Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

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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.

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Rip City Brewery # 2 – Threshold Brewing

The second Portland stop is right on the…

This Montavilla area brewer and blender focuses on (4) styles: IPA’s, funky farmhouse, mixed-culture and bourbon forward stouts.

Here is what I would put in my taster tray:

Triticale Mass, dry-hopped farmhouse ale

Jens Bailed grisette

Brut Punch tart and refreshing IPA DDH w/Comet, Idaho 7, Simcoe and Sabro hops

Casimir The Great, imperial stout aged in whiskey barrels

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Rip City Brewery # 1 – Ruse Brewing

Portland has not blazed out of the NBA gates to start the season but a brewery that has gotten a lot of buzz is Ruse Brewing. Founded by Shaun Kallis and Devin Benware they are deep into the yeast having “custom Brett strains called Stargazer and Suburban Brett”

Here are the beers that I would put into a first taster tray…

Evertide Helles Lager, Phantom Shore Citra Extra Pale Ale, Dreamscape Blended Saison, Dream Language Vienna Lager and Stages of Sundown Imperial Stout.

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Ohio / Kentucky Brewery # 3 – Nostalgia Brewing

Our final Hillbilly Elegy inspired stop is the memoir appropriately named, Nostalgia Brewing.

The brewery and taproom is located north of Columbus in the town of Gahanna. And their beer names lean into the movies and sports area….such as….

The Hunt for Red Oktoberfest Vienna Lager – “You don’t need Jack Ryan to save you from this one – it’s a seasonal beer, get it before it’s gone!”

Dawg Pound Brown – “Dating back to 1985, the Dawg Pound is known for it’s vocal support through thick and thin.”

7734 Helles – ” 7734 is a nod to the days of quickly hitting the “C” before the teacher noticed you spelled hELL on your calculator.”

3 Hour Tour Farmhouse Saison – ” Hints of juniper and ginger, this refreshing beer might be your choice if you’re stuck on an island with a fella named Gilligan.”

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1st Visit – Upshift Brewing

It felt weird being in El Segundo and NOT going to El Segundo Brewing, but I did want to check out the new kid on the block, Upshift Brewing.

Just off of Sepulveda is Upshift Brewing, you enter the brewery tap room in the back and right away that you see that they have taken the automotive theme and run with it.  License plates on the bar wall with oil tin signs. Oil drums on patio as tables. Highway guardrails.  Cool hubcap four tops with freeway signs for the cool photos and even racing on TV.

For my money they have one of the coolest flight tray designs around. Sturdy grey plastic with a bike handle to lift the six tasters.  The flight sheet is in the form of an old-time auto repair ticket

All of the beers tasted on the heavy side to me even though the ABV’s were low.  Both pale ales were tilted toward extra malt and extra hops.  Both Pole Position and P-R-N-D-L had a near caramel smokiness under an earthy hop flavor.  The Kolsch tasted like an amped up imperial version. I will need to go back and check out the darker beers from the 9 list long menu to see how those shape up.