Left Burbank International Airport early in the AM and despite a little turbulence into Denver, everything went smoothly and by early afternoon, I was in Colorado Springs sipping beer at Ivywild an old school converted into food and drink with a brewery (Bristol Brewing) and distillery on site.
Over a bacon and bleu burger, I tasted four beers. A pale ale, a fresh hop IPA, a nitro IPA and for a change a pumpkin ale too. All four were above average which is not bad for a brewery that I had never researched at all. So good that I got a big ol’ bottle of their saison, which also rang true. A good start to the trip.
Next up was a drive south to the Cristo de Sangre mountain range town of Westclifffe, where the beer choices were a tad slim but luckily the stovepipe cans are around and I found a reliable Colorado choice in 90 Shilling Ale and flagship IPA from Odell Brewing and also a not so mini whiskey from Laws Whiskey House.
Uncle Nearest Distilling has been doing the bourbon thing and gaining accolades for it but now they reach into Tennessee Whiskey. A lower proof whiskey for the godfather of Tennessee whiskey at a more approachable proof.
I have been lucky enough to find some Russian River beers at my local Whole Foods / Amazon and maybe I will see the new R –n- D Series beer coming from the Santa Rosa brewery because Hazy IPA #54 is coming and it is coming with Brewer’s Gold and Citra hops.
The Georgia based Creature Comforts Brewing has reached the one year mark for their south of downtown, Fashion District L.A. outpost and will spend the first weekend of November celebrating. Maybe they will have a few autumnal beers on tap to ease into the holiday season with.
It has featured breweries / local favorites that are not the usual suspects such as Norwalk Brew House, La Bodega Brewing Co. from Whittier, Brewjeria Company from Pico Rivera, Cerveza Xteca from San Diego, and Cerveza Cito hailing from Santa Ana.
And 100% of the proceeds from Brew Walk will directly benefit St. Linus School, that money goes to supporting educational programs and resources for the students. Maybe one of whom will become a brewer in the future.
A food hall in SoCal without a brewery presence is probably not really a food hall. But what if your food hall has two breweries?
Haven City in West Covina, wedged into an already busy big strip mall has recently opened and when I visited had a big crowd (even before a Dodger playoff game had started). Lots of food vendors right next to a big grocery store and there were still spots like Amboy not ready yet.
On one end is Ogopogo Brewing which had a full slate of their beers including two Fest-ish beers in Drude Marzen and Nachtkrapp Schwarzbier as well as a collab Nectaron Pils with Arrow Lodge. They are in a quiet corner that could probably use more seating but Drude was quite excellent.
Over on the other side is Burning Bridge Brewing which also does a small menu of tacos. They had quite a line-up on tap including a Belgian Dubbel, a PSL beer and, what I was told is a quite popular rice lager. I went with a hefty Hazy DIPA, Swing of the Axe, another beertender recommendation.
This City was full of people watching and also has a nice outdoor seating area as well. I would say pick a spot for a beer, then wander and choose some food and then have a second beer.
I posted about Slice & Pint from El Segundo Brewing expanding to a second location down the road in Redondo Beach, well in no time flat, they already have a special beer for it.
Naturally, it is an IPA. Now to find the right pizza for it.
Yes, the above does look like a Star Trek cocktail replicator down to the interior mood lighting. It also looks like a Dyson bladeless fan which could lead to trouble.
But it is the BarSys system. Kind of a boring name for basically a cocktail database plus pouring system plus light show. You pour your alcohol in the top as well as mixers on the other side, set your glass in the center and voila, time for a cocktail.
And yeah, it is cool that you can program your recipes plus others and it does look all future-y but part of the pouring a drink process for me is how it is calming and anticipatory to craft a drink. This robs you of that simple pleasure while also making you have to remember when you last cleaned the bourbon section of the device or if there is enough tonic.
Not Needed – make your simple favorites yourself and go to a fancy bar to have fancier cocktails made, that is so much simpler and fun.
