Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

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Let’s Pour Brewery # 2 – Pelican Pub & Brewery

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For Christmas, I received gift codes to the Let’s Pour craft beer website so that I could buy to my hearts content or the max amount that I was given (whichever came first) and this month I am focusing my brewery spotlight on three breweries that I plan to spend my money on.

Second up is Pacific City’s, Pelican Pub and Brewery.  I haven’t had any of their beers in a long, long while and I guess a part of me was waiting to visit their awesome location literally right on the sand looking out onto the Pacific.

Obviously, I don’t see many of their beers down here in Los Angeles but if I did have access I would get the following:

Nestucca ESB – “Copper-hued and medium-bodied, Nestucca ESB features an English-inspired herbal, floral, and grassy aroma balanced with a toasted bread and toffee-like malt flavor. A subtle fruitiness merges with biscuit-like flavors and a clean, hoppy finish to make this beer both refreshing and full of character. Dry hopped for a delightful fresh hop aroma!”

Kiwanda Cream Ale – “Inspired by one of America’s traditional 19th century beer styles, Kiwanda Cream Ale is pale gold with a fruity, floral hop aroma. A sweet malty flavor and a smooth snappy finish round out this tasty, refreshing brew! “

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The Grand Canyon is Expanding

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OK, that was worded a little too vaguely, but beer lovers probably read between the lines and made the deductive leaps. Grand Canyon Brewing in Williams (which is near the large and popular Arizona National park will be moving into a new and expanded brewing facility so they can brew more beer. The brewery will increase its brewing capacity from (currently) 6,000 barrels a year to a whopping 40,000 once operations are fully ramped up.

Maybe they will have enough to send to California so I could conceivably take Grand Canyon beer to Yosemite.

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Let’s Pour Brewery # 1 – Maine Beer Company

For Christmas, I received gift codes to the Let’s Pour craft beer website so that I could buy to my hearts content or the max amount that I was given (whichever came first) and the first brewery that I wanted to try a beer from was Maine Beer Company.

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The beer that I was most intrigued by was Lunch which sadly wasn’t available. But my second choice of Mean Old Tom a stout with vanilla beans was there!

Here are some of the other beers that piqued my interest…..

Peeper – “Our original hoppy American ale.  Dry, clean, well-balanced with a generous dose of American hops.”

Another One – “Intensely hoppy American IPA, brewed as the light-colored counterpart to Weez (both beers incorporate the exact same kettle and dry hopping schedule).  Another One has a very clean malt palate, leaving little but hoppy resins on the tongue, and finishes dry and crisp.”

Lil One – “Some may call this a malty double IPA, some a hoppy barley wine.  We prefer that it not be classified.  We think of it, simply, as our strong winter ale.  Intense hop aromatics and flavor (think pine, candied orange) blended with just enough malt sweetness to balance out the palate.”

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Petaluma is Brewing

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When you take beer-cations, despite all sorts of planning, you end up missing spots that have to be saved for the next trip to that region and such is the case for my Thanksgiving trip from last year to north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

But one way to pack in more bang for your buck (if you are not going to San Francisco Beer Week next month) is to try out the local beer festivals.  And this fall, you should put the Petaluma River Craft Beer Festival on your radar.  You might see locals like 101 North, Three Uncles Brewing Company, HenHouse Brewing or Dempsey’s Brewpub that you just won’t see outside Marin County.

 

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Holiday Brewery # 2 – Deschutes Brewery

The home of the winter classic Jubelale and the rotating art on the label. And when I think of the holidays and snowy wintry scenes, those labels and the city of Bend in Eastern, Oregon come to mind.

So, here is a little history of Deschutes and their winter warmer…

It started in 1988 and sported a wreath on the label until 1995 when the rotating artists took turns at designing the artwork.

It was the first “packaged” six-pack for Deschutes.

It won a gold medal in 2006 and also Australian awards that year and 2007.

The 2014 artist will be brought in to design in JANUARY!

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Oh and they brew a lot of other great beer too and you will occasionally see their “Woody” in L.A.

 

 

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Holiday Brewery Tour # 1 – Picobrouwerij Alvinne

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Picobrouwerij Alvinne in West Flanders makes quite a few beers that have graced the SoCal area (and hopefully yours) for many years and I have chosen them because of the Three Wise Men.

They started with Balthazar which as the translated website describes it is, “..a spicy dark beer, which includes fresh ginger, cardamom and coriander.”

Then they moved onto Melchior, a “Strong barley wine, full of flavor, a companion for cold and dark winter nights.”

And then finished the trio with Gaspar, “Bitter and thirst quenching, unusual winter beer, hoppy, malty and just creamy. For those who get fed up with dark beers during winter.”

All three are very different from the American takes on winter beers so I suggest picking them up for a beer dinner before Christmas.

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Nickel Beer Co.

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Nickel Beer Co. owned by Tom and Lindsey Nickel who also own O’Brien’s Pub is taking over a former police station in Julian and shooting to open (hopefully before this posts) its tasting room for visitors to start sampling with a pale ale, IPA and stout.

The Nickels are long time craft beer boosters so this new stop will probably get loads of grateful traffic.

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California in November – Sante Adairius

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The final stop of California breweries (I think I could almost feature California every month) is up north of me.  Way north in the Santa Cruz area for some rustic ales from the hard to spell Sante Adairius.

This small but growing saison and more brewery (Has some Solera Method items going on to if I read correctly) has some really cool label artwork too.

Here are the beers that I would put into my sampler tray…..

“Saison Bernice is an exquisitely fermented farmhouse ale. Dry and refreshing, Bernice is made of the freshest on-hand and locally available ingredients. She receives multiple yeast additions, including Brettanomyces, and is further aged in the bottle.”

“Named for our three-legged brewery dog, Tripod is a Belgian-style tripel aged in oak-barrels.”

“Orange, lactic, and bursting with apricot aroma, West Ashley is built for consideration and conversation. While Ashley starts as a simple Saison, careful aging in French Oak Pinot Noir barrels with apricots, our house microbes, and warm encouragement transform her into a tart, complex and delectable beer.”

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What is a Venice Duck?

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Not the easiest place to put a brewery down into, are the beach communities of Los Angeles.  One word for that – RENT.

But there is a brewery trying to “duck” the trend.  Venice Duck which is the brainchild of Christian Warren and John Binder.

They have a few beers listed on their website HERE but the question remains, when will it happen.  There is a possible brewery in Santa Monica,  Three Weavers is lurking about and King Harbor is working hard and getting permits in Redondo Beach.  You would need a Time Lord to tell you when this will come to pass.

 

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California in November – Pure Order

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Pure Order is another brewery in Santa Barbara!  And using a name derived from the Purity Order aka Rheinheitsgebot of Germany.  This is a family run business that has started with a solid list of beers including a pale ale, hefe, California Common, porter and a wheat beer being brewed.

Their Downtown Santa Barbara brewery has a tasting area and a hop garden and with the upgrades at Telegraph and the arrival of Figueroa Mountain, there is a nice little beer crawl on the beach!