Tap Handle #476: La Quinta - Poolside Blonde

March 12, 2015

Tap Handle #476: La Quinta - Poolside Blonde

Tap size: 11.5"
Rarity: Very Rare
Mounting: internal 3/8" nut

This La Quinta tap was a birthday present from my dad, who managed to obtain it while vacationing in Palm Springs. It's a really beautiful tap, with a palm tree as the main feature. The detail is incredible, from the leaves and scales at the top of the palm to the grooves carved all the way up and down the trunk. The brewery label appears on three sides of the tap and is a bright and colorful desert scene. The variety label fixture is metal, allowing magnets to be used to indicate which beer is being poured, and meaning that the tap can be used for all of La Quinta's varieties. I have never seen this tap before, which makes it very rare.

Click through to read more about La Quinta Brewing, their Poolside Blonde Ale, and to see more photos of this stately tap...

La Quinta brewery was founded in La Quinta, California in 2013 by Scott Stokes and partners Derek Lloyd and Ryan Pearson. Stokes was born and raised in Palm Springs. A real estate developer and a home-brewer, he had dreams of starting a microbrewery in the desert. After retiring from the real estate business, his interest in craft brewing grew and in 2013, his dream became a reality when he founded La Quinta. Lloyd was a Southern California native that spent much of his early years in the Seattle area. It was in the Pacific Northwest where his passion for craft beer originated. After graduating from the University of Washington, he became involved various jobs in the food & beverage industry. After 10 years as a Vice President at Young’s Market Co. overseeing wine, spirits and beer sales for the Coachella Valley, Lloyd joined the LQBC team as a partner and Director of Sales. Pearson was originally from the Bay Area but spent most of his adult life in Southern California, where he graduated from San Diego State University. An inspired home brewer and craft beer enthusiast for over a decade, Pearson furthered his education when he graduated from Siebel Institute & Doemens Academy with an International Diploma in Brewing Technology. He began his brewing career with world renown Green Flash Brewing, and has also judged multiple international beer competitions. He recently joined La Quinta as a partner and Brewmaster.

With its founding, La Quinta Brewing became one of two local micro-breweries. They set up in a 4,500-square-foot facility, with a 15-barrel brewhouse that can produce more than 5,000 barrels per year. After only a year, La Quinta was the second-most-widely distributed craft beer in terms of bars and restaurants within the Coachella Valley, with more than 70 bars, restaurants, hotels, and country clubs carrying their beers, from the Eureka! Restaurant in Indian Wells to the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. That number has since expanded to 115 bars and restaurants and about 45 stores. They also have a taproom, where visitors can sample and learn about each of the brewery's beers, and the taproom has a walk-in cooler behind the bar to increase the number of beer tastings offered. La Quinta has made a point to focus on local ingredients and put inventive twists on proven beer recipes, and also started barrel-aging, beginning with its porter, which is aged in Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels. They feature 6 year-round varieties as well as a "Taproom Series", which they describe as "bigger and bolder" than their core lineup, made in small batches with limited availability and served only in the taproom. The brewery also gives back to the community by holding fundraisers to benefit the Desert Cancer Foundation.

Poolside Blonde is a Blonde Ale made for summer in the desert. This light colored ale has a clean crisp taste to quench that desert thirst. Not your typical Blonde, it is crafted to finish dry, with just the right amount of residual sweetness and a light maltiness provided by the Pilsner and Vienna malts. Light straw in color, it has a moderately bitter finish. A true palate cleansing ale.