Thanks to the Four Point Sheraton and the beer crew at Brewsters. Congrats to the Surly Goat team. 2012 Champions. And thanks to Dogfish Head and Sam Calagione for coming in from the East Coast with their great beers.
Dogfish + Bocce Ball =
India Red Lager
The 2nd annual PDX Beer Week begins tomorrow in Beervana and the 2012 official beer is a collaboration between Hopworks and Deschutes and is a style mash-up, an India Red Lager.
So, if you find yourself in Portland between tomorrow and the 17th. Be on the look out for this limited time beer.
Gnome Week
If you are not scared of Gnomes than you will have a good time at either Congregation Alehouse Chapters or at Little Bear because Brasserie d’Achouffe’s is in town…
First up Congregation….
“Brasserie d’Achouffe’s Gnome Week kicks off on Wednesday June 6th and ends on Saturday, June 9th where we will be a part of The World’s Smallest Toast at 6:66pm (you read that right!)
June 6 will mark the 6,666 year Anniversary that the Gnomes started to brew beer, and all
CAH Chapters will be celbrating with a 4 day Gnome week celebration.
We will be providing Gnome Hats and Mini Mugs for toasting (while the suppies last) for all the little gnomes that wish to partake in the toast! AND Brasserie d’Achouffe’s Operational Mangager Jean-Lou Barbette will be gracing the halls of our very own Long Beach Chapter on Saturday for the toast.
Beers
La Chouffe, Houblon Chouffe, N’ice Chouffe, Biere Du Soleil, McChouffe and Ommegang’s Gnomegang.
Over at Little Bear, near downtown….
“Gnome Week is kicking off at Little Bear on June 6th, featuring Achouffe beers including Biere du Soleil and their collaboration with Brouwerij Ommegang, Gnomegang. Get a gnome hat, an interactive gnome coaster, and be a part of the world’s smallest toast!”
Snarling Badger
I am actually shocked that there are not more beers named after the wily and strong badger but now there is the Grand Teton Snarling Badger Berliner Weisse
“In Berliner Weisse we think we’ve found the perfect style for our summer Cellar Reserve. This north German wheat beer is traditionally brewed and released very fresh. It has a light body from the wheat and refreshingly tart acidity that make it a perfect summer thirst-quencher. Its lemony tartness is provided by a secondary fermentation with lactobacillus, the same microorganism that’s responsible for yogurt’s tang. That tartness increases and improves with age, so the people of Berlin are known to buy extra bottles to bury in their gardens for two years or more.”
Stiegl Grapefruit Radler
Now I have never been a huge fan of the radler or shandy even though my gateway beer to craft world was a raspberry wheat. But I do like the idea of grapefruit juice added. And if I remember, there have been some grapefruit IPA’s as well and with summer here, the low abv of 2.5%would make a good and alternative lawnmower beer.
Real fruit juice gives the new Stiegl Radler a distinct, tart aroma and natural cloudiness.
Rock & Brews goes Local
There is a lot of talk about the soon to be expansion of Rock and Brews franchises and Gene Simmons of KISS being involved but what you should be talking about is their Local Craft Beer Festival which is now in it’s second year. Below is the details and the brewery list. It is a killer list of locals….
The 2nd Annual Local Craft Beer Festival at Rock & Brews
this Sunday, June 17th 2012 from 11am – 4pm
“Enjoy the fresh and unique beers from local breweries at the the 2nd Annual Rock & Brews Craft Beer Festival. We have brought together the best local breweries in Southern California representing LA, Orange, Ventura, and Riverside Coounties. Limited, seasonal, and special beers will be available. Along with many of the your favorites. It’s a great time to be a beer drinker, so come celebrate the men and women who make it happen!”
What you get:
Admission to the event starting at 11am.
8 Beer pours.
Complimentary buffett
Commemorative event glass
Breweries included:
Strand Brewing Co., El Segundo Brewing Co., Cismontane, The Bruery, Eagle Rock, Monkish, Smog City, TAPS, Bootleggers, Golden Road, Hangar 24, Figueroa Mountain, Port Town and more TBA…
Throw the Stein
A great video about the collaboration between The Bruery and TAPS for A Stein’s Throw part of the Provisions Series of beers. The Bruery just this year has gotten together with Eagle Rock, Bootlegger’s and now TAPS.
