Three Weavers Brewing Co.

2014-01-14T07:04:00.001-08:00

Check out our website blog at www.threeweavers.la. The blog is under news on the left hand column. We have made some recent updates to the blog and website. Come and check it out!

We will be posting all future blog posts and updates on our website. Thanks for reading!

Honey vs. Vinegar

2013-12-13T17:24:00.000-08:00

I learned one of life's greatest lessons in college from a well loved secretary. She was honey sweet to everyone and when she needed a favor or had a special request, people bent over backwards to get it done.

I have had many not so shining moments, spewing vinegar and leaving a wake of smelliness when things did not go as planned. To my credit, most of my sour years were during teen years and into my twenties. But meeting this lovely secretary truly changed my outlook on life. And I have been striving to choose honey over vinegar ever since.

Everyday we are faced with choices between honey and vinegar. My most recent encounter came on December 4th while gaining our lovely Inglewood Zoning Planner's signature for our ABC license. By now, you know that I researched and triple checked our zoning prior to signing our lease for our space. When our Planner and I reviewed our potential property, I was pretty clear on our intended use (wholesale and retail sales for on and off site consumption), and our lovely planner signed off on it. Turns out she made a mistake. Before she said that we did not need a Special Use Permit for our tasting room. She then realized that we will be selling beer directly to the public and THAT requires a Special Use Permit. The Special Use Permit takes a minimum of two-three months to complete, which includes a hearing and a 20 day appeals period. Inglewood also has a monthly filing deadline to get your Special Use Permit in by. As I sat there I realized that the Special Use Permit filing deadline was the very next day, December 5th. OMG.

We are now two to three months delayed on our tasting room. If I didn't get our Special Use Permit application in by 5PM December 5th, we would be an additional 30 days behind schedule. Ouch. That is a three to four months of rent mistake. Good thing we have a delay in taking possession of our space!

Honey vs. Vinegar. It's a split second decision that can lead you down two very different paths. One which is smooth gliding, the other bumpy, stinky and rough. All my years of striving for honey paid off in tens as I sat at the planning counter and automatically poured honey. Lots and lots of honey.

Just the look on our lovely Inglewood Zoning Planner's face told a story of how sorry she was for the miscommunication. I sincerely got the feeling that she would go to bat for us if we could get our Special Use Permit application in by 5PM the next evening. I know that the honey used today will helps us in the future if and when we need it.

I left the planning office on an impossible mission. We had to design our tasting room (ADA Compliant), redesign our parking lot to meet the new parking requirements (ADA Compliant), provide exterior elevations of the building which included our "architectural design element of our brewery" (aka: our silo) and sign. I had to write up answers to address their questions on the Special Use Permit form and provide supporting documentation. We also needed our landlord to notarize and sign a form acknowledging our desired permit requests. Did I mentioned that all of these plans had to be to scale? All to be done in less than 24 hours! I'm an optimist, but I'm also a realist.

Back to the honey. Jonathan and I love to entertain. We usually can't wait to share the new things we have discovered. Most of our designers, trades and professionals that we have worked with have somehow become part of our extended family. Maybe because we treat them as such, family.

So when I made a frantic phone call to our friend and designer Jeremy Taylor at 5PM December 4th, he assured me that together we would get it done. Tons of Three Weavers love to Jeremy! Not only do his interior and landscape designs rock, but he has become a dear friend. You will have to check out our Jeremy Taylor designed Tasting Room!

Between Alexandra (brew master), Jeremy and I, we were able to knock out the tasting room layout. The new parking lot took quite a bit longer as well as our "brewery architectural design element" (aka: silo) and building elevations. I didn't finish my portion of the application until mid day. Jeremy actually drove our finished printed plans directly to Inglewood Planning. I was able to pay for our permit application at 5PM. Our lovely Inglewood Zoning Planner made herself available all day to us, helping give us direction with our permit application.

It was a stressful 24 hours, one that I hope not to repeat. After completing our permit application, I profusely apologized to Jeremy for my frantic crazy phone calls throughout the day. Knowing that he had a long traffic filled drive home, I gave him the snickers bar I had. Somehow I remembered that Jeremy likes snickers bars.

