Category: About the Search Party

General information about the blog.

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In the Tap Lines for May 2018

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Lots of good stuff on tap for May (now that the blog is back up and viewable). There will be weekly nods to the upcoming Firestone Walker Invitational as well as a report from Oregon where I will be heading back to the alma mater.

~ e-visits to three breweries from the New England area.
~ special featured reviews of two new cans from L.A. Ale Works
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads whatever the library finds for me from my long list!
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your May started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) May 4th – System of a Stout Release at Beachwood
2) May 13th – Mother’s Day at Boomtown Brewery

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Drinking Stats – 2018 Q1

The drinking stats are back! I set a fairly ambitious goal for 2018. Bring my average ounces drunk, per week down to 175. In current terms that is a shade under 11 – 16oz cans of hazy IPA.

So far, I am doing well with the average ounces per week at 171.92. The high week in the first quarter was 200 and the low was 162.40. Most of the weeks have come in an ounce or two under that 175 target.

My other goal was to get the split between the Big 3 (IPA, Sour and Barrel-Aged) down to 50% compared to, literally, all other styles. Right now, I am off by nearly 4% which means that I need to be buying more lagers and saisons for starters.

Some other stats:
Average ABV – 6.62% with a high week of 7.23% avg. and low of 5.94%.
Average dollar spend is $41.57 with a high week of $64.02 and low of $22.99.

And my favorite beers so far are as follows:
Angel City Public House Saison
Burial Beer Co. Ceremonial Session IPA
Homage One Evening Guava Sour
Finback Cosmic Vibration Coconut IPA

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In the Tap Lines for April 2018

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I hope you are on the lookout for Fool’s today. Lot’s of social media hijinks will be afoot. Maybe even some Russian ones. So break out an RIS and find the funniest April Fool / Easter memes.

~ e-visits to three breweries from flyover country.
~ special featured reviews of new canned beers.
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Legacy of Spies from John Le Carre
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your April started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) April 2nd – Bluebird Brasserie Grand Opening
2) April 7th – Wolf Creek’s 21st Birthday

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In the Tap Lines for March 2018

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Even when L.A. gets cold weather, it isn’t nearly as cold as other parts of the country. But that should not stop you from trying a wide variety of beers

~ e-visits to three breweries from the South.
~ special featured reviews of Special Warehouse Collection beers from Angel City
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your March started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) March 2nd – Dope & Dank & El Segundo IPA Release
2) March 17th – Enegren Irish Fest

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A Podcast & A Beer – The Ringer

I listen to quite a few NBA podcasts during the regular season but recently the one that I go to the most is The Ringer. Now that name isn’t as catchy or cool as Grantland but the site has that DNA embedded flavor in it so the podcasts are fun and a deep dive into all things NBA.

No matter which team you root for, unless they are super irrelevant, this pod will keep you up to date. This year has been especially fun to listen to the endless dissections of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Since both the Blake-less Clippers and the Walton and LaVar show are both struggling, it would be appropriate to stop at the new Dankness Dojo and order up a flight of the most IBU heavy beers and savor the bitterness.

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In the Tap Lines for February 2018

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We are back around the horn to birthday month! Time to decide what beer I want to imbibe as a special treat to me. While I do that, the blog will keep going with…

~ e-visits to three breweries from Canada
~ special featured reviews of beers NOT IPA’s (except for one)
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your February started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) February 6th – Bruery, Bruery Terruex & Offshoot Beer Co at Tony’s Darts Away
2) February 10th – L.A. Ale Works 1st Anniversary

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A Beer & A Podcast – The Hero’s Journey


I am an intermittent podcast listener but I have my favorites in both beer and non-beer topics so in the spirit of A Book & A Beer posts, I am going to do the occasional podcast recommendation. With beers too, of course.

My initial podcast is The Hero’s Journey. I am biased since I work with one half of the team that is using the Joseph Campbell template of The Hero and applying it to modern works of fiction and movies. From Harry Potter to John McClane, they track how these characters fit or don’t fit that classic mode. Plus they have a beverage break in each episode.

Which is where the beer recommendation comes in. Spoiler alert for episode 1, they drink San Fernando Imperial Death Star Stout and I would add that you could also add in the new Wookus from Firestone Walker as well.

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2017 Drinking statistics

All year long, I have been charting what I have drunk (beer-wise) and reporting in on occasion with some figures.

Now here are my final results for 2017….

Overall Numbers
Ounces drunk per week
2017 was 189.67 compared to 204.31 for 2016. My target was 190 and I snuck under the wire with a decrease of 14.64. The next goal will be more modest, hoping to lop off another 5 ounces. The end goal (currently) is to bring my drinking down to 175 for both weight and liver health reasons.

The High Week was 267 with the low being 160.5 and there were only 15 weeks where I was over the 200 ounce mark.

ABV per week
On average the ABV finished at 6.59% for 2017 with it weighted between 6.41% and 6.67%. There was an outlier 6.03% and five in the higher 6.80 to 6.94% range but all in the 6% average range. The lowest ABV week was 5.11% at the start of the year and 8.59% as an individual high at the end of the year. 2016 average was higher at 6.74%.

Diving into the particulars, my top 5 breweries by ounces drunk were as follows:
1. El Segundo – 581 (includes collaborations they bottled)
2. Eagle Rock – 508
3. Firestone Walker – 475.4 (includes Barrelworks)
4. Stone Brewing – 409.7
5. Sierra Nevada – 406

Five of my top 10 were L.A. based, six if you count Firestone Walker and all but one were California except for New Belgium which was a surprise to me. Other surprises were how little Beachwood beers I drank to the point where I had more Hopworks Organic beers from Portland.

356 vs 504. The latter were classified as IPA, Sours and barrel aged which made up a mere 58.6% of beers drunk. I so thought that I was too far tilted to IPA world for that number to be under 70%. So this result makes me happy.

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The 2018 Blog Disclaimer

Each year, I start the blogging calendar with a disclaimer. As a beer blogger, I feel it is important to be clear about my rules of the road.

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Every beer, brewery, event, restaurant reviewed on this site whether paid for or complimentary will get the same treatment when reviewed. If I don’t like the beer, it will be described as a beer that I did not like, even if it was handed to me by the brewer and I like the brewer.

If I forget (which probably will happen, because it has before) to mention how I got a beer or a pass to an event, then go back and read the previous paragraph.

I clearly want the Los Angeles Craft Beer Scene to flourish and I want craft beer in general to flourish. So my reviews will also take that into consideration. Some points in time require cheerleading and others require harsh sentences. It shouldn’t take a reader too long to see where I stand.

I will be as impartial and truthful as I can be while also staying as opinionated as usual.

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Where I Need to Visit in 2018

Each year, I know that more breweries and beer bars will open. I also know that I won’t get to them all. But I do have an agenda and at the top of that list are making my first visits to….

…and that is just the start.