MacLeod’s New Brewer, Daily Grind + Dry River Taproom

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Craft Beer Los Angeles

Head brewer Dave Charney takes control of MacLeod's tanks.

MacLeod Ale Brewing celebrated their 3rd anniversary at their Van Nuys taproom and brewery on June 18. Before that, I spoke with their third head brewer, Dave Charney, about his brewing origin story and his past and current favorite beers.

Charney has been hanging around MacLeod’s from the very beginning of the brewery. He was hooked onto craft beer through Stone Brewing and a trip through San Diego and their massive amount of breweries six years ago and it kindled his homebrewing which he started a year later.

He has transitioned from being strictly a hophead and has fallen for all types of beer with Fuller’s ESB being a particular favorite, so much so that he takes on the venerable British style. Charney has also gotten into the brewing archives to find the recipe for a London Lager, a rarely seen beer that was once a Barclay Perkins beer from the 1920’s.

I tasted a pair of new (to me) MacLeod ales at their anniversary alongside some other L.A. locals. The Mull of the Mountain was a light and simple Kellerbier that was a good fit for the heat of the day. There’s Naething Like a Talisker barleywine also kept it simple despite the spelling challenges. I was most taken with Cellador Ales‘ cask version of Firegold #6 with grapefruit.

The best example of how fast the L.A. brewing scene has grown is that casks from MacLeod’s first brewer (Andy Black, now at Yorkshire Square) and the 2nd brewer (Josiah Blomquist, now at Iron Triangle) appeared alongside Charney’s.

The BEER OF THE WEEK starts with coffee. Oggi’s, the pizza and beer chain that stretches from Santa Clarita to San Diego, employed a beer naming contest for their new seasonal coffee cream ale and the Daily Grind came out on top. Lots of green coffee bean notes in this offering with a solid base from the cream ale.

Your HOMEWORK is to check out the Dry River Brewing website for their big news. A taproom! Check to see when they are open and when you are available to check out their new digs on Anderson Street. As with most breweries, a taproom is essential to not only selling beer but also educating beer fans about the beer. Most taprooms start off with limited hours and gradually add more days. As a bonus, you are also only a few steps away from Indie Brewing.

Find more of Sean Inman’s writing on his blog, Beer Search Party.

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Sean Inman

Find more of Sean Inman's writing on his blog, Beer Search Party.

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