Around 2009, I began looking into homebrewing with my cousin (and then-roommate) Josh. I had been interested in craft beer—known as microbrew then—since the early ’90s, and I found a good homebrew shop in Laguna Niguel near where my sister lived at the time. (A quick Google search shows me the shop, O’Shea Brew Co., is still there.) I bought a beer kit with everything we’d need to make a five-gallon batch at home.
The IPA wasn’t the best beer in the world, but it was drinkable. My cousin’s interest waned, but mine was set aflame, and I was determined to make a good beer. Scouring the internet, I found a Yahoo Groups page for the Coachella Valley Homebrew Club (CVHC) and sent a message to Micah Stark, then the president. It just so happened that, at Schmidy’s Tavern, there was going to be a homebrew competition award ceremony, and I was invited. It was here I met Micah, a man who went by the name “Sarge,” and Schmidy himself, Brent Schmidman. I tried a red ale of Micah’s and an eisbock collaboration between Sarge and another member, Chris Anderson—and I joined the club on the spot. The Coachella Valley Homebrew Club is a place I met many people I still call friends today.
Over the next decade, I blossomed into a relatively capable brewer. I sat in with various members to learn. Despite brewing using the partial mash method (steeping grains to simulate a mash and supplementing that with malt extracts) and not having adequate fermentation temperature control (which I combated by brewing mostly Belgian and English ales, whose yeasts don’t mind higher temperatures), most of my beers turned out pretty well—certainly better than just “drinkable.”
After a year of being president of the club, I burned out on it and homebrewing in general. I decided to eventually go through the process of becoming a Certified Cicerone and work on the serving side of the industry. Meanwhile, the club has expanded and contracted, while some of the members went on to make a big impact on local beer. Chris Anderson was the founding brewer of Coachella Valley Brewing. Juan Higuera went on to not only be a brewer at CVB as well, but also at Babe’s Bar-B-Que & Brewhouse, and is now at La Quinta Brewing. Aaron Ramson and Erik DeBellis both worked at Babe’s and went on to bigger and better things throughout California. Not bad for a club that had about eight members when I joined.
Fast-forward to this November, and the Props and Hops festival at the Palm Springs Air Museum. If you are a regular reader, you might remember the less-than-stellar review I gave the festival a couple of years ago. This time, I was invited by Jose Lopez, a longtime Coachella Valley Homebrew Club member and friend. The club would be there, alongside the Inland Empire Brewers (IEB), and the Society of Barley Engineers (SBE), from the north San Diego County area, pouring samples of their wares for the festival-goers.
It’s a good thing they were there, because the number of brewers who showed up was far less than the total listed on the event website. The IEB brought more than 25 homebrewers themselves. With SBE bringing eight, and the local club bringing a similar amount, the homebrewers straight-up carried the festival; in fact, some of their generously donated beers exceeded the quality of some of the professional brewers’ beers.
The overall quality of the beers brought by the handful of pro brewers was higher than when I attended the fest two years ago. Eureka Brewing Co. from Gardena had an excellent hoppy pilsner, and Absolution Brewing had a good pale ale. La Quinta Brewing was also there with some greatly improved beers, courtesy of their new brewer. (More on this in the future.) Their hoppy lager was very good.
Eureka Brewing Co. from Gardena had an excellent hoppy pilsner, and Absolution Brewing had a good pale ale. La Quinta Brewing was also there with some greatly improved beers.
But the story of the day was definitely the homebrew clubs. Over at Inland Empire’s elaborate beer-tap setup, I saw Jason and Mandy, two people I’d met poolside at the hotel after the last Firestone Walker Invitational beer festival. I handed my glass over to Jason, and I ended up trying his barrel-aged German chocolate cake stout, aged for a year in oak soaked in Smoke Wagon bourbon. I also tried Mandy’s blackberry-chardonnay brew, because why not? (It was quite good with subtle fruit notes.) The real winner of the eight total beers Jason and Mandy brought: the doppelbock. It offered nutty, toasty malt flavors with a hint of almond and a dry finish at a whopping 10% alcohol by volume; this was professional-level stuff.
I tried a few of the beers my friend Jose brought (including his “ice barleywine” and a tropical fruit hoppy ale) and chatted with some of the current Coachella Valley Homebrew Club members. The club seems to be in good hands; the people in it are interested in making good beer and, knowing what the club did for me, I wish them nothing but the best. (I just don’t think I’m ready to go back to doing it myself yet.)
To the Props and Hops festival organizers: Keep the homebrew clubs coming back. They made the festival this year.
I’m glad the home brewers improved your experience. And because you write this column for the CV Independent, I understand why you attend the event. I’ve been burned too many times by the event’s web site over-promising and under-delivering breweries. I haven’t even considered attending for the past few years.