ColLAboration Winter 2012

ColLAboration, the pop-up mobile craft beer garden from the collective fevered imaginations of LA's leading beer bar owners, finally held their Winter event on Oscar Sunday.  The fest, which had been delayed several months, more than made up for the delay with a doozy of a location and lineup of brews, including the ever elusive Pliny the Younger from Russian River and Dogfish Head World Wide Stout.

The location was the Belasco Theater, a classic from 1926 that was known for its burlesque revues in the 1940s and was extensively renovated to the tune of $12 million before it reopened last year as a party space.  This was the first of the ColLAborations to be held indoors and it was a dramatic location with the tiers of balconies overlooking the main taps areas on the floor.  There were also several outdoor patios which were quite popular on this sunny afternoon.

There were longer lines than at some of the prior events in the series; perhaps because of greater attendance.  Strange Brew played on a continuous loop to entertain the thirsty attendees.  Beers were sold via tokens, which were $6 each or 4 for $20.  This event premiered the new ColLAboration goblet glasses.  Your glass is your entry ticket at ColLAboration, so it makes sense to keep your glass from prior events. 

This was my first time trying the Pliny the Younger, which has developed a cult status over the past few years, as it is time consuming and expensive for Russian River to make, leading to small quantities produced.  The scarcity factor and reputation for deliciousness, along with the "passport stamp" effect in which drinkers want to try the latest hot thing has led to ever increasing ridiculousness each February when the Younger is released.  The Double IPA is rather delicious; it is hoppy but not a smack in the face.  Very tasty, but I can't recommend waiting in line for hours to try it, especially when there are so many other great beers out there.  Fortunately they handled their Pliny allocation well at ColLAboration by releasing it at staggered times at each of the three different bars, without notice.  This gave everyone a shot at trying it for themselves, and also ensured that the beer didn't disappear within minutes of the event's beginning.

Above, Ryan Sweeney of Verdugo Bar, Surly Goat and Little Bear enjoyed a beer on the upstairs patio during a break in the action.  Below the four collaborators/hosts toasted to the success of a well attended and well beveraged event.

Photo courtesy Helen Springut

I heard that the next ColLAboration event should happen later this spring.  Stay tuned for details.

Learn more about ColLAboration at their website: www.collaboration.la

ColLAboration Winter Fest Postponed

The latest ColLAboration LA event, the Winter Fest scheduled for tomorrow Saturday December 3rd, has been cancelled due to the intense wind damage at the Golden Road Brewery.  The event will be rescheduled for January, when the damage has been repaired and the power is up and running.

Golden Road CEO Tony Yanow said, “We are extremely upset that we have to postpone our Winter Fest, but the comfort and safety of our customers is of the utmost priority to us. We have yet to get our electricity back due to this week’s fierce Santa Ana winds and we simply cannot take the chance that we will not have electricity tomorrow during our event. We look forward to re-scheduling ColLAb in early 2012 and hope to see everyone then. In the meantime, all advance payment through PayPal will be automatically reimbursed within seven days to all of our guests. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

For those who already purchased a Winterfest glass, the specialty steins will be good for admission to the next ColLAboration event, which will be scheduled for January 2012. Winterfest glasses can also be taken back to their point of purchase for a full refund. To help ease the pain, the following bars will be offering $4 beer specials tomorrow:

• Mohawk Bend: ALL beers $4 from 12-5pm 
•  Tony’s Darts Away: ALL beers $4 from 12-5pm
• 38 Degrees Ale House & Grill: select beers $4 from 12-5pm 
• Verdugo: select beers $4 from 3-5pm

ColLAboration Comes to Hollywood

ColLAboration, the mobile craft beer garden from the folks behind Tony’s Darts Away, Verdugo Bar/Surly Goat, Blue Palms and 38 Degree Ale House, that I enjoyed so much last month in Burbank is coming back. This time the frothy and hoppy party is popping-up in Hollywood on Saturday, June 4th at the corner of Gower and Hollywood, from noon til 7 p.m.