Being the opinionated fellow that I am, I do like to express my opinions and now Chowhound readers know that too as I put in my two cents on good beer cities around the U.S. Read it HERE.
Everyone has a different set of opinions as to what makes a beer city a Beer City but I believe that certain criteria need to be met: A wide variety of beer styles, a good amount of breweries, beer bars and bottle shops, some GABF medals would be nice, a scene in the suburbs of the city is good too.
Thanks to Fiona Chandra for reaching out and listening.
I had the great pleasure and fun to be a judge in the Beer Travel Writing category of the North American Guild of Beer Writers annual awards, so I am going to start this post there and then widen the scope to the other winners.
This was the 10th year of the awards. There were 269 entries from 96 writers covering 15 categories. The big winners were David Nilsen, Dave Infante, Courtney Iseman and Brian Yeager who bagged multiple medals.
Here is the full list of winners: (and I suggest you search these writers out)
Best Beer and Food Writing
First Place: David Nilsen. “How to Pair IPAs with Craft Chocolate.” Bean to Barstool Second Place: Grace Weitz. “Stumbling Into the Hot Pink Restaurant With the Most Pleasurable Food in France.” Hop Culture
Best Blog/Newsletter
First Place: Jeff Alworth, Beervana. Second Place: Dave Infante, Fingers. Third Place: Douglas Veliky, Beer Crunchers.
Honorable Mention: Shana Solarte, Top Crop.
Emerging Voice: Cat Wiest, Hopwire Blog.
Best Book
First Place: Matthew Curtis. Manchester’s Best Beer Pubs and Bars. 2023. Second Place: Beth Demmon. The Beer Lover’s Guide to Cider: American Ciders for Craft Beer Fans to Explore. 2023. Third Place: David Nilsen. Pairing Beer and Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together. 2024.
Best Brewery Profile
First Place: Lucy Corne. “Women-Led, Women-Brewed — Kweza Craft Brewery in Kigali, Rwanda.” Good Beer Hunting. Second Place: Holly Regan. “Things Are Not What They Seem — Hildegard Ferments & Botanicals in Seattle, Washington.” Good Beer Hunting.Third Place: Claire Bullen. “10,000 Human Decisions — On Mariage Parfait Oude Geuze, Frank Boon, and Belgian Lambic Culture.” Belgian Smaak.
Honorable Mention: Maloy Luakian. “Supernatural Creatures And Blended Cultures — Dokkaebier’s Story Of Shapeshifting.” Good Beer Hunting.
Emerging Voice: Jacqueline Kehoe. “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger — How Iowa’s Big Grove Brewery Defies the Odds and Categorization.” Good Beer Hunting.
Best Business Writing
First Place: Michael Stein. “When Beer Goes Flat.” Slate Second Place: Courtney Iseman. “Building the On-Ramp: Vocational Programs for Brewers.” Brewing Industry Guide.
Third Place: Ken Pishna. “Non-alcoholic beer is growing; Should your brewery grow with it?” Malteurop Malting Co. Honorable Mention: Pete Brown. “Thornbridge to prove Britain’s brewing heritage can be profitable.” The Drinks Business
Emerging Voice: Jacqueline Kehoe. “Wisconsin Intuition — How New Glarus Brewed a State Identity with Spotted Cow.” Good Beer Hunting
Best Commentary or Criticism
First Place: Dave Infante. “The Bud Light Fiasco: How AB InBev Fell for the Gamergate Playbook.” VinePair. Second Place: Courtney Iseman. “Is Craft Beer Cringe Right Now?” InsideHook. Third Place: David Nilsen. “On Curiosity, Empathy, and the Flavor of Beer.” Belt Magazine.
Best General Beer Podcast
First Place: Dave Infante. VinePair Taplines Second Place: Breandán Kearney. The Belgian Smaak Podcast
Third Place: Emma Inch. Same Again?
