Our last stop in our February tour of breweries that opened just last year is Kane Brewing.
This coastal New Jersey outfit brews up offerings like Head High IPA, Afterglow Rye Pale Ale and Driftline Oatmeal Brown. Focusing on American and Belgian influenced offerings. Slaking the thirst of Northern New Jersey!
The Beer Tasting Tool Kit
Hopefully, on our craft beer journey’s we all have been to a blind tasting. Personally, I love seeing how totally off base I usually am. And also by now, we probably have all had at least a tasting or two (informal or not) at home to show off some great beer we just got.
Now, there is a handy pre-made kit to help you do your own blind tasting at home. Check out the full story HERE at the Beervana blog (which is one of my daily reads)
from the cellar – Review # 3 Black Phoenix from Bootlegger’s
This is a younger aged cellar bottle. I purchased this back in October of last year and stashed it away to see what a “little” aging caused. Here is what I said back in October about Black Phoenix from Bootlegger’s Brewery in Fullerton, California.
“I was worried about the chipotle. usually pepper beers have too much of a heavy hand. This one is mild with some good coffee notes to it. Middle of the road but solid.” I gave it a 2.8 rating out of 5.
Now the review 3+ months later……
From 1900 to Today
This video made the interwebs rounds in early February. Watch now and I will comment below.
Methinks that this information (be it selective, or not) has got to scare the BMC and their water lager brewing brethren. The sheer numerical growth in such a relative short time span does not bode well. 7.6% of total sales might not seem like much that number just keeps creeping up.
The other take away for me is the home brewing sticking power. Did it start in the Prohibition years? Was it there before and get a boost from the legal side? Either way, that DIY ethos has been around for awhile in the craft beer world and that is a great base to build on.
I like the video though. Punchy and visually captivating. Maybe we shall see more delving into more arcane beer topics.
An Oscar Worthy colLAboration
The colLAboration folks have done it again. Putting on a most excellent Oscar pre-party at a unique spot in Los Angeles that would not have been out of place in The Artist.
Multiple levels of the Belasco Theater were utilized to create a moving picture of craft beer. And, to me, the space proved a fitting backdrop with plenty of seating and outdoor nooks to huddle into and soak up a brilliant L.A. day.
The one fix that I would have made would have been to light the place up. Mood lighting is OK but near pitch black is another thing. I can deal with music and TV though I am not a fan of them at beer events but if I cannot even see what is on offer on the menu unless I am within a foot of the board then that is problematic.
I purchased (4) tokens and hoped that I would get my drinking in before the madness of Pliny the Younger. Which I thankfully accomplished. I started off with Hangar 24’s Vineaceous. A unique malt forward brew that had tastes of oranges first before any grape notes entered the picture. I moved on to Dogfish Head’s Ta Henket. More out of curiosity and it was a fine beer with black pepper notes hidden in it’s yellow hued color.
I sat in the balcony to enjoy my second Hangar 24 beer of the afternoon, the Spring Beer. A Belgian Hoppy pale. It took home favorite of the day for me. Good hop kick with a nice side of grain flavors that really worked well together. I finished up with High Water’s barley wine, Old and In the Way. Boy did that have a bourbony nose and body. As I drank more, notes of coconut came up along side some vanilla. A pleasant way to end an outing.
Oh and I got to see some world class beer pong from Ryan and Bryant….
What Did I Miss?
Looks like Widmer is really kicking up their game a notch. So much so that my next Portland visit will most likely include a trip to see what they have on tap.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Rotator series of IPAs so I am banking on these being good too.
Rare Barrel
To work around the big, big start up costs in equipment and material, new breweries have turned to Kickstarter or they have had their beer brewed for them but this is the first time that I have seen a brewery just begin with barrel aging space. Barring Almanac Farmhouse ales (also of the northern part of California) that has a similar working style.
Here is what the press release says about The Rare Barrel, “Northern California is rich in brewing tradition and is home to some of the best breweries in the world. Hoping to add to this proud history, we are pleased to announce that we will be launching an all-sour, all-barrel aged “gypsy” brewery in the San Francisco Bay Area named The Rare Barrel.
What do we mean by “gypsy” brewery? We plan to partner with the great breweries of the Bay Area for our brewing needs, and we will be building our own barrel warehouse for fermentation, packaging and serving our beers to the public.
Our team is made up of people committed to producing the highest quality sour beer. Co-founders Jay Goodwin, former Brewer and Head of Barrel Aging at The Bruery in Orange County, Alex Wallash, homebrewer and Sales Representative in biotechnology, and Brad Goodwin, entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical industry, make up our crew of passionate craft beer lovers.
We hope to release more details of our plan over the next few months. We look forward to producing beer with experimental methods, a singular focus on quality sours, and a commitment to the craft beer community.”
Oatmeal Pale Ale
Following on the heels of Cavatica Stout and their Stout month, Fort George has started to can up their popular Sunrise OPA (Oatmeal Pale Ale).
Here is what the brewery says about it, “Nice and Creamy session-style American Pale Ale. Good beer for drinking anytime of the day, even when the sun is rising, due to its dry nature with Mild bitterness and lovely hop aroma. This beer is based on the first beer ever produced at the Fort George Brewery, Beer#1, We decided to add 50 lbs of Oatmeal to make it even better. Famous quote: “I’ll have just one more OPA, please.” This beer has become a staff staple.”
Eagle Bay Brewery
I talk of Eagle Rock Brewery here in Los Angeles but now I turn my attention many miles away to Eagle Bay Brewery in Australia.
I would really like to try some of the beers that are oftentimes shunned here in the U.S. like the kolsch, ESB and the English Mild. I think those would work in many a warm weather clime. The low ABVs would be perfect for the hot weather.
And not only do they do beer but they do wine and food as well and if the photos from their website are even close to accurate, this is one seriously beautiful place to sip a beer.
Sacramento Beer Week
Now that San Francisco Beer Week is over, it is time to head to the state’s capital and the Sacramento Beer Week.
There are (2) signature events to attend during the week including: the Sacramento Brewers Showcase and Capital Beerfest on February 25th.
And then there are a lot of other events to hit. So load up the app and see the brewing sites of Sacramento.
As an added bonus the nearby Cordova Restaurant and Casino will be holding many special beer nights ranging from New Belgium to American River to Lost Coast.
Who’s beer week is next?