![\"eagle](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/eagle-rock-tasting-room.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\")
<\/a>While new to L.A., brewers guilds have existed elsewhere for some time now, with an impressive 46 out of 50 states claiming their own statewide guilds, and plenty of regional associations under each of those, according to the\u00a0Brewers Association<\/a>. Rumblings of a potential LABG began swirling a little over a year and a half ago. Raub and several other Los Angeles-based brewers attended a meeting of the Orange County-based\u00a0Southern California Craft Brewers Guild<\/a>, but respectfully decided to keep the L.A. entity separate.<\/p>\n \u201cOur health codes and government entities are very different,\u201d he acknowledged. \u201cWe thought it best to keep it as local as possible, focusing on where we live and work versus spreading ourselves too thin. Opening and operating a brewery in Los Angeles involves keeping an eye on a lot of moving targets, and we want to have the strongest support structure we can have, both for existing breweries and fledgling new ones.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides enabling brewers to have open discussions and share knowledge, the guild hopes to someday host events and festivals to build a stronger community. Reflecting on the local craft beer scene, Raub beams, \u201cWe\u2019re in this perfect time in our infancy, and the culture is growing so quickly in L.A. People ask why we\u2019d help our competitors, and it\u2019s great that we\u2019re able to say they\u2019re not our competitors at all. Our market share is so small that there\u2019s enough room for us to grow and flourish together. Like they say: \u2018A rising tide lifts all boats.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Many restaurants, bars, vendors, suppliers, and even consumers have expressed interest in becoming members or otherwise supporting the guild, but so far, only breweries and brewpubs with facilities in Los Angeles can join. \u201cIt\u2019s been great to get so much validation of what we\u2019re doing, but we\u2019re not ready to handle associate members just yet… perhaps in the future,\u201d Raub suggests.<\/p>\n Raub also hopes that in the next quarter, the guild will be able to draw up lots of materials to help its members, with important items such as best practice guidelines, quality control policies, and general tips on staying in compliance and avoiding unnecessary fines. \u201cThings I wish we had access to when starting Eagle Rock Brewery,\u201d he lets on with the slightest of grins.<\/p>\n As anyone who owns a handful of growlers from different breweries can attest, the laws regarding refilling them can be tad prohibitive. The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC<\/a>) hath decreed that breweries may only refill growlers from their respective establishments, which must be clearly labeled as such. While I enjoy collecting beer ephemera as much as the next geek, it\u2019s rather easy to quickly amass more growlers than you have room for. Wouldn\u2019t it be easier to have one vessel that you could fill virtually anywhere? (Yes. Yes it would.) At a\u00a0California Craft Brewers Association<\/a>\u00a0workshop in February, a representative from the ABC stunned beer industry attendees when he very plainly announced that it wouldn\u2019t be a problem for a brewery to fill any container so long as it contained approved labeling, even if that was some kind of sticker placed over the existing graphics on another brewery\u2019s growler. A well-meaning industry member in attendance immediately took to Facebook asserting that there\u2019d been some kind of policy change and now people could go to their local brewery with any growler and expect to get it filled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt caused a lot of confusion,\u201d Raub laments. \u201cCustomers were coming in and getting upset that we wouldn\u2019t fill another brewery\u2019s growler. And we tried to explain that it still wasn\u2019t that easy, but they\u2019d get upset and reference that Facebook post. The guild members got together to discuss what all of this meant\u2014and didn\u2019t mean\u2014for us. Ultimately, we decided that it was too early and presumptuous of us to make any changes without fully understanding what we can legally do. We issued a statement explaining that LABG members wouldn\u2019t fill other breweries\u2019 growlers until we were able to meet with ABC representatives to ensure that we\u2019re in full compliance with their regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt really felt good to have us all come together at that meeting,\u201d Raub continues. \u201cMany of the brewers brought up potential issues that others hadn\u2019t thought of, and lots of creative solutions were presented. Being able to unite like this is really going to help brewers and benefit consumers for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Collaboration and camaraderie have become major pillars of the foundation that unite craft brewers, who\u2019ve largely chosen to eschew the inhuman pitfalls of cutthroat competition in favor of genuine bonhomie and mutual respect for each other\u2019s talents and successes. Taking their unified vision one step further, a cadre of craftsmen have recently announced the formation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1071,1074,1072,1073],"class_list":{"0":"post-7957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"tag-eagle-rock-brewery","8":"tag-jeremy-raub","9":"tag-labg","10":"tag-los-angeles-brewers-guild","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-24l","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"DSC_0509-001\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/DSC_0509-001.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Moreover, Raub hopes the guild can also act as a catalyst for change. And while the LABG just became official at the end of January, they\u2019ve already found themselves pushing for some solutions to better serve their thirsty customers.<\/p>\n