Out on a Limb

“Why not go out on a limb?  That’s where the fruit is.”

“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

“Live your life so that whenever you lose, you’re ahead.”

All the quotes above are from Will Rogers.

Seems most people, certainly younger people, we ask about Will Rogers know little or nothing about the man other than that he is the namesake for a beautiful (clean and generally uncrowded) beach on the Los Angeles County coast.  But he is an inspiration for our little brewery.

Will Rogers had a genuine love and respect for all people; his credo was “I never met a man I didn’t like.”   He freely gave his own money to disaster victims and raised thousands of dollars for the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

Will Rogers also gave great business advice.  Essentially, act with honesty and integrity and don’t be afraid to take a risk.  That’s how we plan to operate our little brewery.

We are also going out on a limb.  We’ve invested many hours and thousands of dollars in putting our brewery together.  And even if governmental delays and red tape continue we don’t even contemplate giving up.

Warren Buffett uses an interesting phrase when talking about investing in a business: “Skin in the game.”  It means you are personally -  financially -  emotionally committed.  Our skin is in it and we plan to win it!

L.A. Beer Scene News

A noteworthy development in the L.A. beer scene:  Alchemy & Science, the company recently created by Boston Beer’s Jim Koch and Magic Hat founder Alan Newman, announced today that they have acquired Angel City Brewing Co.

For more info:

http://beeradvocate.com/news/4335143

Happy Holidays to All

Ohana Brewing Company wishes everyone a fantastic holiday season!

Thank you to artist Zanniki for the wonderful painting.  Look for her work in the future on our “Brewers Gallery Collection” series of beers (barrel-aged beers in 750ml bottles).

“Like” Us?

We recently created a Facebook page for the brewery.  For readers on Facebook, we’d be happy if you’d take a look at our page and “Like” us – and ask your friends to “Like” us too.  You can access our page by clicking on the link below.  Thanks!

Progress Report

Construction is mostly complete but we are still pending final inspection.  More corrections are inevitable – but we’ll continue to patiently deal with them as they come.  (Side note:  The City of Los Angeles is $72 million overbudget according to an article in the Los Angeles Times this past week; perhaps if small businesses like ours were assisted in opening we could begin hiring employees and paying taxes….)

We are currently building a control panel for the brewery; this electrical box will control gas ignition (hi and lo) for the brewkettle, the “mixer” motor mounted on the brewkettle and two transfer pumps.

Our label for Black Dahlia IPA is approved.  We’re not ready to brew the beer yet commercially but, this being our first label, we were not sure how long the approval process would take.  Here is a look at the final label.  Thanks again to Glenn Sawada for a great design!   And look for some more great designs in the future (and some great beer)!

LA Beer Week was very good to us.  We had a tremendously positive response.  Beer scribe Tomm Carroll in the current issue of Celebrator (December 2011/January 2012) remarked that we had “impressive sours” in our lineup.  A number of bar, restaurant and tavern owners either left their business cards or called afterward; we already have a long list of prospective accounts.  We’ve been logging them in on a first come first serve basis.

Hope to be in production soon!  We’ll post a list of accounts once beer is available so that you’ll know where to find us.

Website Active

Our website is now active at www.ohanabrew.com

If you’ve been using the above address to access our blog you can click through to the blog from our website or enter the blog address directly into your browser (the website previously forwarded to the blog).  To go directly to the blog  enter http://www.ohanabrew.wordpress.com

Of course, if you are on this page, you know how to access the blog!

Here’s a screenshot of the entry page (click on the image for a larger view).

Thank you to Boris Li for designing the website and to photographer Matthew Zachary for the entry page photograph!

Ohana in Art

Our signature tap handle appears in the local art scene for the first time!

Thank you to artist Sue Nicolaisen for a tremendous show of support!

LA Beer Week Recap

The main event of LA Beer Week was a beer festival at historic Union Station on Sunday, October 23.  The fest allowed us to introduce ourselves to the community, showcase some beers (brewed by our Head Brewer Chip Baker) and obtain feedback.  Thank you for all the positive comments!

Our table was consistently crowded – especially after word got out about our sour beers.  Attendees who requested a sour beer had a choice of “mild” or “intense” or both.  The “intense” sour also became known as “secret sour” in part because we were pouring it from a picnic faucet under the table rather than the jockey box (the jockey box only had two faucets).  We had a number of comments about it being the best beer of the fest.  Attendees also liked Chip’s beard.

After the fest we had some time to relax, eat a great meal catered by Spring Street Smokehouse, and enjoy some beer too!

A big thank you to the organizers for allowing us to participate.  We enjoyed ourselves and met some great people.  We look forward to returning next year!

 

Beer Label Preview

Since we gave you a peek at our first tap handle as it is in the process of manufacture (and we are in the midst of LA Beer Week!) we thought we might also share with you an advance look at our proposed first beer label.  This design is not yet final.  Also, we still need to obtain a COLA (Certificate of Label Approval) from TTB before we can legally use the label on bottles.

This beer is a Black IPA inspired by the most notorious unsolved murder in the history of the City of Los Angeles – that of Elizabeth Short at age 22 in 1947.  Her black purse and one black pump were found adjacent to our brewery.  Once an aspiring actress…Black Dahlia will soon be a fresh face in beer.

A big thank you to local artist and graphic designer Glenn Sawada for designing the label!

This will be the first in a series of handcrafted beers (all in 22 oz. bottles) we’re calling our “black label collection”.

We’re also planning a second series of select handcrafted beers aged in barrels (these in 750 ml bottles) we’re calling our “brewers gallery collection”.  Brewers’ liquid art in the bottle will be paired with visual art on the label (featuring the work of a phenomenal and accomplished artist from Southern California).  Intensely rich flavors and intensely rich vibrant colors to savor and contemplate!  More about this later.

Progress Report

After our “electrical plan” required to meet State of California building efficiency standards (Title 24) was approved we were able to move forward with initial electrical inspection at the premises (passed) and then proceed to putting up drywall.  Drywall inspection passed and we are currently prepping for paint.  We have also started moving brewing equipment into position.

The plumbing inspector required us to have the water meter upgraded to a larger size.  Thankfully, our line from the water meter to the building was already properly sized so our expense was limited to the cost of replacing the water meter.