Greetings from LA Lockdown

Welcome to my new online column for Beer Paper, “Domestic Drinking.” Because, well, that’s how we all roll now in SoCal, and have for the past 50-some days since California’s shelter-at-home went into effect to help stop the spread of the dreaded pandemic that is the nefariously contagious Coronavirus (now you know where the term “going viral” came from).

While it has absolutely no connection to Constellation Brands’ Mexican import light lager, Corona Extra — or Corona Light or the new Corona Hard Seltzer for that matter — those products, just like in the “before times,” should still be avoided by discriminating beer drinkers, unless they’re the only alcohol left in the house to consume…aside from Purell hand sanitizer (which is for your hands only!).

PUBLIC SAFETY WARNING: Drinking Corona beer or seltzer will NOT infect you with the virus or make you sick. Also, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you ingest Purell, or Clorox, Lysol or any other household cleansers or disinfectants that have been suggested as virus remedies on some ill-fated official press briefing you may have seen on TV. Yes, these are strange times we are struggling through…

Okay, now back to the column: When my keg of Three Weavers’ Seafarer Kölsch kicked the other night — four weeks after I tapped it — I had a sudden realization (actually a reminder): I’m going through a lot of beer while sheltering here at home. Yes, it was only a sixtel (1/6 BBL keg; approx. 5 gallons), but I’m the only beer drinker in the house.

Truth to tell, I do have another tapped sixtel (Firestone Walker’s Luponic Distortion 14 IPA; thanks for asking) in my kegerator, plus a double fridge and a 55º walk-in for aging beers — both packed almost full with bottles and cans. (And I can’t wait to share it once we’re all in the “after times.”) So yeah, as my wife will willingly attest, I don’t need any more beer at home.

But I need and want to support my favorite local breweries, many owned by friends and veteran members of my homebrew club, the Culver City-based Pacific Gravity, which is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year. And since most of these young breweries have taprooms and are considered “essential” businesses, they can sell beer to go in multiple formats during the economic shutdown.

So I make at least two multi-stop beer runs per week to stock up on the freshest, usually the hoppiest, brews they have available — and in most cases are still brewing. And I want them to continue brewing and reopen their taprooms when things return to normal — or what will pass for such when this all passes. In the meantime, the LA Brewers Guild has helpfully posted a list (updated often) of its brewery and brewpub members that are open limited hours for pickups and deliveries of beer: labrewersguild.org/labeernow

Social drinking (as opposed to social distancing) is something that needs to make a comeback. Even our annual rite of summer, LA Beer Week, has been postponed indefinitely.

Beer bars/restaurants too have been granted “alcohol-to-go” privileges during the health crisis, thanks to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s Regulatory Relief — meaning they can sell bottled beer and fill growlers (any brewery’s growlers!) of draught brew, along with food from their menus, for delivery or take-away. And we at home take full advantage of all their various wares as well. It’s amazing how tasty the meals from your favorite restaurants are when you eat them at home. Hopefully, this perk will help them too survive these troubled times.

(Speaking of the change in growler laws, why did it take a pandemic and an economic shutdown to put California on par with many other states in the nation regarding the liberal policy of growler fills? And will it continue in our post-pandemic era? That’s a topic to revisit once we survive our current situation.)

So please (if you can afford to), support your locals and faves by buying their beer and food for take out or delivery, and enjoy it at your place. Go ahead; it’s okay if all of we stay-at-homers develop beer bellies and put on a few pounds this spring (and summer). It’s all for a good cause, ultimately. Plus, remember, we’re livin’ in a fuckin’ lockdown! To paraphrase the old homebrewer’s adage, “Relax, Don’t Worry, Have a Beer.”

In this online column, “Domestic Drinking,” Tomm Carroll drinks, and writes about, beer while sequestered at his home in Los Angeles — and will continue to do so until SoCal brewery taprooms, brewpubs and beer bar/restaurants scene reopen to the public. Contact him at beerscribe@earthlink.net.