Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
A concise brewery bio
Since Santa shares this holiday with a certain other fellow, he might want to stop and raise a glass in Bethlehem. Pennsylvania of course and the Bethlehem Brew Works home of Rude Elf’s Reserve.
The story behind this beer is quite fascinating. Check it out HERE
Here’s to a merry and beer filled Christmas and let’s hope Santa Claus (Kris Kringle, Sinter Klass, St. Nick) has a fun and safe journey around the world!
While flying over Michigan, Kris Kringle may pause at Red Jacket which is inside the Michigan House Cafe.
They brew a 1/2 barrel at a time and produce a coffee oatmeal stout with the same type of ingredients that breweries used before prohibition. It has 13 shots of espresso that should keep Santa going well into the night.
While in England, St. Nick might stop at Banbury for a drink at the aptly named Pear Tree Inn (no mention of partridges). It is part of Hook Norton.
“This pretty 18th century pub, which also serves as the Brewery’s tap, is ideally located for use by the many walkers who pass by or visitors to the Hook Norton Brewery Visitor Centre.
The Pear Tree has a single, beamed bar with welcoming log fire. The Pear Tree is open all day and has the full range of Hook Norton beers.
Double bed in roomThe pub has three bed and breakfast rooms, which are much in demand during the summer months.
The pub is famed for its annual beer festival which is held every July.”
Since this is CanFest month, my featured breweries don’t come from just one state or region but share the commonality of canning!
Southern Star got on my radar due to their Buried Hatchet stout. And due to recent expansions to brewing capacity and the canning line more canned beers will be flowing out of this Texas brewery. And that might include seasonal cans to!
I and beer buddy Richard had the opportunity to get a tour of one of the newest breweries to open up in the LA area today, The LAB Brewing Company. Big thanks to Roger Bott for taking the time out of his busy brewing schedule to sit down and chat with us about the brewery.
We got to sample 5 of the beers (primarily 1st batches), including the still not quite done Kona coffee beer. 
And better than that, we got to hear the stories behind the beer and about Roger himself. He has been homebrewing and dreaming of opening a restaurant for a long time and now he is living the dream and creating a great beer destination in Agoura Hills just a few miles away from Ladyface Brewing.
Roger has been brave enough to put the first batches on display of the initial three brews:
Big Ass Red — Amber Ale
LAB XPA — IPAs baby brother
Take Her Home — Belgian style tripel
And we tasted the Wit and coffee beers too. I liked the XPA which was strongly bitter and vegetal and stronger hop-wise than intended due primarily to mechanical issues and Richard enjoyed the coffee stout the best which had a really great aroma and strong with a velvety taste. Probably due to the whole beans used in the brewing process.
I like the lab concept (water comes in beakers) which meshes well with Roger’s Amgen work background and it will be interesting to see where these beers go and how his other ideas pan out. It is so fun to see the growth of a brewery from the start. I will certainly try the coffee beer again and I am looking forward to the IPA and other creations too.
Since this is CanFest month, my featured breweries don’t come from just one state or region but share the commonality of canning!
Mammoth has shown up in L.A. markets on occasion and their IPA 395 is a spicy and bitter treat.
They are part of the trend of brewers who do both bottles and cans.
Grab a can or bottle when you see their stuff. Both the Epic IPA and the pilsner were tasting good at Canfest this year.
Since this is CanFest month, my featured breweries don’t come from just one state or region but share the commonality of canning!
And I will start with the one that is literally a 25 minute walk from my home…Golden Road Brewing.
They will be canning their Point the Way IPA (see above) as well as their Hefeweizen to start. You can also get two different sizes of growlers filled as of now and their tasting room will be open sometime in the near future and you will be able to watch the trains zip by as you sip your ale.
Our third and final stop on our tour of Australian craft breweries takes us to Little Creatures.
As was the case with the previous two breweries on this itinerary, the details are courtesy of the Crafty Pint. THE place to go for Australian craft beer information.
I am most intrigued by their single batch beers and the choices for them. Single hop beers tend to be the bigger hops. And by bigger, I mean your Centennial or Cascade or Nelson. But they do a East Kent Goldings. Then they do a batch of marzen. Very cool.
All right beer lovers. Time to pony up some cash so we can bring another craft brewery into the world. Mystery Brewing and Wilderness Brewing got funded and now it is time to help out Short Snout. With the other two being in the midwest, my chances of sampling their beers is small but Short Snout will be based in Milwaukie (my hometown!) I hope to sample their beers in the future!
Head over to Kickstarter and make a pledge!
Our middle stop on our tour of Australian craft breweries takes us to the alliteratively named Moo Brew.
As was the case with the previous two breweries on this itinerary, the details are courtesy of the Crafty Pint. THE place to go for Australian craft beer information.
What caught my fancy, beer-wise was the Hop Harvest a twist on their pale ale. But I really like the label art. Goofy and fun.