Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

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Featured Brewery # 3 – Bear Republic

Yeah, everyone knows about this Old Guard brewery but the crew from Healdsburg have some “challenge”ing beers that they have released of late that should have you taking a second (or third) look at Bear Republic Brewing.

11 DBL Brut – ” This is an 8% Double Brut IPA. Late hop additions of over 4 pounds per barrel of Citra and Galaxy hops set the pace of this beer. The juicy start of this beer ends bone dry.”

06 Smells – ” The malt character is led by the 2-row, Pilsner and wheat malt bill. The malt base is turbocharged by a citrus blast of orange and tangerine flavors. The hop aroma will trade paint with juicy flavor thanks to a late hop addition of Amarillo, Mandarina Bavaria, Citra and Cascade hops. Barbarian yeast completes this fact paced lap with it’s stone fruit esters and added hop aromatic enhancement.”

58 Uber Dank – “the fourth release of the Challenge Series. This Uber Dank IPA is aggressive in its aromatic pleasure as Simcoe, Ella, Vic Secret, Sabro and Columbus hops contribute a piney, grape fruity, tropical and diesel dank aroma.”

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Benny Boy in The Heights

One of the toughest tests in opening a brewery is finding that special spot to plant your operations. That is especially hard here in L.A. but thankfully, the upcoming Benny Boy Brewing has found a spot…

..now comes another hard part. Getting all this together. I will update with any future news.

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Featured Brewery # 2 – Dead Bear Brewing

We head to Grayling, Michigan for our second “bear” themed beer spot. The Dead Bear Brewing Company. This member of the Michigan Brewers Guild serves up both beer and food and here is what I would order in a first taster tray…

El Simado Galaxy Session IPA – ” Nice body, low ABV, and a great hop flavor makes this ale very drinkable. Includes Simcoe, El Doarado and Galaxy hops.”

Burly Bear Dry Stout – “Roasted and dry, full bodied and smooth. Just a few words to sum up this delicious addition to our draft selection.”

Ulfhednar barleywine – “Like the warriors of old, this beer kicks ass! Contains michigan hops and local honey.”

Sugga Bear – ” Brewed with marshmellows, brown sugar, Northern Bee Michigan honey, maple syrup, and raisins.”

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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.