Interview: beer pro Jimmy Han (Beer Belly)

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Craft Beer Los Angeles

INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

What do you think the Diners, Drive-Ins and Drives effect will mean for Beer Belly?

Everything’s great. It’s a lot of work, but being able to introduce people to what Beer Belly is, the experience, I think it’s good. I feel like we have new houseguests, and everyone does their part to show them hospitality. Even our regular customers like to interact with them and welcome them and give them this experience with the food and the beer and the environment. Really, I like to make sure people are happy. That’s another reason why I started Beer Belly. During 2008, 2009, when we started the concept of Beer Belly and I started building it out, there were a lot of people losing jobs and didn’t have that much money. Everyone has their share of problems, but I wanted to provide this place where we can come and have some great beer, some creative food – it’s not fancy fine dining – but something creative and different you most likely won’t be able to find at another place. Explore some new things and have a good time with beer, friends and family, forget about your problems. We want to provide this place where you can just be happy for a couple hours.

What are some of your most satisfying moments in working with craft beer?

Seeing the revolution of the craft beer scene around here. It’s a beautiful thing, because I honestly think craft beer renaissance here is a result of the recession. People want to be happy. People lost their jobs and for me I try to look at that as an opportunity to do something I’m passionate about, something that is little money or no money a good living, I just wanted to make sure I did something that made me happy. The same thing with the craft beer industry locally. People want to be happy. We have a lot of these brewers that maybe made a great living in aerospace or something, and they decided to give up all that money to do something that makes them happy. Same things with the consumers. People want to be happy. They don’t love to spend $50, $100 on a bottle of wine. Maybe they just want to spend $10 on a bomber of IPA. A lot of it has to do with the search for happiness and doing something where you don’t need an alarm clock to wake up every morning. Same with people who are stuck in jobs where they have to pay bills and make ends meet. At least after work they can go to their local watering hole and have some interesting, high ABV beer that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. That’s a nice stress reliever and getaway from the paycheck life.

Is there an aspect of craft beer culture that you’ve seen in another city or another country that you’d like to see more of in L.A.?

Not really. I haven’t traveled that much and seen that much. Some more outdoor drinking would be nice, some more biergartens.

Sounds like you’re on your way to [helping] that.

We’ll have a small little garden patio area out front.

That has always been really strange given the amount of great days here in L.A. Is there a brewery or beer you wish you could get in L.A. that you can’t, that doesn’t currently have distribution?

Three Floyds. They make good beer.

Who are some of the other people in the craft beer community that you look to for advice, guidance or inspiration?

Mark [Jilg] from Craftsman. He’s been a big part, even from the beginning. Before we opened, I would talk with him, go to the brewery and learn as much as I could, just being around him, through osmosis. He has different opinions about things, that I don’t necessarily agree with, but it really gives me a different perspective, and really makes me question why does he think this way? Why is he so adamant about certain things? I obviously respect his opinions, and it really helps me re-think what I’m doing with craft beer, or even as a business owner. A different perspective is always good to formulate my own ideas and perspectives. Mark was a very big part of that. Other bar owners who were very helpful were mainly Ryan Sweeney and Jason Bernstein. They gave me a lot of help, always gave me advice, and helped me get set up. Those are probably the three most important guys that helped me get set up in the craft beer world. Christina Perozzi, also. She came in and did all our staff training and really helped us get that craft beer family culture down, and made sure we could interact with our customers and introduce them to craft beer.

Good group. What will it take for you to consider the work you’ve done with craft beer a success, if it isn’t already?

That people understood the craft beer culture. That was the biggest attraction for me. When I started trying to figure out what I was going to do, whether it was a craft beer bar or something else, going to these beer events and breweries, meeting brewers and other bar owners, restaurant owners, that have a passion for craft beer, it was a no brainer. Craft beer culture just feels so right. Everyone’s so down to earth. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what kind of social status you have, what kind of car you drive, what kind of money you’re making or not making Everyone’s there to have good beer and have a good time. For me, it’s about sharing that kind of culture with people that walk through the door at Beer Belly, is making sure they have a good time and that they’re happy. If they get to meet someone new or talk about some different beers or breweries, that’s a success.

Address: 532 South Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90020
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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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