If you know Alex Macy, a beer consultant for several local bars over the years, you will appreciate the irony of a recent e-newsletter from Eagle Rock's Colorado Wine Company announcing their soon-to-open Sunset Beer Company in Echo Park. The newsletter named Macy the “ringmaster” for their upcoming retail beer shop and tasting bar. That's a pretty hilarious association for a guy who is more likely to nonchalantly deposit a bottle of Westvleteren 12 on your kitchen counter like it's an everyday IPA than take center stage in a top hat and tails and belt out the craft beer arrivals.

“Where did you hear that I was the ringmaster?” asked Macy when we caught up with him over the weekend. Suffice it to say that Macy will be Sunset Beer Company's “ringmaster” more in the artistic director sense. “It's more than consulting this time,” he explains. “I'm going to be running it, actually doing everything.” Macy said he was considering opening his own beer shop when the opportunity popped up. “It's going to be a large scale retail shop with a tasting bar, maybe six taps to start.” There will also be beer tasting flights at the bar and brewer-led tasting events.

As for the beer selection, Macy says he is planning to stock the retail shop with “a little of everything, though personally I often tend to lean more towards California and Belgium beers.” Anything you purchase in the shop you can drink at the bar for a small corkage fee. “Basically, we want people to taste everything,” says Macy. Advisably not all in one night. Ringmaster or otherwise.

Sunset Beer Company, 1498 Sunset Blvd., #3, Echo Park. Opening sometime in May. “We're just not sure yet what part of May,” says Macy.

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