Author: Sean Inman

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Past Masters


Dogfish Head has resurrected a few ancient recipes but it is good to see that the folks at Fuller’s (teamed with Ron Pattinson) have dug into their own backyard to bring back some old recipes from their archives.

As their website explains, “The Brew Book has been the bible of brewing at Fuller’s since 1845. Every recipe of every beer ever brewed at the Griffin Brewery has been recorded in meticulous details, documenting the profound skills of generations of Master Brewers.

Today’s Master Brewer, John Keeling, will be recreating a number of epic ales, named ‘Past Masters’, with those precise recipes from the Brew Book.

Sourcing ingredients as close as possible to those originally used, each Past Master will be brewed with traditional techniques to recreate a truly authentic taste.

Only one Past Masters beer will be brewed in a single batch for each release. Each will be unique in its character, and will be a very special opportunity for beer lovers to taste the beer of our forefathers.”

And these are the first two beers made:
“XX Strong Ale
The first beer in the Past Masters series we have chosen to recreate is XX, a strong ale which is perfect for bottle conditioning. Brewed at 7.5% ABV, with the original recipe first used on September 2, 1891, it is dark, rich and full flavoured, with a distinctly warming character.

XX is deeply satisfying, and an unforgettable experience for those who love traditional English beer.

Double Stout
Past Masters Double Stout is the second in the series, brewed to a recipe from 4th August 1893 – a time when ‘stout’ meant ‘strong’. Its signature ingredient is Plumage Archer barley, carefully malted and kilned using 19th Century methods. Dark, brown and creamy this beer is brewed to 7.4% ABV and balances a rich fruity aroma with smoky, bittersweet chocolate notes.”

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Event Review – Stone Store in Pasadena

My L.A. Beer Week kicked off in Pasadena at the brand spanking new Stone outpost. An event so popular that they extended the event by a couple of hours to accommodate all the folks who wanted to get a first look at the arrogance.

Upon entering the Del Mar station of the Gold Line. (Yes, it is literally steps away from the train), I got my customary “bracelet” and a ticket for (4) beers and food. Now I could have saved some of the boxes for a growler fill or a tasting flight at a later date but I wanted to try the special beers that had come up from Escondido.

I started off with Ruination dry hopped with Motueka hops. This version tasted softer to me. Which is a good thing. I did not need to have my palate “ruined” one beer in. It still had a hearty kick of bitterness, don’t get me wrong, but a little more fruit notes rose to my attention.

Faithful readers of this blog will know that I prefer the lighter side of beers and I generally disdain the cult of the imperial stout but the beer that I was looking forward to the most was a big beer. Suitable for Cave Aging was created in honor of Danny Williams who passed away this year. He was one of the quirky legends of the craft beer world and I don’t know what his style preferences were but this beer was quite nice. Strong but not overpowering bourbon notes. A little sweetness. Overall a good after dinner sipper.

The other beer of note was an espresso bean version of Sublimely Self-Righteous. That coffeehouse aroma was in evidence but it faded into the beer which was more malt driven than coffee or chocolate. But it went really well with the beer cookies that were offered.

One day down and 10 to go!

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September Brewery # 2 – Throwback Brewing


New Hampshire doesn’t have the same hops and malts growing area that the Pacific NW does but that isn’t stopping the optimistic folks at Throwback who are trying to push for their own “beer-oir”

The beers that struck my fancy are the Maple Kissed Wheat Porter which “is a medium-bodied porter that tastes amazingly smooth and velvety. The rich and creamy mouthfeel is a result of the wheat used in the brewing process. Local maple syrup gives this beer just a hint of palate-pleasing sweetness as well as a nice depth of flavor.

We call this beer “maple-kissed” because we use just the right balance of maple syrup to impart a delicious flavor without the beer becoming sweet.”

There is also the Spicy Bohemian a “pilsener and “dry-hopped” it with roasted jalapenos. The result is a well-balanced beer with a very intoxicating peppery-type aroma, great jalapeno flavor, and just a bit of lingering heat. This beer pairs extremely well with any type of Mexican food, as well as many types of hard cheese.”

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L.A. Beer Week – It has Arrived!


Now is the time to grab your L.A. Beer Week passport and a pocket for bottlecaps so that you can collect the right ones to get a L.A. Beer Week Cap and start hitting events!

Today on FoodGPS, I picked some can’t miss parties for you. And here on my blog, I will delve into how to navigate the 10 days of fun.

First off, you need to generate a list of events. Put each one into either a “must see”, “should see” or “not this year” list. You do that by scoping out the events over at LA Beer Week website then you look at my picks and then cross-checked against what you enjoyed last year.

