Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

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Welsh Brewery # 3 – Gwaun Valley Brewery

The final Doctor Who inspired Welsh brewery to visit this month is Gwaun Valley Brewery. The brewery is located in Pembrokshire near the Preseli Hills. You can even stay in a cottage near the brewery. Below are my taster tray choices…

Farmhouse Ale – ” A malty ale with a smooth, balanced character, made with only English hops”

Golden Bitter Ale – ” A smooth bitter ale with a strong hoppy flavour and a crisp finish”

Blodwen – ” A creamy full bodied bitter, ruby red in colour with a hint of caramel”

Calon Lan – “A rich malty porter with a medium body and a bittersweet after taste”

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Welsh Brewery # 2 – Conwy Brewery

On to North Wales and Bragdy Conwy…

For my taster tray, I would add two from their British range, Rampart Dark Malty Ale – “Floral aromas followed by long lasting malty finish with hints of burnt caramel”

Welsh Pride Copper Colour Bitter – “Orange, citrus/malt aroma with sweet, malty/nutty finish.”

…and two from their California named beers.

California Citrus Blonde – “Delicious citrus hoppy aromas with a good balance sweet malt and rounded bitterness.”

San Francisco Quad Hopped IPA – “Very hoppy with citrus hop followed by malty/biscuity flavours and a long satisfying bitter finish.”

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Welsh Brewery # 1 – Bragdy Nant Brewery

We travel to Wales since that is where quite a bit of Doctor Who is filmed and the new season is now 2 episodes in. First stop is Bragdy Nant. The brewery is located in Llanrwst. They have picked up a CAMRA medal since opening in 2007. Here are the beers that I would sample first…

Mwinci Nel – “A dark,winter ale with dark chocolate flavors balanced by a hoppy bitterness.”

…followed by a couple bitters, Architects and Cwrw Coryn. Then on to an English IPA, Prop Hop and then finish up with

No. 6 Dark Ale – “Dark ale not too sweet with burnt chocolaty flavours balanced with hops .”

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Best of # 3 – New Anthem

Our final virtual brewery tour for 2019 takes us to North Carolina for something new, New Anthem Beer Project.

New Anthem has (2) locations in Wilmington and a long list of past beers of which there are a few that I want to highlight from their Belge section…

Nothing in My Brain – Tripel

Quiet Corners – Red Ale

Finger Pistols – Saison

Doing Mischief – Saison

They also have beer sections labeled Hoppy, Dark, Lager and Mixed Ferm.

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1st Visit – Brewjeria

I wanted to get in one last brewery visit before Christmas so I jumped in the car and headed to Pico Rivera and Brewjeria.

You can find Brewjeria in two ways.  The main address is on Durfee off of Whittier Boulevard but there is a parking lot entrance to the grey cinder block space as well.  The rectangular space is split into one half for brewing and the other half for the seating.  The seating side is further broken up into three spaces.  Two seating areas and one main room for the well appointed bar as well as the cooler that holds the beer.  That cooler is a hold-over from the home brewing days of the founders and adds a cool touch to the back bar areas.

I like the font and wavy logo for the brewery too and the space is welcoming with an easy to read menu board.  As with many young breweries finding a footing as to what sells and what needs to be brewed more often is a learning curve.  At first Brewjeria had 11 taps of beers, when I visited there were 6 with 3 being IPA’s.  One West-Coast, one Hazy and one Belgian IPA, a style that I had not seen before.  They also had a blonde ale, California Common and a Belgian Tripel.

Here are my taster tray notes:

Hop off the 605 WC IPA – Malt comes through overall.  Hop bite is a bit strong and one note.  Pine.

Aurora Lights Belgian IPA – Mint note. Yeast driven. Same pine hops form the bitter background.  Bit of a burn on this.

Californio Common – Nice touch of sweetness breadiness.  Good crisp minerality.

Don’t Tripel – Same mint as the Belgo IPA, too sweet.  Some burn here to

Hazy Slater – Has that hazy image in the glass.  Could be a little softer and fruitier.

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Best of # 2 – Civil Life

I looked through the Best of listed from Craft Beer & Brewing magazines lists and today I am highlighting a brewery from St. Louis, MO, Civil Life Brewing Co.

I like the Be Civil tagline, it puts you in a good mood from the get-go. Here are the beers that I would want in a first taster tray….

#CarlBock Lager – “Crafted as an authentic Munich Helles, increased to Bock alcoholic strength, #Carlbock is a nice malty and hoppy golden lager, with lightly toasted notes, a hint of spice, and a crisp finish.”

Festival Mild – “a delicious English-style dark mild ale. Malty, toasty, nutty, caramelly, with hints of coffee, chocolate, black cherry and plum, with an earthy, herbal, and citrusy hop balance. This is a stronger version of Mild, as traditionally brewed in Hampshire for special occasions.”

