There is an international collaboration out in the last weeks from Smog City Brewing and Nepomucen Brewery from Szkaradowo, Poland. And it’s a Baltic Porter! A win for diversity in beer styles.
Chocolate Vanilla Baltic
Not the Movie Venom
I do remember those days of high abv beer battles and I have tried Utopias as well as that strange beer that came dressed as a former squirrel.
I thought those stunts were over but apparently there is a new entrant at the top of the heap. A fortified product with a warning to just drink a tiny amount in a single sitting.
And of course, it has a childish name of Snake Venom.
My suggestion is to not shill out that money. You can get a really good bourbon with that cash.
R.I.P. – Trustworthy Brewing
Add another casualty to the brewery list as Burbank’s Trustworthy Brewing Co. will arrive at their 8th anniversary and then close up for good at the end of January.
So on Saturday, January 25th, it will be a bittersweet party from 12 PM to 10 PM. Below are the details….
“We will have our VIP section from 12-2pm. Tickets will be $39 and will include:
Unlimited drinking for the entire 2 hours
2-4pks of your choosing
Bottle of a sour or barleywine
Logo Pint Glass
Starting at 2pm doors will be open to everyone and we’ve got some exciting things planned including free raffles and discounts on everything!
After the party we will be open every day until Friday the 31st which will be our final day. We’ll be doing special promos from now until our final day so keep checking back to see what each week’s deals will be.”
A Book & A Beer – Knife by Salman Rushdie
Memoirs are not usually my cuppa but after hearing Salman Rushdie talk about his scary new book, Knife about his near fatal stabbing, I added it to my library list and I was quite taken by the thoughtfulness and openness displayed. It could have been easy to be simplistic about such a horrifying attack recounting events in a rote fashion but Rushdie plumbs deeper and looks at the whole picture and not just one victim and one attacker and the medical consequences.
Such a violent and bloody book make for a much harder beer choice. But I will lean into the word meditations in the sub-title and suggest finding comfort beers. Nothing hoppy or bitter because that is not what this book is about. Find a lovely brown ale like Figueroa Mountain’s Davy Brown or look for a nice porter from your local brewery.
Back in the York Blvd. Days
Highland Park Brewing will be debuting Retro Week starting on January 20th. a week of “bringing back some rad beers we haven’t brewed in a while, limited edition merch from the early days, & food specials we haven’t done in years!”
There have been no leaks as to the beers bar one, Ham Porter is due to make a return.
Sean Suggests for January 2025
Two out of three ain’t bad, right? The first two beers are collaborations between brewery and outside partner. They are also both in the 5% range. Then there is Sadie. An excellent outlier any day.
Paperback Brewing Crazy Clown Time Blonde – 5.1% – “Circus Liquor collaboration Blonde Ale”
Bright Spark Fika Swedish Coffee Milk Stout – 5.8% – coffee collaboration with Beacon coffee.
Beachwood Sadie Batch 11 – 12% – “This is our 11th batch of this expressive strong ale that spends a year in American bourbon & whiskey barrels—rich caramel and vanilla flavors are intertwined with delicate notes of oak and toasted oats. This adventurous beer is as spirited and delightful as the girl who inspired it.”
Review – Mere Visions West Coast IPA from ISM Brewing and Brujos Brewing
Gotta powerhouse hype combo for the review today, ISM Brewing in Long Beach have paired up with Portland’s Brujos Brewing on a straight up West Coast IPA, Mere Visions.
This has got to be one of the lightest straw yellow IPAs that I have come across. Hopped with an impressive roster of Columbus Cryo, Mosaic Cryo, Strata, Simcoe and Chinook. Very well balanced overall. That Simcoe smell comes through. There is a medium hop hit before a soft bed of wheat notes. You could call this a White IPA as well.
N/A Review – Galaxy Ripple and Double Hopped Hop Water
We start this N/A duo with Best Day Brewing and their Galaxy Ripple, which they call an Imperial IPA maybe as a joke? From my experience, imperial denotes higher abv, but non-alcoholic should be under .5%, so not quite getting that designation.
That label mis-step aside, there is a goodly hop aroma when you pop open the can. And to my surprise, this doesn’t taste super worty like many in this category. And for once, there are plenty of hops here. Probably my first actual hoppy low alcohol IPA. There is a bit of tropical fruit here too making this way more complex than average.
Next up is the Double Hopped Hop Water from, well, HopWtr. Most of their waters have jumped the hop shark and tend to be just fruity sparkle water, sorry Wtr, but this one caught my eye because of the hop double down. There is a weird grassy cat pee aroma when the can is opened. Once vented, this does have a better taste than smell. Getting a grassy cannabis vibe from it.
Two Stage
Cheers are in order as Russian River Brewing has a special Pliny coming in January! Double Dry-Hopped The Elder is making its bottle debut.
Pale February
Count me as a big fan of festivals that populate those smaller niches and Pale Fest from Institution Ale Co. easily falls into that category.
Keep up with their social media to get the date and ticket details.