With only a couple of hours to spare before we had to pickup our friends from the airport, my wife’s friend Lisa turned and asked me what was next on the agenda. There were a couple of breweries that the entire group wanted to visit based on the list I sent them previously, so I had to pick one that wasn’t on it. Luckily only one mile down the road Dialogue Brewing awaited.
After exiting the vehicle my wife inquired as to whether we were in the right place. We were parked on an empty industrial street with no brewery visible to the naked eye. I quickly noticed an orange spray painted logo on the top corner of a building and pointed them towards the front door while I went to take some photos of the exterior. With the street and sidewalk to myself, I made my way around the corner and spotted another sign and their backyard patio.
What I saw next was otherworldly! Giant metal sculptures leapt from the ground and reached to the sky. They had the appearance of a rebar hay stack, and at the base of each was a circular wooden rail dotted with stools. I had to tear my camera away! Inside it was a similar story. The taproom itself was unique and cozy. There were four community tables with a love seat and some chairs in between, and a long bar anchored the room against their production equipment. Their tap list was like none other! It was a projection on the wall, but it included an animation of their logo which provided a dreamlike feel to the mundane experience of ordering a beer.
When I first enter a new brewery I’m constantly scanning for the spot that I’d like to sit. There is usually a mixture of seating and there is always one area that’s better than the others for photographs. I knew exactly where I wanted to sit at Dialogue: outside at the base of one of their sculptures. The more I looked at them the more impressed I became. Much time was spent determining how they were made and running around taking photos from every vantage point. I really need to upload these photos to Google Maps because I’m starting to find that most of them don’t really give you a true sense of a place. This one certainly didn’t, because I had no idea this was here. The photo on their website looked like a rendering, but now that I look closer I see that it was completely real!
I had two beers during my visit, and there were many others on their list that looked like they would be fun to taste. Between the Idiot Sauvin Lager and Raspberry Gose I would choose the Gose as my favorite. The Idiot Sauvin was very well balanced with a good clean maltiness. It was your standard lager. The Raspberry Gose was bright and tart, with a pinkish orange hue, and a wild raspberry aroma and flavor. I chose a gose as my favorite from my visit to Marble earlier in the day, and I think the heat of the desert was contributing greatly to my affinity toward the sours.
Dialogue Brewing was one of the most unique and interesting breweries I’ve been to, and I’m saddened my time there was cut short. One of my notes sums up the experience by saying “absolutely rad!” I never knew that sculpture and beer could be so effortlessly intertwined. The chill electronic music amped up the otherworldly feel, and the overcast breezy weather provided us the perfect opportunity to enjoy their patio. I can’t speak much for the beer, but the overall vibe was incredible. If you do visit, keep a lookout for the hidden felines!
No Comments