ABC, easy as 123!

2013-12-03T19:15:00.000-08:00

The Alcohol Beverage Control employees are some of the nicest folks to work with. I popped into the downtown office on Tuesday morning before Thanksgiving (walk-in application review is Monday - Thursday, 8AM to 10:30 only). We reviewed our application, found a couple of things missing, and made our to do list for submitting our application. Special Note: Sign all your documents in front of the ABC employee. It will save you money on notarizing signatures, unless the person who has to sign can not attend.

Here are the forms you will need:
Planned Operation (Non-Retail) ABC257-NR.
Anywhere it asks for application, list the brewery entity name. You must have your location secured as the ABC license is tied to the location, not your brewery.

Licensed Premises Diagram (Non-Retail) ABC257-NR.
A hand drawing is fine, you just need to show all exterior walls of your license brewery, interior walls, stairs, exits, doors, general area where things are going (brew house, cellar, cold box, mill, bottling area, tasting room.)

Supplemental Diagram ABC253.
Again, a hand drawing is fine. They want to see just your exterior walls in relation to streets. Be sure to orientate your map N.

Application Questionnaire ABC217 (2+ pages depending on how many investors you have).
Here you have to list all of your investors, sources of funds, and how you plan to spend all that cash. Be sure to list your SBA if you have one. This form need to be notarized or signed in front of an ABC employee.

Application Signature Sheet ABC211-SIG.
If you do not sign the forms in front of the ABC employee, you will need to complete this form and have it notarized. The ABC employee has me sign it in front of her anyways. Go figure.

Depending on your entity type, you will need to complete:
Corporation ABC243 (2 pages).
Limited Liability Company Questionnaire ABC256-LLC (2 pages).
Partnership Questionnaire ABC256
Here you list all your information about your brewery and it's investors. Please note that any investor that is a 10% or more owner must complete ABC208-A and B. If any members list their trust as owners and they are 10% or more owners, you will need a copy of the executed trust documents. If you have LLC's, Corps, or Partnerships as members of your entity and they are 10% or more owners, they will need to complete the entity questionnaire. Any owners that are 10% or more owners of the LLC will have to complete ABC208-A and B. Every entity will have to attach their operating agreement and articles of incorporation.

Individual Personal Affidavit ABC208-A and B.
This form needs to be notarized or signed in front of an ABC employee. You will need a copy of your birth certificate or passport.

Certification Re: Chapter 15 Tied House Restrictions ABC140.
Every entity will have to complete this form.

Forms ABC 247 Statement Re: Residences and ABC251 Statement Re: Consideration Points are not required as they only apply to Retail licenses.

Dropped off our final application with a check yesterday and got a call this afternoon that our poster and fingerprinting forms are ready for pick up. AWESOME!

The Wood. That Is Inglewood.

2013-11-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

I knew that the West Side was a difficult Real Estate Market. I didn't realize the incredibly daunting task it would become. Be forewarned, this is a long detailed post regarding brewery real estate on the West Side of Los Angeles.

We had several important "must haves" that would ensure our production brewery success (in order of importance):

1. City/Planning Department and Landlord support. I cannot express the importance of City/Planning and landlord support. City and Planning will either grease it's political wheels to move a project quickly forward or put on it's brakes and make it very difficult. Having your landlord support makes outfitting your brewery much easier. City/Planning and landlord support is integral in our ability to grow.

2. Cellar space: The more space we have for tanks, the more beer we can produce and sell. Production and the sale of wholesale beer is the revenue generator of the brewery, not the tasting room sales. The tasting room is the social icing on the cake! We were in the market for 10,000+ square feet based on the size of our brew house. This amount of square footage would allow us to grow.

3. High ceilings: Tanks come in all different barrel sizes. As the size of the tanks increase, their footprint increases slightly while their height increases substantially. Ceiling height is critical. The higher the better.

4. High Docks: Truck accessible high docks allow for easier loading and unloading of supplies and beer. They also increase the safety of employees.

5. Utilities: We need access to lots of water and power to make beer.

6. Exterior silo: The ability to having an exterior silo allows us bulk malt rates and it serves as a landmark for our brewery.

