Ceremonies: August 2007 Archives

The jackass comment from one reader two months ago, who called us “cheap whores” in response to us dropping in on a schmoozy beer bloggers reception where we sipped for free, actually broached an interesting subject: Are beer writers, and bloggers, especially prone to favorably reviewing beers if they’re courted in any way by company reps? In our case, we rarely encounter much special treatment. Still, we have on occasion received free boxes of beer. We like to make ice cream with it.

Well, whether it answers that question or not, we recently accepted an invitation from the marketing reps at Pyramid Brewing to take part in a summer beer pairing party in the company’s Gold Box Suite at Angel Stadium. Now, we’ve never been much impressed by the brewery, which is known mostly for their apricot-infused hefeweizen. But we heard they were bringing a seasonal called Curveball and thought it might be worth a swig. Though Alex couldn’t make it, Evan took the train out to Anaheim with his former boss in tow and drank it all in. Not knowing exactly what to expect, we nevertheless assumed that most of the other guests would be beer writers, industry insiders and/or company reps. As it turned out, Hot Knives and Hair of the Dog were the only beer writers present and few if any of the other guests seemed to even care what they were drinking as long as it was cold. In fact this may have been the most ingenious way for the Pyramid employees to throw a party for their friends on the company card we've ever seen.

After a couple Thunderhead IPAs (easily Pyramid’s best beer, though admittedly tame and standard) we broke out the video camera to the dismay of some of the older dudes gobblin’ on beef franks and coconut shrimp, so that you readers could be invited to the gold box suite too. Note the sad state of the food and beer “pairings” and even the reluctance of one of the Pyramid guys to look in the camera let alone give us some straight talk about the beers. Rather than engage us, he chose to read the side of the bottle’s bland marketing speak!

All sarcasm aside, conversations with the two very nice marketing people for Pyramid was a fascinating peek into the world of who sells the beer for medium-sized, mainstream microbrewies, where the MBA grads talk more about branding than they do brewing: Listen close to the chatter in the video (abuzz with slogans, units moved and “big sports accounts”) and you’ll see what we mean. That said, the excuse to see a baseball game — one where the Yankees slaughtered the OC home team — was well worth the offensively mediocre hefeweizen. And if that makes us cheap whores, well, so be it.

Wow, what a hangover, our blog has a migraine.

The aforementioned La Grand Crew bike & beer tour swooped through L.A. yesterday in an ambitious arc of drunken geekiness. The event was an epic success — certainly more excellent than even we anticipated — and that’s mostly due to the quality of humans that showed up for our pet experiment. Twenty-six rad warriors showed up, everyone from the costumed Cub-ride party circuit, to Midnight Ridazz elders, to Azusa beer friends, to Hollywood ladies on beach cruisers to dudes who hadn’t even looked at a bicycle in 6 years. Starting in Highland Park, we weaved our way to the ocean and back in a yeasty 35-mile circle. We hit all five of the brew clubhouses on the itinerary, as well as a last-minute deli sandwich pit stop at a lovely liquor emporium thanks to Hair of the Dog Dave’s suggestion. If you saw a rowdy pack of boozers taking up one-and-a-half lanes on Sunset Boulevard, well, that was us.

Thanks to Will “Wildbell” Campbell and his commando cammy skillz, there’s a set of fantastic photos chronicling the entire ride. Check ‘em out: Don’t miss the painted mustaches of Joe Borfo and the bikini-clad “Let’s Fuck,” marvel at the B-Rad’s skills of biking while wearing a freaky giraffe mask, and take in the dignified wool man-capri-bike-pants of John. Some of our favorite memories were watching our new friend who calls himself Reverend Dak buy a bottle of Avery’s “The Reverend” Belgian-style ale. Then there was the slightly bizarre yet supremely thoughtful flyer waiting for us at 7-Eleven announcing the series of offered discounts (featuring wacky mountain bike clip art and snazzy photos of corporate suits toasting beer mugs at what could only be an staged corporate retreat). Most of all, we rejoiced at seeing Dan make it home alive on the clunker of a bike he had scavenged for the ride — he got the dedicated badass award.

Now, no ride would be complete without a little reward at the finish line, so we set on “tasting” all of our spoils; the goal was to end with 99 bottles of beer on the wall. Sadly, we made it only to 77. Still, it was the most impressive craft beer line-up outside of a store that any of us had ever seen. We roasted up some hot nuts, shared sips, swilled each other’s sweaty saliva, and talked beer until we were drunk. The Hot Knives contingent managed to stay sober enough to capture a little of it on video. We love you La Grand Crew!

And for those of you who missed out (even as were riding our in-box was piling up with people saying they had found out about the ride too late), there may be a second installment once we can bring ourselves to drink beer again. Stay tuned.

For no good reason at all Hot Knives is hosting our first (annual?) bicycle tour of L.A.’s best beer stores on Saturday, August 11. We know we’ve been eluding to this thing for months, since we first started reviewing our favorite brew purveyors for this site. But now the date is set and the details are fermenting. La Grand Crew ‘007 is here!

So, bike buddies, we invite you to tear yourselves away from watching Tour de France reruns at the Yard House and come join us and our closest alcoholics on an overly ambitious beer adventure! Hitting all five stores FEATURED HERE, we plan on traversing L.A. side streets to collect a wide array of bombers and six packs with the express purpose of throwing a tasting/swigging/gulping/retching party at the finish line. We’ll be starting at the Gold Line Metro Highland Park station and end at Echo park lake for a hot nuts & cold beer party. Maybe that's reason enough to be doing this. In between we ask only that everyone 1) make new friends 2) buy a beer at each stop 3) drink lots of water.

Every store has generously offered to give us discounts and to not comment on our god awful August-heat stank. This event is, obviously, free. You just need some spending money for beer and a bag, sack, fanny pack or pannier. All the details are on the above flyer thanks to Meanstreetz Industries, our co-conspirator ) or contact us with other questions. If you’re down please RSVP ASAP to hotknivez@gmail.com, tell a friend and feel free to let us know if you’re a bike expert or a beer expert with any special skills you can lend to the team! We will post an estimated schedule and map next week in case anyone wants to join the ride partway, which is only very mildly frowned upon. La Grand Crew!!! Whose in?