purple sage honey right to the whirlpool. Already at the end of the boil, we're trying to preserve as much of the aromatics as possible. Okay. From that, I get a little bit of the honey on the nose. It will. Sweetness. On the. Little sweetness. Yeah, but it's a dry beer. It's about 5%, so. Yeah, it smells sweet. Taste the honey on the palate.

There's a little kind of breathiness or graininess underlying that. That is just a clean blondell really kind of crushable. Once again, it's a blond in the same vein as the canyon. It's a blond ale, but it has a little something else going on. And I really, really enjoy. Now, this beer drinks. Yeah, very easy to drink. And the honey is not by any means overpowering. Real, real light just adds a little something in there. Does the honey add any extra abv to it?

It's calculated. I mean, it does. Yeah. We're we're withholding grain to hit that 5%. This would be like a four and a half percent beer without the honey. But it does. Yeah, it contributes a little bit, but at nothing. Nothing, nothing. Crazy. Yeah. No, it's very good. Very. Just like the last one, like you said, easy to drink. You could drink it all day. Pears with lots of things, I would imagine. Spicy foods and yeah. All that kind of a lot.

Of our a lot of our offerings I think stemmed from us being a brewpub. You know, we want to make beer that goes well, food, want people to come in and have a couple beers and be able to try a different couple of different beers. You have this pair at their meals where you have your come in and have a double IPA which will have at the end, you know, you have one of those and it's naptime.

Right where you want the food to drive alcohol sales and beer to drive food so that they can work in unison together. That's a that's a good that the taproom. And we don't want to deal with inebriated. People right yeah. Kicking people out and it's not that sort of establishment this conference room may become that sort of establishment. We'll get we're getting there. Working on it. Working our way there. All right. So I stocked chairs as well. So let's talk about your background.

There was less about you. There's tons about Ryan on the Internet. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I got to Google my. Yeah, you may or may. Not want to. Do that. Yeah. So you started at BJs in Oxnard Local here, and you worked for sort of a local celebrity, Dave, over from Lady Face. Yeah, that must have been quite a learning experience. Yeah, it was awesome. I, I love Dave to this day. He, Dave is the, you know, the guy who gave me my, got my foot in the door for professional brewing.

I've been homebrewing for beers. One day on old now I started homebrewing. I was like 18 and, you know, dabbling in it really not. And it was all for personal consumption. Not I wasn't a competition homebrew or anything like that. I just having fun with it. Had friends that I brewed with that, you know, we were talking about opening a brewery that was always the dream was like, Oh, my buddy and I can open this brewery together and have fun. And we were having planning meetings to do that.

And then I got a job at BJ's and I'm like, Well, I got a job. Sorry. And what's really kind of crazy about that is my buddy, who I homebrewed with now owns a brewery outside DC. Oh, that if you have, if you're out that way, check out Beltway Brewing. Okay. Yeah. Dave took a chance on me. I was, you know, this totally uneducated home brewer. And Dave's like, all right. He's like, I'm going to hire you. You've got a professional background.

I had worked for a real, real estate developer, okay, for about five years before that, right out of college. So Dave brought me on and he's like, Yeah, it's gonna be a couple of months until you get on the brew deck. And the end of my first week, I was brewing my first batch of BJ's one heavily, heavily supervised, right? But it was really cool that, you know, at a new, totally new career path to be turning valves and making beer day one.

And for those that aren't from the area, Lady Face is kind of one of the first ones out here. Dave is sort of a mad scientist. I mean, he was doing stuff that people hadn't heard of with beer before. Now it's like, oh, not a big deal. But if you go back to when Lady Face was sort of the only party in town, like he was doing some really crazy stuff over there. So yeah, it's really good stuff. One of the few places you find cask ale. He had a sour program. It was. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's kind of the only place you get sour anywhere nearby is Pre-Cast Auger. Yeah. And all that good stuff. All right. So from BJs, you went to Santa Barbara Brew Co. Yep. And then Surf Beer and Ventura surf beer. That yeah, that's a good beer over there. For I, I'm not sure when this is airing. The 12th Bright Spark Brewing is opening a gym in the old surf spot. Yeah, I was talking to Josh over at Bright Spark a couple of weeks ago. Didn't realize that's where they were opening.

And then I looked, stocked them. I was like, Oh, it's the old surf. That's cool. And then Rincon. Yep. And then. Now here, of course. Yeah. Did I miss any. Two years of a stay at home dad between Surf and Rincon? Okay. Yeah. Lots of experience gain. Yup. Any formal brew training? No. No. When I worked for the real estate developer, I would go to lunch by myself and read books on making beer, opening a brewery as just trying to gain as much information as I possibly could.

I hate saying I'm self-taught because there's a lot of good mentors like Dave and other other brewers that I'd pick their brains with and chat with. But yeah, no, no formal beer education. Okay. And what's your scientific approach to beer that stuck? Well, yeah. I think I kind of view it as almost like an accounting exercise.

