Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

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Brewseum Brewery # 3 – Moor’s Brewing Company

Our final stop is at Moor’s Brewing Company. The brewery was founded by Jamhal Johnson, Damon Patton and Anthony Bell. Starting as a contract brewer with big growth plans.

Let’s dig into some of the beers from this new brewery….

Session Ale – “Moor’s Session Ale packs a light but flavorful balance of green papaya and a hint of key lime with a smooth lemongrass finish.”

Helles Lager – “Our full bodied pale lager leads with a hint of honeydew melon, harmonizing with subtly spicy and bright German hop flavors for a refreshing finish that is soft, clean and crisp.”

IPA – “Moor’s IPA is crisp, providing a subtle grapefruit quality on the front, flavors of pretzel dough and rounds out smoothly with fresh honey malt notes.”

Imperial Porter – “Moor’s Imperial Porter is a rich, textured beer with a hoppy nose complimented by the scent of lavender and blueberry. The palate brings home the flavors of roasted chocolate and ground coffee.”

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Brewseum Brewery # 2 – Black Horizon Brewing Company

The Chicago Brewseum is having their Beer Culture Summit this month so I thought we should visit some of the breweries connected with that education this month, the second stop is…

…Black Horizon Brewing Company.

Let’s get some beers then…

Three Putt for Par Kolsch – “A hoppy Kolsch hopped and dry hopped with fresh Citra hops for a light citrus aroma with a great crisp, hoppy and easy drinking finish.”

Endless Brilliance Blonde Ale – “Aged on over 80lbs of toasted coconut, buckets of marshmallows, a huge drizzle of salted caramel and plenty of vanilla this is the perfect Fall/bonfire beer. Rich and sticky with plenty of balanced sweet notes from real adjuncts, this beer reminds us of Dutch stroopwafles or a s’mores without the chocolate.”

Peach Fist Fight Hazy IPA – “One of the taprooms most popular variations of our house hazy IPA is finally in cans for the first time! This 100% Citra hopped hazy IPA was aged on a massive amount of fresh peach puree that accents the delicate tropical and citrus fruit notes of the hops while bringing waves of stone fruit and peach with each sip.’

Frozen Dimension Cold IPA – “Cold IPA is best described as a strong California lager foundation with a beautiful West Coast IPA hopping and dry hopping. A delicate malt base of pilsner and flaked corn create a soft backbone in which tropical citrus, white grapefruit and sweet sappy bitterness blend for a super crisp and refreshing new school IPA twist.”

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Brewseum Brewery # 1 – Funkytown Brewery

The Chicago Brewseum is having their Beer Culture Summit this month so I thought we should visit some of the breweries connected with that education this month, starting with….

…Funkytown Brewery. Founded by Richard Bloomfield, Zachary Day and Gregory Williams who won a Brewbound Pitch Slam for their brewery plan.

Here are a list of their beers:

  • Summertime Chi Witbier
  • Gym Shoe Weather Belgian Pale Ale
  • Hip-Hops and R&Brew Pale Ale
  • It Is What It Is Smoke Beer
  • New Year, Who Dis? Oatmeal Stout
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CA Brewery Tour # 3 – Hella Coastal Brewing

We head to Oakland and one of the rare but fingers crossed growing number of black-owned breweries, Hella Coastal.

Hella Coastal Lager – “Lightly hopped, easy drinking Lager Style Ale featuring Tettnang and Strata Hops.”

Hop On It Pale Ale – a new release using Centennial, El Dorado and Citra hops.

Oakland Haze – “West Coast Hazy IPA Featuring Nelson and Cascade hops with notes of Pineapple, Guava, Grapefruit and a hint of diesel.”

Bomba Nights – “We linked up with Federation Brewing to create this bomb coconut Stout inspired by the age-old Puerto Rican holiday drink coquito. Brewed with heaping amounts of hand-toasted coconut flakes, whole cinnamon sticks, lactose and Madagascar vanilla beans.”

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CA Brewery Tour # 2 – Farmers Brewing Company

Our next CA stop is in Princeton, or you can go to their Chico taproom, it is Farmers Brewing Company.

