CRAFT BEER GUY: LLOYD BROWN

El Segundo Brewing Company that masterfully produces the best hop forward and thirst quenching IPAs in Los Angeles hosted a wet and wild celebration in their newly constructed tasting room on October 16, 2015. The Wet Hop Weekend crafted by Rob Croxall, owner and brewer of E.S.B.C., showcased three wet hopped beers.

Wet hopped beers utilize freshly cut hops from harvest vines, and which are traditionally added into fermentation tanks hours before the beer is poured in tasting room or packaged for distribution and sale. The results of a wet hopped beer are a nose full of distinguishable aromatic notes, pronounced body and guaranteed freshness. Keep in mind, hops are very fragile and compost rapidly and contrary to hop pellets brewers use the fresh unprocessed oil from the female plant Humulus Lupulus to produce (but not limited to) a piney, bitter and tangy profile. Thank Brewmaster Steve Dresler of Sierra Nevada for introducing this technique to commercial brewing in 1996.

Freshly cut from the work-vine, I stepped into E.S.B.C. and saw an ocean of thirsty patrons huddled around the bar to get their dry lips on anything wet. In line, I eyed the hopped offerings, which were Mayberry IPA (7.2% ABV), Citra-Mongous (9.0% ABV) DIPA and Simcoe Pale (5.5% ABV). Moments faded in and out, as folks rushed to order foamy flavorful pints. The tasting room was packed and loud, alive with positive vibrations. I overheard two Asian American’s giggling in excitement. I opened my ears and ordered my beer.

“Check it out, it’s the Craft Beer Guy!” One yelled. “Lets take a selfie, and get him in the background!,” replied the other. The men posed with their sniffer glasses hoisted high. I softly kissed my Simcoe Pale and thought about the evolution of the American beer culture in a gulp. In the distance, I saw the Craft Beer Guy framing his camera for a close-up shot of a bubbling nonic pint. After all, I didn’t visit E.S.B.C. to ring the opening bell of Wet Hopped Weekend. I came to speak and drink with the most popular beer photojournalist in Los Angeles – Lloyd Brown aka The Craft Beer Guy.

He is one of the supporting cast in the City of Angels who is pushing the beer movement forward. When he is not riding his motorcycle across the country or traveling around the world by plane, he is single handedly educating and documenting L.A. culture through his blog, his mobile app, his social media outlets and his camera lens - one article, one picture frame and one sip from his pint at a time.

I approach Mr. Brown. In celebrity fashion he is chatting intently with Trey Duval who manages Beer Missionary and who resides as the CREC Director at L.M.U.. For an individual born in San Francisco, Lloyd loves almost every aspect of the West Coast – the open road, the food, the people and naturally the beer. He swallows his Citra DIPA, whips his white beard with his fingertips, adjusts his camera and recalls several fond memories and reflections with the latest Samuel Adam’s IPA, Firestone Walker’s Pils and Russian River’s –tion brands. I foolishly ask him to recap his top five beers of 2015. He slowly turns to me with a blank stare. I hide into my shoulders. The moment is tense.

He explodes in laughter. His bright blue eyes remind me of a wise mentor, and I am immediately at ease by his level of respect, charm and care despite my rhetorical remark.

For those new to the beer movement in Los Angeles, tell us about The Craft Beer Guy Lloyd Brown that we often see at beer events or at our local brewery?

I am not sure that we have enough bandwidth to cover that question, so I will summarize: I am 62 years old, eldest of 12 kids and the father of two; my daughter cannot taste the difference between an IPA and a stout, and my son is a very good home brewer. I live with my girlfriend of 7+ years, I am a hophead and have been riding Harley-Davidson since 1972.

Where does your craft beer journey begin?

That is a good question; the reality is that when I first started actively seeking craft beer I did not even know it was a thing much less that it was called "craft beer." I was never really into beer as a kid primarily because my dad drank crap like Brew 102, Dodger Beer and Plain Wrap. Like I mentioned, there were 12 kids and he wasn't exactly raking in the cash. There was no incentive to steal beer from him and weed was more effective.

As I was born in San Francisco I would frequently go up there to visit my grandmother. I think it was there that I discovered Guinness paired with fish & chips was the best thing ever. I would drive from LA to San Francisco just to have that for dinner, then drive home. So Guinness was definitely the first beer I really enjoyed.

Fast forward 30 years and I found myself traveling around the country photographing trade shows or riding my bike. As I went to different parts of the country I would notice tap handles I had never seen before. I remember with clarity where I was when I first noticed a Gumball Head tap handle. When the bartender told me it was from a brewery less than 40 miles away I tried it and became an immediate Three Floyds fan. This just became a pattern.

