New beer guide for Southern California

Just what we've been needing: a detailed, up-to-date guide to the craft beer scene in Southern California. Or, as "The Beer Guppy's Guide to Southern California" describes itself, a "regional travel guide for the beer enthusiast."

Burbank-based author Jay Sheveck earns his nom de cerveza, the Beer Guppy -- he really seems to swim in beer. He's been chronicling the craft beer explosion since the early '90s, and he spent five years researching this guide. It lists 300 breweries, brewpubs and serious beer bars and liquor stores between Fresno and the Mexican border, plus southern Nevada, together with the product range, address, phone number, website, hours and a brief characterization of each. Icons show whether a brewery gives tours (with or without samples), whether a pub or tasting room has a beer garden, TVs, live music and pizza, and which places sell bottles and which sell kegs or growlers.

Sheveck celebrates home brew too, listing suppliers and clubs. There are even three pages of beer events, from the Cambria Chili Cook-Off, Car Show and Beer Tasting to the Tijuana International Beer Festival.

The 98-page magazine-format guide, which sells for $9.95, is as up-to-date as can be: Though it was published in June, it includes a couple of places that opened in May -- pretty fast turnaround for a reference work. It's on sale at www.beerguppy.com, Culver City Home Brewing Supply, the Draft Beer Store in Northridge, Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, the Home Wine, Beer and Cheesemaking Shop in Woodland Hills, the Stuffed Sandwich in San Gabriel and, for some reason, the Holiday Inn in Burbank. It's also available on Amazon.

-- Charles Perry

Comments

[Chris]

Ok Jay. So when will you be visiting Florida to cover the industry around here? It would be much appreciated.

[Jay Sheveck]

It's funny, all I wanted to do (as a longtime Angeleno) was to promote our much-overlooked beer scene. I filled a niche by publishing a "book," because there aren't any beer guidebooks covering Southern California.

To the contrary, there are some great on-line databases out there like BeerAdvocate.com and RateBeer.com that cover the region nicely. And our local bloggers do a fantastic service to all of us by digging up those hidden beer purveyors and giving SoCal a voice. Blogging definitely presents a fresher avenue for information and expression, and my book is not about to challenge that.

I support any method of promoting the craft beer scene. I hope SoCal gets more coverage all-around.

Cheers,

[Marleigh]

So the Times is using a blog to promote a book about beer on one hand, and on the other hand dissing the blogging efforts being made by Angelenos writing about local breweries and brewpubs. And this despite the fact that those bloggers, unlike the Times, are NOT trying to sell you a book (which, I might add, which will be out of date within a year...if you haven't lost it and your carefully made notes in the backseat in the meantime).

Cheers, LA Times! This is definitely the mark of excellence in journalism!

[EVAN]

Absolutely, margins and the (temporarily achieved) comprehensiveness are two points for books. And no one's suggesting you replace them with blogs.

But the big point here, and what is often missed in this print-to-blog mentality, is that one definitive source rarely beats 1,000 sources.

Cheers,

[Charles Perry]

True, blogs can be updated instantly, while with books you have to wait till there's a new edition (if there is one). Score that point for blogs, but they are still a long way from replacing books. So far, no beer blog I've seen even tries to be a comprehensive reference to the breweries and brewpubs of Southern California, listing all their products, services, opening hours, etc.
That's the value of Sheveck's book. Plus you can write in its margins and throw it in the back seat.

[Evan]

At the risk of self promotion: Why BUY an already outdated book on the SoCal beer scene, when there's a robust number of beer bloggers from L.A. that routinely share secrets and feature writing on the subject for FREE.

"Hair of the Dog Dave" is a good one: http://www.hairofthedogdave.com/

The Beer Chick, who the Times has featured is here: http://www.christinaperozzi.com/

And our blog "Hot Knives" is right here: www.urbanhonking.com/hotknives

Now that you food writers (who do a great job for the most part, by the way) our in the blogosphere, try and forget how you'd write an article and start playing with us.)