7. Location: Location is important, but not as important as I thought when I started the planning Three Weavers.

Over the last five months I have searched for the perfect brewery and tasting room location all over the Westside. We have been competing with creative types looking to transform the building into urban office space.

I placed offers to lease at three locations within Playa Vista and Del Rey (the City of Los Angeles) areas despite the locations not meeting all the top six "must haves". Cellar space, ceiling height, and exterior silo would have to be sacrificed. Within the City of Los Angeles, breweries are allowed in M-2 only. M-2 zoning is very limited in the Westside of Los Angeles. In the end, landlords were not comfortable with the idea of a brewery and/or felt that we were underfunded (Underfunded you say? I'll cover that in a future post). The listing agents and landlords were not familiar enough with the craft beer industry and thus not comfortable. Also, the city of Los Angeles is not the easiest city to establish a brewery. We would be subjected to a 4 to 12 month conditional use permitting process. The process involves applying and notifying the surrounding property owners and tenants within 500 ft of our property line of our intention to sell alcohol. There is a conditional use hearing held to address any concerns of the neighbors and property owners. After that meeting, there is a period of time for appeals. If there are no objections or appeals, the city would issue the conditional use permit to sell alcohol. During the process we would be allowed to produce beer but not serve it in our tasting room until our conditional use permit is issued.

In Culver City none of the locations met the six top "must haves". Again, cellar space, high dock doors, exterior silo would be sacrificed. We placed offers to lease at three different properties. Within Culver City, a brewery is allowed in their IG Zone (General Industrial). Culver City Planning Department would not permit an exterior silo, stating that they do not allow any manufacturing equipment outside the exterior walls of the manufacturing facility. They would not consider the exterior silo as exterior grain storage. Culver City's zoning code also does not allow a "bar" in the IG Zone. Under their zoning code, our tasting room would be classified as a bar. Culver City offered the solution of adding a restaurant to our brewery, which is allowed in their IG Zone. With a restaurant, we could sell pints of beer as long as our total food sales were more that our total beer sales. We had significant push back from landlords and neighboring tenants of spaces when we added the restaurant aspect to the brewery. Bottom line, Landlords and tenants were happy to have a brewery but didn't want the traffic associated with a restaurant. If we dropped the restaurant we lost our ability to serve beer in a tasting room. All three declined our offer due to the restaurant or desire for a creative to occupy their space.

I looked at one property in Santa Monica, but the Santa Monica lease rates were not justifiable for our production brewery (over $3 a sq ft.) The location lacked the cellar space, high ceilings and there wasn't any space available for an exterior silo. On top of that, Santa Monica's Conditional Use Permit fee is in the high $20,000's.

During this whole time, my broker (Joe Clarke of Maxam Properties - best broker ever!) kept pushing one property that bordered Westchester and Inglewood. To appease him, I went and saw it. The location has an Inglewood address, but is located on the west side of the 405 freeway near LAX. It is situated between Manchester and Florence. It has 11660 square feet, 24'+ ceilings, five high loading docks and has appropriate utilities. It's also cheap, unlike Playa Vista, Del Rey, Culver City or Santa Monica ($1.65-3.00 sq ft.) Most importantly, we have the City of Inglewood, Inglewood Planning Department, and landlord support. In fact, we have received approval for our brewery and the tasting room from the Planning Department. We are not required to apply for a special use permit to sell and serve our beer. So once we have beer to sell, we can open our tasting room without any obstacles from the city. (Inglewood has greased the brewery wheels!)

With such a perfect property I checked out Inglewood's General Plan for the area. In 2006 Inglewood transformed their General Plan for the city to encourage new business and growth. In doing so they have attracted some new developments. In the area, Landlords are transitioning leases from air freight and cargo warehouses into mixed use and creative office spaces. As Culver City reaches it capacity, more creatives will be looking for reasonably priced areas to locate.

Additionally, there are two major projects in the works within Inglewood. Madison Square Garden has invested $100 million to renovate the Forum. There is also a $2 billion dollar project called the Hollywood Park Tomorrow, which is similar to Playa Vista. The Crenshaw LAX light rail proposes a metro stop at Florence/Hindry which is right around the corner from the location.

