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How do you think being the Marine Corps helps you in what you do at Blue Palms?

A lot of it’s leadership. I learned a lot about building a team. Military, you never left people behind. You always took care of your brother. That’s kind of how my staff is at Blue Palms. We pretty much have the beginning staff, from when we started. A few of our staff all have left Blue Palms to work for breweries: Golden Road, Deschutes, Firestone and The Bruery. It’s good to see my leadership has helped people to build careers. The idea of our team is to do one thing, which is to serve customers so they can have a good experience. The military kind of taught me that background.

What do you look for when you’re hiring somebody to work here?

A little bit of beer knowledge. I’m not looking for the beer geek in a server. I’m looking for somebody who has heart, someone who’s passionate. I always try to hire people from the Midwest, because I like that sweet comfortable vibe that I want all the customers to feel. The beer process, we’ll teach ‘em. I kind of want to teach them my way. We’re one of the leaders, and the reason we stay that way, we teach ‘em right. We teach ‘em right about craft beer. They don’t come in here thinking about Bud, Miller, Coors, Heineken, even Blue Moon as craft beer. They come in looking at Pizza Port, Firestone, Green Flash, Ballast Point. They start tasting those beers and we educate them through the process. Again, make them do Cicerone. All our staff, about a month ago, we taught them all how to change kegs, line clean, change the washers, regulators, understand gas mixtures, and that’s important, because not only are they pouring that beer, they’re understanding how that beer got to the tap.

Can you imagine brewing your own beer one day?

I’d love to learn how to be better. I’ve dabbled a little bit. I’ve helped out at The Bruery and Golden Road. I don’t think I’ll ever be a brewer. My passion’s not there. I like being in the front of the house with customers and cooking. I like the restaurant side. That’s pretty much where my passion stays. Hopefully I’ll have my brewery open someday soon. We’ll hire somebody who has that passion.

That’s part of your plan, is to open a brewery?

Yeah.

How much more can you take on?

As long as the staff grows with us, as we grow too, we have positions for them. Four of our staff left to work at breweries. Well, they’ve been trained under us for three or four years, or however long they worked here. Instead of them taking to another brewery, hopefully with our new spaces we can move people up, delegate things out and keep them within the family.

Are you planning more bars?

Yeah, actually I’ve been looking at a bar back in Ohio, where my parents are at. I’ve been doing some research there, and have got a lease for a space there, with floor plans, but I’m just putting some numbers together to try and make a go at it. It’s me flying back and forth to Ohio, so I’m trying to figure out the logistics on that, but definitely some more bars. I want to keep the Blue Palms brand growing. It’s been good for L.A. and I think with our small town vibe, we’re looking to go to other cities and open the experience of craft beer to other cities that haven’t experienced it yet and do it right.

What’s the town in Ohio where your parents live, where you’re looking to open?

Newark, Ohio. There’s an Ohio State University-Newark branch there. There’s a guy named Joel [Spahr] who has a place called Beverage Source. He kind of started craft beer back there in Granville, opened a little beer bar, and from the town I was in, it was a bunch of small town guys and all they drank was Bud Light…Every time I go back, you see more people drinking Prima Pils and Scrimshaw, this and that. Even my father’s now drinking barrel aged beers, and my brothers. These guys were all Miller Coors guy. Every time I go back, I see the growth of craft beer. Joel’s business has just taken off. It’s great, and I want to be part of that. It was fun being a part of L.A. and watching it grow. I want to go to another city and do the same thing. I want to grow with the city and be a part of that. What an awesome feeling.

Would you say that anybody was a mentor to you in terms of beer knowledge or beer passion?

Yeah, Steve Almaraz from Firestone was a huge impact on me. One of my best friends, Gabe [Gordon] from Beachwood, we started in this together in the beginning. To watch him grow pushes me too. Gabe’s one of the leaders in it, so as he grows, I want to grow too. Then just the passion between the local beer guys, from Ryan Sweeney to Clay [Harding] and Tony [Yanow] from Golden Road, we all challenge ourselves. They look at what I’m doing. I look at what they’re doing. The idea is not to compete with each other, but to work together and keep the idea of craft beer. Craft beer’s still a tiny percentage of the beer market, and I think if we work together, and we push each other, we keep ourselves as a team, and we win. We keep growing as a team, and I think that’s more important than battling with each other.

How far along is the craft beer evolution in Los Angeles? How much more room is there to grow?

Ample amount of growth. There are still so many people who don’t understand what craft beer is. They don’t drink beer at all because they’re so used to the push of Miller, Bud, Coors and Heineken. Our job is to continue growing customers here to teach their friends. They have parties at their house, “Hey, I’ve got craft beer.” Once you taste craft beer for the first time, it’s hard to go back. So I think there’s always growth. There’s always ability for education. We’ve got a long ride ahead of us.

More and more beers become available all the time, but is there a beer or brewery you wish you could have all the time in L.A. that’s available in another market?

A brewery I would love to have up here, consistent on my tap, is Alpine. I love those guys. They’re similar to how Blue Palms is. They’re small town, small town guys. They focus on their craft to the ultimate perfection, and it proves in their product. And they’re just nice guys. They’re just great people, and that’s how we build our business. One of the companies – I don’t want to hold anybody out – because there are so many great ones, but to me, I love having an Alpine beer.

If you could only drink one more glass of beer, what would be in there?

IPA. I love IPA.

Any one in particular?

Like I said, the brewery that started me off was Firestone, so I’d probably say Union Jack.

Would you pair any food with it?

Something spicy, the Fuego Steak Melt. Fuego goes great with an IPA.