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A concise brewery bio
Short films are one of my favorite parts of the Oscars. The films can be so creative in getting a point across in a speedy manner.
Now you can hear a bit of Craftsman Brewery brewmaster Mark Kilg, expound on beer for 3 minutes. (I certainly hope it is a part 1 of many.)
Check out the video here at Wire Walker Studios website.
Our final hop stop is at Odd13 Brewing in Colorado.
This brewery has a heroes and villains and comic book theme running through their beers so lets get to the lupulin threshold which is more powerful than any infinity stone out there.
Noob – American IPA
“The first batch brewed at our production facility, n00b is an American IPA. Heavy dry hopping with Mosaic and El Dorado combine with restrained bitterness to create a juicy flavor and aroma profile. The hops and yeast work together to provide hints of blueberry and orange candy.”
Thirdeen Cent – 100% Centennial
“Thirdeen Cent is an IPA with Centennial hops that was initially brewed as a celebration of our 100th batch. It was too good not to bring back in our rotating IPA series. The Centennial imparts an intensely fruity citrus character.”
Bad Guy with an Agenda – American IPA
“Bad Guy With an Agenda is an American IPA designed to showcase Experimental Hop 07270 from Hopsteiner. The hop is so new it doesn’t even have a name yet. 07270 imparts a resiny pine flavor and aroma complemented by strong citrus characteristics reminiscent of mandarin orange. Chinook, Mosaic, and Equinox add complementary flavors of pine and tropical fruit. The malt bill is extremely simple, intended to showcase the hops.”
Fairy Hopmother – IPA
“Fairy hopmother is a ridiculously delicious IPA featuring hops from three different continents. New Zealand’s Nelson Sauvin adds flavors reminiscent of white wine grapes and gooseberries. Notes of honeydew and strawberry come from German Huell Melon. American Mosaic rounds out the hop bill, kicking in notes of blueberry. A full body with slight caramel sweetness balances the rich fruity flavors from the hops.”
We have reached the 2nd stop pulled from the book Complete IPA – The Guide to Your Favorite Craft Beer, Great Notion Brewing of Portland, Oregon.
What a combo! Great Notion Brewing is next to a Pine State Biscuits. Now if only there were apartments right above.
GNB is a 7 Barrel brewery plus tap room in N.E. Portland which is appropriate since they “focus primarily on juicy New England-style IPA’s and creative sour ales”..
As you will see from my choices, they don’t stop there. Really cool fun fact: they age some of their beers in clay amphoras.
Instead of starting with their lauded hoppy ales, let’s go breakfast first, then finish with more breakfast for the initial taster flight….
Blueberry Muffin Sour Ale
This Blueberry sour will remind you of your Grandma’s freshly baked blueberry muffins!
Mandela (with Nelson) IPA
Mandela (w/ Nelson) is an IPA brewed with Citra, Mosaic and dry-hopped 100% with Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand.
Over-Ripe IPA
Over-Ripe is an experimental IPA brewed with Azacca, Simcoe, Columbus & Motueka hops. We get loads of overripe fruit like cantaloupe, honey dew, and papaya.
Juice Box Double IPA
Bursting with pungent American hops, with aroma’s of peach, mango, and passion fruit. Juice Box is brewed with over 4 pounds of hops per barrel, but the creamy smooth mouth feel and mellow bitterness makes this Double IPA dangerously drinkable.
Double Stack Stout
Imperial Breakfast Stout brewed with Clutch coffee and Vermont maple syrup.
I had the opportunity last week to check out the space that Lincoln Beer Co. of Burbank calls home.
I spoke with Patrick Dunn, the head brewer about the brewery on an overcast day at their facility and taproom to come on Lima Street.
The space, as I have seen with the new set of breweries lately, has room for more tanks and fermenters which bodes well. A camper was parked in the warehouse space as well, the temporary home of brewery consultants who helped Dunn with the Pioneer brewing system (which was a struggle to get up and running correctly).
The brite tanks were, contrary to most breweries, tucked into the spacious cold box. A measure that has both pros and cons in my mind. Dunn and partner Ryan Lipson met in college and started home brewing and you know the story. All they needed was the funding to get started.
Now they await a CUP so that they can begin the taproom build out and get customers through the doors.
You will see a “homework” assignment and Beer of the Week over on Food GPS in the coming weeks.
Now onto the pair of beers tasted.
Honeysuckle session IPA was clean and crisp. A good option for those who want their hops and less ABV. It didn’t make me go wow, but for this early in the learning curve, it was done well.
Winter Fiesta is their Winter Warmer that combines the spice of habanero pepper with the soothing aroma and cooling of vanilla. I have a low pepper pain threshold but this mash-up, though hot, didn’t sear like other habanero beers that I have encountered.
Take the Roscoe exit of the 405 (N or S), drive past the ????-A-rita plant that also “brews” Bud and you will be close to Cellador Ales helmed by the gracious Kevin and Sara Osborne.