There were concerns of the stigma that the name Inglewood holds. The same could be said for Venice, Culver City and Abbott Kinney at one point in their history. Inglewood is a city in transition. I believe that when we go into this building, we will be encouraging other breweries in planning to check out Inglewood as a potential location. The more breweries in an area, the better for all of the breweries, as it would become a craft beer destination. Three Weavers embraces its Inglewood location and will become leaders that encourage and facilitate the positive change around us.

Drake’s Brewing, a successful brewery in San Leandro (right next to East Oakland) is a prime example of this overall concept. Drake’s is located in a commercial/industrial area of San Leandro, adjacent to OAK. Our Brewmaster Alexandra, who worked and brewed at Drake's, says that despite it’s less than alluring location, the brewery was able to expand into the regional brewery it is today with a very successful tasting room. The team at Drake’s directly attributes their expansion and success to the full and enthusiastic support from the city, landlords and it’s large/functional property size.

One of my favorite parts of visiting a new brewery is the adventure of its location. I have enjoyed and experienced some of my favorite beers in the hard to find industrial parks of Paso Robles, North San Diego County and Los Angeles. In fact, our brewmaster just recently won two bronze metals from The Great American Beer Festival brewing at a successful brewpub in Lancaster! The reason why these places are off the beaten path is because the perfect brewery properties are found off the beaten path. This property was the perfect property for our brewery. So I leased it.

Three Weavers Brewing Company

1031 W. Manchester Blvd. Unit A-B

Inglewood, CA 90301

Introducing our Brewmaster…

2013-11-05T14:33:00.000-08:00

I am super excited to introduce our Brewmaster Alexandra Nowell. Alexandra comes to us fresh off the heels of two bronze metals wins from the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado. She is currently finishing up her stint at Kinetic Brewing located in Lancaster, CA.

Prior to joining Kinetic Brewing, Alex was the lead brewer for Drake's up in Northern California.

Alex is an incredibly talented brewer who shares her knowledge with anyone who wants to learn (which includes me!) We are super lucky at Three Weavers to have her lead our production brewery.

Our other future employee, Chris Davis, has been busy setting up our website. Check it out! Not much to see yet, but there will be soon.

Idea to Success

2013-09-22T08:52:00.002-07:00

Last weekend we invited two near and dear friends over for dinner. Over the course of our friendship, Alix and Troy have been fantastic to us and our family. I have so much respect for both of them. Alix is incredibly talented - check out her company Sutton Place Cookies. Troy (Senior Vice President ofMarketing and Advertising for YapStone) has been a consistent source of wise, simple, yet mind bending advice. I shared how starting a business is much more difficult in real life than on paper. That unexpected obstacles come out of nowhere. There are hurdles that you have to jump over to avoid getting tripped up.

Troy grabbed a piece of paper and made this diagram:

Troy said that most of society views Success as having a direct linear relationship to an Idea. It makes sense from an outside perspective. They see the Idea and they see the resulting Success. Failure is not an option based on this diagram.

But what actually occurs is the following:

Here failure IS an option, even a requirement. Failure is an opportunity to learn. Every lesson learned from the previous failure brings you one step closer to Success. Failure is not what we strive for and we work very hard to avoid it. But the lessons learned are invaluable.

The vast majority of Success occurs with failure as an option. Those who learn from their past failures Succeed.

How thy love thee SBA! Let me count the ways....to $400K

2013-09-21T19:23:00.001-07:00

Good News! We received (finally!) our Letter of Interest from the Federal Credit Union for a cool 400K. They have agreed to lend us the funds with a bunch of obtainable and agreeable conditions, which includes our first born child.

We are participating in the SBA 504 loan program through the Pacoima Development Federal Credit Union. I shopped around to several handful of banks, but found that Development Federal Credit Unions really (and I meaning focused on job creation) wanted to lend to start ups and were looking to create jobs in Los Angeles.

HEADS UP BANK PEOPLE! Production breweries are in all aspects Manufacturing, not the restaurants that you classify us in. Over the next five years, we will employ well over 20 people during different shifts of the day. If you are looking towards job creation, looks towards craft breweries!

