If you keep an eye on the Beer Job Boards, you’ll see that Whole Foods jobs come up pretty often.  Often times, they will just say something like Specialty Team Member.  Their specialty department encompasses beer, wine, and cheese, so its more than just beer.  BUT, if you see Beer Specialist in the job title, that would be the point person in the beer department.

It looks like Los Angeles is a hot spot in need of more Beer Specialists right now, since there are 3 listings up on the Beer Job Board.  There is one at their Westwood location, another in Tustin, and then a more generic listing that just says they need a Beer Specialist in Los Angeles.  Possibly a double listing?

Who knows if this represents some sort of trend in a city that has long been a wasteland for beer.  Maybe Los Angeles is starting to catch up to the rest of the country?  Or maybe Whole Foods’ recent merger with Wild Oats has created more beer job openings?  Who knows.

*lifetime supply of granola may actually be a ficticious job perk

Time to add another amazing beer bar to your drinking repertoir.

After many months of building code snafus and limited business hours, Verdugo Bar is officially opening tonight.

God bless ‘em for their sense of humor, they’ve got Delirium Tremens and St. Bernardus Abt 12 on tap right next to Miller High Life. Click on the picture above to get an idea of their bottle selection (available to take home!), but keep in mind their selection has probably changed since this picture was taken a couple months ago.

Ryan, the resident beer geek, loves to rotate special beers through as they become available. I spoke with him yesterday and he mentioned they were working on getting a keg of Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve 30, which is aged in oak barrels previously used for maturing 30-year-old single malt Scotch.

I’ll believe that when I see it!

Verdugo Bar
3408 Verdugo Rd
Glassell Park, CA 90065
323-257-3408

Open Tuesday thru Sunday, 8pm til 2am.

New York Times: Long on Beer, Short on Pretense
Urban Daddy LA: Brew the Right Thing

City: Los Angeles, CA
Neighborhood: ??
Photos taken: 3/27/2008

This store just got a bunch of new stuff in. Do you recognize the shelves? There’s a ton of hints I could give, but I think this one is pretty easy.

The green price labels really give it away, don’t they?

Dropped in at Stuffed Sandwich a couple weeks ago for lunch, and they had nothing but stouts on tap. Old Rasputin, Stone Russian Imperial, Bison Chocolate, Moylan’s Dry, Barney Flats, and Speedway (yum yum) were still flowing while I was there, but once they dry up, they’re gone (*update: they are on to Barleywines. See more below).

The funny thing about Stuffed Sandwich, if you’ve never been there before, is that they only serve beer in paper cups. Sam doesn’t like foam on his beer, so you always get a full pour right up to the rim. But before you pick up your beer to take it to your table, Sam and Marlene always make you bend over and take a sip off the top, so when you pick up the paper cup, you don’t squeeze any beer over the side.

The first time I went, I thought it was a little silly, but this being my second visit, I guess there’s a little charm to it.

I went with a small cup of the Speedway and their French Dip sandwich and OH YES, it hit the spot. Last time I was in I had the pastrami and that was pretty money too.

Another great thing about Stuffed Sandwich is their To Go License.

Sam has an amazing bottle selection, with tons of beers hiding in his cellar in back. If you know what you are looking for, and you get on his good side, you might just walk away with some real treasures.

I picked up a Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws 2004 Barleywine for just under 8 dollars, which I intended to review for this month’s Barleywine Session, but unfortunately I’ve been sick these past couple of weeks and didn’t want to waste this fine aged beer while my sinuses were still stuffed up.

Speaking of Barleywines, I just got an email from Marlene. This month it’s all Barleywines on tap, and they are breaking out all sorts of vintages. From 2007: Butte Creek Trainwreck, Lagunitas Gnarlywine, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, Anchor Old Foghorn, and Green Flash’s Barleywine. They’ve also got a keg of the Butte Creek Trainwreck and a Stone Old Guardian from 2006, and from 2005, another Old Guardian and some Bigfoot.

If you’ve never been out to Stuffed Sandwich, February would be a great month to make the pilgrimage.  See if you can make sense of any of their signage above the cooler cases.   I’ve always been a bit too shy to inquire into their Ronald Reagan shrine (not pictured- you need to see it for yourself).  And remember to bring an appetite, because NO FOOD, NO BEER!

Stuffed Sandwich
1145 E Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 285-9161

I have very few reasons to ever go to the valley, but today I add one very good reason to the list, Vendome Toluca Lake.

