If you’ve been reading InsideHook in the last few months, you know that we’ve been preaching “buy local and buy craft” when it comes to your quarantine drinking habits.
Making that pledge so much easier: LA Beer Hop’s new “Craft Beer Box” subscription, available now for delivery.
Inside each box is a selection of six beers (all rare, seasonal and sourced primarily but not exclusively from Los Angeles-based breweries) that arrives straight to your front door every month. The suds are hand-picked by the team behind LA Beer Hop, a brewery tour operator that’s been forced into new revenue-generating ideas during our current pandemic.
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” admits Hal Mooney, who runs Beer Hop and now the Craft Beer Box program with his wife Cindy. Without actual tours, Hal says the company has pivoted to “virtual tours since the shutdown started, and we’ve found them to be surprisingly fun and a great way to connect with people.”
Ergo, virtual tastings with Hal and Cindy are part of the box subscription, along with a tasting sheet and a “surprise” gift (brewery swag, food pairing snacks, beer gifts, etc.). And these aren’t six ordinary cans: the picks may arrive in bottles, crowlers or growlers, and for a few bucks more you can tack on two extra servings of IPAs, sour beers or non-beer boozy beverages like cider or kombucha.
From what Hal tells us, the first box is a mix of “LA Bucket List Beers” and some seasonal treats like an Oktoberfest. While the beers will remain a mystery until delivery — that’s part of the fun — one potential box candidate arrives via a Raspberry Blush from Mikkeller SD.
“It’s a Berliner Weiss with raspberry and coffee,” says Mooney. “It’s a good example of a ‘that’s crazy’ beer that’s actually very balanced, tasty and a pleasure to drink, which is what we’re always looking for.”
The Craft Beer Subscription Box is available now starting at $75, with free delivery in the Los Angeles area.
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