Seafood and Beer


There are some good beer dinners out there but Angel City has teamed with Chef Jonathan Pimental for a 5-Course Beer Dinner that focuses on the sea.

On Wednesday, November 29th at 7:00pm, Pimental (formerly of Spago and Patina) will take guests “Down the Cape” with a “Boston inspired menu with Latin twist.”

Be prepared for the following menu:
“Ahi Tuna Stack on a crispy Potato Sope with Lima Bean Puree and finished with a fresh Mango Serrano Salsa. Other courses will showcase fresh Prawns and Maine Lobster flown in from the East Coast, each thoughtfully paired with an Angel City brew. Round-off the evening with Churro-Inspired Funnel Cakes topped with caramel shards.

BBQ Craftsman


My top three foods to pair with beer starts with burgers and pizza but BBQ is right there too. And you can sample two venerable Pasadena institutions beer and BBQ on October 18th starting at 6:30pm.

Craftsman Brewing and Brewmaster Mark Jilg is the beer half. The five-course dinner will be curated by Gus’s BBQ. The food will be paired with five Craftsman beers. Jilg will talk tasting notes, style, history and more for each beer.

Seating will be limited and purchasing advance tickets is advised.

Beer & Jerky


If you needed to combine your IPA or dark ales with jerky to make it a one-stop shop. Well NW Bierhaus has the meat for you. (They also have wine accented jerky as well).

You can get IPA in regular or hot or dark ale in regular or (you guessed it) hot. I cannot vouch for whether the difference between the two ales or spice levels is noticeable but could be a fun gift for the beer fan who you have grown tired of buying Bevmo cards for.

Zoo Beer Dinner


If you did not make it to the Brew at the Zoo this year, you can still check out the special beer made by the Brewery at Simmzy’s for that festival at Simmzy’s Zoo Brew Dinner which will feature Hasani’s Silverback Summer Ale.

To recap: “Head Brewer Brian Herbertson was invited by the Los Angeles Zoo to work with Hasani to create a beer based on ingredients sampled by the gorilla during a special tasting.”

On Wednesday, September 13th, Simmzy’s will present a four course dinner expertly paired by Head Brewer Brian Herbertson, and Advanced Cicerone Greg Bechtel. A percentage of profits form the event will benefit the Los Angeles Zoo.

Menu:
Morning Session Saison
Fresh melon and Peach salad with spring greens, goat cheese and herbed croutons

Tips Up IPA- (Citra, Mosaic, Amarillo Hops)
Fried Chicken with a creamy lemon, buttermilk sauce served with a fresh sweet corn

Hasani’s Silverback Summer Ale (Belgian Single with Blood orange)
Roasted pork tenderloin with a Blood orange sauce on a bed of wood-fire roasted green beans and crispy sweet potatoes

Simmzy’s Porter
Chocolate Mousse with fresh whipped cream and Salted caramel brittle

Hard Candy


When you can’t have beer or when you have a sweet tooth, you can try Beer-flavored hard candy? Brew Candy® “comes in a mixed bag of three tasty flavors: Honey Ale, Hoppy IPA, and Roasty Stout.”

I don’t know how they taste. I would assume the honey and roasty flavor tastes less like beer and probably are more sweet oriented. The hoppy might be interesting depending upon what hops are used or what hop flavor they were looking to emulate.

Review – Vagabond Cheese + Boomtown Beer


There is a world of cheese out there. In an alternate universe, I could see an alternate Sean writing a cheese blog instead of beer.

Of course that alternate blog would touch on beer, just like I am dancing about cheese now. Vagabond Cheese is showing up everywhere independent beer is at. Don’t believe me? Check out their calendar. It is pretty damn full.

A few days back, I finally did a guided beer and cheese pairing at Boomtown and it was really good. It is the best way to try and find cheeses that you like even though they are spendy, all without breaking the bank.

Here are the four selections that were served up:
Sbrinz AOP with What Gose Around
Ombra with Bad Hombre
Ossai-Iraty AOP with Obscura Guey
Sailnois with Submission
Boomtown meets Vagabond

The Sbrinz, to me, tasted like Parmesan without the grain. The hard cheese and the sour “grated” on me though.

