Dallas Design District – Brewery # 2 – Noble Rey

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This brewery is also “in the works”.  In fact Noble Rey Brewing just got their boiler a couple weeks ago and keg collars recently arrived as well and they should be fully operational in 2015 if not sooner.

You will be able to taste beers such as “B.A. Baracus (an American brown ale), an amber ale called Steam Punk, and a 7.5 percent ABV German IPA dubbed Lorelei Rock, as well as a seasonal Day of the Dead-inspired brown ale brewed with piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar), cinnamon, and ancho and guajillo chiles.”

Hopefully the distribution woes that Texas government has recently imposed won’t impede this new brewery.

 

 

Dallas Design District – Brewery # 1 – Texas Ale Project

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T.A.P. as they are calling themselves, literally began pouring this month with a kick-off party that included the start of their beer line-up: Fire Ant Funeral Amber Ale, Naked Truth hoppy American Wheat Ale + Somethin’ Shady Porter.

They have also toyed with some experimental beers in the form of Party Like it’s 1773 Patriot Ale that is ‘Dry Leafed’ with tea, golden in color and an Imperial IPA that clocks in at “9% ABV, around 100 IBU.”

Currently they are draft only with a canning line being readied for the future.

Right now the best place to find their ales are at the Dallas Beer Kitchen.

NBA Contenders – Brewery # 3 NoDa Brewing

Charlotte has an eclectic roster.  Two Indiana rail thin forward-centers.  The mystery that is Lance Stephenson.  The mystery that is Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s shot and a grear workhorse in Al Jefferson. But they might have enough to win their division with Miami losing LeBron.

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And NoDa is a perfect fit because of one beer: Jam Session. “The evolution of American Pale Ale—still a session beer but it sacrifices nothing—clear hop flavor shines through without being too dominant, and there’s a great malt flavor uncommon to the variety. The backbone of this beer is the balance of imported Maris Otter and Caramunich malts with the pine and citrus flavors of Centennial, Simcoe, and Citra hops.”

And here are the other brews to taste while watching the Hornets:

Hop, Drop ‘n Roll – “2014 World Beer Cup® Gold Award Winner, American-Style IPA. Hops in your face. Crisp, mouthwatering, American citrus hops dominate for an ideal IPA character. It’s hopped before, during and after the boil with late boil additions of Citra and Amarillo for a complex flavor profile. The rich golden color comes from a blend of English and American base malts accented with substantial amounts of Vienna and Wheat malt. This is the beer that started it all for NoDa Brewing.”

Cold Crash Winter Ale – “Crash through the cold weather with our malty, hearty ruby red ale! Cold Crash offers a malt-forward and dark fruit-accented flavor profile with a distinct winter spice sharpness, subtle hop presence, and a warming 6.3% ABV. Perfect for the cooler months or just warming the soul.”

Midnight Madness – “This is our version of a Cascadian Dark Ale, more commonly known as a Black IPA. Made with six hop varieties: Cascade, Centennial, Columbus (Tomahawk), Chinook, Simcoe, and Warrior it has a nimble complexity surprising for it’s style. Sweet malt notes linger in the finish and despite its opacity it’s fairly medium-bodied and smooth.”

 

 

NBA Contenders – Brewery # 2 Faction Brewing of Alameda

Klay Thompson stayed.  A new coach has arrived.  Can the slightly re-jiggered Warriors take it up a notch in a hyper comptetitive Western Conference?  So far the answer is a resounding yes.

Maybe they can if they don’t split into groups and instead have beers together at Faction Brewing in Alameda.

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I would start my taster tray with:

Pilsner – A Traditional Czech-Style Pilsner with Castle Pilsner malt & Saaz hops

2 Hop – Instead of single hop ales.  They mix and match a pair of hops to see how they blend together.

Defcon V Belgian Table beer – A merger of English hops and Belgian yeast and hops.

Barleywine – An American-Style Barleywine with American 2-Row, Crystal 77 & Chocolate malts and Chinook & Centennial Hops

 

Wolves & People

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Now that is a brewery name!  A little odd but centered on a personal story from the past.  And though I usually just drive right through Newberg on the way to McMinnville.  That story and the actual farmhouse where the farmhouse ales will be brewed would be too tempting not to stop at.  Plus there is a Jester King brewing connection and they already have done collaborations with another pair of favorite breweries in Odell’s and The Commons.

