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I am not usually swayed by public opinion as gospel but I do use it to see which way the wind is blowing when it comes to beers and breweries.

In that spirit, let’s take a look at the Untappd 5 Star beers in 2024…

You have the “Not Surprised” category with Heady Topper, Pliny the Elder, Zombie Dust, Westvleteren 12.

Then there are “classics” like Yuengling Amber Lager, Duvel, Spotted  Cow.

Then there are the ones that made me think twice with Augustiner Helles, Shiner Bock, Weihenstephan Hefeweissbier on that list.

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Brewery + Aiport # 2 – Milwaukee

Beer at airports cannot all be great and varied choices like in Portland or Denver, sometimes you have to settle for one place or maybe just one beer.

Such is the case for Mitchell Airport serving Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. You can go to the Miller Brewing restaurant and bar or you can head to Baron’s Beer Garden where you can quaff a Spotted Cow from New Glarus along with a small handful of other craft choices.

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The Darkness

The aroma hop HS16660 now has a name, Erebus™ . Not the worst name around but I do not think that “the primordial deity of darkness in Greek mythology” would be into the aroma therapy of blueberry, citrus, candied fruit, and floral rose. But maybe Hopsteiner knows something about it that I do not.

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Needed or Not – Beer Washed Jeans

I do not know about you but beer on / in my jeans is a bug and not a feature but apparently conservative Republicans think that Each Beer Wash Jeans “outfitted with a unique tag that features a Coors Banquet bottle opener and a patch kit for fans to customize their jeans” is cool.

I will be taking a pass, if I was going to have beer jeans, I would prefer to choose the beer I want scraping my skin myself.

Not Needed – but keep those wacky ideas coming your crazy marketing kids.

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Featured Review – Prodigal from Perennial Artisan Ales via The Rare Beer Club

Every once in a while I will get a happy email from the Rare Beer Club wanting to highlight some of their great beers that you can get.

This is the second review of the month and if it sounds good, you should check out the club.

This is the Prodigal 2024. It is a biggun in abv at 11.5% but also large in syrupy stoutness. An Imperial Stout with cacao and vanilla and it is slick and big on caramel to me more than either of the featured adjuncts. It is halfway to being stout gravy. There is also a truckload of sugar coming to the fore as well. I would net hesitate to say that this would be good as a cooking ingredient. Little too extravagant for my taste.

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NAGBW – Handcrafted Careers

I along with several fellow NAGBW members heard a lively virtual happy hour led by podcaster and writer Dave Infante with guest, the sociologist and author Dr. Eli Revelle Yano Wilson.  Wilson’s latest book is Handcrafted Careers: Working the Artisan Economy of Craft Beer.”

Here are my takeaways from the discussion:

  • there are three main pathways for careers in beer, creative, service and hard labor
  • the first Wilson describes as having a lumpy / organic feel to it since it does not hew to a traditional career path
  • the people on the creative path are the ones that tend to be idealized and they skew white and male
  • the service path interestingly is around 50% female
  • as breweries open second and third locations, the workers become less craft obsessed
  • what is the end point point for each of these three pathways and why is it good and bad
  • the last two pathways tend to have employees where the attitude can be, “it’s good for now” while employers tend to look for people they can just plug in rather than grow
  • the author was on the initial team of the Wurstkuche in the Arts District here in L.A.
  • You can find Wilson’s books HERE
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Sean Suggests for November 2024

It has been a bitter November so let’s dive into some hops to console ourselves.  And let’s keep it in the Los Angeles family and within low 7% abv too.

Los Angeles Ale Works Steady Coastin’ West Coast IPA – 7% – “Crisp with notes of juicy melon, berry, sweet fruit, and fresh pineapple.”

Brown Soul Brewing Juguito Hazy IPA – 7.1% – “inspired by our very own Chef Hugo, who many have come to know affectionately, as “Juice”, this hazy IPA packs a punch”

Ambitious Ales Frodo Foggins Hazy IPA – 7.2% – “we took the base of our NZ style Pils and beefed it up into a mighty foggy one! Pillowy soft with lots of juicy character the Freestyle Hops Motueka and Kohia Motueka Hop Kief are bursting with notes of lime sherbert, starbursts and tropical fruit.”