Pass or fail? L.A. BEER is a new craft beer sitcom on YouTube

Well craft beer industry, if you consider imitation to be the sincerest form of flattery, you’re finally being flattered with internet-caliber comedy. Surf over to YouTube (or click play on the video above and save yourself a virtual trip) and watch a sitcom about what it’s like to run a craft brewery. In fact, it’s the first-ever comedy web series to be taped in front of a live studio audience, which is sort of a dubious honor, but still cool! The original comedy series is called L.A. BEER, and it will begin streaming its first five episodes May 11 (that’s today!) on YouTube, during American Craft Beer Week as a way to celebrate beer enthusiasts across the country.

Is it any good? Well, that’s for you to decide. We’ll give it a pass because it promotes craft, but it’s weirdly surreal to see your industry “kindly lampooned.” It’ll naturally be more entertaining to an outsider and is definitely worth watching when it actually makes fun of some legitimate craft problems — like when the brew crew frets of the cartoon label design of their “Hop’o’popotamus” strawberry summer beer, which the TTB says is attracting children and that the fictitious Silver Screen Brewery are “evil bastards marketing to kids.”

And one of the cooler things is that the show actually features set decoration from some local Los Angeles breweries, including Golden Road Brewing, Fireman’s Brew, Ritual Brewing, Hollywood Blonde and Hangar 24 Craft Brewery.

What’s the plot, you ask? Set in Los Angeles, L.A. BEER is a workplace comedy about a diverse group of brewers and beer lovers trying to make it in the increasingly competitive world of craft brewing. When awkward millennial Sally starts a new job at Silver Screen Brewery, she works overtime to get her co-workers approval, especially the cute, charismatic founder, David, who may or may not have a thing for Andrea, the head of marketing. The ensemble also includes Patrick, the company’s clueless financial backer, Michelle, his hard-drinking assistant, and, Ryan, the nerdy brewmaster.

Who made all this? The series is led by Executive Producer Sam Miller, currently a staff writer on the award-winning CBS laugher, MOM, who was looking to create a studio quality show.

“I was a writers’ assistant who just wanted to experience the collaboration and creative energy that only comes from being a writer in a writers’ room,” Miller explains, “Fortunately, I found an amazing group of dedicated people who believed our combined industry contacts and resources could produce a show that was just as good as something on television. Making web series history and getting free beer was just a bonus.”

For more Info or Watch the Trailer of “L.A. BEER” visit: www.labeer.tv.