I posted earlier this month about their soft opening hours every other weekend and I will talk more of their beers over on Food GPS but here are some photos from my 1st Visit to their barrel accented tap room…
The complete review of The Complete IPA will be posted sometime this month, and then I will select two other breweries that I first heard mentioned in that book to make e-visits to. The first stop is in New Hampshire and Stoneface Brewing Company.
Stoneface started brewing in 2014 by Erol Moe and Peter Beauregard (plus a third, silent partner). In that short time, they have been hoppy enough to get a mention in Bernstein’s book as well as have a hop in the logo.
Here are the beers that I would add to my first taster tray…..
Oated Ella
“A very pleasing pale ale that was brewed with oats and dry hopped with Australian Ella hops. As they say in Australia, “this beer is sweet as!””
APA
“Our American Pale Ale is the first beer we ever brewed here! It has an assertive bitterness and a big aroma. It’s dry hopped with Falconer’s Flight 7 C’s.”
Blip
“A balanced and bright IPA that has been dry hopped with Mosaic, Columbus, and Simcoe hops.”
Porter
“This beer drinks very smooth with a restrained bitterness and pours a rich, almost black color. It was brewed using chocolate malt and roasted barley; imparting delightful roasty and toasty flavors.”
India Red Rye
“Complex grain bill and moderate bitterness, spicy, malty and magical; aggressively dry hopped with a blend of American aroma hop varietals.”
January or February will see the opening of Hawthorne’s first brewery (in the craft beer age, at least) when L.A. Ale Works unlocks the door you see above.
This long gestating brewery has a large space near Space X off of the 105 Freeway and will be producing these beers….
…pouring from these taps….
I tasted small samples of their Space XPA as well as the “un”coffee version of Buttress of Windsor and their saison during my visit and came away optimistic. The XPA had the texture and flavor that NE IPA fans will recognize, the saison was on point and the porter should prove an excellent base for coffee to jump off from.
There is a good amount of space when you add in the outdoor patio and growlers will be filled using one of those fancy fillers. You will even be able to drop off your growler and go with a new (filled one) if you don’t feel like hanging about.
Best of all, is parking. An actual lot with spaces. The other cool bit, and it is much cooler, is the mini Burton Union that the LAAW crew have set up to create their Blume Berliner Weisse….
The pieces are coming together. Stay tuned to their social media to see when the opening date will be.
Less, than a week ago, I had heard about and then posted the news that a new brewery had sprung up in Arcadia, unbeknownst to me. And before, Christmas, I snuck in a visit as a gift to myself. Here is the 1st Visit report of Mt. Lowe Brewing.
I ordered up the usual 1st Visit fare, a taster tray of “everything you got”. In this case it meant six beers which is a pretty good start for a new brewery.
Of the group the Inspiration Porter was the clear winner. Working with coconut is barely done well but there version was restrained with a touch of sweetness and a hearty base of malts. Maybe it was the slightly cold L.A. snap but the beer was a nice warm up. Second place went to the Rubio Red which had a buoyant spice profile and a dash of hop bitterness to make the beer come alive.
Mid-pack was the Incline Ale which I guess was a pale or pale amber. It was fine. Not much of a hop profile to it which leads me to the amber descriptor. The Bungalow Blonde wins points for the name which nods to both the architecture and history of the San Gabriel Valley but the beer itself falls into the fine category as well.
The Hef was lacking in both the clove and banana department. I wanted more punch from it. Too restrained and more tilted to just a wheat beer. But it was much better than the Hills Have IPA. Another great name but the beer was no where near hoppy and was more muddy and closer to a light barleywine.
The location is close by Santa Anita Avenue so if you can catch the 210 at one of the rare slack times, you can be there in a jiff. Inside is sectioned off so you can have friends get together and not have to yell. You can choose booths or the bar. I appreciate that they have filled the space without sacrificing free roaming space.
As far as starts go, they have a good base of beers to evolve from but nothing really made the leap of marking Mt. Lowe as one to watch closely. Keep it in mind and check in a few months to see how the beers have grown since opening.
We make our final Icelandic stop with a day to spare in the month. But here we are at Vifilfell. Also known as the Viking Beer. They are known for their Thule and Viking labeled beers but here is what I would put into a taster tray.
Organic Pils – Pilsner
Katla Geopark Lager – Helles
Thule Jólabjór Lager – American Amber
Thule Svartbjór Lager – Euro Dark
Black Death – Stout
Viking Stout – Stout
Happy New Year to everyone and if you have a hankering for Icelandic beer, your best and easiest to find are the beers of Einstok.
Before 2016 is finalized in the books, we need to talk about another new brewery that opened up in December over in Arcadia. Mt. Lowe Brewing Company started welcoming visitors to their tap room.
Their website lists six beers currently. Blonde, Hef, “ale” IPA, red and porter.
The incline railroad and old-timey touched up photos lend a nice community feel and I hope to ride the Gold Line out to their spot in 2017.