Okay. You know, there's a lot of a lot of data points that we follow in the brewing process of, you know, water temperatures, mineral content, temperature times, all this stuff, and trying to try to hit your numbers and then you taste the beer at the end. And what could be adjusted? Where was where is time from your brew day left on the table trying to be efficient about it? Yeah, there's always room for improvement.

I know that and I know that a lot of the big beer brands that we all love are constantly evolving their beers. I'm sure Pliny the Elder is a different recipe than the planet we get today for iteration one. I'm sure there's little, little tweaks along the way. Water profiles. Efficiency tweaks, efficiency tweaks. A lot more crap. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can get a certain hop. You got to do something. Yeah. Or if it's different from the year before.

Yeah. You're just trying to evolve and keep on top of the, keep on top of things and make it better. I think the, I think our customers also their palates are evolving. Mm hmm. I really don't see too many of the of these like, big 100 Ibu double IPA is anymore. I think every all these double IPA is or IPA is the bitterness has been restrained a little. Um, they were not stripping the enamel off people's teeth anymore. No, it seems like for the most part.

Now, I think there's always, you know, I, like I said, it's a it's a numbers based, a data driven kind of brewing process. Yeah. And it also seems like talk about IP, use the kind of don't matter anymore now but used to mean so that used to be like oh that's 100 I'll use like that's gonna be bitter a f and now like what people are doing is like, oh might be yeah.

I mean 100 is going to be pretty bitter, but you get to those like 56 like that doesn't mean anything now, which I think is nice in a way, because I used to look at a beer, look at the IP is like this means I'm going to like or not like and now it's like, Oh, I got to try it. So it's kind of cool. I would imagine that you inherited most of the recipes here when you started. Have you had a chance to develop any of your own ones? Yeah, yeah. We've got our railroad rye or railway rye.

Yeah. Railway rye was a that was a new one. A museum, right. Yeah. We wanted, we wanted a paleo. We kind of had a opening in the, in our menu for it. We didn't really have that kind of a middleweight hoppy beer. We wanted something a little old school. So we did a nice rye pale ale. That was a that was one that I did our Oktoberfest kind of when I started here. It's like, wow, we need to start thinking about Oktoberfest. Yeah.

About that time. Yeah. One of the really fun things that I that I enjoyed from day one of working here was Ryan Ownership's desire to use the best name for gradients we can get. So we use a lot of ADM malt, which is a small mall house up in Alameda. They do really old world for malted barley. It's phenomenal. So we've been playing around with a lot of different stuff like that and getting to know their malts like, oh, this would be, you know, you have to brew a beer to try it out with. So yeah.

Kind of make something fun. Yeah, I've heard really good things about ADM. I know the guys up at East Brother use ADM exclusively and they like it a lot too. Is there a certain style or focus that you have when it comes to making beer? Not really. I could give you some. Like I gave you some like stats that I like. I love, like I think a five and a half percent ABV beer. Yeah. Is like the sweet spot for for flavor. You can make a really hoppy five and a half percent beer.

You make a really multi five and a half percent beer, you make a really lean, crisp five and a half percent beer. You make a really like heavy 5% beer. Yeah, you work at it. I like that. That's what I like. But then certain styles, you want them stronger. We hear from there to. Be weird to have a five and a half percent barley one, right. Yeah. Yeah, it's got.

An SB. Yeah. It makes a lot of sense because you can really let the flavors of the beer with malt or hops or whatever shine it five and a half percent. You're not introducing any real like alcohol flavors at that point when you kind of get to like that seven restart taste a little bit alcohol and it might play with the hops or play with whatever you got going on in there. So I never even thought of that, but I like that a lot. And then what's been different about working?

We've talked about ingredients for one, but while working here than say any of your other previous. I think you touched on it earlier. It's a great vibe. Ryan's brought on people that are that are good at what they do. It gives us a nice enough leash to hang ourselves and we can you know, we're everybody everybody is dedicated to what they're trying to do. You know, our carry who runs our taproom is focused on that. He's not pushing me in any directions.

I'm not pushing the taproom in any directions. And I like our chef. We work well together. And I think with with an environment like that where everybody has their lanes that you instead of trying to pull from those other departments, we all kind of help each other out. It's really everybody. Everybody's got each other's back here, which is really, really pleasant. Yeah. And it sounds like there's no as the brewer like you have to make some sort of weird social media decision.

Right, exactly. Because you shouldn't. But you've obviously done some research on me online. You can see my online presence. Or lack thereof. Yeah, a. Couple breweries or a couple of articles, but not a lot of socials. Yeah. All right, you guys want to move on to the next in this or just let's. Keep drinking. Beer? Yeah, beers. That's what we're here for, right? So the next one we have is our Wild Grove, hazy IPA.

