A wonderfully strange romp through the world of beer through the eyes of Tom Robbins. Odd but endearing.
New place in Los Angeles for great beer
Every new beer enlightened place that opens is like an angel getting wings. The scene,Whittier, California. 24 beers on tap. Rogue Hazelnut in a float! It is on my list of places to check out soon. Plus the chef is super cool. It’s called the Bottle Room. Check it out for yourself.
http://www.thebottleroombar.com/
a great link for beer & pizza pairing
http://www.delish.com/recipes/cooking-recipes/pizza-beer-recipes
Crannog Ales
For people who are near the Okanagan Valley in Canada (count yourself lucky)
“Crannóg Ales is Canada’s only Certified Organic farmhouse microbrewery, one of only a handful of such breweries in the world. We brew unfiltered, unpasteurized ales using only organic ingredients, some of which come right from our own farm. All our ales reflect the Irish tradition of brewing full-flavoured, complex ales which are also great session beers.”
This brewery is in the top three of beer sights to see. I love their ethos and passion. It is part of why I am drawn to beer. Brewers and drinkers alike have a passion that is just great to be a part of, very infectious love of doing great things. Plus they have a beer called Back Hand of God. I love that.
What's chillin' in the fridge
Laurelwood Espresso Stout. Coffee and beer works well together. Will need to wait for a chilly night though. Bright sunshine and stout don’t go together for me.
Beer Cocktails
Great post on Epicurious about beer cocktails.
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/drinking/beer/top5_beercocktails?mbid=RF
I have fallen victim to a snakebite before but I may have to try that again. I have had a shandy before as well and could not drink it. Same with Berliner Weisse with raspberry. But the Stout Diplomat sounds intriguing. I may have to give that a try.
Seaweed Beer
One of my favorite websites, The AV Club has a weekly article called Taste Test. Usually involving something unappetizing like green tea flavored Kit-Kats. This week to my surprise, they had included two beers in their tasting event. The Fraoch Heather beer which I have never had but I have heard good things about and Kelpie Beer made with seaweed.
This leads me to one of my annoyances. Extreme brewing. Now I love an Imperial IPA or a barleywine as much as the next person but, come on, seaweed? Are we to the point where we have fully mastered the brewing arts that seaweed is all that is left to use? There are times when I wish there was an American Reinheitesgebot. That way we can see if a brewer is stripped of tricks whether or not the beer will be solid and flavorful.
I am all for experimenting with brettamyoces or whiskey casks but when you start adding in non-beer related ingredients you might want to pull back from the cliff.
Two NEW beers for you to search for
I sound like a broken record but I just got back from another beer tasting. Due to distributor snafu’s I got to select one of the beers to try. I selected the Poperings Hommel Ale. Excellent. Tastes like a lager. Crisp and clean. Great summer beer to have while watching the NBA playoffs or the start of the new baseball season. It is a Belgian. Small brewery that locally sources the hops and barley themselves.
The second one you should look for is a honey beer called Biekens. Strong at 7.5 alcohol but has a lovely touch of sweetness to it.
What is in my 'fridge
1500 Pale Ale from Drakes.
Triple Hopped?
This is not meant to be a mean, snarky or rant filled blog. It is supposed to focus on great, craft brewed beer but I feel I would be remiss if I did not at least comment on the latest Miller Lite commercial. They claim to be triple hopped. Now this may be true, technically, but what raises my frustration is that, in spirit, they are lying. A triple hopped beer is Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA or Blind Pig from Russian River. If you can taste any hope bitterness in a Miller Lite then you have a much more sophisticated palate than mine. Instead of spending money on ads, I wish the talented beer makers at Miller were spending their time making good beer not marketable beer.