Author: Sean Inman

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Weyerbacher Brewing

Shifting to the East Coast. Here is another brewery on my list to visit or sample beers from…
First some background, “Weyerbacher History
Weyerbacher Brewing Company was founded in 1995 by Dan and Sue Weirback. The company name is the original spelling used by the first immigrants from Germany about 200 years ago. The spelling has morphed slightly over time, but we thought the original sounded best for the brewery.

How it came to be!

In the beginning, Dan was an avid homebrewer and microbrew connoisseur. One weekend, late in 1993, while vacationing in Vermont, Dan and Sue toured the Long Trail brewery, back when it was in the basement of an old mill. Dan was looking for a new business to get into but it was Sue who suggested he start thinking about starting his own brewery. As they say, the rest is history!”

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LA Beer Week – Suggestions

As you may have noticed, I really enjoyed LA Beer Week. Great events all over the southland with something for everyone.

But here are my humble suggestions for next years celebration of all things craft beer.

1. Signs – I think that each venue that is hosting an event should have a big LA Beer Week sign with a listing of what is happening at that particular venue and it should be put up a couple weeks before the start. There should also be a large banner for the kick-off that could be used for the big festival at the end of the week. It would be much better than a hastily made sign with arrows on it. It also gives a more professional gloss to each event and might bring in some foot traffic as well.

2. more beer premiere’s – As I was scanning the beer blogosphere, some events seemed to be commented on a bit. But what really got the beer geeks tails wagging was the release of Black Xantus. I would ask a couple brewers if they have any seasonal or special release beers that they could “hold” until LA Beer Week. I also think it would be worth exploring having a collaborative LA Beer Week beer. Maybe something called SigAlert or something catchier. Would be a great way to get some publicity. You might even get it into the LA Times Food section the week before.

3. Beer maps – It would be great to have a PDF on the website that showed all the participating bars and breweries. It could even be on a coaster. Also the final event could have used a “you are here” type of map as well.

4. Media Beer and dinner pairing – Again, all about publicizing what is going on here. It doesn’t have to be fancy but you could invite people as far ranging as humble bloggers like myself (hint-hint) to Jonathan Gold at the Weekly, the Good Food people at KCRW.

All nitpicky things. But I think it might increase participation and reduce questions and maybe problems.

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LA Beer Week – Descanso Gardens

This capstone event to LA Beer Week did not have the look or the feel of a first year attempt. This was very classy. From the location of Descanso Gardens to the music being played to the great selection of beer and cider.

It was a chance (at a very reasonable price) to sample old favorites and try some of the hotly anticipated beers that are new to the market. Nectar Ales had some Black Xantus on hand. Gentleman Scholar was pouring their Espresso Stout. Telegraph brought down an excellent Harvest Rye that was brewed primarily for the vintners of Santa Barbara. Duvel had their “Green” on hand and Craftsman brought a wet-hop ale that was quite tasty. There was a good mix of styles and regions represented.

The one thing that I worried about was the crowd. Usually the unlimited pours brings out the beast in some people who are not their to expand their palates but rather to wreck them. But that was not the case. It was a friendly and fun atmosphere.

Thanks to Jay, Scott, Dennis, Ryan, Brandon and to all else who volunteered and took time out to make this happen.

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Where are you?

You better be at Descanso Gardens for the LA Beer Week extravaganza.

I will be there volunteering so if you see me come up and say hello and let me know what beer you have had and which is your favorite.

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Yorkshire Stingo

Since the beer dinner featured beers from across the pond, here is another notable export that you can find here now.

Stingo071

“Stingo, traditional strong ale originating in the north of England, is mentioned in literature before 1700. Samuel Smith’s Stingo melds the fine history of this style with the signature elegance of the brewery. Brewed from British malt and multiple hop varieties, Stingo is fermented in open-topped stone “Yorkshire Squares,” with the Samuel Smith ale yeast strain. It is then aged for over a year in oak barrels that previously held cask-conditioned ale, gaining complexity and depth from the wood. Bottle conditioning – bottling the beer with live yeast for carbonation – produces soft conditioning as well as a fruity aroma and finish; it also allows Stingo to age and develop in the bottle for many months.”

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LA Beer Week – Beer dinner at McG's

mcgs-beer-dinner1

One of my goals after looking over the imposing list of events for LA Beer Week was to attend a beer pairing evening. Mission accomplished. The evening at McG’s started off very nicely with a large glass of German lager from Weihenstephan.

Here are the highlights:
Best pairing:
Boxty Potatoes with Salmon Mousse was a surprise and the Blanche de Namur witbier with its citrus overtones really contrasted the starch in the potato pancake and the creaminess of the mousse.

Best Individual Beer:
Weihenstephan lager was bright and sparkly. Served in the brewery’s own logo’d glassware. Just a great lager that American’s should be drinking instead of BMC.

Best Individual Food course:
For me it was the Shepherd’s Pie. Good portion size. Gravy was good. And the meat had a nice spiciness.

All in all, I was surprised that the courses that, on paper, would not be my favorites were better than the ones that I thought would be great. I was anticipating that the lamb course would be my favorite followed closely by dessert. Both were dissapointing. The lamb was charcoal outside and close to raw inside and the sponge cake had a great Framboise reduction but was dry. Beer wise, the Xingu lager seemed off to me. Much more sweeter than normal, almost honey-ish. And the beers from St. Peter’s Brewery were solid but not spectacular. They didn’t really add anything to the dishes they were paired up with. But the Irish Green mussels were great with the kellerbier which I did not expect.

So, thanks to all at McG’s who made it a memorable night with all of their hard work.

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Fresh Hop article

It has been posted already but I wanted to make sure this nice little article got some more air time because it is a great example of how craft beer is much more in touch with its ingredients and suppliers.

Click HERE to read it.