Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

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Ireland or Germany? – Clanconnel Brewing

Back to Ireland and Clanconnel Brewing. Do read their history on the home page of their website. It is very cool.

They have two beers in their line with a third in the works. You can have a Weaver’s Gold…
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“This refreshing blonde ale, strikes a perfect balance between the subtle sweetness of the malts; the wonderful zesty citrus aroma from the hops and the crisp, dry finish on the palate.”
..or the McGrath’s Red…
“A medium bodied traditional ale, combining the caramel sweetness of the malts with toasted biscuit notes, balanced carefully by the earthy hops, finishing slightly dry but smooth on the palate.”

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Cismontane Brewery

I was perusing the IPA list at the wonderful Tony’s Darts Away (which you should go to, RIGHT NOW!) and one of beers was the Coulter IPA from a brewery that I had never heard of before in Orange County.
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Cismontane brews the El Modena Brown, Peninsular Pale, two versions of a coffee stout along with the aforementioned IPA.

They have been open since April of this year and deserve a look see from all of you OC and South Bay beer geeks as well as us Los Angeles folk.

address
29851 Aventura Suite D.
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
92688

Phone
(949) 888-BREW [2739]

Open
Thurday 2-8
Friday 2-8
Saturday 12-7
Sunday 12-5

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Ireland or Germany? – Brauhaus am Waldschlossen

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On to Germany and a Brauhaus. The vibe and beer are completely different from Ireland but the classic quality is the same.

At the Waldschlossen, you can have their Zwickelbier which “is a pale, full-bodied beer. It is brewed on the basis of an original Waldschlösschen Brewery recipe. The special feature of this beer is the fact that it is left unfiltered. It is a bottom-fermented beer with an alcohol content of approx. 5.5%”

Also check out the links on the history of brewing and their brewing process. You will learn something fun for sure.

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Fullsteam Brewery

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Fullsteam just opened last month and they have a unique twist to their business and their beers that stems from their community roots.

Did I mention that their beers are unique? Try these on for size:
Carver sweet potato beer
“North Carolina is the largest U.S. producer of sweet potatoes. In our quest to work with local Southern ingredients as much as possible, the humble sweet potato is an obvious choice. In fact, one-third of the total fermentables in Carver come from North Carolina sweet potatoes.

Perhaps less obvious: our decision to avoid cloying spices that would only serve to mask the savory-yet-delicate flavors. The goal of this modestly-hopped amber ale is to have you explore the nuance of the sweet potato…not hit you over the head with Obvious Spices. What is, after all, the taste of a sweet potato? Carver asks this quest ion and encourges you to explore the answer.”

Scuppernong sparkling ale
“A highly-carbonated, cloudy white beer with a surprisingly dry hint of scuppernong grapes. Perfect for a late afternoon. A local wheat and scuppernong blend that is 100% naturally fermented. Premiered at 2008 Southern Foodways Alliance Sympoium in Oxford, Mississippi. 5.0% ABV”

First Frost wild persimmon
“This unique winter ale is made from the winter fruit harvested from a 50-year-old Chatham County persimmon tree. The persimmons were added in secondary with a touch of cinnamon — a nod to persimmon pudding. We call this beer “First Frost” as persimmon fruit reaches its peak flavor after, you guessed it, the first frost of autumn. 7% ABV.”

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Darwin Brewery

Thanks to Jeff Evans, I finally learned about this Sunderland based brewery, Darwin.
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“Established in 1994 the Darwin Brewery has grown steadily over the last ten years to become one of the most respected micro-breweries in the north of England. Recent awards of ‘CAMRA North East beer of the Year 2003/4’, ‘2004 Asda Beer Festival’ award and most recently the ‘2005/6 Tesco Beer Challenge’ is the perfect way to celebrate it’s decade in Business.”

Two of the most intriguing beers in their range are the Ghost Ale, their flagship golden ale with citrus tones and the Hop Drop Champion Ale made with cluster and liberty hops.

They also have a sister company, Brewlab that does that pesky technical and science sides of things. AND they also team up with the University of Sunderland, so that the next generation can see inventive British brewing.

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Rum Riot Brewery

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Here is what RateBeer blogger Josh Christie reports about this under the radar brewery: “Rum Riot, founded by Kyle Jongerden and Benjamin Jones, takes it’s name from the Portland Rum Riot in 1855. As the story goes, the recently passed “The Maine Law” read: “here ye, here ye, all alcohol shall be prohibited!” Portlanders, who then and still today like their booze, weren’t too happy. Thousands of protested descended on Portland’s City Hall to protest the law on June 2nd of ‘55 under threat of gunfire, and in the wake of the protest the law was repealed. Rum Riot Brewing thus presents to you “a dedication to all Portlanders’ passion, independence, and desire for alcohol.”

Rum Riot’s beer is readily available on the first Friday of every month for Portland’s art walk. At the Two Point Gallery, the brewery brings free beer on every first Friday, and occasionally has 22oz bottles for sale. Right now, there isn’t much info to be found on Rum Riot’s plans for expansion, if any exist. They do at least offer plenty of info about their current brews – Belgian Summer, German Summer and American Summer as of June.”

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Ireland or Germany? – Trouble Brewing

You are not a true beer geek until you have visited and taken in the beer culture in Ireland and Germany. I have been fortunate to have been to both BUT I did not visit all the breweries PLUS more have sprung up!

So this month, I will offer up an underknown brewery from each country that should be on your next beer travel itinerary. First up, the Emerald Isle…
trouble

“We’re dedicated to producing distinctive and outstanding beer from only natural ingredients.”, so says the Trouble Brewing website and I believe them. They are starting small and hoping to build up.

Here’s the info on beer # 1: Ór “A smooth, refreshing golden ale that is full-bodied and has a distinctive hop flavour. Brewed using the best two-row Maris Otter pale malt interwoven with a complimentary selection of speciality malt for a robust taste. It is hopped with a combination of traditional English and modern American hops, to produce a beer with subtle fruit flavours and a crisp, lingering finish. 4.3% A.B.V.”

Slainté

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Hardknott Brewery

Saw this English brewery mentioned on the always interesting Pete Brown blog and if he is a fan then we should all be on the lookout.

Hardknott Brewery came into being when a publican named David Bailey decided he wanted to brew instead of serve and this is what was created:

Fusion – a 4% ginger beer that has had chilli added to the mix.
Dark Energy – a 4.9% ‘sort of a stout perhaps, dark and fruity dry hops’ in Dave’s words
Continuum – their 4% ‘standard’ beer, dry hopped in the cask
Infra-Red – a 6.2% IPA (apparently ‘hoppier than a bucket of frogs’)

And in bottle there’s Granite (Barley Wine style) and Aether Blaec (Islay whisky barrel-aged stout).

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Rising Tide Brewery

For Oregon Craft Beer Month, I promised to not be too Portland-centric. Well, I am going back on that promise to talk about a Portland brewery. Portland, Maine.

Here’s the scoop from their Facebook page:
Rising Tide Brewing Company is a small-scale start-up brewery with a focus on handcrafted artisanal ales that draw on traditions from around the world. We will be brewing 90 gallons at a time and distributing locally to the southern Maine region in bottles and kegs.Mission:Bringing world-wide traditions together with a New England ethic to create beers that are uniquely Rising Tide. Beer First.
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And here is the info on two of their beers:
Ishmael — Our copper ale borrowing from the traditions of German altbier, brewed with new-world hops and old-world yeast.

Spindrift — A crisp, pale, multi-grain beer brewed with barley, rye, and wheat.