Imagine making the decision to open a brewery. You raise cash and ambitions. You hack your way through red tape and construction. You order up ingredients and get ready to brew. You set an opening date, and then…

…the COVID-19 pandemic lands and you suddenly have everything but customers.

This has been the fateful outcome for a pair of new Los Angeles area breweries. Cervecería Del Pueblo, a small production brewery and taproom in Pasadena founded by Martin Quinones who moved into brewing from the now equally hard hit entertainment industry was set to soft open this spring when the world ground to a halt.

The resourceful Quinones quickly started canning with a small canning machine and started putting his pilsner, Kolsch, California Common and Wheat Ale into 16-ounce cans while also brewing, delivering, and promoting his new business. After speaking with him briefly while picking up a mixed 4-pack, he remains upbeat about his brightly painted space and his beers and prospects for the future. So far sales have been good even though his brand is new.

Pedals & Pints in Thousand Oaks opened on a Saturday in March and then the next day had to shut the doors to guests in a case of super bad timing. But they have not shut down their 10-barrel brewhouse. They also pivoted to canning and getting their beers out the door with online orders.

Pedal Smash Blonde, Lunch Time Lager and their second batch of Lizard Rock IPA are recent beers coming from their fermenters. They will also have a heckuva tale to tell when they get to their 1st anniversary.

Even though neither brewery got the opening they wanted, they are still plugging away and like all of our local Los Angeles breweries could use your support by ordering to-go cans.

My two Beers of the Month have connections to our current weird times: Stir Crazy Hazy IPA from Boomtown Brewery and Unsung Heroes Juicy IPA from Santa Monica Brew Works.

Boomtown’s beer features Mosaic, Huell Melon and Chinook hops which result in pineapple, lychee and Bartlett pear flavors will keep you from going to nuts while staring out the window.

Unsung Heroes has Azacca, El Dorado, Idaho Gem and Loral hops which make up the Pink Boots Society special hop blend. Pink Boots being the group that promotes women in the beer industry. To add another layer of specialness, a portion of the proceeds goes to benefit UCLA Health in their efforts combatting the virus.

I have two final notes on the End Cap to talk about. One where you can do good and one bad beer show. Brews Brothers is a recent release on Netflix and it has already garnered a tepid 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. The show looks to have been shot, in part, at the former Iron Triangle space in DTLA and focuses on mismatched brothers who run a brewery. I watched about five minutes of the grade school humor and suggest skipping unless you have watched everything there is to see.

L.A. Beer Hop needs your help. They have launched a Save the Bus campaign for their business and their beer guides since they can’t really do what they are so very good at. You have many levels to donate at and they have some excellent compensation for your donations starting with branded swag all the way up to some spectacular beer parties that you could invite a gaggle of friends to once we can gather around Pints of beer.