It is a lot of paperwork and sometimes feels like you are hitting your head up against a brick wall. But, boy does it feel good when you stop.

Research

2013-09-10T13:09:00.002-07:00

Been quite busy doing a bit of research with my buddies from Hanger 24. Check it out!

Rules, Regulations and the City of Los Angeles

2013-08-24T09:14:00.002-07:00

I love a challenge. I love working through an already existing system and to exploit it. I'm really good at it.

I'm a problem solver, so much so that my husband has to preface some conversations with "I'm not looking for a solution." My ability to problem solve along with never taking no for an answer makes for a heady combination when you mix in the City of Los Angeles Planning Department.

Most cringe at the mention of the City of Los Angeles Planning Department and all that it entails. I was fortunate to be introduced to Mark Bevelaqua of the Restaurant Hospitality Program. Mark is a case manager that walks your plans through every department/division/section for approval. No waiting hours in lines or for your number to be called. Everything is by appointment. It is an awesome program.

My first meeting (called a predevelopment meeting) was with Mark and the city engineer. The city engineer looks at the location and determines if the site can be used as desired. Based on your preliminary plans (mine were hand drawings of the building with my proposed floor plan), the city engineer calculates the parking requirements based on the occupancy use and load which are determined by your preliminary plans. The city engineer also determines if the structure is fit to house your proposed use (is your building made out of combustible material, will it need fire sprinklers?) He/she will also want to see that the structure can support the weight of our grain storage on the second floor and the weight of the tanks on the ground level.

I did all my research before the predevelopment meeting. I knew the zoning requirements for a microbrewery within the city of Los Angeles (M1-2, light manufacturing). I knew that I could not stray outside of that zoning, so I only looked at buildings that were zoned M1-2. This is very important. Can you imagine signing a lease for a building and you didn't do your due diligence, then going to planning to be told you can't have a brewery in your newly leased building? Stick to your zone and be aware of pitfalls. A zone approved for a brewery in one city may not be approved another (Culver City does not allow a brewery in light manufacturing).

I researched the Environmental Health department requirements for our tasting room. Environmental Health has a great Retail Construction Guideline document that lists all the requirements for restaurants and bars. I also checked out the building code for requirements on parking, explosive dust, waste management, and city code for our conditional use permit (on and off site sale of alcohol).

My preliminary hand drawn plans addressed everything that I could think of. I came prepared. I didn't want to waste any one's time. Last Tuesday, I met with Mark the case manager, the city engineer, three waste management engineers, and a city planning. I got there at 9:30 AM and left after 6PM. Wednesday, I met with the fire engineer about the explosive dust and required fire separations. Friday, I met with an Environmental Health Specialist to review our plans for the tasting room.

I took tons of notes and quickly learned that my research only uncovered the first layer of City of Los Angeles building code onion. Each meeting revealed more layers to maneuver and navigate in order to accomplish our goal. The help of all the engineers has been instrumental in developing an overall plan that will breeze through plan check.

The best part of the Restaurant Hospitality Program is that the engineers I met with will be the same to sign off on our plan during plan check. There will be no reinventing the wheel with different plan check engineers.

It's all about who you know...and accepting offers of help.

2013-08-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

I'm lucky. Really, really lucky. I have a wonderful loving healthy family, a devoted husband that is letting me start this brewery and incredible friends that support me with every beer connection they have (media, industry and drinkers).

While on vacation last week, a dear friend (Thanks Jennifer!) reached out to me about an interview for a national beer blog (SaveOnBeer.com/blog). It has over 28,000 subscribers (Yikes!) and recently interviewed the great Russian River Brewing Company Brewer/Owner Vinnie Cilurzo.

SaveOnBeer.com/blog happens to be focusing on Japanese beer this week thus thought it was a good fit to interview Three Weavers and publicize our Umami Beer™.

Check out the interview here: Save On Beer Interview

With any new business publicity is important. Free publicity is the best! Three Weavers is working hard to spread the word about Umami Beer.

So if you have a friend that loves beer, spread the word! We will be launching a KickStarter Campaign in a few months to fund our tasting room. We want our supporters to have a say in what goes into the tasting room, since you will be the ones enjoying it.