Just like before you can purchase a glass, which is your admission ticket, for $10 online. If you attended the first event I hope you kept your glass, as it will get you in to the next one as well. The Hollywood ColLAboration beer garden will feature dozens of craft beers, including favorites from breweries such as Russian River, Craftsman, Green Flash, Moylan’s, Avery, Alesmith, New Belgium, Dogfish Head, Port/Los Abbey, Eagle Rock, Sierra Nevada, and more legit joints than I can fit in this blogpost. Each beer will be priced at $5-6 per glassful.

As if the June 4th event is not enough to quench your thirst for craft beer, for the entire month of July, COLLAB will be held every Friday (4 p.m. to 9 p.m) and Saturday (noon to 9 p.m.) on the Sunset Strip right across from the Roxy Theater. Just like the Hollywood edition, these Sunset Strip COLLABs will venture beyond California to include great craft brews from a broader area. Sometimes you just gotta cross state lines.

ColLAboration: 6124 Hollywood Blvd. at the corner of Gower and Hollywood. Saturday June 4th from 12 Noon – 7 pm. More information and glasses for purchase can be found at http://www.collaboration.la/

Coverage of the first ColLAboration here.

Note: Edited to reflect that beers are from California + other states at the Hollywood edition.

ColLAboration: A Pop Up Craft Beer Garden

Saturday's ColLAboration event combined two trends of the Los Angeles food and drink scene: pop-up restaurants and craft beer.  The event was a collaboration between four of the leading members of Los Angeles's craft beer scene: Ryan Sweeney of Eagle Rock's Verdugo Bar and West Hollywood's The Surly Goat, Brian Lenzo of Blue Palms Brewhouse in Hollywood, Clay Harding of Alhambra's 38 Degrees Ale House and Tony Yanow of Tony's Darts Away in Burbank and the soon to open Mohawk Bend in Echo Park.

The event celebrated the 1 Year Anniversary of Tony's Darts Away and was the first in a planned series of pop-up beer gardens.  The inaugural event was held in a parking lot in Burbank, a block away from Tony's.  Tickets were sold in advance online or at any of the participating bars.  Your ticket came in the form of a glass and cost $10 per person.  Beers were either $6 or 4 for $20, via an efficient token system.

ColLAboration was by far the smoothest run food or drink festival I have ever been to.  Tickets sold out in advance, although a limited number were available on-site the day of.  They deliberately avoided selling too many tickets, so that attendees could get beer with minimal lines.  If you had purchased your ticket in advance there was no line to get in and most of the afternoon the lines for beer were nonexistent to two minutes with the exception of when a rare beer was announced over the speakers and a ten minute queue developed.

They provided ample bathrooms (port a potties) and even had a fenced in "smokers pen" for the cigarette fiends in the crowd.  No lines, a genial crowd, fair prices - what's not to like?  They even arranged for several local restaurants to deliver to the event, so people could get food to wash down their beer.  Tony's was also selling food on-site in the form of folks wearing hot delivery cases, ballpark style, walking through the crowd selling their vegan treats.

Sweeney (above) had told me about a Sierra Nevada Dubbel, called Oliva, which he thought I would like.  A couple hours later I was the first person at the event to get a glass of the elixir, which was even better than I had hoped.  I didn't know that Sierra Nevada made any Belgian style beers.  Their stock went up a lot with me.  I ran into several of LA's beer aficionado crew, including Jimmy Han of the soon to open Beer Belly,  HC of L.A. and O.C. Foodventures, Chris Day of Sotto, Steve Armstrong of ShangriLA Food Blog and Brand X, among others.  Unfortunately I left before Josh of FoodGPS and Esther of E*StarLA arrived.

There will be several more pop-up ColLAboration beer gardens this summer and I am looking forward to attending as many as I can.  If you went this past weekend save your glass, as it is your admission ticket to the next event.   Unlike some beer events where you pay one price for all you can drink, ColLAboration was all about quality over quantity, although the pours were rather generous.  Good beer, a good vibe and good weather; this event hit the trifecta.  Stay tuned for news on the date and location of the next fest.

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