Whiskey and beer and wine. Firestone Walker has treated the L.A. Beer Bloggers very well for #FW3.
And Day 2 was no different. Starting at 10am with a tutorial on Ph. Acid. Malic, acetic and citric. The most lasting impression from these weekends are the lessons learned. With sour beers, it is about balance. Is s level of four OK? Or is it eight? Tasting the base acids and then tasting Li’l Opal, Agrestic and SLOambic was a great way to see that complexity is better than puckery.
Lunch was next but was a prelude to another learning experience. Blending. A test of eight groups to see who could produce a reasonable facsimile of an Anniversary beer. Paired with Kip Barnes and Tomm Carroll, I fancied my chances. But our Velvet Merkin based blend was not in the top three, though I did like it.
After a short break it was off to dinner. At a winery no less. Thacher Winery hosted a tasting of GSM. A trio of red wines with grapes from different vineyards. Tasting wine is foreign to me but quite enjoyable because I don’t have knowledge that would lead me to overthinking. More blends came with names like Controlled Chaos and Resident Alien. Then done serious BBQ. All in a beautiful, bucolic Paso Robles hills. All very relaxing.
The night concluded with a scene you do not get in L.A. A lightly roaring fire. Sitting on hat bales with a snifter of beer and a cupcake and the stars above.