Now take the “must see” events and put them onto a calendar. If you have one every night, that’s great! But if you want to truly enjoy each event, you may want to scale back and have a couple days to drink water and rest. You do not want to enter the gates of Union Station on that final day, have a couple samples and be filled up because of all that you had before. Trust me, that is what happened to me last year.

The other criteria that I use to whittle down the field are as follows:
~ Is it a one of a kind event? Last year’s Firestone-Walker Deconstructed dinner was epic and this year Firestone is doing a one day Sour beer blitz through L.A.
~ Is the event at a bar or brewery that you haven’t visited? Use the fest as an excuse to hit places that you don’t normally go to.
~ What beer style is on display? You don’t want to have three IPA-centric events in a row. Spice things up. Go Berliner Weisse one day and change up the next.

Use my suggestions or your own criteria and then as a final step, make sure you have back-ups for some events. You may be tired or traffic is awful (405 closure time coincides with the final weekend) and you may have to go to a Plan B that is either closer to home or work.

But whether you attend 1 event or 10, have fun. As famous publican Don Younger put it, “It’s not about the beer. It’s about the beer.”

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The Beer Allowance – September

I did not dawdle when it came to selecting my special September beer. I did take awhile to post here on the blog though.

You can tell by my happy face that I have grabbed another cellar beer to add to my collection…..

Here is what Deschutes has to say about this special anniversary beer…”XXIV. 24 years after Black Butte Porter’s debut, our potent, layered, imperial tribute returns. As usual, it’s a jazz riff, guided by the brewer’s muse and the lure of exotic ingredients. Artisanal dark chocolate nibs. Deglet dates. Mission figs. It may, possibly, hopefully, be the best edition yet. But, as it should be, you’ll be the judge of that.”

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FoodGPS Teaser – Fourth time’s a Charm


Tomorrow on FoodGPS, I will be giving you the top picks of where to go and what to drink as L.A. Beer Week unspools. Here is the initial info blast to prep you before then….

“LA Beer Week makes its triumphant return a little early this year! Now its fourth iteration, this epic celebration of local beer culture will take place throughout Los Angeles & Orange Counties (and their respective environs) from September 20-30, rather than in October as in years past.

LA Beer Week aims to present a large number of events all around town, with focused tastings, educational seminars, and beer pairing dinners that will please craft beer aficionados and neophytes alike. These resplendent activities will culminate with the signature LA Beer Week Festival on September 30, from 12-4pm at the historic Union Station. $50 pre-sale tickets for the flagship festival are available now, which entitle attendees to unlimited 4oz. tasters of beer from over 70 of the world’s most respected craft and artisan breweries, including some rare and special releases. Gourmet food trucks and local artisans will also be on site to peddle their tasty treats.”

And here is the list of LABW Brewers that are participating in the Prickly Pear collaboration project:
• Eagle Rock Brewery
– Berliner-Rye with Red and Green Prickly Pear Fruit
– Available throughout LABW activities & at Union Station
• Golden Road
– Honey Blonde with Cactus Honey and Mesquite-Smoked Prickly Pear Fruit and Pads
– Available throughout LABW activities & at Union Station
• Cismontane
– Hefeweizen with Hand-Pressed Prickly Pear Juice
– Available throughout LABW activities & at Union Station
• Ladyface Ale Companie
– Prickly Pear-Infused IPA
– 1-2 kegs available at Union Station event only
• Beachwood BBQ & Brewing
– Belgian Golden Strong
• Smog City Brewing
– Prickly Pear-Infused Saison
– 1-2 kegs available at Union Station event only
• Monkish Brewing
– Belgian Dark Wheat with Prickly Pear
– Not sure of quantity
• El Segundo
– Not sure of style or quantity to be brewed
• Hangar 24
– Not sure of style or quantity to be brewed
• Kinetic Brewing
– Not sure of style or quantity to be brewed

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before L.A. Beer Week starts

As if L.A. Beer Week needed to be any more fun, here are 3 more ale-ventures to accomplish between the 20th and 30th this month.

From the fine folks behindL.A. Beer Week:

1. CAPS FOR CAPS INITIATIVE
We’ve got some awesome local breweries with some beautiful looking bottle caps emblazoned with their logos. Homies like Eagle Rock Brewery, Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, The Bruery, Black Market Brewing, and Brouwerij West. If you can collect a dozen of those bottle caps, you can trade em in for an official LABW hat at the LA Beer Week Festival. (Hat = cap. Bottle cap. Caps for Caps… see what we did there?)

