Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Upon walking into Talon Tap and Wine on a recent weekend, I saw a display like this…
You can get stout, wheat beer or IPA nuts to go along with your beer or to help usher in baseball season. Snacks on Tap is a SoCal company so you would be buying local as well.
After reading this fun piece on the cocktail El Lúpolo
I started to think about the beer fads like beer cocktails that came and went but should still be part of a beer fans repertoire. First to come to mind was beer floats which would work especially well today with St. Patrick’s not being the brewery party this year. Get some Guinness or a nitro stout and pair it with some artisanal ice creams.
Another MIA fad is pairing beer and chocolate . On the few occasions that beer pairings are talked about, it is usually with cheese but chocolate needs to get a few more chances to intermingle flavors.
Keep experimenting even without the fad seal of approval.
If you need to make up for last Sunday or if you just want to keep that party going, maybe some truffles are in order..
New Belgium has teamed with Enstrom Toffee and Confections on a line of truffles. Tripel, dark ale and Fat Tire and since it is Flagship February, you should probably get red wrapped treats.
Time to have a hoppy but distanced Turkey Day with….
Distanced Hop Luck – “This modern West Coast IPA features loads of Simcoe, Mosaic, Amarillo, and Centennial hops. Clocking in at 45 IBU, Distanced Hopluck is bright with intense aromatics, and refreshing on the palate with light bitterness. Pair with your Friendsgiving or Thanksgiving celebrations!”
or
Friendsgiving – “We’re making Friendsgiving virtual this year! This hazy double IPA features Galaxy, Mosaic, Motueka, and Cashmere hops resulting in a juicy concoction bursting with intense tropical fruit flavors and a hint of dankness. Pair with a Distanced Hopluck or your potluck!”
You, as the beer fan, have been asked over holidays past to bring beer to the celebration. This year, well unless you all arrive in individual Flaming Lips style bubbles, will be spent much differently.
For some, that is s good thing thing. Missing out on angry grandma and grandpa or whichever relative is they shit stirrer could be a welcome relief. To others, this will be another missed chance to get together in a year of misses.
You can still be the beer person though. Even if your family lives far away, almost every town has a grocery delivery or an alcohol delivery, or you can even bend the shipping rules and send local beers (well packed and non-sloshy sounding) to the family gathering.
Add in tasting notes that you can send via email or by Zoom and the turkey can be improved, even from a distance.
With creativity, we all can celebrate together while apart.
Breweries and coffee companies go together like siblings. When in sync coffee in a beer is sublime, one great local example is Trystero Coffee with Highland Park Brewing in the beer Griffith J. Griffith.
Now you can get both beer and beans at the Chinatown location.
I have tasted a few hop waters and hop teas. Some better than others. Most don’t really taste like hops but are good in a different way. Then there is really different…
I have a pretty wide vocabulary but never have I encountered “adaptogens” and “nootropics”. When I saw those letter groupings, my spidey sense started tingling. Not as much as the missing A and E makes me upset though. I think this falls into the land of Not.
Portland’s Moonstruck Chocolate Company, have done wine and beer and now have cider to add to their truffle collection now that they have collaborated with 2 Towns Ciderhouse on the Craft Cider Collection.
You get nine chocolate truffles made with 2 Towns flavors like The Bad Apple Imperial Cider, Made Marion Blackberry Cider and Easy Squeezy Raspberry Lemonade Cider.
The alcohol and coffee worlds are forever mixing. As I am typing this, I am drinking wine barrel-aged coffee. Modern Times has a whole product line. Now Trademark Brewing in Long Beach has beans. Four roasts are currently on offer.
10 HOUR – “Inspired by the beans in our gloriously-decadent 10 Hour Coffee-Chocolate Stout, this signature blend features notes of dark chocolate, cashew and blackberry.”
ETHIOPIA MARU – “Single Origin featuring blueberry, grape and jasmine notes.”
COLOMBIA TIMANÁ – “Single Origin with suggestions of honey, almond and grapefruit.”
GUATEMALA CUBULCO – “Single Origin with flavors of milk chocolate, hazelnut and mandarin.”
I am always on the hunt for a good BBQ sauce. I am a bit hampered by an aversion to spice heat and for that reason, of the three New Belgium flavors pictured above, I gravitate to the mildest. But part of me is more intrigued by the 1554 because I think it will add the most beer-iness.