In these strange times, the last thing you might be pondering is: “How do I get my craft beer, though?”
However, there are options for California craft-beer aficionados. In fact, the pandemic has made it easier than ever to get one’s hands on the best beer across the state—without having to go to a single brewery. A group of friends and I have been enjoying some of these benefits, and my fridge has seen some amazing beers that I didn’t get to previously enjoy very often.
Let’s begin locally. As far as I know, every brewery in the Coachella Valley is doing to-go orders, and some are offering rotating deals. The best way to find out about these details is social media—as much as I despise Facebook and its ilk, as I think it has made the world a demonstrably worse place. Anyway, the brewery where I work has been offering limited delivery on any order more than $20, for a $5 delivery fee. At least two other breweries in town are doing similar things. I won’t be too specific as this is all subject to change, but all of this information is incredibly easy to look up; it took me about five clicks to verify what breweries are delivering versus offering only pickup, at least as of this writing. Also, use one of those searches to figure out each brewery’s hours. Most places of business are not operating on their usual schedules (as you might imagine), and breweries are no exception. Of course, with bars and taprooms closed, many of these breweries are hurting right now—so if you can swing a purchase or two, now is most definitely the time to support these local businesses.
Expanding our circle of concern out a bit: The Craft Lounge in Beaumont is definitely worth a look; you can order online and pick up your beer at their curb. Recently, the store had a special crowler (sort of like a growler, but not refillable) sale of Bottle Logic Brewing beers. If you’re unfamiliar, Bottle Logic’s beers are highly sought after (especially their barrel-aged stout releases), and the brewery has had to institute a whole separate pickup system for their bottle releases due to insane lines. Craft Lounge is also selling cans and bottles of some great beers, albeit at pretty steep prices. I will say this, however: Many of those cans and bottles are impossible to find here in the desert, so you pay for the privilege.
That brings us to the state level: Some heralded breweries have quickly pivoted to the shipping game—many of which were not offering beer for shipping previously. I will throw out some names, and apologies to the breweries I’ve left out: Cellarmaker Brewing (whose beer I’ve had the joy of getting in on thanks to some of their recent sales; it’s absolutely brilliant all around), Burgeon Beer Company, Kern River Brewing, Beachwood Brewing, Societe Brewing, North Coast Brewing—and the list goes on. That short list covers much of California geographically … and here’s the kicker: Much of this shipping-within-the-state stuff is likely to continue once we get back to some semblance of normalcy.
“It is legal to ship beer in California,” says Shelby Swensen, tasting room manager at the aforementioned Burgeon Beer Company, in Carlsbad. (If you forced me to say what my favorite brewery is, this would be the answer.) “Due to the constant high demand in the tasting room, as well as our accounts, we didn’t allocate any beer for shipping. Now, with the times changing due to COVID-19, we have found that it is beneficial to both parties to ship beer. Now that we have the system in place, we will continue to ship our beer.”
In addition to cases of cans, Burgeon is also shipping one-use, recyclable kegs of most of their beers. What a strange and wonderful time for craft beer consumers.
I know what you might be thinking: “This has to be wildly expensive.” While the prices of the beers themselves vary, I’ve found the cost of shopping—which usually takes a week or less—to be incredibly reasonable. After all, shipping companies have a robust network set up for other purposes, though some breweries have been using them in varying degrees for years now. Shelby at Burgeon gave me a little insight regarding what they do.
“Once an order is placed, depending on when you place the order, it will be shipped cold within 24 hours. This allows customers to get our beer fresh.”
Be wary of any brewery that does not ensure cold shipment. Heat is the enemy of beer—especially now that it’s warming up here in the desert.
Of course, many breweries are in danger if they can’t shift to this new paradigm—and some are imperiled regardless. But the fact that some breweries have shifted so quickly—with a few thriving, even—is definitely a light in the current darkness. While we’re still in the midst of this pandemic, we beer-lovers can at least look forward to a world with more access to the beer we love without having to travel for it. That may not be much in the overall scheme of things, but it’s something—and I don’t know about you, dear reader, but something is definitely good enough for me right now.
Brett Newton is a certified cicerone (like a sommelier for beer) and homebrewer who has mostly lived in the Coachella Valley since 1988. He currently works at the Coachella Valley Brewing Co. taproom in Thousand Palms. He can be reached at caesarcervisia@gmail.com.