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I saw this blurb tucked into one of John Foyston’s weekly articles for the Oregonian and said, “WHAT?”
“Rogue Nation; eight crabs gave their lives in the brewing of Dungeness Crab Porter”
I have had oyster stouts but this is the first time I have ever heard of crab in a beer.
The 2nd Beer Float Showdown presented by FoodGPS and held at the Verdugo was a rousing success with a bunch of people taking the leap into the realm of beer and ice cream.
Four competitors created really original floats with most involving fruit beers. Here are the four floats in pictorial form.
# 1 from Ladyface Brasserie
# 2 from Simmzy’s
# 3 from Boneyard Bistro
Here is the description of the winning float, “Boneyard Bistro bar manager Rory Snipes made a float using Floris Apple, Bourbon-salted caramel-cinnamon ice cream, and a garnish of green apple coated with caramel cinnamon crumble.” Since it was such a hit, it may end up on the regular menu.
# 4 from Tony’s Darts Away
Since there is no such thing as too much ice cream or too much beer, next stop was Scoops on Monday night for some incredible artisanal ice cream made with beer as a highlighted ingredient. I had the apricot/Chimay which was really good. You got a both fruit and beer solidly. The Hazelnut Lost Coast combo also worked wonders.
To further tempt you to go, here are some photos of the deliciousness… (Double click the photos to see the combinations)
Thanks to the fine beer emporium known as Brewforia, Utah is now complete. Intermountain Wheat from Epic Brewing is not your normal plain, vanilla wheat beer.
To even the most casual of Search Party readers, two breweries probably pop-up more often than most others. One is Pretty Things Ale Project and the other is Surly.
Maybe it is due to it’s unavailability or it’s reputation around the interwebs or their creativity but I can’t pass up a mention of them at least once a month. So here is this month’s entry…
Olympia Washington was a great beer town. A certain roly-poly cartoon bear made sure of it. Now it is building back up again and a great place to visit is Skep n Skein.
A beer bar with a side focus on mead. Mead that they make! Hence the technical term in the first half of the name. A skep is a vital part of the mead making process. Skein, well that’s a knitting thing. (I think)
The barrage of craft beer in cans continues. And that is good news. It means more economies of scale and more beers being shipped! And we can all agree that is a great thing.
Here is a Arizona beer that would look good on my 50 Beers from 50 States list….from Mogollon
“Wapiti Amber Ale. This is our flagship ale and is pronounced wop-eh-tee. The label for this beer is adorned with the majestic Wapiti (aka elk). Wapiti are abundant in northern Arizona. They are large and beautiful creatures, which is why we chose this animal to represent this beer. Wapiti Amber Ale is hand crafted with mountain pure water, two row malted barley, yeast and Yakima Valley hops. Our brewers use traditional methods to create this full-bodied amber ale with a distinct hoppy aroma. “
It goes from bad to worse as the not worth $1.99 silver bullet gets reviewed…
Well, thank goodness, I was at Naja’s before the Stone taps started flowing because it was a zoo after the 7pm bell literally rang. Great Stone stuff available. I had the 10/10/10 which was very wine oriented and good but I don’t quite know how it will age. The abv will certainly keep it for awhile but the tastes will fade in my humble opinion. Then I went for the GK Madman IRS and it started out chocolate and coffee and then sucker punched me with pepper that would not go away.
Here is the photographic evidence.
The second stop on the 2nd annual LA Beer Week festivities was Blue Palms for a Night with Avery Brewing. I came away very impressed. The Missionary with guava was really excellent. The fruit shone through but without being too cloying or too sweet. The Joe’s pilsner was just as good. Sparkly and bready with with a lovely sharpness. Also out of sight, was the Out of Sight stout with espresso. It tasted of freshly ground beans. Awesome.
Greg Koch from Stone was in attendance along with Adam Avery who made the rounds and seemed too really enjoy spending a night with LA beer lovers.
NEXT: THE BEER FLOAT SHOWDOWN!
Our second Alaskan stop is Skagway Brewing.
Here is their mining/historical named line-up:
Klondike Gold (5.7%)
A refreshing American wheat with more hops and less yeast flavor than its German counterpart, the Weisen.
Prospector Pale (5.7%)
A west coast pale ale with a medium to light body and a citric hop aroma.
Red Star Amber (6.6%)
A warm and rich ale with more body and a smooth malt finish.
Chilkoot Trail IPA (5.4%)
An American IPA, with a golden copper color and an earthy hop finish.
Spruce Tip Ale (5.5%)
A seasonal ale with a creamy rich head and young spruce tips adding crispness and vigor.
Boom Town Brown (5.6%)
A smooth and robust ale with a toasty flavor and a subtle hop aroma.
*This is my favorite*
Blue Top Porter (5.2%)
A creamy rich delight made especially to nourish and rejuvenate the
working class of Skagway.
Oosik stout (6.9%)
A full bodied oatmeal stout that’s roasty & smooth on the palette.
Scottish Wee Heavy (8.9%)
A Scottish barley wine with a smooth flavor.
Charleston seems to be the “it” town to visit. It has been featured in Beer Advocate and the Los Angeles Times recently. So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and I would also do anything to stop the silly Portland-Asheville question.
And the “it” place to stop in the “it” town seems to be the Charleston Beer Exchange. And if it is half as cool as the website then I must agree with that assessment.
They have rare beer nights. You can get growler fills. (Love that). They sell a wide range of beers from New Holland’s Ichabod to Abita’s SOS.
You can find them on their website and the other usual social media suspects.