I think you had this at the you had mentioned it on, on the podcast at the soft opening. Have taken a few cans of this. Yeah. So it's a it's a hazy IPA. This is in at baseline the same a similar recipe that you had. We adjusted we're using a different yeast than what you tried. So it produces a little more haze to the beer. And then we adjusted the dry hopping. This is like two and a half times the dry hop that you had had wear.

So we just kind of upped it to get it get it into that hazy category. Where I'm noticing the most is on the nose. Yeah. Yeah. So we're we've got a lot of fun stuff in here. We're running some Sapporo, so you get that kind of coconut note on this Simcoe and Amarillo. Amarillo, Amarillo. Everyone. Everybody says. Yeah, says it. Can't get it. Is it most weka smoked we got.

Yeah but yeah so you get that kind of citrus and coconut play we did change the yeast on this from the original batches where we're using a London three, which is a fruitier yeast. So it's going to kick off a little more fruit and it helps with the haze also. Yeah, a little more in suspension. Yeah, a lot of a lot of wheat, malted wheat and oats and the grain bill looking for that kind of soft mouthfeel.

Personally, I don't like sweet beers, so I wanted to keep this one in that kind of drier finishing. I think a lot of the hazes have gotten into this kind of almost under attenuated flavor where they're sweet. Your lips are a little sticky afterwards. Yeah, I like a dry beer. Also like to keep the carbonation a little higher. I don't like flat beer. Yeah, it should be. Bubbly. Yeah. Have to leave the tongue a little quicker. Yeah. Is it a little lighter in the mouthfeel than it used to be?

Um, I mean, I haven't had it in, like, a month, so. Yeah, I think it's right around the same. It might be a little, a little bit lighter, but probably not too much. I'll pretend I never said that. Okay. And what's the with the AB and the beer right. Around. Six. All right. Yeah. Right, right. In that range of keeping it low you can have a few and still drive home which I appreciate it. I hate going to brewers where everything is like seven and above and it's like, well, I've had one.

Should I have a second one? Yeah. So I think with especially with hazy IPAs, what we're trying to do is really let the hop shine on this. As they should. Yeah. If you, if you're adding too much malt like malt and hops are always a balancing act and you get higher abv, you need more malt, which then kind of masks your hops, then you have to use more hops. Why not just make a, you know, tone everything down. Yeah. And use a lot of hops and make a really hoppy beer. Yeah.

There's no need for the malt. Why put it in there. Yeah. And I mean, not from Ryan side of things, it's a few bucks so we can touch on it. Earlier, Ryan, you opened the production facility first. That sort of was a product of the pandemic. Probably wasn't the original plan, right? No, it was really just trying to get open when we could, you know, it was kind of we had to find space and really just take our time to figure out kind of what we're doing.

And then we were really kind of thrust into the we were at the mercy of, you know, the supply chain. And I shared with you earlier that we were very lucky that our tanks and brewhouse made it in before they got stuck offshore in the Port of L.A.. Yeah, it was very close, and they were, you know, slightly delayed on our on our glycol fittings and that kind of held us up a little bit. But the Taproom and restaurant was just a just a product of of things taking time in Malibu.

And so, yeah, nothing's really gone to plan. So we've really had to be we've had to be nimble and and very flexible, but it's kind of all working out. So when when do you finish your first batch of beer? It was August of 2021. Okay. Why the decision to have separate facilities? Really? Because in Malibu, we would never be able to get a brewery approved like we would never be able to brew where we are located. We're on a septic system, so there's a lot of complications with brewing on septic.

And I didn't know how it would go. I didn't know if I just basically assumed the Coastal Commission would never allow us to make it happen. And I'm and I'm I didn't want to roll the dice and extend the amount of time it takes to get this project off the ground already. And so we are we're brewing in Westlake Village, which is so close to Malibu, it's a, you know, 20 minute hop over the hill.

And and so it's a lot easier for us to just have our own production facility that's dedicated solely to making beer and warehousing our beer and and then just take it over in kegs or taproom and. The world's cools gold. Box. Yeah, it's cool. Yeah. It's like the size of a football field. Thanks. Yeah. No, it's good. It's good. We've got a great setup, you know, we've got room to grow and it's a system that's working well for us so far, so.

And I imagine, Chazz, it's probably nice for you to have to deal with all the other operations. You just brew beer and do that pretty much. I miss having a kitchen. Like to get. Lunch. Yeah. But it's nice. It's also nice not having, like, the kitchen dishwashers, tracking like greasy footprints through your. Right customers coming up. Like, can I have a tour? Like, I'm kind of in the middle of it. Yeah. Come back and have an hour. The spot in Malibu must.

The vintage next to vintage? Yep. Was that part of the plan that just opened up? What? Why that spot? It's a nice spire, like right across from the beach. And, yeah. That was the side of town that we want to be on. We live 5 minutes away from the taproom and that part of Malibu is kind of where all the families are, are. And so that was important for us to be in kind of the west part of Malibu. We want to build that for the community.