This Vendome stands apart from it’s sister stores in Beverly Hills and Studio City because the staff here actually cares about beer. They are knowledgeable on their selection, frequently holding weekend beer tastings, introducing customers to new choices.

6 packs are refrigerated in their long aisle of beer. Across from the fridges is a mind-bottling selection of Belgians, Brits, Germans, you name it. Much of the stuff you wont find anywhere else in LA.

If you’re still looking for your Christmas beer fix, Vendome Toluca Lake has an impeccable selection. Pictured below: Blaugies La Moneuse Special Winter, Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza (reviewed at Summer of Beer), Nogne-O Winter Ale, Hook Norton Twelve Days, Goulden Carolus Noel, Blue Frog Big DIPA (hmm, not so Christmassy), and Serafijn Christmas Angel.

They are also one of the first places in LA to carry Mikkeller, the Danish microbrew sensation from brewers Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and Kristian Klarup Keller, who were named the 5th best brewers in the world by ratebeer.com

Right now they have Mikkeller’s Christmas Porter, To/From, and Santa’s Little Helper 2007, an 11% Belgian style winter warmer.

Make the trip over to Vendome Toluca Lake, and you might still be able to pick up a couple bottles of De Ranke’s very limited Pere Noel in the green paper wrapper.

Vendome Toluca Lake
10600 Riverside Dr North Hollywood, CA
(818) 766-9593

Needless to say, Beverage Warehouse is a great place to go when you are buying by the case.

Great selection of domestic six packs. They take pride in the beer they choose to carry, and most of the time, it shows. But sometimes, it doesn’t show. If you are browsing in their 2nd aisle, a lot of the time you have to reach into the case and pull out a bottle to see the label.

My only problem with Beverage Warehouse is they waste a ton of floor space with boring macros. But other than that, you can count on these guys to have a few hidden treasures.

Old Horizontal must have just come out. Nightcap anyone?

Delirium Noel, St. Feuillien Noel, and Abita’s Christmas Ale. Yes, that is Alaskan Smoked Porter 2007 in the background (priced at $5.99)

Great selection of Lagunitas, and guess what? You can split up anything you want! Red Hook’s Winter Ale, anyone tried this? And Los Angeles’ very own Skyscraper Lug Nut Lager. Look for this stuff popping up on taps around town very soon.

These flip tops actually come with a lock and key. Damn straight you don’t want anyone opening that thing without your knowledge.

Victory Storm King, Hop Devil, and Avery’s Old Jubilation 2007.

La Choulette – red French biere de garde.

Get it? Warm Welcome Nut Browned Ale? Santa’s coming down the chimney ass first, but there a fire lit… wait, if I have to explain it, it’s not funny.

Beverage Warehouse
4935 Mc Connell Ave #21
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 306-2822
BEVERAGE PURVEYORS SINCE 1970

If you are looking for your Christmas beer fix, get over to Wine House as soon as possible, their Belgians are selling like hot cakes.

Pictured below: Affligem Noel, Val-Dieu Winter, De La Senne Equinox, Slapmutske Kerstmutske, Kerkom Winterkoninkske, Scaldis Noel, La Choulette De Noel.

I picked up some Equinox and La Choulette, but I’ve heard the Kerstmutske is really fantastic this year.

Speaking of really fantastic this year, Wine House received a very limited shipment of Scandinavian beers from Danish micro superstar Mikkeller. Their Santa’s Little Helper sold out in two days, and only a few bottles of Mikkeller To/From were left on the shelf. They’ve still got a good amount of Nogne-O’s Winter Ale if you’re looking for some nutty, chocolatey Norwegian beer. Good luck getting ahold of Jolly Pumpkin’s Noel de Calabaza, there might be a bottle or two left.

They’ve got a good collection of the Ridgeway Christmas beers, Bad Elf, Santa’s Butt, and Warm Welcome. Brittany, the House beer expert, told me she is especially fond of Hook Norton’s Twelve Days.

Rounding out their selection are some great domestics like Deschutes Jubilale and of course the Anchor Christmas Magnums priced at $14.99.

I promise you will go home happy.

Wine House – 2311 Cotner Ave, WLA, 90064 – 310.479.3731

More pictures after the jump…

Welp, the first annual Great LA Beer Run came and went and I think everyone involved agrees it was a great success.

We started off at the Highland Park Gold Line stop. After a bit of meet and greet, name tags, and sunscreen, the first place we hit was the Rock ‘n’ Roll 7-Eleven on Figueroa and Avenue 52.