Honorable Mention: Emily Hutto. RadCraft Industry Relief
Best Historical Writing
First Place: Mark Dredge. “From One to All — The Past, Present, and Future of Lager Yeast.” Good Beer Hunting. Second Place: Tony Rehagen. “The Utterly Fascinating History and Mystery of Oklahoma’s Choctaw “Choc” Beer.” Garden & Gun. Third Place: Anaïs Lecoq. “Garçon, un Picon! — The Past and Future Success of Amer Bière in French Drinking Culture.” Good Beer Hunting
Honorable Mention: Noelle Phillips. “Angry Hen Brewing and the Legacy of Shirley Warne.” The BC Ale Trail
Best Local Reporting
First Place: Courtney Iseman. “Secondary Fermentation — New York City’s Strong Rope Brewery and the East Coast Cask Revival.” Pellicle Magazine. Second Place: Eli Radtke. “THC Takes Over the Twin Cities.” Heavy Table. Third Place: Brian Yaeger. “Oral History Of Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale.” Bend Source Weekly. Honorable Mention: Alexander Gates. “An Ode to Lahaina’s Beer Scene.” Frolic Hawaii. Emerging Voice: Shamim de Brún. “The Quest For A Perfect Smithwick’s in Dublin.” Totally Dublin.
Best National or International Reporting
First Place: Alyssa Pereira. “The Man, Now Myth — Searching for Tony Magee.” Good Beer Hunting. Second Place: Lucy Corne. “Get to Know Umqombothi, a South African Tradition.” Craft Beer & Brewing. Third Place: Joshua Bernstein. “The Real Mystery of Bud Light.” The Atlantic. Honorable Mention: Dave Infante. “How Sapporo USA Sank Anchor Brewing Co.” VinePair.
Best Beer Review
First Place: David Nilsen. “Precious and Grace — Brouwerij Van Steenberge’s Tripel Van De Garre.” Pellicle Magazine. Second Place: Melinda Guerra. “Stardust and Loss: Friendship, Grief, and a Shared Saison.” Final Gravity. Third Place: Brian Yaeger. “One Of The World’s Most Obscure Beers Comes To Bend.” Bend Source Weekly. Honorable Mention: Loren Green. “A breath of fresh air.” Heavy Table.
Best Short Form Writing
First Place: Cliff Lucas. “Café de Hanekeef.” Belgian Smaak Second Place: Bryan Roth. “b-Roll no. 701.” Good Beer Hunting. Third Place: Andy Crouch. “Oh Brother: Newly Sober Hulk Hogan Releases “Real American Beer.” All About Beer.
Best Technical or Brewing Podcast
First Place: Jonny Garrett. The Craft Beer Channel.
Second Place: Jen Blair. False Bottomed Girls.
Third Place: John Holl. All About Beer Brewer to Brewer.
Best Technical Writing
First Place: Joe Stange. “Czech Lager: The Art of the Addictive.” Craft Beer & Brewing. Second Place: Don Tse. “It’s the Malt’s Fault (How Malt Choices Affect Beer’s Shelf Life).” Brewing Industry Guide. Third Place: Shana Solarte. “How Yeast Affects Flavor.” Top Crop. Honorable Mention: Matthew Curtis. “Old Gold, Heritage Malts Return to British Beer.” Craft Beer & Brewing.
Since it was the last category of the event, we will finish with the travel category:
1st place: My Father, Lion Lager, & Home by Ruvani de Silva (Final Gravity)
2nd place: A Happy Valley of Beer — Investigating the Pubs and Breweries of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England by Michael Clarke (Good Beer Hunting)
3rd place: Anarchists, Surrealists, & Spanish Brewers by John McMahon (Final Gravity)
Honorable mention: No Blitz — How Arkansas Tech University Fans Tailgate in a Dry County by Brian Sorensen (Good Beer Hunting)
Emerging Voice: Rebirth and Reinvention — As Chattanooga Grows and Changes, Local Beer Follows Along by Drew Pitt (Good Beer Hunting)