It's you know, there's always tourists in Malibu, but this is really something that we wanted to bring for our community to have a spot that we kind of lost during the Woolsey fire as a place for the community to get together. A lot of people are finally rebuilding their homes and getting back to Malibu, and it just felt like it was time to have a good casual spot that that people can go enjoy some good beer and some food and and get together. And there's not a lot of options in Malibu.

There's not just there's not a lot of space to to to open a new spot. And so we got lucky to find a place that was a restaurant prior. And we we gutted it and renovated it and turned it into the Top Ramen restaurant you see today. It was the inspiration behind it. Who really I wanted it to feel like, well, not me, my wife. And I wanted it to feel like it was almost like our living room, like you're coming in and having a beer and it's comfortable and casual.

In a nice living room. Well, yeah, well, thanks, Sam. I just want to share with everybody. And we wanted the furniture to be comfortable. We want it to be a spot where if you're going to sit and enjoy and have a couple of beers and not feel like you're on top of the table next to you, that's it. It's really kind of it was really we don't like sort of not being in this industry, the restaurant industry for sure. And, you know, new to beer making.

And so really trying to have this idea and then really execute it and see if it see if it's going to work purely making a space that's that's comfortable and enjoyable. That's been the inspiration. Yeah. Was a plan from the start to bring in like really good food or is that just going to happen? It was not the original idea was like, I just want a little taproom owner who makes beer and that's kind of going to be it.

And then as we got into what it takes in Malibu to to bring a concept like a brewery in, it's a lot easier and more palatable for the city to understand. They know what to do with the restaurant. They don't know what to do with the brewery. So, so but I think it's actually been a very lucky twist of fate because it's allowed us to really showcase beer and food together. And I'm really glad we kind of kind of were forced in that direction. Not forced in that direction.

But I'm glad that's the the direction that we've gone in, because I think it's working perfectly for for the way we want to operate and the experience we want our guests to have with our beer and our food. And we're lucky to find an amazing chef that knows how to pair beer and food together very well. Where did you steal that guy from? Oh, my gosh. Well. Can we give. What's your chef's name, chef? Stephen. Stephen Stroh. Okay. He's got flavor dialed in. He has got a great palate.

He knows how to. He's very creative, he's very resourceful. And he is also a beer fan, which is, you know, very important. And so it's very important that he for him to have a variety of beers to incorporate into our everything from the beer very short ribs to our ice cream is actually made with our beer. Oh, I had that. Yeah. So, so in our sources and everything it goes into a lot of stuff that people may not know, so. Yeah. Well, great job stealing him. Cheers.

What's your favorite beer to make here? To make? That's a good one. I'd say the lager fermentations. Like the Kenyan or Pacific Pacific Gold, American Lager. Lager, Big Rock lager. It just I really enjoy lager brewing. It's well, it's slow, it's dirty. You know, the brew day, the actual hot side, the cooking of everything, for the most part is is the same for. Beer to be some some take a little more hops. But yeah. But the fermentation of lagers just really, really isn't fun for me.

You know, we taste the beer every day through the process and the tasting, the lagers, like right after primary fermentation in the lager. Just taste it. It's gross, it's soul free. It's really like the first lot. I remember the first lager I brewed, and I'm like, I'm gonna have to dump this batch. This is horrible. I'm like, Well, I'm going to trust the process and just let it lager out. And yeah, and it just gets better and better and just tasting the beer improve while it ages out.

Yeah. Is really a lot of fun. What's your most annoying beer that you have to make from, like, a process? Oh, yeah. Listen to this. Oh, oh, seltzer. Yeah. Do you guys have a seltzer? We do. We have a. Seltzer. Realize that. Yeah, we it's. Yeah yeah. We would seltzer on. It's good because we have a market that Yeah. That doesn't always love beer. Yeah. And it's, we can make it here. Well and it's like printing money. Yeah. Well that's true too. Yeah. The ingredients aren't too expensive.

Yeah we do try to. Yeah they're, they are hard to make. Yeah. It was challenging getting that good. Yes. Yeah. I mean anybody can ferment some sugar water but the, the good ones. There's nothing to hide behind. Yeah, it's water and and fermentation product. Yeah, tough. I don't consider myself an end user making something that I won't sit down and and enjoy is. Yeah, that's. True. It'd be weird to have like, a vegan chef tell her to make some hamburgers, like. Yeah, yeah, I don't.

I don't know how they should taste, you know. But we make our own flavoring. That's the other great part about having a chef. You know, it's instant headache for me when I have one. And so we really wanted to, you know, use again, get back to the like use better ingredients. You know, it costs a little more, but it just to have a better drinking experience. For those of us who like Seltzers, there's a large there is a LA market out there, apparently.

