Stereophonic beer: It’s not necessarily an idea, but rather a way of life at this hi-fidelity brewery in Placentia, where the vinyl records only stop spinning long enough to put on a fresh one , and the beer never seems to stop flowing.
I met co-owner/brewer Rick Smets at Noble Ale Works’ second-anniversary party in 2012. “We should probably chat because I’m going to open a brewery here in OC called Stereo,” he had said. I’m pretty sure we geeked out over our love for the band Pavement, including my favorite song of theirs (“Stereo”), then departed after a Grill Vogel-inspired power embrace/business hug.
Now just older than a year and a half, Stereo has remained a constant as a place to geek out on not only beer, but also music. Malt and hops symphonically entertain your taste buds in the tasting room, where you’re most likely to shazam a song or even drunkenly sing along to classics.
All summer, Stereo is loading up the Econoline van for a U.S. tour, offering a coveted roadie lanyard. Destination? Music city-inspired beers. The debut is Placentia, which starts off the set list with a pint of valencia orange-infused IPA, actual pulp seemingly crowdsurfing on top of the white, hoppy head, perhaps providing scurvy-fighting powers.
The inspiration then heads to Austin, Atlanta, Nashville, Miami, Boston, Seattle, and even a bonus show in Honolulu! A new beer will be released every Thursday throughout the season in Stereo’s Placentia taproom. Get all the stamps on your roadie lanyard and unlock cool swag such as a concert shirt and pin—even VIP entrance to the brewery’s second-anniversary party in October.
Stereo Brewing, 950 S. Vía Rodeo, Placentia, (714) 993-3390; stereobrewing.com.
Greg Nagel has been writing about beer since 2011, is an avid homebrewer of wine, cider, and beer, is a certified Cicerone Beer Server, level 1 WSET in Wine, a podcaster with the Four Brewers Show, and runs a yearly beer festival called Firkfest happening on June 29th in Anaheim!