Playing with the Big Boys!

2013-08-09T23:06:00.004-07:00

Right after you decide to open up a brewery, you start fantasizing about the brewhouse. There are so many options, it's like a home brewer in an hops store that has every single hop. You want everything. But as you plan how to use all those hops, you realize that some hops don't go well with other, some provide more bitter characteristics than others, some are just for aroma. Selecting becomes quite overwhelming. You only have so much pocket money to spend. You don't want to buy something you aren't going to use.

It's the same with a brewhouse. I have sat on top of quotes since February. I have read, and reread every opinion on size, number of vessels, even mash tuns vs mash filters. You name it, I read it. It's just now that I have made my decision. It took a long time and it was a long road but well worth the final product.

Brewhouses are measured in barrel (bbl) sizes or in Hectoliters (hl). A 20 hl system is equivalent to a 17 bbl system. You will see brewhouse systems in 15 bbl, 25 bbl, 30 bbl, 50 bbl, and on up. Most new breweries buy the biggest system they can afford. What is important to grasp at this point is that it's a numbers game. When you get quotes for systems, you will quickly find that the 20 bbl system is NOT 2/3 the cost of the 30 bbl system. What?!? Here's why: The labor cost to make the 20 bbl tank is very close to the 30 bbl tank. It's just a little bigger. The labor cost increases a little. The increase in cost is mostly attributed to the additional cost of material. The system difference ends up being about a 15% increase. But the 15% additional cost will equate into 50% more production length (you can produce 50% more on the 30 bbl system than on the 20 bbl system).

Another factor to consider is the number of vessels your brewhouse will have. Many great beers are produced on a two vessel system (mash/lauter tun and Kettle/whirlpool). By separating the mash and lauter tuns and Kettle and whirlpool, you have a four vessel brewhouse. It allows back to back brewing in a more efficient timeframe (start a new brew every 3 hours). The separate mash and lauter tun also allows more complex decoction (for drier German Oktoberfest beers and lagers).

This is just the beginning of all the equipment needed to function as a brewery. Every brewhouse manufacturer makes their system different from the next. For Three Weavers, the brewhouse and its manufacturer had to meet the following:

Allows us to grow without growing pains or physical pains.
Allows us the opportunity to offer LA contract brewers a place in LA to brew.
Have excellent track record in their prior systems and customer service.
Have an incredible warranty.
Share our views that employees are family, and treat them so.

Many met the mark, but one stood out.

Three Weavers will be brewing on a 30 bbl 4 vessel system from Prospero.

Why so big? Every successful brewer that I have asked has told me to go big, at least a 25-30 bbl system. The reasons are clear, it takes the same amount of time and effort to brew one batch on a 15 bbl system as it does on a 30 bbl system. But you end up with twice the amount of beer. These Big Boys are doing it right so I'm following their footprints.

I could go on and on about systems but will end here. Email me if you have questions.

Three Weavers featured on FoodGPS!

2013-08-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

Check out the article featuring Three Weavers!

http://www.foodgps.com/lynne-weaver-three-weavers-brewing/

You will see our most updated logo. Still working on the fonts but looks pretty good so far. Thanks Chris Davis!

Will update with another post in a day or two. So much is going on, it's a bit of a mind bend (but in a good way!)

Location, Location, Location!

2013-07-25T20:59:00.002-07:00

Ask any Real Estate professional and this post's title will ring in your ears.

I'm stuck between a killer location or a place of growth. Lots of money for Location (lease rate, demo, and full build out) or a lot less money (lease rate, no demo, just drains and some utilities meters) but tucked back in a secret corner of the world. Many brewers say, build it and people will come. Yes, they will come, provided you give them a good map.

Before you venture out seeking your own brewery space, please educate yourself about how commercial real estate leases work (gross vs. NNN, CAMS). Landlords and property managers will want your current business plan with up to date financials. They will pull your credit. They will want to know what your burn rate is (how much cash do you have on hand and can go through before you close shop.) Understand what your brewery system utilities requirements are. Bring your trades (at least plumbing and electrical) with you to the sites until you have learned what to look for in the plumbing, gas and electrical requirements. It is VERY expensive to bring in more electrical (3-phase), larger water main regulators and larger gas lines. If you don't recognize anything I just wrote or why it's important, I would be in your best interest to find some good trades that will visit the site with you. Most are very willing to quote the job and be part of a the birth of a local brewery. With them you will learn a ton visiting your potential brewery site.