And so we wanted it at least, you know, do it our way and make it make it a good one. And so I think we we managed to do that and. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Well, how are you currently crushing on right now? I'm really excited. We've got a collab we're actually doing with Casa Agria. Ooh, we're going to use a bunch of Nelson, which isn't really a new hop. It's fun. It's a hop I've used before. I'm really excited to get back to that.

This double IPA, we're about to try you some Eldorado in there, which is a fun one. And I've got some Idaho seven plane in that, you. Yeah just kind of everything new. I like I like the I like the direction hops are going now where they're it's not just like pine and dank, you know, it's they're fruity and they're expressing these kind of stone fruit flavors, which is. What seems like they're breeding them more for flavor now than for bitterness, too.

Yeah. All the new ones come out like New Zealand and stuff. Mm hmm. My next question you already have answer was give me any fun collabs coming up. But. Casa. Yeah, casa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to we're going to be brewing a West Coast pilsner with them on the 17th. That should be out, I'm guessing, around the new year. Okay. A little bit. After. Awesome. Except for that. We'll speaking of all the hops, let's talk about this double you just brought up. Yeah. So work in progress.

This is a little flat, straightforward double IPA, little caramel malt. It's kind of an old school, double IPA. It still has malt flavor to it. It's not totally lean, a little caramel malt to throw some in Munich and then yeah hop wise got a lot here got some Zaca Eldorado, Idaho seven. The Idaho seven reason crow hops which are fun. Oh yeah, not a lot of plant material and they're really potent aroma wise.

Yeah. This beer just got transferred in the bright tank on Friday, so not fully carved up yet. It'll be there. And I think we're releasing this on the 11th. Somewhere in there. Somewhere around, then somewhere. Yeah, yeah. There's been in the break for two days. There is a hint of carbonation. It's not. Oh yeah. It's not completely. It's very calmly in color. Mm hmm. Sits on the tongue a little longer, I'm sure, because. No, no real carbonation going on. Yep.

Yeah, a little more weight to it. Yeah. I mean, this beer's clocking in at, like, nine and a half percent. Not a it's. No, it's no slouch. It doesn't drink like that. No. No good job on high that alcohol a lot coconut get a lot of coconut out of it. Is that the Idaho seven. I think so. I haven't used Idaho seven before. Okay. When I walked in here and was hired, we had a ton of hops that we were on contract for.

I think contracts were written before we really knew what we were going to be settling, which is awesome. So I'm like, Oh, we've got all these great aroma varieties, so just kind of playing around the stuff. I'd never used it before. And now they throw in a double IPA, right? I might as well the kitchen sink with the hops. Very nice. I can't wait till it's carbonated and drinking as it should. It's. It's good start. Little sweet little coconut.

And I'm sure the sweetness will lift a little bit as the carbonation builds up. But, man, is that Abby hidden? Very well. That is tasty. You guys are in some pretty good company locally as far as breweries around here, especially with the production facilities. What sets you guys apart from everybody else that's making good beer?

Oh, man, I don't know. I think I look around at all these breweries and they're making such good beer that it feels like the standard is is is there and that we are just trying to keep up with that. You know, it's awesome to be able to go, you know, anywhere in any direction from here and have really good examples of styles that we love. You know, I think one thing that we're doing is we're just brewing beer that we like to brew and there's no roadmap or agenda.

It's literally us being like, What do we want to do next? You know? And it's kind of been, you know, we're in, but we're so new, you know, that that we're figuring out what people are responding to. And I love lagers and I know Charles loves lagers. And so, like, that's always going to be around. But we, you know, we also do stouts and and and porters and and barley wine and, you know, now double IPA and that. BERLINER Yeah. So give me start on that.

And a Berliner of ice and stuff so so it's it's kind of like I don't know if that sets us apart from other breweries, but we're just we're just brewing what we want and hoping it resonates with, with other people. And, but, yeah, but I, we're really good company out here, like you said. And so, yeah, it's constantly just, we just hope to hold up our end of the bargain and continue to make this area known for, you know, for good breweries.

Yeah. Yeah. What Ryan Sort of brewing background do you have home? Brewer I just got interested in making beer. My first exposure to home brewing was in high school when my friends were like, We can't buy beer, let's make beer, you know? And so I remember the five gallon. Right? Yeah. So we had friends with very cool parents that kind of looked the other way while we were making beer in the living room with the white five gallon bucket and the coil, the copper coil that we would make to chill.

And that was my first time home brewing and kind of quick exposure to it. And then when I got out of school and was like, All right, I love craft beer. Now I'm going to figure out, you know, you can make this at home. You can get the stuff in and do it. And I was just it was just piqued my interest to to go and and experiment and figure out how well I can make a beer. And so then got into understanding, you know, how hard it is to make good beer and had a really good appreciation for it.