Black Lager – “It’s a crisp, clean, cold-fermented lager but darkly coloured with a discreet, fragrant roasty essence. Perfumey noble hops. Grainy and just a little toasty, with hints of coffee and chocolate. Light body and carbonation. Smooth and delicious, finishing with a nice dry snap.”

Altbier – “It has a subtle fruity-floral-winey taste like Kölsch, but is redder and hoppier, with a bit more malt complexity.”

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Best of # 1 – Hop Butcher for the World

I looked through the Best of listed from Craft Beer & Brewing magazines lists (organized by barrel size) and plucked out three breweries to highlight this month, starting us off is Hop Butcher for the World.

Hailing from Darien, Illinois and taking their name from poet Carl Sandburg this brewery which is lauded in the less than 15K barrels category has very distinctive branding.

Here are the beers that I would try first and the hops in each beer for this hop-centric brewery…

Supreme Being Pilsner – Saaz, Select & Monroe

New Oklahoma Pale Ale – Barbe Rouge & Mosaic

Lush Terrain IPA – Mosaic, Wai-iti, Motueka, Waimea & Moutere

Blazed Orange DIPA – Citra & Strata

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2nd Visit – Santa Monica Brew Works

Santa Monica Brew Works is expanding.  Considering the big footprint they have already in a pricey beach community real estate market, that must bode well.

Alas, I was a little chuffed by their flight rules, which could be better.  Choose two of four Barrel-aged and you get upped to the higher ($18) price from the standard ($12). Plus the excluded their new release beer hazy DIPA.  I would think that on a late afternoon on a Saturday, a few days after release, they could safely pour a few 5oz tasters. Especially in light of the fact that they are charging $10 for a 16oz pour. They should really just do individual pour prices.

The space, though loud, is usually filled with people enjoying football on the TV or discussions while having their beers. I paid my extra price to try a couple special barrel-aged beers and here are my bullet point reviews.

Leitrim Dry Irish Stout – classically done.  Good minerality and coffee taste.

Burnt Out Bartender – has initial malt hop hit.  A little watery though.  Also a little hop harsh at the back. Alcohol burn too. Bold flavors fade quickly though. Citrus peeks out at the end.

Catalina Cruise Imperial PCH – pretty much just bourbon.  PCH flavor is buried.  As it warms the big flavors tone down here too.

Gravity Coaster Barrel-aged Barleywine – pretty high on the spirits side. Wood notes. 

Overall, the prices and the beer you get for that money are still not matching up. I think I will stick with PCH when on tap.

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Rip City Brewery # 3 – Bent Shovel Brewing

The final featured Portland brewery of November is Bent Shovel.

They had to make some location moves recently but have found a taproom home for now. Here is what I would order from their tap list:

Leafwalker Red Ale – “Enjoy our Leafwalker Red ales rich maltiness, deep amber colors and the aroma of orange peel and honeysuckle.”

TreCent IPA – “The latest in our “Tre” series of single hop IPAs, TreCent features Centennial hops from the Willamette Valley used 3 different ways in the crafting of this delicious IPA. TreCent shows off Centennial’s versatility, melding ample citrus flavors with this beer’s malt backbone.”

One Wagon Pilsner – “Our take on a classic German Pilsner.  Named for the rope operated ferry across the Clackamas River.  Ultra pale straw in color, this crisp and light lager is smooth with aromas of German hops and malt with just a touch of bitterness to balance the maltiness.”

Uncle Schwarz Dunkel – “A distinctly Dunkel inspired copper lager, Uncle Schwarz is made with lots of Munich malt to deliver it’s distinct, complex malt flavor reminiscent of toasted bread and very light hops. We broke from tradition to deliver this deliciously crisp, light-bodied, deep copper lager.”

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PDX Visit – Ferment Brewing Company

I am not “Wowed” by many brewery taprooms but Ferment Brewing Company has designed a spectacular space I never which to drink their beers. On the Columbia River, a tough four minute walk from pFriem, the brewing space is encountered first on the ground floor. You walk up to a large outdoor space with a large rectangular gas fed fire pit spitting flames. You can gather round or take a seat and look out at the River. Once inside the smell of malt wafted up as I ordered at the bar. The furniture and fixtures were classy metal meets wood.

Onto the beer, the 12 Degrees Czech Pilsner was the best of the classic taster tray bunch. Light and floral and crisp. Neither the Pale or IPA left much of a lasting impression. Neither were super hoppy and both were low ABV. The ESB was another middle pack beer but the Dry Stout was super smoke tilted, and almost Rauchbier adjacent on a real light body. There were multiple special beers but I wanted to get a grounding of their core beers first.