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.