Not a Star Wars droid but the 7th Anniversary for R.T. Rogers Brewing up in Sierra Madre.
RT7
A Toast
Eagle eyed readers of the blog will know that I am not a big fan of baseball. But if I do watch it is minor league because they seem more fun.
And here is a prime example…
…The Reading, Pennsylvania franchise will change over to the Reading Prost for a few games next year. I can see beer fans buying the hat for sure.
Sports & A Beer – How to Fix the Portland Trailblazers
Before my beloved and frustrating Trailblazers went on a big 8-1 winning streak in January and February things were looking dire. They were sitting at 13-28 and had suffered some serious blowout losses. It was looking like yet another season of waving the white flag in the hopes of getting a shot at drafting Cooper Flagg.
But now things are looking better and with continued good play we just might be the top of the non-playoff tier in the Western Conference. The next progressive step would be playoffs next year.
To do that there are two things that I hope the organization and head coach Billups do to evolve the team like the logo above…
First, we do need to trim the roster a bit and hopefully acquire some additional long term draft picks. The Time Lord Robert Williams III could fetch some attention as could Jabari Walker and Matisse Thybulle and as good as Jerami Grant has been as a Blazer, he could garner us some picks as well. The roster reduction will provide a flight path for more minutes for Clingan, Scoot and Dalano Banton.
Second, solidify a rotation and send in waves of fresh players. Being able to bring players who have started like Scoot, Shaedon, Dalano and Clingan off the bench allows us less of a productivity drop off so I would kindly suggest doing hockey like shifts and just tire other teams out.
For beer, I would suggest locating a new brewery and buying a few of their beers in a can taster flight of sorts. Wild Parrot Brewing in East Pasadena springs to mind as does ISM Brewing in Long Beach.
The 2025 Birthday Beer
Each year, I pick a special beer to be my birthday drink. For year 55, I have picked a sentimental flavor combo from Christmas, the Terry’s Chocolate Orange as re-imagined by Crooked Stave in Colorado.
The orange is covered by zest while the chocolate is provided by liquid cacao which I had never heard of before. It pours a very dark brown and it is curiously devoid of aroma. It is a Baltic Porter base which should allow flavors to pop but this is pretty muted flavor wise as well. The orange doesn’t show until the end and faintly at that. The chocolate is OK but not wow, thank for liquifying. Was hoping for a little Christmas magic that does not appear.
Ditch the Can
I think America needs to have an intervention with the folks at Pringles. We do not talk about the weird sorta potatoey thing you do or what weird machines you use to make the shape but why on earth are they attempting a flavor based on beer can chicken. The hillbilly grill that generally uses low grade flavorless beer water to cook chicken. Why Pringles?
BRW
I am not a LOL FAFO acronym spouting person so I did not know that in some circles BRW is code for brew or beer. So when I saw an ad on social media for BRWTXT claiming to be a Los Angeles beer service, I admit to being confused and a little wary of internet skulduggery.
Then I checked and you are prompted to add your credit card number as well, just to get text notifications. Still seems fishy to me. If anyone in craft beer land has tried this and has opinions or hot takes, let me know.
International Three
Consider this your fair dues warning, March 3rd is International Tripel Day. Probably should get at least a half-day off for it. You can look for one of the below choices….
….or check your local brewery tap list to see if anyone has their own spin on the style.
For Jimmy
I know that craft beer world may not need another charity beer right at the second. Especially here in Los Angeles, where there are quite a few wildfire charity beers out and about (that y’all should be getting).
But…. I would like to see a few Jimmy Carter beers like this one from Wallenpaupack Brewing in Pennsylvania. “Jimmy” beer, in the American pale lager style. A callback to his brothers infamous “Billy” beer.
You can read a bit more about it HERE.
Your Own Personal Tariff
Even though the initial round of tariffs have been postponed (with aluminum on the way) maybe in part because Canada banned American made spirits from their state-run liquor stores, I wanted to send out a blanket message to anyone who works in distilleries in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee who voted Elon for President that they nearly voted themselves out of a job.
Tariffs, as I have mentioned a few hundred times before work best as a protective layer for a young and growing homegrown industry that may be more expensive to start but could grow and become competitive and then not need the tariff protection. It is pretty basic economics. Unfortunately pretty basic economics seem beyond the grasp of too large a group of Americans.
The point of this post is not to say I Told You So. This post is for us few nice Americans who are siding with our neighbors to thr north and south. How do we push the needle to sanity? Below are some small actions you can take to help….
- Buy Local + – the plus sign is the important part. Make sure that the local you are buying from is not a pro tariff, anti DEI, money above people brewery and if they pass that simple niceness test, then buy from them as directly as possible.
- Do not buy – craft beer from places like Target who backed away loudly from DEI measures. liquor from big multi-nationals especially if they are from a state that Nazi Musk won. Basically be a mini-Canada.
- Start buying from progressive or minority run business – use this time to discover new breweries, distilleries, cider spots. I have a whiskey from a female run distillery named Home Base and gin from another female run distillery, Freeland Spirits.
- Buy from Canada and Mexico – no better middle finger than spending your money on goods from those two countries who are being shat on for no good reason.
New Oregon Brewery # 2 – Audacity Brewing
Our second stop from the New School Beer Blogs upcoming breweries post is at Audacity Brewing which is taking the step of moving from Washington State to Oregon.
Let’s check out some of the beers…
Enksy – “Part of our Trappist-inspired beer series. This underrepresented style goes by many names: enkel, single, patersbier. Fashioned as a lower-strength ale monks drink when they’ve got other stuff to do. With notes of pome fruit, honeyed biscuit, and light spice phenolics, you may find yourself ditching work to get a daily ration.”
Oberwesel – this Kolsch “has a grainy sweetness with subtle bread, spice, and fruit notes.”
Morning Mood – “stout loaded with maple syrup and Velton’s coffee. It’s the ultimate “breakfast” beer, and we are big proponents of the all-day breakfast.”