San Diego Area Brewery Tour # 3 – Barley & Sword Brewing

Our last stop in the San Diego area is at Barley & Sword Brewing. They are located on El Cajon Boulevard just north of the North Park area and have a refreshing change of style pace in their beers on tap.

Let’s order up a taster flight..

Fiddler’s Green Mild“A sessionable pub ale that will keep you coming back for more.”

Orkney Ale – “San Diego International beer competition Silver medal winning. Referencing the Orkney Islands, a remote Scottish archipelago where the brewing of strong, malty ales has a long history. A malty beer with light caramel, toast, toffee, and even light stonefruit flavors. The sweetness is offset by roasted malt characters balance the bitterness and provide a dynamic and lasting experience. Toast, roast, bread, and caramel-toffee notes full this medium bodied beer, finishing with a slightly roasty dryness.”

Edwin Fox English IPA – “A clear departure from the abundant West Coast IPA style. This English IPA is intended to be a window into the genisis of the IPA style. Broad and bold malt characters are well balanced with a trio of English Hops to give a unique and delightful experience in aroma and taste. While not as bitter forward, this traditional IPA is enjoyable to both hop heads and less hoppy beer drinkers.”

Wheeler’s Patent Irish Dry Stout – “Everything you look for in an Irish Stout. This pint of black is dark, creamy, and full of malty and roasted flavors. Do not miss this when it’s on cask!”

1st Visit – Audio Graph Brewing

Yes, this is a bit of a cheat since Audio Graph Beer Co. is the same brewery just with a new name but I thought I would re-1st visit anyway.

I started with a flight comprised of the fairly new Ambient Amber Lager, Flathead Hazy Pale, Noise Violation DIPA, finishing with Bass Clef Barrel-Aged Barleywine at a whopping 15.45% ABV.  The last was rich and boozy and I am glad I savored that at the end.  

Of that group the amber, a throwback to microbreweries past was my pick.  Malty and filling and just great for a cloudy day.

I also got small tastes of the pils, the berry sour and the fermented michelada which was super savory and spicy (for a wuss like me) and really tasty.

And despite the LAFC contingent offending my Timbers vibe, it is still the same cool DTLA space that many don’t know about but should.

Review – Luponic Distortion 2024 from Firestone Walker

Seems like forever ago when Firestone Walker started their quarterly hop adventure, Luponic Distortion. I believe I collected them all and even reviewed quite a few as well.

LD was a rotating IPA with each version utilizing different hops on the same base beer. Now, it is back as part of a variety pack in cans or bottles.

The new blue canned Distortion is pretty close to pale ale strength and pours an orange-y / yellow color. Aroma is quite strong. I set the glass down and could smell it from over a foot away. I get a bit of sweet tart followed by a bready malt note in equal measure. Berry fruit in particular on the second sip and a bit of a rough hop bite which I like. But still quite light on the palate and the malt keeps this from tasting watery which is an issue I have encountered a bit lately.

Well Told and Designed

I am the last person who should suggest getting more glassware seeing as how I have more than I can ever use myself but I did like the design and the concept of these glasses from Well Told.

You get a Gatsby look and a little fun facts about the beer style. Maybe a good gift idea or if you can make room in your pint glass collections.

Schreiners for German Beer

Glendale is in the middle of a lot and places that have been around forever can be missed, even places close to me like Schreiners Deli in Montrose which has old school German beer to buy in single cans or packs.

…and sandwiches and German treats like my favorite Haribo Gummi Bears. Or you can get your Oktobefest sausage here.

Here is a snapshot of the beer selection…

…it has a tilt towards Alkohol Frei but they also have Weihenstephan and Kostritzer though not much in the deep cut vein. Think stalwarts. Think more than you will find in even good bottle shops.

I grabbed a Gaffel Kolsch can to pair with my sandwich.

World Beer Cup 2024

CBC, the Craft Brewers Conference was in Las Vegas aka Land of the Sphere and that is where the World Beer Cup awards were announced yesterday.

Here is my Los Angeles centric take on who won…

  • 9,300 beers entered into the competition from 50 countries
  • took 8 categories before California announced itself by sweeping the Coffee beer category
  • Orange County picked up a brace of medals in Strong Porter and Hoppy Pilsner
  • Bend, Oregon was the big city winner
  • Speaking of Bend, 10 Barrel swept the German Style Sour Category, winning all three medals
  • weird fact that German-Style Pilsner was the 3rd biggest category
  • Good to see that Ian McCall and ISM Brewing came up big with multiple medals
  • Got to see Bianca, Jace and Guillermo streaming!
  • Also happy to see L.A. based winners Paperback repping Glendale with Silver, Ogopogo and Far Field with Gold and Cellador with Silver, Bravery with Bronze
  • La Fin du Monde from Unibroue won Gold and I have that in my fridge!
  • Great beer names: Cactus Makes Perfect, Hell Yes Helles, Irish Pre-Nup

You can see the full list of winners HERE

Sith

Star Wars geeks know the importance of Kyber Crystal and what happens if the crystal is red.  It means a hoppy red ale from Long Beach Beer Lab that even a Sith Lord could love.  Masters and apprentices alike.