# 4 for Hangar 24
“Hangar 24’s turning 4 and we’d love to have you celebrate with us. Join us for a year that’s even better than the rest with more food, more music and a bigger variety of beer than ever before. We’ll also be releasing our surprise 4th Anniversary beer. The party’s sure to be great but what makes it even better is the support that we are able to provide to a local charity. Proceeds from our Anniversary Celebration will benefit the Childhood Cancer Foundation of Southern California.”
Saga
Brewing in Minnesota for awhile now, Summit Brewing Company’s 25th anniversary beer is named after Odin’s drinking companion, Sága. And according to their website is not for smelling impaired.
A blend of Citra, Amarillo, Centennial and a New Zealand hop by the name of Rakau. It might be leaning more West coast than east. I have been fortunate enough to have a couple Summit beers and this one sounds great.
Session # 64
The June Session (#64) comes to us from the Beer Babe and without further ado….
“What is the one beer style usually makes up the first position in the sample flight, but yet is usually the one that we never get really excited about? The Pale Ale.
While this style serves as the foundation to its big-hoppy-brother the India Pale Ale, lately “Pale Ale” has become a throwaway term. I hear bartenders and servers using it to describe everything from Pilsners to unfiltered wheat beers (I wish I was kidding).
Whether American (typically a bit hoppier) or English (a little more malty), these brews can be complex, interesting and tasty, and are all too often fast-forwarded through in a tasting or left as the “eh, guess I’ll have a pale ale” decision.
Your mission – if you choose to accept it – it so seek out and taste two different pale ales. Tell us what makes them special, what makes them forgettable, what makes them the same or what makes them different. Then, share it with us.”
Delving into the world of pale ale actually brought up more questions than answers as I drank, researched, wrote and then drank some more.
For this session, I started with Ballast Point and their (as I sip between keystrokes) pale ale. Which, to me, tastes more in the region helles / kolsch than pale ale. (1) It is quite grain forward and even it’s light orange to yellow color hints that the name on the label may be a misnomer.
QUESTION # 1
How can a brewery make an IPA like Sculpin and have a pale ale be nearly hop less?
Back in 2010, when I first had this pale (2), I rated it a 3 out of 5 on Ratebeer which is about where I would put it again in 2012 as long as I was rating it based on it’s kolschy-ness. Looking at the past review made me dig deeper into my recorded history with pales. I started into the stats of the matter and found that pales were my 4th most rated beer style. But that it was laughably behind the # 1. IPA. And wasn’t even close to DIPA’s and Imperial IPAs either. And it was barely holding off the hard chargin # 5 style, saison.
QUESTION # 2
Why is it so easy to find bombers of stouts and IPA’s and not pale ales?
So I finished off my Ballast Point and headed to the standard bearer of the style. The one with the familiar green label. Sierra Nevada. And the mild citrusy bitterness that I seem to always return to every 3 or 4 months. In my Ratebeer review (3), I said “…pale before pale had to be uber hoppy. Nice balance here. …. Flavor is simple. A great anytime beer.”
Drinking it again, I have to agree with my younger self. The beer hints at bitterness, subtley nods towards the citrus and is a near perfect bronze color. I would still pick this over Torpedo and Hoptimum any day of the week.
QUESTION # 3
Why do IPA’s get killer names like Hopportunity Knocks or Hoptimus Prime and pale ales either go unnamed or have much more staid monikers like Dales?
Lastly, I want to talk about a local brewer. El Segundo Brewing (4). Their 1st year anniversary batch was a DIPA but their bread and butter are pales. And they do a damn fine job with them whether they be Summit based, Citra or even with sage. Heck (5) one of their IPA’s is a wheat version which is hoppy, for sure, but I would consider it more a pale than an IPA.
Question # 4
Shouldn’t pale ales be part of a breweries regular line-up instead of an IPA?
In the end, the pale like other styles that are not in the “cool” clique at the moment can range from A to Z and deserves more than a cursory glance.
(1) Checking in Ratebeer, I find that it is not even labeled as a pale but rather a kolsch.
(2) Back when it was called Yellowtail
(3) Again in 2010, I must have drunk a lot of beer that year.
(4) Literally across the street from the now partially owned by Gene Simmons Rock and Brews. A great L.A. craft beer hang out.
(5) Must stop cursing.