But most important, don't waste people's time and energy if you are not in a financial position to act. It gives craft beer a bad image. Get all your beer bottles in a row before contacting a Real Estate Agent (email me if you want an awesome agent referral. Thanks Mike!)

All that being said, I have an incredible team of tradesmen and an awesome real estate agent. Space on the Westside of Los Angeles is tight and getting tighter. Most of the properties zoned for industrial manufacturing for a brewery is being commandeered by Tech, post production, and the likes. Property managers can get $2.85-3.25 a square foot for urban office space instead of $1.50-1.65 for manufacturing/warehousing. Almost all the industrial spaces have been converted to urban office space.

When you look at a space, here are some things to consider:
Electrical - 3-phase (a must)
Water - at least 1.25 inch diameter, 2 inches is awesome! Bigger the better
Gas - 1.5 inch diameter would be great
Existing drains - Then you wouldn't have to cut them in
Ceiling heights - at least 14ft, a 30 bbl fermentor might fit.
Depth of Sewer main - you want it deep. Your trench drains won't drain properly if it's not deep enough.
Room to expand - room to grow (very important and should be at the top of the list!)
Truck access - loading dock doors, would be great if there was a high dock.
ADA bathrooms - separate for men and women (Tasting room requirement for LA City)
Venting - will they let you punch holes into the roof?
Parking - Culver City is strict about onsite parking, Santa Monica not as much, LA City is negotiable)
proximity to schools and residences
Local City Council view of breweries (they can help or hinder your petition for your conditional use permit for a tasting room)

I may say that I'm stuck, but really, I already know which site is the future home of Three Weavers. I'll unveil the location after the ink is dry.

Ciao.

Three Weavers makes a BIG umami beer splash at TasteMade's LA Foodie Purveyor Event

2013-07-17T22:47:00.005-07:00

TasteMade invited Three Weavers Brewing Company to their LA Food Purveyor Event held July 17. We were one of two breweries involved with the event, pouring our Malibu Summer Saison and pairing it with local Malibu honey, terricherry peppercorns and pecorino romano cheese.

Our umami beer was a great hit with the foodies that attended the invitation only event. TasteMade launched their new app that allows food purveyors (you) to create on the spot high quality videos of their favorite restaurants and menu items. Check out the video we made at the TasteMade event:

Check out TasteMade.com and download the app onto your phone! It's awesome!

By the way, if I totally look flush in the video, I am (and not from beer!) It was rather toasty under all the lights in the studio. :D

Thanks Tastemade Team! It was super cool to meet everyone and I'm looking forward to the next event!

Build it and Growlers will come...

2013-07-17T08:44:00.002-07:00

A good friend and investor in Three Weavers tipped me off to this Wall Street Journal article (thanks man!): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323394504578608383489166540.html

How cool would it be to fill your growler up with your favorite craft beer at your local grocery store? Or even better, at your local Three Weavers brewery?

For those of you who don't know, craft beer will almost always taste the best from draft (draft meaning from a keg) than from a bottle or can. There is less oxygen pick up when beer is put into a keg than when bottled or canned. The degradation of oxygen in beer leads to a stale off flavors some describe as cardboard. Kegs, being steel, also eliminate issues with light penetration. Craft beer kegs are also continuously in refrigeration. Since the vast majority of craft breweries do not pasteurize their beer, it is very important to keep the beer refrigerated.

The combination of the above three factors almost guarantees the freshest beer from draft.

If you are new to Craft Beer or the Craft Beer Industry, you will find out quickly that there is an incredible Community between brewers and breweries. Every single craft brewery started as someone's little beer foam bubble of brewery hopes and dreams. Every brewery was build with the help and advise of veteran brewery owners and brewers, each paying it forward for the advice they received when they started up. This Community is what defines us as a Craft Beer Industry and why Big Beer is losing market share.

