Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Epic Brewing has quite a stable of Brainless beers and now they may have one of their most unique yet, Brainless on Sake. It is a “Belgian-style ale is made with plum, black currant, & blackberries and aged in Sake barrels.”
I do not remember have a Sake barrel-aged beer before and it makes me wonder how easy that aging process is or if it requires extra special care.
Cherry trees in bloom and cherry ale from Santa Rosa and Russian River Brewing.
The website describes FF as a “Mildly sour Saison aged in large oak foeders with tart cherries for 6 to 12 months. Distinctive aromatics of cherry, notes of raspberry, strawberry, and rhubarb. Light bodied with medium carbonation, slight sweetness, moderate tartness, and low bitterness, with no astringency.”
The beer pours a cheery rose color with plenty of bubbles initially. Acid and sawdust on the nose. The fruit taste is restrained here letting the oak and tartness take the lead. Reminiscent of the old school sours where the barnyard and the funk was let loose. The sour doesn’t force a pucker, it is more balsamic to me, if that makes sense.
Dig out your metal knight costume because Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne is celebrating their 7th anniversary with a Renaissance Fair to remember.
Don’t know if there will be serving big turkey legs on Saturday, April 26 from 12PM-12AM but there will be Jousting, Tarot cards and of course some beer releases as well.
Offshoot Beer Co. has now reached the eighth year milestone and with that comes ‘8,’ an 8% Double Hazy IPA loaded with lupulin from Garston Hops that the brewery describes as “unfiltered for a creamy, juicy experience, packed with tropical berry, peach, and sweet pine flavors, all boosted by a double dry-hopping of four unique hops!”
Saison Day 2025 is right around the corner on April 26th. You can mark this celebration of the wider farmhouse ales category with an Allagash Saison since they are co-leads of the nationwide party with Threes Brewing or go out and get a mixed pack of different local ones to compare and contrast.
Word has been spread about a pretty cool achievement in drink local as the first 100% Walloon Gueuze was blended at Geuezerie Tilquin. This first blend is composed of fully organic Lambics brewed at Tilquin over the previous 3 brewing seasons. The blend is made up of 50% one-year-old lambics, 25% 2-year-old lambics, and 25% 3-year-old lambics.
This is some positive news, Masa Kitano from Ikasu Brewing is contract brewing so his beers will start to be available to a wider audience. Native Son is providing the brewing equipment for an initial start of a Japanese rice lager and a We Love L.A. Session Hazy IPA. And there is an IndieGoGo campaign as well. Hopefully this will grow.
This month, we go a little north and a little north of Los Angeles in search of hoppy beers. I know, not that hard of an ask but these three choices will make your beer fridge more eclectic to say the least.
Bright Spark Brewing The Sauce Italian Pilsner – 5% – “features a slightly more pronounced hop profile while maintaining exceptional drinkability.”
Hop Secret Everlasting Hopstopper IPA – 6% – featuring Krush, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops. This hop-forward beer delivers bright citrus, tropical fruit, and resinous pine notes, balanced by a smooth malt backbone and a crisp, refreshing finish. Perfect for those who love a flavorful, aromatic hop experience.”
Radiant Beer / Breakside Set the Night Alight DDH West Coast DIPA – 8.5% – “When the Portland legends from Breakside Brewery come to town, an IPA collab is a no-brainer. Ben Edmunds, our good friend and Breakside’s head hopper, believes in intense hop saturation, so we did it big with a Double Dry Hopped West Coast Double IPA we call Set the Night Alight. We hopped it with Mosaic, Breakside’s hand-selected Krush Cryo, Simcoe, our mutally beloved Cashmere, and for our first time, Abstrax’s Mosaic Quantum hop extract. With intense aromas of tropical fruit and big, bright flavors of citrus and guava, this is a night you won’t forget.”
L.A. or other locales may be tired of hearing about how great Portland and their beer scene is but I am afraid to have to rub it in some more as it was recently announced that a new beer and culture festival, MXPDX is coming to the Rose City on July 19th.
The goal is to intertwine both Mexico and Oregon craft cultures and communities in Portland (this year and in Mexico in 2026) for this inaugural party. 13 central Mexico breweries will be sending beer and also brewing collaborations with Oregon brewers and cidermakers.
We will probably need to learn to Walk Like Zombies considering who is in charge of health and undead human services now but for now we can enjoy a new IPA from Institution Ales, Walk like Zombies which showcases Mosaic DynaBoost hops, which, according to the brewery gives off “fruity and piney qualities.”