It was a hobby for me and, and would start bringing home pieces of equipment and shopping online for it and then slowly building up my kit and then I would make Krampus courses is what I called it, and would give it away for the holidays and, and put it in a bottle and, and people seem to kind of like it. And so it's kind of one of those things that just was like, Oh, this is fun and people enjoy it. And, and then I always wanted to be participating some way with a brewery.

And then like I said, we moved and was like, Where's our beer? And it was kind of just that moment of like, here we go. It's always equal parts, fun and surprising when people like the beer you make out. Yeah, for sure. It's definitely you. Do you like this? Yeah. Are you being organized? Yeah, yeah. It's fine. But, you know. Yeah, no, it's very cool. Have you had any yet that have not sold well they're like, well I was going to wipe that off the it kind of early so I'd be surprised.

No, actually, you know, that's the one thing. And if you ask me the other question of like what's selling the best, I couldn't tell you. It's all across the board, kind of very interestingly, pretty balanced. Ah, you know, you've got your crowd pleasers like our honeymoon. L You know, that one is, is our, our number one selling. Everybody. Can drink. Everybody can drink it. It's very approachable. But one that's in Dodger Stadium and. No Pacific Gold. Our American Lager is at Dodger Stadium.

Yes. Well, I mean. Well, these are bad. Seasons over, but I mean, I don't know, maybe there's some cans lying around. Oh, we. Had one of our listeners call and say he was at Dodger Stadium and saw Malibu Brewing. Yeah, we were super stoked to have that opportunity there. So yeah, that's again. Yeah, there's, there's the styles that we're going to continue to do.

We're just we're just we're going have to see like again, the loggers are going to do well because we're, you know, we're a beach location and people like a light beer. And but we also really are into we've got a barrel barrel aged winter ale that we're going to turn out here in December that has been aged on bourbon barrels for the past year.

I mean, yeah so Christmas in a can but page on barrel so a lot of fun stuff happening in Berlin of ice and we've got a lot of fun ideas for beers will be coming out and. And I mean. Early next. Year when we are open we have our Hatch Lager, which is our standard C Mexican lager and we Asian Hatch Chili Peppers and I'm making that and I'm, I don't know this is going to do. And then before I knew it, I'm like, we need another batch of this. Like we're just getting empty kegs back.

And, you know, most of our sales are through our taproom, right? I, you know, even even the ones that expect to be a little slower, it's like, oh, this is moving. Yeah, that hatch. It's a fun beer. I notoriously hate spicy beers, but that hatch was like that. Too spicy. You get the flavor of it. It's not bad. Which for me, I love spicy food, hate spicy beer. I think the first beer I ever drained poured was a hop in your ask open. Oh, I just couldn't do it. I was like, Oh, this is awesome.

But that that hatch beer is surprisingly drinkable and approachable and it's not by any means, like, over spiced or anything like that. Just thanks. Just nice little, little touch a hatch in there. That's been a, I think, a taproom surprise for me for sure, how popular that beer has been for us in that I see probably more crawlers and growlers that go out the door. We don't package that beer, so, you know, that's one reason, but it's really, really been a crowd favorite.

And so people get surprised like, Oh, this is not what I expected. I think some of my friends drink it now. Yeah. See what they think. Yeah. And it was a kind of a surprise here too, because like if it was actually my I'm from New Mexico. So the hatch green chili is a, you know, it's like sacred right where I'm from. And so when my wife said, let's brew this hatch chili beer, but let's not tell Ryan about it.

And I come to the brewery and there's a, you know, a question mark on one of the tap handles, and it's like, what's this? Pull it. And immediately, no, I can sense the hatch, chili pepper. And I was like, oh my gosh, it's actually beer. And so and I'm glad it was a surprise because otherwise I'd have been like, Oh, no, that's gross. We're not going to brew hatch chili beer because who's going to drink that? And then so I was pleasantly surprised.

And and I feel like, you know, our our our guests are are pleasantly surprised as well. Too, if Jill ever wants to make more, don't tell Ryan. Oh, yeah. Let me know. We'll come up with something. Oh, yeah. You should definitely like. Yeah, me talk to everybody. We should just do like a quarterly. Don't tell Ryan beer. Yeah, I. Love that. Idea. Like Habitat says, don't tell Ryan. Yeah. And it just as a surprise. And have it in the taproom too.

And people like can I get the don't tell Ryan beer I love it here your first marketing genius. Wrote like great idea. The website has a lot of not a lot but it mentions a couple of times the fact that like the beers are gluten reduced threat. How does what's the process of reducing gluten what's what's the big deal behind that seems like Malibu's probably a good market for gluten reducing things. Yeah. I'd say most the beers are gluten free start hazes.

Aren't that a. Purpose or is that just a byproduct or. Know it? Well, yes and no. It is on purpose. Yeah, but there's so we use an enzyme that reduces gluten. So there was gluten there before and there's an enzyme that is cheated up. So It's not technically full gluten.