One of my goals for Three Weavers is to help facilitate the growth of the Craft Beer culture on the Westside of Los Angeles. The only way to do that is to bring in more beer, awesome beer. The idea of providing Contract Brewing services as well as a large filling station in the brewery really appeals to what Three Weavers is all about. Doing what's best for the Craft Beer community in Los Angeles will in turn benefit Three Weavers.

Let me know what your favorite Craft Beers are, we will make up a rotation!

Ciao.

The Home brewing learning curve

2013-07-12T21:14:00.001-07:00

I love to home brew. When I began home brewing, I didn't start the simple way. True to my A type personality, I read and reread John Palmer's How to Brew Beer. I decided that if I was going to learn to brew beer I needed to learn every aspect. Thus I started brewing all grain from the beginning. With dear husband's (Jonathan) consent, I went out and bought a bunch of second hand home brewing equipment that a guy was selling on Craigslist. I drove all the way down to San Clemente from the Westside of Los Angeles on a Saturday afternoon to pick up the stuff. Back at home 5 hours later (yup, Southern California traffic) I was a proud owner of a bunch of home brewing equipment that, to be honest, I wasn't sure how to use. I even ordered a malt mill (over kill, right?)

Standing outside the Home Beer Wine and Cheese Shop in Woodland Hills (Props Sean!) I was totally intimidated by it's rugged exterior but more by it's 1960's screen front door. I felt like I was entering a man cave that no woman should enter without consent or a male counterpart. Knowing that the malt grains, hops and yeast I needed where just on the other side, I stepped over the threshold into what has become one of my most favorite places. The place is AWESOME! They pretty much have everything you need. Sean is totally cool and helpful.

I had done my research and created a recipe loosely based on several beers that Jonathan and I liked. Jonathan took our girls out of the house so I could focus on brewing. When our oldest ask why mommy wasn't coming with them, Jonathan replied, "Mommy is brewing Daddy's Sanity." 6 hours later and a super sticky kitchen floor, I had my wort in a conical fermentor. Thus "Sanity IPA" was born.

Learning to brew all grain was the best decision I made. It gave me a better understanding of the art of mixing grains to create recipes.

Status Update on the brewery plans...
We have submitted an offer to lease a place. YIKES! (hint: it's on the westside of LA!)
I have received my first investor check. AWESOME!
Narrowing down the brew system manufacturer. Will post once the decision is made.
Identified and sourced all necessary equipment besides the brew house. (which is a TON!)
Working on the brewery configuration.
Secured an RAD designer for the tasting room. Totally STOKED!

That's all for now.

ciao.
L

What is umami beer™?

2013-06-16T17:19:00.002-07:00

What is umami beer™?

Umami is the fifth taste that is distinct and difficult to describe. Umami flavors are caused by the interaction of glutamates, a naturally occurring amino acid, with receptors on the tongue. It is distinctly not sweet, sour, bitter, or salty, but is instead sometimes called savory. In addition to having a unique standalone flavor, umami enhances food it is combined with, making flavors richer and more intense. Three Weavers uses natural adjuncts in our brewing process to create umami beer, which balances and intensifies the various characteristics of a type of beer. Three Weavers is in the process of registering the trademark for umami beer™.

So...I'm starting a brewery.

2013-06-15T10:41:00.001-07:00

Three Weavers Brewing Company Logo

Crazy, right? That's going to be my middle name after this whole process puts me in the nut house. My intention for the blog was to document the process of my brewery in planning located on the Westside of Los Angeles. I have been apprehensive to post for fear of my failure being publicly displayed to the world. But now that funding is more secure, I feel that my dream of a brewery is now a reality. I'm STOKED!

Introductions first...Welcome to Three Weavers Brewing Company. It's a mouthful, so we will go by Three Weavers for short. Above is our working logo. Pretty cool, right? We will have a final one to share soon.

Our Ethos: Three Weavers believes in spending time with family and friends. We craft products that promote such gatherings. The seasonality and variety of our products give reason to frequently gather and share.

And I am a woman brewer, I am Japanese, and I brew umami beer.

More to come...