So check out their CrowdBrewed appeal video and help another Wolves & People to open.  I will be bugging people to get the bottles down here to SoCal.

NBA Contenders – Brewery # 1 Empirical Brewing of Chicago

Da’ Bulls chances rest on the health of Derrick Rose. If he stays on the court, then Chicago with the added offensive power of Paul Gasol will be in the hunt for the Eastern Conference championship.

You could say that is an empirical fact. And a brewery too, Empirical Brewing.

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I love the use of the word Empirical throughout their website and because I like that they are upfront that some recipes are being “refined”, those are the beers that I would put in my taster tray first.

πR/2 Beers

Atomic Amber Ale:

“Moderate hop aroma with a nice malty nose. Reddish Amber color with an off-white head. Malty sweet flavor balanced with American and German hops and a caramel malt presence.”

Infinity IPA: 

“Prominent hop aroma. Dry hopped to give it intensity. Reddish-copper color with a persistent white head. High bitter hop flavor with a support of malt sweetness. Smooth but definitely hoppy and bitter.”

Event Horizone Oatmeal Stout:

“Roasted coffee-like with a slight hop aroma. Black with a persistent tan colored head. Sweet medium dry flavor with a complex oat and dark roasted presence. Nutty and earthy full-bodied flavor. Rich silky mouth feel.”

The Good Beer Company

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Barley Forge is now active in Orange County and now Downtown Santa Ana has their own spot for Good Beer.  Now that name doesn’t ring for me but if indeed the beer is good, I will let that slide.  I look forward to trying their Saison and Pale Wheat beers and their DTSA Citrus Zest IPA sounds like a winner as well.

You can read more about them in this article from Greg Nagel and Jessica McNew

Ohio to Portland

In my weekly perusal of beer blogs far and wide, I ran across this pre-opening review of a brewery in Portland from the New School blog.

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Now a new brewery in Portland would not normally warrant a post because of the frequency of openings for Rip City. But the route for this brewery came through Ohio. Fat Heads (with the weird cartoony logo that I am not fond of) is a fixture in the Midwest but a bit of an unknown to left coasters. But they have plunked down a brewery in Downtown Portland.

I will review it in a later post but this trend of opening new locales in far-flung places seems to be the new thing.

No NIMBY, this time YIMBY

I have lived in Glendale for quite some time now.  Going on 20 years if my math is correct.  And in all that time, there has been a total of one brewery that attempted to make a go at brewing in the Jewel City.  The long, long gone GlenCastle which became a Don Cuco’s Mexican restaurant for a short while and is now vacant.  I don’t remember the beers being world class but the location and interior were nice and if the fallout of brewpubs hadn’t happened maybe it would still be here today.

You could argue that Golden Road or Eagle Rock, though technically both LA, are so close to Glendale that it makes the need for a brewery moot, it would be nice to have a coaster from a brewery that said “Brewed in Glendale”.

Come 2015, it might become a reality.

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Though the irony is that though the proposed Brewyard Beer Co. would be located in Glendale, it is probably closer to a majority of Burbank residents than Glendale ones.  Myself included.  But for those thirsty souls who work at Disney and Dreamworks and ABC7, they will have beer close to hand.

For the time being, it is follow them on social media to gauge their progress.  The duo behind the brewery Kirk Nishikawa and Sherwin Antonio have a home brewing background and hopefully the moxie to make Glendale home to a local beer again.

 

Denver Brewery # 3 – Our Mutual Friend

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Our final destination in Denver is Our Mutual Friend.  Not a person, no.  But a Malt & Brew in the River North neighborhood.

And where did they get the name? Their website explains that “Part of what we love about beer is its power to bring people together…”

Now on to what I would have in my taster tray:

Novo Coffee Stout – with a rotating coffee bean from Novo Coffee

Pumpkin Ale – with roasted pumpkin, pie spices, brown sugar and vanilla

American Wheat Ale – with two C hops, Centennial and Cascade

Proletariat Session Ale – a 4.5 Cascade hop light offering