I had driven right by it when I was getting off the freeway and was impressed with their banner advertising Rogue, Chimay, Duvel, Delirium and so forth. But when we got there, what really blew me away was their selection of glassware sitting behind the counter. Too bad I wasn’t in the market for any Chimay goblets or Affligem tulips.

My first purchase of the day was a bottle of this year’s Stone Vertical Epic. I had picked up a couple bottles back in June on a trip to the Wine Expo in Santa Monica, but they are still sitting in my closet and I’ve really been wanting a taste.

In today’s McWorld, it warms my heart to see this kind of selection from such an oppressive convenience store franchise. Unfortunately, Charles the manager wasn’t there to greet us, but someone definitely spent some time preparing for our arrival.

We hopped back on the bikes and cycled over to Galco’s, a mom and pop-type soda pop shop on York and Ave 57. This place was really amazing. Aisle after aisle of bottles. Tons of soda that you’ve never heard of and one of the best beer selections I’ve seen in all of LA.

Nothing is refrigerated, but this worked out well because the beers were going straight into my backpack anyways. I adopted a single St. Bernardus Abt 12 from a litter of 4, and a bottle of North Coast Old Stock 2006. And just for good measure I grabbed a miniature glass bottle of Dublin Dr. Pepper, which John, the proprietor, commented on while ringing me up.

It suffices to say that all the liquor stores on our route were incredible. Red Carpet in Glendale, the beloved Cap’n Cork in Silverlake, special guest store Vendome on Olympic, and the illustrious Wine House in Culver City.

Here’s a picture of my haul, taken outside of the Cap’n Cork:

The ride from Wine House back to Echo Park went by much quicker than I expected. I guess having all these beers waiting for us when we got home was a good motivator.

Hacker-Pschorr is a great bananay hefe, one of my favorites. Butte Creek Christmas Cranberry Ale was not Christmassy enough for me, and frankly a little watery, but I really enjoy Butte Creek’s Organic IPA and Porter. Stone Vertical Epic ‘07 is fantastic, will I actually be able to save the one in my closet for 5 years? Don’t know about that. Old Stock 2006 is heavy, sweet, and great for savoring. I actually didn’t get to try the Abt 12. Loterbol Bruin hit the spot, subtle and highly sessionable. He’brew Origin Pomegranate Ale is an imperial amber. Interesting style, but a little too boozy for the pomegranate to shine through. Tasty beer though, I will definitely try some of their others.

The great thing about our tasting afterwards was all the sharing.

Highlights of the evening included the Allagash Curieux, a tripel that’s aged in old Jim Beam barrels, Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter, a coffee-caramelly dark beer brewed in honor of Hunter S. Thompson, and Duchesse de Bourgogne, a deliciously sweet and sour Flemish Red Ale that I could drink all day every day.

Special thanks to Hot Knives for hosting and providing some incredible nuts, which you can now enjoy in the comfort of your own home.

Viva La Grand Crew ‘007!

I am ridiculously excited for this event since it incorporates two of my all-time favorites, bikes and beer.

See below for details.  Be there or be square.

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?

I had just come back from the Bicycle Casino, where my friend Sean Bill* and I destroyed the competition at our single-table sit-n-go tourney. This is important to the story, so that you know I had a wad of cash burning a hole in my pocket. Because I don’t want you to think I go and drop $45 dollars on beer on a regular basis. Usually it’s never more than $10. But when you’re at a place like this that’s at least a 30-minute drive from home, sometimes you need to stock up on beers you don’t see that often.

For the first ten minutes, I didn’t touch a thing. Just did a cursory examination to inspect their selection and variety. If I had been better prepared I would’ve had the digital camera with me to document their inventory. They’ve got two big racks of unrefrigerated beer, and one long row of freezers, making two and a half aisles of beer. They do a great job organizing by country of origin, which is kind of neat. Like a United Nations of beer, all sitting around with a little placards in front of them that say what country they’re from.

I picked up a couple bottles of Bear Republic that I don’t see too often, the Big Black Stout and their Red Rocket Ale, both selling for $2.99. I had never seen Lost Coast’s 8-Ball Stout ($3.49) before, and seeing as how I’m a big fan of their Great White, I thought I’d give it a go.

Then I thought I would go for some more expensive beers, figuring I would get a better deal. Avery’s The Reverend and Anderson Valley’s Brother David Triple both set me back $4.99, and so did a 750mL bottle of Jacobsen Saaz Blonde. The bottle is very distinctive, I had seen it before at The Farms where it was selling for $8, so I had to get it.

