San Pedro Day – Hess at the Harbor

San Pedro has some big waterfront plans in the pipeline in what is called the West Harbor Development ( see one of the proposed renderings below ) and some possible tenants are either onboard or linked to it at this point.

From the craft beer perspective, San Diego based Mike Hess Brewing is one of these tenants which means that you might be able to hit up both Brouwerij West and Mike Hess in a day down by ocean.

Your Friendly Trailer

Your Beer Friend which has themed beer packages to buy throughout the year is now debuting their craft beer trailer. A 1955 trailer is now a rolling bar with six taps in it. 

They are now accepting reservations for the trailer for events in Los Angeles and Orange County. 

Label Love

Every once in a while, I like to give some flowers to label designs that show extra effort, are fun and just flat out rise above the cut.

Burgeon Beer Co. takes a diner ticket approach to Order Up.

There are loads of little details. The color is spot on and there is even a binder clip as well. All with enough space and room for the hop bill and the charitable causes logos too. Works on all levels.

N/A Day – Kentucky 74

In my reviews of N/A beer, I often lament that an IPA should be easy. Just throw all the hops at it. That often does not work. I currently hold the position that an N/A bourbon should be straightforward as well. Get some oak notes, get some vanilla.

Let’s see what Spiritless and their distilled non-alcoholic spirit for Bourbon cocktails, Kentucky 74 does…

I can smell a load of spice coming off of this. Is it Fireball? There is also a strange secondary aroma as well. Granted, before I get too far. I am not cocktailing, just tasting straight. Very thin and more spiced like a rum. How this applies to a traditional Bourbon cocktail eludes me. Glad I didn’t spend the $35 bucks for a bottle.

N/A Day – Frei

You go around the sun enough times and you run into everything. Even a biegarten in Munich that serves only alcohol free beer.

Click the Facebook link HERE for a short video.

Personally, one spot in an entire large city should not worry German brewers and instead should make them look at their offerings to see what they can do better.

Field Notes

Do you eschew digital notes? Prefer old fashioned pen and paper?

Field Notes has teamed with Solemn Oath Brewing on a beer and a notebook. SoCal will not see the beer but you can get the memo book.

You can buy one HERE.

7 to 30

According to the Craft Maltsters Guild Craft Malt Week has bloomed into Craft Malt Month for September of this year.  

Events and collaborations can be found on the official calendar at craftmaltmonth.comso you can find malt forward beers and maybe even learn a little bit about the world of craft malt.

Reverse Library

The good thing and bad thing about having an outpost of Creature Comforts Brewing in DTLA is that some beers are Georgia only.

Here is to hoping that Tsundoku a Japanese Rice Lager makes the jump to us. Because what the name means (literally the collecting of books that you haven’t read, however it’s concept is rooted in a continuous act of curiosity.” is as cool as one of the featured ingredients Carolina Gold rice from Tidewater Farms.

Review – Rosso from Menabrea

It is not often that I drink an Italian beer. And even less often that I taste one on draft so when my wife and I went out to Pasta Sisters in Culver City and I saw that they had two beers on draft from Menabrea Brewing, well, I had to try.

I had to really adjust my taste buds and expectations after having a DDH and a TDH IPAs earlier in the day. This is water from the Alps. A slight touch of Old World hops and then leaning into malt without being a big beer. This is subtle. No spice notes, no bitterness just malt and it was a great way to end a drinking day or to start one. Rosso is a beer that can get lost in the shuffle between hoppy bangers so one needs to have this with food and enjoy it.