My girlfriend lived in Indiana at the time and we would take driving tours around the country. As we never had a plan as to where we were going, only when we had to be back, she would use her iPhone and Google to find somewhere for us to eat or spend the night. We had become familiar with the term "microbrewery" and eventually discovered 'brewpub" and "gastropub" as good keywords to search for; even if we still had not figured out the difference between the two. At the time she was taking medication that did not mix well with alcohol, so I would order flights wherever we ended up and she would take a sip once in a while; she learned she hated IPAs and gravitated towards stouts and porters. In 2011 she moved to LA and changed medications that allowed her to partake in alcohol if she desired. Shortly after this I read that the 7th Annual American Craft Beer Week was coming up so we decided to celebrate the week by discovering all the American craft beer we could find. The rest is pretty much history.

At many beer gatherings, you are clutching a beer in one hand and shooting photography in the other. Why is photography so important in self-expression?

As I never really gave it a lot of thought I think I have to refer back to a comment a friend made to me a couple years ago. She said; "A birth certificate proves you were born. A death certificate proves you died. Your photos prove you lived."

To that point, how is being a beertographer shaped your identity or what have you learned about yourself through this craft?

I am not sure that taking photos of beer has shaped my identity at all. What it has done is made many craft beer people become aware of my identity. When I started taking photos professionally in 2003 it was for trade shows in an entirely different industry; I would have to say that I have learned that I am flexible and can easily flow from one industry to another and I am not as shy as I once thought.

How does The Craft Beer Guy blog push the beer culture forward in Los Angeles?

In a nutshell, CraftBeerGuy.com promotes craft beer, those that produce it and those that make it available to us. It is not a "beer review" site because there are plenty of those out there. I make it my goal to show you where to get it and hopefully my photos and text combined will be enough to entice the reader to visit the location. They can make their own determination on the individual brews. I also cover as many craft beer festivals as I can manage.

You often break festival and beer industry news first on your social media platforms. I love the immediacy and excitement of it all. How many followers do you have and how does it positively affect the way you connect with people?

I don't really count followers because I know my reach is much further than the few thousand people that take the time to "Like" or "Follow" me via social media. I love it when people come up to me at events and ask; "Are you the Craft Beer Guy?" We all need an ego boost once in a while and that does it for me every time.

To extend another positive comment, your blog has a feature called Craft Beer Log, which I absolutely love! Your writing is very sincere and informative.

Thank you for the compliment but I should probably clarify, the Craft Beer Log is just the link to every article I write for Craft Beer Guy; if you scroll down the front page a little you can pick individual categories.

I have been an Internet Marketer since 1996 and I figured out a lot about search engine optimization before it was even called search engine optimization. One of the things I learned was that search engines loved text. As I am a pretty opinionated person, I had a company ask me to write an editorial blog before I really knew what a blog was. That was in the late 90's.

Have you thought about publishing a book about brewers or breweries in the South Bay?

As far as writing a book, I have my doubts; although people have told me I should just combine all of my articles into print. I don't know, we shall see. I might do a coffee table book of beer photos but I am not sure I have the incentive to even try.

When we first met at Pacific Cup, you mentioned your Catholic up-bring. Do you still believe or practice today?

I honestly do not recall this conversation and have been banging me head trying to figure out how that came up in conversation but since you know it, I must have mentioned it. No, I am not a practicing Catholic. My church is the Black Hills of South Dakota and is best appreciated atop a steel steed.

It began after a discussion of Arthur Guinness who brews your favorite beer Guinness, and who (along with his family) were faithful to God's word.

Beer and church are not something I put together; if anything I question if Jesus really changed water into wine as beer would be significantly easier.

Do you have any closing comments or last minute thoughts?

I could probably start the book you brought up with my last minute thoughts. I will close by requesting anyone that visits a brewery, brewpub, gastropub that you learned of via my website or any of my social media outlets, please tell them that you heard about them via the Craft Beer Guy. And if you see me point my camera in your direction, smile; those make for the best photos.

After discussing his cataloged Untapped libations, I would later learn that Lloyd drank 1,500 beers in a year. I believe him. Lloyd’s passion for beer, culture and people are evident by the humanity he captures in his photography. This gentle and strikingly modest man is a cultural work horse in a class of his own. Like a wet hopped beer, Lloyd has elevated characteristics of boldness with a pleasantly dry and sweet finish. The next time you see him, say hello...and buy him a beer!

Image courtesy of CraftBeerGuy.com

Trey Duval & Thomas Kelly

Image courtesy of CraftBeerGuy.com