Also in my basket were a couple of organic beers, Santa Cruz Mountain’s Organic Dread Brown Ale, and Mateveza, a California-made pale ale infused with yerba mate. The label caught my attention, it had a gourd and bombilla sitting on top of a map of South America. Who would put yerba mate in beer? I’m betting dollars to donuts that the guy behind this is Argentinian. Seemed strange enough that I couldn’t not give it a try. Both of these beers were just under $4.

Lastly, I picked up some Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen for $4.39. I must admit, I bought it solely based on it’s badass label, but when I looked it up on Beer Advocate, I realized what a great beer I had picked. Reviews will come eventually.

Overall, there are way too many beers to list. They really shine with their selection of craft beers. Most of the 22oz. bottles are unrefrigerated, while most of what’s kept cold is in six packs. You can NOT break up six packs, which is always a real disappointment. But if you’re looking to try something new, BevMo! is a great resource. Too bad its in a huge shopping center with a Target and a Best Buy. If you’re lucky, you can snag a meter across the street or around the corner on La Brea.

Also, if you’re in the area, it’s worth stopping by the Formosa Cafe or Jones if you’ve never been there before. They’re not good places for beer, but fun bars nevertheless.

BevMo! Beverages & More
7100 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90046
(323) 882-6971

* Name has been changed to protect the innocent. He ditched work that day to play cards. What a swell guy.

Right now they have 5 different six packs of New Belgium; Mothership Wit, 1554, Skinny Dip, Springboard, and of course, Fat Tire. Three types of Sierra Nevada, which is two more than you usually see, Pale Ale, IPA, and Summerfest. Widmer, Pyramid, Franziskaner, and Spaten Lager all share a shelf, and there are six packs AND bottles of Rogue Dead Guy, Stone IPA, and Stone Ruination IPA. They round out their six pack selection with some Northern California brews: Anchor Steam, Humboldt Hemp Ale, and (believe it or not) Mad River Steelhead Double IPA and Extra Pale Ale.

But don’t even think about breaking up those sixers cause they won’t sell individual bottles. Fortunately they’ve got a good selection of 22 ouncers and larger bottles. Delirium Tremens and Nocturnum, Chimay Premiere (red), Boont Amber and Paleeko Gold, Sam Smith Lager, Oatmeal Stout and Nut Brown, Lost Coast Downtown Brown, Bear Republic Racer 5 and Hop Rod Rye.

Prices are reasonable, figure about 8 to 10 dollars for a six pack and 3 to 5 dollars for a bomber. It’s really a shame you can’t break six packs, though. It’s like AM/PM, “too much good stuff.”

PAGLIARI’S LIQUOR
2916 Main St.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
310-399-8757

Great for picking up a six pack of something new for yourself, or a 30 pack of Bud to take to a party. They’ve got your Pyramids, your Pete’s Wicked Ales, a couple Redhooks (IPA and ESB), some Widmer, some Gordon Biersch.

Glad to see they’ve got Firestone Double Barrel and Pale Ale. It’s also nice to see beers like Anchor Steam and Shiner Bock hitting the mainstream here in LA.

ALSO, in addition to the cans, they have Modelo in the bottle. I am a huge fan of Negra Modelo, and obviously la Negra es mucha mejor, but still, I don’t know where else you can find Modelo Especial in bottles. (UPDATE: Nevermind, I’m seeing it all over town now)

More interesting 6 packs: Lost Coast’s Downtown Brown and Great White, Deschutes’s Mirror Pond and Black Butte, Oregon Honey, Karl Strauss, Flying Dog’s Old Scratch and Road Dog, Mendocino Red Nectar, North Coast’s Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Spatin Pils and Oktoberfest, and Warsteiner.

Not a bad place for 12 packs, either. Blue Moon, at least 4 types of Sam Adams; Boston Lager, Light, Black Lager & Winter, plus all the other stuff you’d expect – Newcastle, Guinness, Heineken, Sierra Nevada. They’ve even got a little love for Canadians, with twelvers of Molson and Moosehead (Moosehead? When was the last time I saw this stuff?)

Single Bottles: A little disappointing, but to their credit, they have Franziskaner, Chimay Premiere (red) and Grand Reserve (blue), and Fischer Amber.

While they don’t score huge on obscurity points, they’ve got several beers you’ve probably never heard of, dozens that you’ve probably never tried, and a ton of your favorite go-to beers. Definitely check this place out.