What that enzyme was actually initially invented for is to remove what's called chill haze in beer, where you'll take beer and it'll be kind of cold and it's clear you get it really cold down to like 33 degrees and it gets hazy and that's usually a lot of gluten derived proteins that are kind of showing themselves, okay, they add this enzyme and it breaks down those proteins and then when the beer is cold, it's clear it helps the filtration helps just general beer presentation.

Helps keep the lines cleaner. Maybe. Yeah, I'll shut up now. Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, that sounds like marketing gluten. Good. Yeah, but less gluten. Yeah. But yeah, it's it helps. But then, you know, I think a lot of people are becoming more aware, too aware of what gluten does to them. You know, somebody that's full celiac sorry. I was like a complete gluten intolerance is still not going to be drinking our beer or shouldn't be. Yeah sign this waiver.

People that are people that are trying to, you know, just reduce or be conscious of their gluten intake, can now have some beers and not have to worry as much. Yeah, that's cool. It's it's a nice thing to know, I guess. And then finally, what's next for Malibu Brewing? Always something new on the menu for sure. I think we're going to start doing beer dinners like ticketed beer dinners and letting Chef Stephen really do his thing. So we're excited about doing some of those coming up. In My Money.

So that's exciting. New stuff that we're looking forward to beer wise. I think we shared a few things we've got coming out through the remainder of the year and into early next year and otherwise. We're just going to enjoy the ride. You know, we're still getting our feet underneath us with the taproom and and restaurant and then kind of figuring out you know what, because we want to be making it to the next year.

And so, yeah, we're kind of really enjoying the ride and working on a few things and continue to improve the our core beer lineup and continuous improvement. I guess is what's next, which is always good. I don't know if we're allowed to say it, but you guys have a barleywine coming out too, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. Excited for that? Very excited. Very excited. Yeah. That was a that was a fun one. We had one of your barley wine, didn't really have any any yeast in the pipeline.

So I was going to look towards dry yeast. So We brewed our barley barley wine with fake. Yeast. And it came out really nice. It's not funky or farmhouse at all. It's a really clean beer and it fermented out like 12% in about four days. It was so fast last week around here is a little chilly. Yeah, the tank was hot. It was like 90 degrees. We'd sit there and just kind of give it a hug and. Get. Warmed up in the morning. Yeah. Really looking forward to the barley wine, other new beers coming out.

I mean, we're we're a pub. We have our six core beers that we can that are available out in the marketplace. We have 20 taps. So that leaves us 14 beers to play around with and have fun. So let's dedicate one to don't tell Ryan tap. Yeah, yeah. It'd be great. Love it. Let's not say we. Yeah well. You guys package the barley wine at all, like bottle anything or we're. Toss around the idea. So I'm working on getting some some spare barrels.

So like the barrel aid, some of it, I definitely want to package that. I don't know if we're going to package any of the UN barrel aged maybe a draft only. I think barley wines are kind of a fun style because they age. Yeah. So we, you know, we might put a couple of kegs on at the taproom for a brief period of time that we can cellar the rest and let them out in the cold box and see how they taste in a couple of months. So yeah. Give it a year, give it a couple of years.

Dave One last thing I like to wrap things up with is rapid fire questions. So the first thing that comes to mind, don't think about it too long or just just for order sake. I'll start with Chaz. We're going to Ryan. Same question for everyone. I won't jump on your question first. Beer. You ever drink. Burst? Beer I ever drank? Sure. It's a rolling rock. Yeah, right. It gives Coors banquet almost gulp. Yeah. Class? Yes, you beer. Class first beer you ever brewed. And love court?

Spangler Yeah, it was actually our home brew either. Either the first one ever. So I guess homebrew it so first. Beer homebrew first beer homebrew was a porter. Okay. Have you home? We didn't. Yet. Oh yeah I used to home. Yeah. It so way back IPA this is just a lame answer but it was an IPA is the first beer. We're going to get back to this that okay. Yeah. Do you have a favorite style to brew. Favorite style to brew. Hazy IPAs are kind of fun.

Um, there's a lot of tricks to them, and then there's nothing, like, just insane dry hops, dumping as many hops in there and kitchen sink. Yeah. Selfishly, I like other people to brew our Mexican style lager so I can drink it because I love that beer. I have a very crappy version coming up soon. All right. I can't wait to try it. Cans or bottles. Depends on the beer. I think cans are great for everyday drinkers, but there's nothing like a properly presented Belgian bottle of beer.

And say I want that barley wine and not can. Yep. Yeah. Oh man. Such a lame answer again. But same same deal. There are certain beers like I love a barrel aged stout in a bottle and then I love the convenience of a 12 ounce can and two take with me. So a little bit. I'm on the fence. Yeah. Big sexy beers. Need a sexy bar. I totally. Yeah. Favorite beer and food pairing.