The second cheese was close but not quite white cheddar-y with some butter notes. The cheese outshone the simple beer which did not add much.

The third tasting had it going. A creamy texture meets darker malt which was even better with almonds added into the mix.

There was some grain to final cheese but it also more cheddar notes which here mixed well with the banana esters from the dark Belgian golden. I would have to call a favorite tie between three and four.

Burgerim – Strike 1

The oft cited example of variety being presented but not really there is the airport bar. I have seen photos where you can see 10 Barrel, Elysian, Goose Island and others from the “High End” on tap handles. It is an illusion of choice since all are Bud owned.

I can face to face with that illusion at a newly opened Burgerim franchise in Glendale. A burger place that offers actual choice in their burgers. You can get beef, dry aged beef, chicken, Wagyu beef, turkey and so on. You have topping options as well as types of fries to have on the side.

But when it came to choice on the six tap handles, you had variety of styles but nothing independent at all. You could almost hear the conversation….

Bud Rep – You only need one delivery. We bring it all. Clean the lines. No fuss, no muss.

Franchise Owner – Well, I’ve got too much on my plate as it is and your prices are super cheap, so yeah.

That is how you get Bud Light, a pair of Goose Island beers, and a pair of Golden Road beers. Considering that Shake Shack has Brooklyn Beer on draft and solid bottle choices, My business will be tilted there.

Bartz BBQ at Boomtown

I showed up 30 minutes before the Boomtown Brewery taproom opened. Not to tour the brewery or because traffic was lighter than expected.

No, I was there to talk to Dustin Bartz of Bartz BBQ. And, yes, to taste the BBQ too.

You may have seen them set-up outside many local breweries such as Santa Monica Brew Works, El Segundo, Strand, Absolution and L.A. Ale Works

Dustin started serving up his Texas style BBQ at Absolution last 4th of July and has not slowed down since then. He catered the 7th anniversary for Strand and that was the need for his new rotating smoker came around. It has five racks and forty feet of cooking space and is his third and largest cooker in four years since embarking on his BBQ work.


The end product is great especially paired with the Cosmic Charlie Hoppy Brown. The Burnt Ends and pork worked well with the sauce (not a typical Texas thing) and the creamed corn and Mac n Cheese were awesome. And that is only the tip of the menu iceberg.

Bartz will be at Boomtown on Sundays throughout the summer.

The Phantom Diner

Phantom Carriage is stepping into the beer dinner game with their first effort titled Volume 1 coming up soon on February 2nd.

Here is the menu for $50.00 ticketed event….
Introduction: Specialty beer cocktail made with our barrel-aged strawberry Berliner weisse.

1st Course: Heriloom tomato bisque paired with our “666 Feet Under” Brown Ale.

2nd Course: 1/2 chicken with roasted Brussels sprouts, butter poached carrots, and red wine demi-glace paired with our “Straight Outta Carson” IPA.

3rd Course: “Mole” creme brûlée (chili, chocolate and coffee) paired with our “Speed Demon Calamityville” Coffee Porter.

These will be small affairs, limited to 20 people so make a decision quick.

Featured Review – Beer for Breakfast from Dogfish Head

At the start of the month, I made a special trip to my local craft beer store, Craft Beer Cellar – Eagle Rock, to spend my gift card bounty from Christmas.

Here is the first review. A beer that I would not normally run out to buy (due to the ingredient list that includes Guatemalan Antigua cold press coffee, Maple syrup harvested from Western Massachusetts and for the quintessential Delaware breakfast touch – Rapa Scrapple and their secret blend of spices), but since it was technically free, I could take a flyer on this hearty stout from Dogfish Head, Beer for Breakfast.

Pours black with a quite foamy espresso/latte head to it. A bit scared of this due to the “scrapple” element. Aroma is pure smoke as in that friend who came in from a smoke break. Off putting to me for sure. Taste is quite strong rauchbier. No ham-iness to it for me. Just smoke. Some coffee grounds poking through but not really bitter. Desperately calls for a 10oz bottle. Quite a warming down the throat bite to it. In the end, I cannot recommend because the aroma is just so off-putting to me.