Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

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Featured Brewery # 1 – Stewart’s Brewing Company

The theme for this month’s brewery tours is “Bear” and we head to Delaware, to the town of Bear to visit Stewart’s Brewing Company which has been around since 1995. Making it quite the veteran in the beer world.

And here is what I would put into an initial taster tray…

Governor’s Golden Ale – ” A golden-colored ale with a low bitterness level, a moderate hop flavor provided by Styrian Golding hops from Czechoslovakia. This beer is very approachable and serves as a great session beer. “

12 O’Clock Rye – ” Fermented with a Saison Dupont yeast blend and moderately hopped with Citra and Cascade with a subtle backend dry finish from the rye and acidulated malts.

Porchville IPA – ” Easy drinking American IPA featuring Nugget and CTZ hops providing a mild herbal and resinous aroma.”

McBride’s Strong Ale – ” A strong ale with a deep amber color that has a pronounced malt flavor and aroma complimented by a slight smooth sweetness.”

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1st Visit – San Dimas – Feathered Serpent

The next stop in San Dimas was Feathered Serpent.

After the good start at Highpoint, I was feeling confident.  I was hyped about this new brewery.  I drove through the Western-y part of downtown San Dimas out to another industrial park.  I was thinking it would be like Border X in Bell or Pacific Plate in Monrovia where I could find something super different. Alas, not to be.

It was the 2nd weekend of the brewery after a successful opening and I was surprised to see that their Amber had sold out.  When was the last time an amber kicked first?  The four remaining beers were all fairly muddy affairs where flavors seemed dulled and fighting each other.

The Porter was the standout.  Solidly done.  Was spot on to the style.  Neither the Session or regular strength IPA had much hops going on.  I couldn’t taste what they were aiming for at all.  The Blonde was OK but fell far behind the Highpoint version to my mind.

I am hoping that this is just part of the learning curve and that the brewery will grow from this point because I do like the mural on the wall of the taproom, the branding is great and people were super friendly.

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1st Visit – San Dimas – Highpoint Brewing

I set the GPS for East on the 210 and went off to visit some new breweries, starting with Highpoint….

Which is just an exit or two from the 210/57 exchange.  Thanks to breweries like this, I have a reason to visit a city like San Dimas which would normally just be three exits to get by on the way somewhere else.  Highpoint is situated in a sort of industrial strip mall on Arrow Highway and they have taken their space and done well with it. It is divided into three sections.  The front of house with a nice amount of seating (and plenty of crowlers), the back seating (and brewing) area with a most excellent Bill & Ted painting and the space in between with the cold box and office.

Here is a quick review of the beers that I tasted (leaving more to try a second time)

Brut IPA – tastes a bit weird to me. doesn’t have the snap or hop bite needed.

Two Fine Blondes – redeems the Brut, this is well done. Good light option particularly for crowler fills.

Uncle’s Red – my pick of the group. A little citrus. A nice kick of malt and a little rye-like spice.

Nitro House Drip – solid coffee taste. nice balance of dark malt and coffee.  nitro could have been amped up a bit

South African Hop IPA – R&D with notes of grapefruit and grass. very light and yards different from a typical IPA

I usually don’t buy crowlers after just one visit to a brand new brewery, but I took home the Nice Day IPA because it was a British styled IPA and considering how well I liked the Red, I figure it would work for me just as well and I was right. If you are hunting for malt first and then hops and something reddish/brown instead of golden orange, then this will be good for you too.

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Sandbox

You can’t cover an area as sprawling as Los Angeles without others finding new beers and new beer news. Thanks to the team at Hopped LA, I learned about a new brewery less than 2 miles down the road from Claremont Craft Ales.

That distance puts them Sandbox Brewing Company in Montclair. They are currently a Friday through Sunday operation but now you can taste from two breweries with one trip on the 10.

Expect a 1st visit post in the coming months.

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Patriotic Brewery # 3 – Backward Flag Brewing

This woman owned and veteran brewed brewery is located in Forked River, New Jersey. The name is “an ode to the Army uniform, the Backward Flag is a symbol of always moving forward and never retreating.”

Here are the beers that I would add to a taster tray….

Combat Edison – Belgian Witbier

STFU – Pale Ale

Command Voice – NE IPA

Historic Rivalry – NE IPA

Armored Ale – American Strong Ale

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1st Visit – Trademark Brewing

Usually I like to first visit a new brewery on opening weekend but I waited a couple weeks before heading to Long Beach to check out the much talked about Trademark Brewing. Here is the initial report…

The space is just huge. A really long blonde wood bar is just one component of a seating area that stretches off into the distance. Jenga and cornhole are way off in the distance and when the sun isn’t actively trying to burn us, there is also outdoor seating.