I think it's kind of lame to talk about our food, but I think our mac and cheese and the Berliner Vise is like a really interesting combination. Just the acidity of that blend of ice just resets your palate after every bite of the Mac. I like it. First point American IPA and our smashburger is like my favorite thing right now. Yeah. Not every night. I'm trying to maintain my physique. Here, take. It easy. So. Yeah, you get that one. I jogging home? Yeah. Or is it jogging?

Yeah, it's Wednesday night. What are you drinking? Middle of the week? Probably low feels. Yeah. Whatever. The short filled beers from the last week. All right. You got a lot of those in my fridge. It's Pacific Gold, our American Lager. Yeah, it's. It's always in my fridge or staying and see I unabashed, unashamed lager fan and I love our lager. You should like your own beers. I love our. It's not about the beer. Yeah be be proud of your beer. It's fine I promise. What's your beer creation?

Destination Bavaria. It's a big fight in our house. I want. My wife and I have never been to Europe and she wants to go to all the wine countries. And I'm like, Well, we have to go to all the beer countries. So this is like a multiple month long trip that it has to become. It sounds awful. Yeah. Yeah. Germany for me is for the same reasons. I been lucky to meet some some cool brewers from from Germany who have had our beer that are, oh, you guys are doing, you know, a cool job.

And so it's just I want to go there and just see the old the old world style how, you know, there's like two, 300 year old breweries over there like to go contrast that to what we're doing here. So what's your favorite outside? So non Malibu brewing beer. It depends on the setting. I am a big fan, so I may have missed out on my cheap beer roots in college, but I am developing a liking for cheap beer and I actually really enjoy Coors Banquet. There you go.

I think it's just, you know, if I'm at the supermarket buying beer and when something some kind of like fodder beer can't go wrong. All right. In Colorado, I was a huge fan of Great Divide and Awesome Brewery. Yeah, I you know, I love the Yeti. I love Upslope. Made a great pale ale too is probably like one of the early and that's a it's a brewery up in Boulder also from Colorado. And then I I've got to say, Midwest makes a great pale ale that I just love it.

Yeah, love that beer. So I give you three. So is that. Okay? Yeah, I think we can take one of those. All right, cool. Yeah. So, yeah. I'm a beer fan. I like a lot. I just wish you liked beer. Yeah. What's your favorite? Non beer hobby. Well, I've been into mountain biking lately, but hands down, my favorite activity to do is sailing. Oh. Geez. If I can get. I like to. I like to run it for me. It's helpful. Helpful to get like clear my mind a little bit and get a minute.

So lately, only because, like, we've been so busy, like, that's my, my guilty pleasure is to have a nice run. Just get away from everybody. Yeah. Exactly. I turn on your podcast and actually I run to that, which I actually do, so I'm not making that up. Do you notice you slowing down if you listen to us. Now, it's a great way. It actually takes my mind off of running. So maybe I just maybe my passenger listening to the craft beer public. I love that. I'm running that on loop.

That's been the entire episode. Just sort of I think you really answered this already, but what's your favorite guilty pleasure? Beer. So I'll answer with the the other other end distractions I probably should have said is like beer made by friends. Okay, so guilty pleasure beer.

Yeah, of course. Banquet. But I love it when, you know, I've been in this industry for a minute now and you know, I've made a lot of friends in the brewing industry and it's it's really great when someone brings you a beer. I'm like, Hey, check this out. And they're not they're not necessarily looking for notes or anything. They're really proud or something. Yeah. And there's always the best beers. Nice. And we don't make them.

But you know, I don't mind a fruited ale sometimes, you know, if it's a well-made beer, I don't really buy it that often. But I also like that's not so bad. So I guess that's a guilty pleasure. But I also like my macros still. I like mixers banquet. You know, there's nothing wrong with. It, I swear. One of the most popular entries from Brewers is usually either like PBR or Coors Banquet. Yeah. No. And that's. Yeah. It's tough to go away from it. Yeah. Stick with what works.

As I say, there's a reason they've been around for so long. I know, right? I mean, Budweiser is the biggest brewery in the world for some reason. And then finally, what is your favorite word or slang for being drunk? Yeah, I shitfaced that classic. Yeah, it's classic. Yeah. Shit. House hammered. Yeah, wasted, plastered. Maybe I'm just going down at that source at this point basically is there's not one right at. All in front my school. That's kind of in the rotation. Yeah. Yeah. All good ones.

So the stats 30745 Pacific Coast Highway are four in Malibu, California. Right. Is where the brewery or where the taproom is? Correct. Go check them out. Go eat all the food at Brew Malibu on the social's brew Malibu deck. Well. Double brew room. BOOTS.COM. Anything I'm missing, come visit us. Yeah. And you can buy cans online at Broom Outlook.com. Yeah. Check out our website. Yeah. Most importantly, go eat the food with the beer. It's the nice setting.

It's a nice experience, you guys, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Greg. Thanks for your beers. Thanks for everything. Glad to. Have you. Glad to finally be on your show.

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