Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Recently the beer ticker app Untappd unveiled a new badge, the Century Club. You would earn this commendation when you checked into the same beer 100 times.
I might be close via Sierra Nevada Pale Ale but other than that, I cannot name another beer that would even threaten that triple digit number. I reckon that over 20 would be a high number for me.
I think it is both a sign of my reduced use of the app and my curiosity that will bar me from getting this badge and I think I am OK with that.
If you want to hear a little BTS of a brewery here in Los Angeles then you give this short under five minute segment from Marketplace with Brown Soul Brewing of South Gate.
Listen HERE
I promised posts about L.A. Beer Week and here is another one with some BSP picks for the almost here celebration of L.A. beer….
All month the Stuffed Sandwich will have an L.A. brewers flight available.
Monday, June 17th – Cellador Ales
Cellador Ales has a tap takeover in Virgil Village at Alma’s Cider. And if you can’t attend that event, then…..
Wednesday, June 19th – Cellador at Southland Beer
“LA is not only blessed with great beer but is also surrounded by agriculture and a great way to showcase how those two factors meet is with Cellador’s sour beer program. We’ll have a selection of beers never before seen at Southland, and Cellador will be in the house telling the stories behind those beers.”
On tap:
Oogum Boogum – Wild Ale with Murray Limequats, Fukushu Kumquats, 2nd use late harvest Masumoto Le Grand Nectarines, vanilla & elderflower.
Raspberry Beer – Wild Ale with Raspberry, Blood Orange and 2nd-Use Nectarines and Apricots
Bottles:
15 Petals – Wild Ale with Roses and Masumoto Rose Diamond Nectarines
Nouvelle Pêche – Tart Saison with Masumoto Baby Crawford Peaches
Thursday, June 20th – Lincoln Beer Company
L.A. Beer Week Collective Brew – join the team and be a party of the brewing process. Brew with them, smell the hops and vote on your favorite and get your signature on the can.
Friday, June 21st – Farmer’s Market Bars
El Segundo Brewing and Three Weavers Brewing tag team at the historic Farmer’s Market for a one night tap takeover.
Saturday, June 22nd – Brewyard Art Festival
Come out and support your community of 20+ local artists and vendors. There will be so much good food, live music, DJ’s and of course, special beer releases!
Sunday, June 23rd – King of the Kolsch
Arts District Brewing hosts Wave 2 of their Kolsch contest between L.A. brewers starting at Noon
As we have seen in Arizona most recently, there be a lot of just batshit crazy laws on the books and nowhere is that more true than when it comes to alcohol. Anything with a whiff of fun must be morally wrong for others to do.
Case in point, in the 1950’s if you boarded a plane you probably got a free drink and as many as you needed. But, if you were flying over a dry county or municipality, you could not be served a drink even though you were up in the air.
The rationale being that the dryness extended all the way up into the sky. Even though a few minutes later you could get a drink. Flight attendants then, and now had to deal with oddness.
After the trials and tribulations of the last 4+ years, MacLeod Ales has hung on and has reached the double digit milestone of 10 years. That achievement alone should push you to a trip to Van Nuys to have a pint, maybe even a cask ale.
Los Angles has a few sister cities all over the world, less than I thought, so this month for L.A. Beer Week, I thought it is time to visit some and our first Sister City to visit is Split, Croatia and the Tap B Brewpub.
Split, is the second largest city in Croatia and is a seaport/ resort city in southern Croatia. Located on a peninsula in the Adriatic Sea and best known for the ruins of the Palace of Diocletian.
You can start here with Trapula, an American styled Pale Ale and then move on to then dial back to their GAD Pilsner or their Lito Blonde Ale before hitting the hops again with Mirakul IPA.
Tarantula Hills Brewing in Thousand Oaks has hit a significant milestone. Saturday, June 22nd is their 5 Year Anniversary.
Festivity Details include: (yays and nopes are mine)
5th Anniversary Beer + Brewer’s Special Keg – yay!
Smoked Old Fashion Cocktail – yay!
El Rey Oyster Shooters – nope
Great Lineup of Live Music – OK
Birthday Sundae flavored Ice Cream – yay!
5th Anniversary Merch – OK
Name, image and likeness. To universities and coaches, it is a bit of a curse word. To the NCAA as a whole? A lot more swear words. But how will college sports really be changed by this? Probably won’t know until a few years and college classes have gone through but I have a guess and it involves a power switch.
That switch was from coach to player. It is on full display here in Los Angeles with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as much in charge of head coach as the front office. It is seen in the transfer portal where athletes head out of town if they don’t play or get to play in the style they want.
This will expand, in my opinion, to those college athletes who will find that they have levers of power to pull and will start to pull them. Who will stand in the way of a 19 year old combo guard who is making local commercials really well and whose draft stock is rising?
Not the college who has a marquee name to use as a draw. Not a coach who is on the hot seat. Not a NCAA administrator who needs to keep both happy. Of course keeping the worker down is endemic in the US so all will keep trying to push the athlete down but they might soon find that they cannot.
Pivoting to beer, the closest analog to a NIL is IP and how breweries skirt lawsuits with beer names and labels. Who will gain the upper hand there? So go find a beer with a movie reference or a product reference on it. How does name and likeness translate in the realm of beer labels?
A couple nights ago, lucky members of the North American Guild of Beer Writers talked malt with Admiral Maltings, Headlands Brewing and Crisp Maltings,
Here are my takeaways from the night and a review of the Headlands beer too!
Hops get the headlines, yeast gets some spotlight along with malt whilst water is left out altogether. But new malts like from Haná barley could bring some more shine.
Haná is a heritage barley, the second from Crisp after Chevalier. It was a key component of pilsner way back and a landrace un-heavily modified barley. It hasn’t been malted in the UK for 100 some odd years before Crisp re-started it. And the reason Admiral Maltings was involved is that they had a relationship with Crisp and because Haná has been and now is again, grown here.
Let’s jump to the end of the chain first and describe the Headlands Brewing Munich Helles. It pours a light straw yellow color. Nice bubbly look to it. Normally for me, a Helles would have a minimal aroma. But this one was bright and reminded me of spring. It had a great balance of lightness but also very full flavored. A mix of cracker and bread dough.
Back to the malt. There are precious little malt collaboration beers and even less that count two maltsters collaborating so the fact that two maltsers from two different countries floor malted this same heritage barley is a big deal. And an even bigger deal was being able to get your hands on some of this malt. A brewery had to jump at the chance when offered.
And you may see some if you are near Russian River, Firestone Walker, Alaro, Sierra Nevada or Almanac (which is next door to Admiral). Those breweries got small allotments for R&D. Or you can head to the Bay on June 29th for the It’s the Malt a craft Malt Festival that celebrates local agriculture and craft malt.
Chevalier and Haná are first steps into reviving a host of barleys that bring with them different flavors as well as making brewers adjust how they brew to maximize them. We have seen how different hops require new ways of brewing and it is exciting to see that come into play with malts. Because that will create whole new playing fields and maybe, new beer styles.
The Torrance Beermuda Triangle is gaining another tenant as HopSaint Brewing Company will be expanding to a location HopSaint @ The Ditch. I would probably ditch that moniker to match up better with the delicious beers that HopSaint puts out.
I will follow up with news about when and where when opening is closer.