The taster flight presentation is nice. Logo’d up quite well. I ordered up a wide ranging variety of beers from their menu. I like the 3-word descriptions used. I started with Viking Blonde which was a little fruity with a nice leading hit of orange. Next was the Batch One Farmhouse which imparted a spicy clove.  Almost a Cinnamon Tripel which must be from the expressive yeast. Waffles is how I would describe it. Into IPA territory for Hula Moon which is lots of pineapple. Tastes like the near the core. Gristly part. Not really IPA to me but amazing to know that it is the hops creating that fruit taste. Hop choice two was Keyboard Warrior which I think is a great name. This imperial tastes a little burnt and more on the caramel side. I finished with 10 Hour Imperial Stout leads with smoky. Coffee grounds being the other prominent note for me.

A good start on the beer and an even better start on the vibe and interior design.

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Patriotic Brewery # 2 – 14th Star Brewing

Our second brewery stop for July is 14th Star Brewing Co. in Vermont. And the origin story can’t get too much more dramatic than this, ” 14th Star Brewing Co. started as a daydream in the mountains of Eastern Afghanistan.”

Here are the beers that I would add to my first taster tray…

Recruit Golden Ale – ” a clean, crisp, and refreshing American Golden Ale with just enough bitterness to balance out the sweetness from the malts.”

Valor Ale – “Our flagship beer! Brewed with four American hop varieties, Valor is a hoppy Amber Ale balanced with citrusy hop flavor and aroma, clean bitterness, and a slight caramel sweetness.”

Follow Me IPA – ” a sessionable American IPA brewed with five American and Australian hop varieties — imparting balanced notes of crisp lemon and resinous hop oil.”

Dive Bomb Hazy IPA – ” Soaring hop flavor with a dive in ABV — Dive Bomb is a Hazy Pale Ale brewed with Mosaic and Ekuanot hops.”

Maple Breakfast Stout – “An Oatmeal Stout brewed with local maple syrup and Northern Bayou cold brew coffee — our Maple Breakfast Stout has flavors and aromas of dark malts, coffee, and maple.”

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Patriotic Brewery # 1 – Talea Beer Co.

I am only in a patriotic USA mood due to soccer. Womens World Cup and Gold Cup is all I can root for, I wouldn’t cross a one lane street to even slap one of the too many old white male politicians McConnelling in DC currently.

Rant over, time to focus on a brewery with patriotic ties starting with…

My initial tasting tray from Talea, a New York based brewery would include…

Sun Up Hazy IPA – ” MEGA PINEAPPLE with notes of overripe lemon drop and freshly picked berries. Hints of vanilla bean, fluffy marshmallow, and passion fruit slurpy thanks to a touch of oats & lactose.”

Bravada Brut IPA – ” orange peel, lychee, gooseberry jam, spice”

Lunch Date Pale Ale – ” Aroma of candied orange, lemon meringue, and tangerine. Flavor notes of overripe lemon and grapefruit zest”

Why is this patriotic? LeAnn Darland, co-founder is an alum of the Naval Academy and the other co-founder Tara Hankinson works with the Veterans in Residence program and supply Naval ships for “beer day” when they return to port.

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London Brewery # 3 – Anspach & Hobday

Our last stop in June is at A&H, Anspach & Hobday. They have three beer categories on their website so let’s pick one from each for this virtual taster tray.

from the Classics

The Cream Ale – “Landing somewhere between a pale ale and a lager, The Cream Ale is brewed using Sorachi Ace hops. It’s flavour profile ranges from dill to coconut to pineapple. In fact, a throwback to Prohibition America, it’s so full of flavour, it won’t fit in the fridge.”

from the Experimentals

The Brother Sean – “Bold, rich and complex, this continental twist on our classic Stout Porter is fermented using a Belgian strain of yeast. Brewed only once a year, Brother Sean rests in the bottle for 12 months before its release. The result is well worth the wait.”

from the Collaborations

The Sacc. Trois IPA – “We used a blend of Mosaic and El Dorado in the boil, and Ekuanot and Ella in the dry hop, along with a small amount of CaraAroma malt in the grist. This recipe was designed to give us plenty of fruit from the hops, and just a touch of sweetness from the malt (Sacc. Troi is a high-attenuating yeast, so we wanted to make sure we had some body left in the beer once it was done).

As for the yeast, its certainly had an impact. The nose is full of fruit, specifically ripe fruit, very ripe fruit for that matter. Ripe mango and juicy tropical fruit dominate, along with some dank and herbal notes from the hops. The body is smooth, with light touch of bitterness to balance, and a dry finish.”