INDIAN WELLS BREWING CO.

Have you ever had a beer so good that you would be willing to drive almost 200 miles for? Well I have, and its name is lobotomy bock. Knowing full well that the Indian Wells brewing co. is one of the premiere micro-brews on the West coast, there was no question to how far I would go when I heard about their annual spring fest and open house. So the ranger and I took the expedition on and headed out. We went north, out through the bad lands of Lancaster, up into the eerie rock formations of Red Rock, blazed through Mojave and into the sleepy town of Inyokern (population, in the hundreds). There I meet Rick, the owner and head brew master of IWB, who was nice enough to give me a personal tour of the grounds. We started the tour in the gift shop and I was promptly greeted with a pint of amnesia IPA, past the shelves of stuffed olives and IWB novelties and into the brewing room.

This is like Mecca for fans of IWB; I wanted to suckle at the teat that was the fermenter Bock. I got a great history lesson both of Rick, IWB and beer in general; needless to say I was all ears. Rick stared as a home brewer that was a cop, wait, a cop who was a home brewer? Nope, a home brewer that had a past time of being a cop. Anyways, Rick jumped in and hasn’t looked back since, did I mention he is also a school teacher that employs past students one who has been there for fifteen years. It kind of reminded me of the I Love Lucy episode were they go to the little motel and the desk clerk is the sheriff, the town banker and the mayor, Rick is amazing. After the tour I got a pulled pork sandwich, another beer and sat outside on the deck to enjoy the sounds of local rock band Driven 395. Thanks to Rick and the rest of the IWB crew I will see you at the next event if not sooner.

TURN ON YOUR RED LIGHT

North Hollywood Brewing Co. is having an open house and invitational beer tasting tomorrow night Thursday at 7pm-11pm to help celebrate the coming of Summer. For more info email them NorthHollywoodBrewingCo@gmail.com. Two new beers are being premiered, a double IPA and a Blonde.

THE ONLY WAY TO KILL SWINE FLU IS WITH A SILVER BULLET

I heard reports that Al Qaeda has been linked to the swine flu contamination of LA's drinking water, so to be on the safe side I am drinking the next closest thing and it's as safe as mothers milk. Cold and refreshing, tap the Rockies.

THE COOLEST THING AT LACMA

TRADER VIC'S LA

So the best way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo is to drink and eat at a Mexican joint right? Wrong, the best way to rally Mexican independence is to go to a Tiki bar. Where the drinks are strong and the cocktail waitresses are… well, we'll just leave it at that. So the old lady and I took an afternoon trip downtown and made our way past jewelry marts, Laker fans and endless bacon wrapped hotdog carts finally ending up at the legendary Trader Vic’s.
With so many drinks on the menu and so little time (happy hour is from 4-6pm) we started in fast and held on. The restaurant just opened in its new location on Saturday so the staff seemed a little lost, Honey Bunny helped them out and promptly stated, “Two Mai-Ti’s and be quick about it.” After taking our first sip we new, this is our new digs for the summer, might as well lay us out a mat to sleep on cause we are in it for the long haul.
Food was better than a sharp sick in the eye, so we ordered another round of PuPu platters. After trying my old faithful (Mai-Ti) I moved on to other libations. First it was the Bahia, coconut, pineapple and rum… 5 stars. Second was the potted parrot, complete with ceramic parrot…4 stars. Somewhere in between these we each had a Menehune Juice, some new Trader Vic’s concoction and a few more I can’t remember.
$5 Mai-Ti’s all night, $3 off all drinks during happy hour, and not a Jimmy fucking Buffet record in sight. The re-birth of true classic Tiki style.
If you know nothing about Trader Vic’s or Tiki drinks, don't go here, it sucks and you will not like it. You can try the bar at Applebee’s; I hear they have a real good Pina colada. But if you are a fan of good grog and a little bit of the Aloha feeling, then this is your place.
Trader Vic's is located at 800 W Olympic Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90015 - (213) 785-3330 when you get there tell them the Salty Dog sent ya.