And for those local breweries who aren’t yet marking their bottle caps with their logo, we’ve partnered with local bottle shops/LABW sponsors to place special stickers on those caps to help spread the love and make this little program even more of a happy success. Look for the stickers at these fine potent potable purveyors:

Wally’s Wine and Spirits (West LA)
K&L Wine Merchants (Hollywood)
The Oaks Gourmet Market (Los Feliz)
Red Carpet Wine (Glendale)
Co-Opportunity (Santa Monica)

If for some unknown reason you aren’t attending the LA Beer Week Festival, you can bring said 12 caps to Eagle Rock Brewery or Beer Belly to claim your superfly sombrero.

2. THE LA BEER WEEK BUCKET LIST
As an added incentive to head out to multiple events this year (as if the events themselves weren’t incentive enough), we’ve devised the brilliant LA Beer Week Bucket List to help steer you in a few adventurous directions. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to collect special stickers by participating in certain types of events: visiting local breweries, attending a beer education seminar, moseying out to one of our highlighted shindigs, and seeking out an extra special, rare beer. Those who complete this most noble quest, collecting all four stickers and bringing their finished Bucket List to the LA Beer Week Festival are then entitled to a bottle of the official LABW beer, Unity, from Eagle Rock Brewery! It also gets you into a drawing for free tickets to the amazing BAM Fest (Beer, Art, and Music) on Oct. 6th in Santa Monica!

3. LA BEER WEEK BADGE ON UNTAPPD
The true craft beer cognoscenti are using Untappd to check-in to their favorite beers, a newfangled 21st century kind of way to drink socially, if you will. Users of the free app can receive the official Untappd LA Beer Week badge simply by checking into any beer between Sept. 20-30, with their location geotagged anywhere within Los Angeles or Orange County. Not using Untappd yet? Well, what are you waiting for?! Head to untappd.com on your smartphone to get started.

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Appreciation for 4 Points (and beer)

Earlier this year, I applied to be a member of the 4 Points Beer Advisory Board and I was lucky enough to be one of the chosen. I will write more about the group and the Brewster’s bar inside the hotel later on FoodGPS (after L.A. Beer Week) but now I want to talk about the Sourfest that happened last Friday.

As you can see this was an impressive list of beer. Not extreme sours and some fruit first beers but a nice mix of breweries and flavors.

My pick for favorite of the night came from the Italian brewer Birra del Borgo.

Duchessic was herb spicy and only slightly tart but really shone as unique amongst the other beers. I also enjoyed the subtle and funky wild strawberry beer from Mikkeller. Very Belgian upfront and the strawberry came in late but was subtle and quite nice.

Either, surprisingly or not, two other Mikkeller beers ranked at the bottom for me. Monks Brew aged in wine barrels and It’s Alive also aged in wine barrels both were dominated by powerful aromas that put me off and made drinking a bit of a chore. The tastes were strong and harsh on the tongue.

But that is what is great about a tasting. You don’t have to buy a full bottle and later find out that you don’t like it. You can find hidden gems to buy later and expand your palate.

You have three more “appreciation” nights this year starting with an Octoberfest. So check their website and see if the list or theme strikes a chord and give it a whirl.

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Beer Right Now!

I am not in Philadelphia or New York. But if I was, I would be intrigued by this beer delivery service. Beer Right Now pretty much tells you what they do right up front.

And by the logo, you can tell that they are not totally craft driven. I took a spin on some Philadelphia choices and most were fairly bad. Though there was a glimmer of hope in the form of Yards, Troegs and Yuengling. Maybe as this rolls out more craft beers will pop up because otherwise they will be ignoring a large chunk of the audience that really likes to spend money on beer.

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a year round Almanac

One of the more interesting brewery and beer release schedules comes from Almanac Brewing. They have done three different beers timed to the seasons with different seasonal produce. Now they are coming out with year round beers!

“Our Honey Saison and Extra Pale Ale are the first farm-to-bottle Almanac brews available year-round in convenient 12oz. bottles. Perfectly balanced, these beers are brewed with California barley, hand-selected additions from local farms, citrusy hops and a touch of oak. Whether shared with friends over a celebratory dinner or afternoon picnic, we invite you to enjoy a new line of beers that could only come from California. Now available in 4-packs of 12oz bottles and on draft.”

Honey Saison : 4.8%ABV
“Our Honey Saison is a beer for all seasons. Brewed with Bay Area honey from Marshall Farms, wheat, California two-row barley and fresh, local ginger root for a hint of spice. Balanced with earthy Mount Hood and Saaz hops and finished with a touch of French oak, this is a refreshing brew enjoyed best with your favorite seasonal fare.”

Extra Pale Ale : 6.0% ABV
“Our Belgian-style Extra Pale Ale is brewed with heaps of sweet Mandarin oranges from Blossom Bluff Farms and California two-row barley. We dry-hop with generous doses of aromatic Cascade and Columbus hops and finish the beer with a hint of lightly toasted American oak.”