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Tree House is known for some buzzworthy beers that back in the day would generate long buying lines. Now they have two gins that I would stand in line for.
First up is their Hildegard Von Bingen New England Gin which “balances the sweet flavor of malt with a potent dose of resinous hops and juniper.”
Then there is the lower proof variant Bee’s Knees made with the above gin but layering in Lemon, Honey and Natural Flavors.
Both sound quite tasty to this gin fan especially the use of hops.
Hopefully, I will never know how a tiger growls unless it is Hobbes but the beer version from Stone Brewing is next on the review docket, described as a “Double IPA that features Citra and Talus hops which pounce on your palate with abundant sweet orange and stone fruit notes.”
Growls pours a dark orange. This is sorta heavy. The first third swipes at your palate, then there is a bit of grape and candied orange in the second part and then you can feel the ABV in your throat on the way down. The heavy portions are carried by grassy / woodsy notes. A bit different from past Stone big DIPAs.
This one is a recommendation from my Mom and when I went to check it out from the Glendale library, I was a bit startled by how many pages it was. Around 575. But there are short books that are slogs and doorstops that breeze by and The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles glides by like a Studebaker on the highway.
It tells the tale of Emmet and Billy Watson. Two brothers in the middle of the country going on a trip to find their mom who left them many years previously. Other characters come in and out like the Duchess and Wooly, Sally and
This was a pleasant enough book but all the characters seemed very soap opera thin. You had the noble leader, the stalwart gal, the wise younger brother, the wild card and the dim but lovable character. The crazy thing that I though of was the book reminded me of the later Back to the Future movies where everything got very broad and you could see where a scene was going to go from miles away. So if a safe needed to be cracked you knew the wild card would fly off the handle, and the preternaturally smart kid would figure out the combination.
But the end of the book threw me for a loop. I did not see that level of casual disregard to happen.
Anyway for beer the obvious way to go would be to Google the Lincoln Highway route and see which breweries are close that route and have those ready. I would add that finding some Bay Area beers would be a good choice too since the end destination is San Francisco. Maybe a Pliny the Elder would do for the wise kid.
I am here for all the new rice lagers that are being released including this swinging door new beer from Benny Boy Brewing in East Los Angeles.
2024 seems to be the country year, Cowboy Carter and now Trademark Brewing in Long Beach is breaking out the mechanical bull and line dancing for their fifth anniversary in Long Beach.
I will take my chances with the bull as my dancing could cause way more harm.
It is probably not much of a shock for Stone Brewing to have an anniversary IPA. The only question is, what sub-style will it be? The answer, at least for year 28 is a hazy double IPA brewed with Nelson Sauvin and Mosaic hops. More details below…
Our next stop combines a tree and a lovable critter. Oak and Otter Brewing is in SLO. Let’s jump right into a possible taster tray…
Vitamin Sea Wit – “Belgian wit made with fresh orange zest, a great balance of fruit and yeasty characteristics.”
Islay Peak IPA – “The House Standard. West Coast IPA with a great balance of malt and hops.”
Midnight Mallory – “a classic black IPA that has a hop bite and roasty undertones from special roast, midnight wheat.”
Romauldo Red Ale – “A dark, rich Irish red ale with a unique malty taste and bursting with caramel notes.”
Whale Hunting. It was a phase of craft beer that we remember either fondly or with white hot hate for people hiring people to stand in line for beers or those mercenaries who were only buying to sell.
Now pick your side before reading this short Punch article.
And we are back, with the hindsight of 20/20 vision, I would have put all the FOMO in a box and set my energies to selecting those beers that I wanted to hunt for vs the ones that if I tasted, cool, but that I wasn’t going to be out running for and then sat back and watched the show.
To an extent, I did that, I had a next best beer available mentality for the most part. But I did chase afield sometimes when I could have drunk local and done almost as well, if not better.
My other regret was not being strident enough in my denunciations of the re-sellers. I was clearly against them but I probably could have said harsher words and maybe even pranked them a bit as well.
My gut does tell me that craft beer whales will be back and I will get a second chance with it. Collecting is a unique American vice that never goes out of style, see Stanley Tumblers, see Bourbon now.
I mention the writer David Nilsen recently in talking about non-alcoholic beers and now I get to highlight his new book, Beer and Chocolate which gives you…
– “The basics of both beer and chocolate for folks coming to this topic more familiar with one or the other.
– The process for successfully pairing beer and chocolate.
– Instructions for how host a beer and chocolate pairing in your own home.
– Style by style pairing guidance for dozens of beer styles. In each style chapter, we talk about the style’s basic flavors and ingredients, how it pairs with chocolate (including challenges and types of chocolates to seek out and ones to avoid), commercial examples of beers in this styles and specific chocolate to seek out, and example pairings to illustrate the principles.
– Each style chapter also includes space to take pairing notes of your own.”
My Orange County brewery visit list is getting too long and one of those on that list is Villains Brewing in the old Modern Times spot near Unsung and Monkish.
But they have made things a little easier with….cans!
