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The thought of piling into a bus with strangers and drinking your way through bars feels like a far-flung relic of a simpler, more carefree era at this point, but LA Beer Hop isn’t going to let shuttered breweries stop everyone from enjoying—and supporting—some of the best craft beer in Los Angeles.
Founded by two cicerones, the popular hop-on, hop-off bus tour winds its way through Downtown L.A., the South Bay, Long Beach, Burbank, Glendale and beyond—or at least it did until a few months ago. When Governor Gavin Newsom initially shut down bars and restaurants in March, LA Beer Hop owners Hal and Cindy Mooney realized their own business—dependent on taprooms and other gathering spaces—would need to pivot, so this summer they’re trading wheels for Zoom logins.
The husband-and-wife team began experimenting with virtual tastings, which are available for larger groups or as more tailored, private sessions, but this weekend they’re trying their hand at something new: School’s in for the summer with LA Beer Hop’s first virtual class session, an eight-week program complete with tastings, history lessons, food pairings and a flexible schedule.
“In a couple of strange ways it’s been a lot more fun than actual bus tours,” says Hal Mooney. “For one thing, this is the first time in eight years of running LA Beer Hop that I’ve been able to drink with the guests. It’s been a little exhausting at times, but a lot of fun to routinely just drink and hang out and be totally comfortable and totally safe with it.”
When it comes to the eight-week course, students can log in from anywhere, and receive a shopping list of three or four beers ahead of their next class (you’ll have to buy your own drinks). Then you can sit in on classes to taste and learn on Friday at 6pm or Sunday at 2pm, with a flat cost of $100 per screen for the full course—meaning your roommates or neighbors might want to split the cost: Hal Mooney says whole households can participate for the fee, and they’ve even heard of fans logging in for tastings and hooking computers up to projectors for socially-distanced fun.
The course curriculum dives into topics such as Old World beers; New World beers; how to pair food; famous breweries to know in L.A., the U.S. and the world; and the history and future of craft beer. Classes run one to one-and-a-half hours, and they’ll all be recorded—so if you miss your scheduled class and can’t tune in to the other day’s session, you can always catch up with the archive. At the end of the eight weeks there won’t be a test, but there will be a free, optional bonus class to recap and discuss even further—you know, in case you’re one of those kinds of students.
LA Beer Hop’s pivot doesn’t just help the Mooneys or even its students as they try and shape their palates; breweries, wineries and distilleries without kitchens are seeing especially drastic drops in business this summer. Most rely on wholesale arrangements with local bars, which are also shut down (unless they offer food service), and with taprooms closed, onsite sales ground to a halt. A number of L.A. breweries sprung into action with to-go beer, popping up with preorders and retail stands in their own parking lots and loading docks, while Smog City turned 70 barrels of excess IPA into a quarantine-themed beer to try to break even.
By buying three or four craft beers each week—even if the total only amounts to $10 per student per class—the course supports these small breweries.
“They’re all businesses and they’re all hurting incredibly,” says Hal Mooney. “People have said that alcohol sales are up, but for the most part that’s big-box beer; that’s people who are going to Ralph’s or Albertson’s and buying 30-packs and handles. But the small craft breweries who’ve relied largely upon taproom sales for their business models have been put in a really tough position.”
The damage extends in every direction. LA Beer Hop partnered with another operation that’s hurting: Echo Park bottle shop Sunset Beer Co. lost much of its sales due to the loss of onsite consumption, but students can always find the curriculum’s weekly tasting beers for sale here, and often as single cans, keeping cost low.
“We’re focusing on businesses we want to support, especially now, and be a part of,” says Hal Mooney. “That’s what our shopping list will always represent.”
LA Beer Hop’s virtual beer school begins on Friday, July 24, with classes available at 6pm on Fridays and at 2pm on Sundays for eight weeks. Enrollment runs $100 per screen and can be booked online now.
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