Let us see what is farm to tap…

530 Unfiltered Wheat Ale – “A very refreshing, easy drinking beer. Along with U.S. grown barley, the grain bill consists of medium grain sushi rice and soft white winter wheat grown and harvested on the fields of our family farm. 530 is late hopped during the brewing process, producing a slight citrus/floral aroma and flavor. The residual yeast produces a subtle, yet complex flavor.”

Sunup till Sundown Session IPA – “Inspired by and named after a farmer’s work ethic, this session-style IPA is easy drinking, sun up ‘til sun down. Estate grown rice and wheat, a golden sunset color, orange blossom aroma, and fresh lemon zest combine into a burst of tartness, dissipating into a smooth finish.”

Fall Harvest – “Fall is the time of year when we are busy in the fields and an Oktoberfest style beer couldn’t be more fitting for us to celebrate with. By toasting our estate grown rice and using our wheat, we have added an American twist to the traditional German style of beer.”

Stubborn Mule – “This loaded liquid is made from 100% estate grown rice and fermented with sake yeast. Brewed with blueberry, ginger, and lemon, this gluten-free beverage is crisp and delicious.”

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CA Brewery Tour # 1 – Narrative Fermentations

Stories in a bottle is how some people describe bourbon but it also holds true for beer, except substitute 16oz can. That is the segue to the first California brewery tour for October, which is Narrative Fermentations.

Here are some taster tray ideas from the San Jose brewery…

Knusprig German-Style Festbier – “a deep yellow German style Festbier coming in at 5.9% alc/vol. It’s malt forward with very minimal hop influence, but still bright and lively. It has a beautifully subtle character of lightly toasted bread dough with the use of Vienna and Munich malts supporting the Pilsner malt base.”

Hippie Couture IPA – “is like eating white gummy bears at a Grateful Dead show. The overwhelming danky aroma is the first thing to hit you….once you get a sip though, big flavors of pineapple, mango, lychee, passionfruit, and light supporting citrus notes fill your mouth while leaving a sticky resinous finish.”

Nectaron 3000 Hazy IPA – “We were able to get our hands on some sweet sweet Nectaron hops and boy oh boy this stuff did not dissapoint! We layered in a little Citra and Nelson for good measure and the result is super rad! Nectaron 3000 is pillowy and pungent! It has big aromas of tropical fruit and dank. On the pallet, expressive flavors of pineapple, passionfruit, peach, and pink grapefruit coat your mouth.”

The Moon Stood Still Blueberry Cheesecake Sour – “This beer is a ton of fun with huge jammy blueberry flavors that’ll make you think you’re drinking a slice of Blueberry Cheesecake! There is a bit of sweetness at an expected level that also tempers the acidity. The elevated ABV also helps those flavors pop in a big way.”

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1st Visit – Wild Parrot Brewing

Out to East Pasadena to visit Wild Parrot Brewing Company which shares a space with Rosebud Coffee.

photo Richard Rosen

The space is adorned with parrots making it a flying twin to Green Cheek Brewing. The brewery just recently opened and has six beers on too plus a SoCal ubiquitous Michelada.

All the beers were solid. No, WTF moments here. Usually new breweries and IPAs don’t mix well but their Pandemonium West Coast IPA was good.

On the other side of the ledger was the Porch Chill Amber which did not build on the momentum from the first two lagers. Was kinda flat and uninteresting to me.

The sour could have been more tart but had a nice lime flavor. The Coffee Stout was more a Coffee Porter but had a good coffee note to it.

The best in show was the Doug Heavy. Light enough for hot weather but Big enough for cloudy skies too.

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Spirited Brewery # 3 – Scout & Scholar

Our last stop is in the Capital of Bourbon, Bardstown, Kentucky and to a brewery that honors the Bard brothers, William aka Scout and David the Scholar.

Scout & Scholar is just off the main street in a very frontiersy building with a large outdoor seating area as well as indoor seating on two floors. The beer list is quite long. So long that they have multiple personalized flights to order, like the collaboration flight that I tried first.

Got You Fam – “This Beer Was Brewed In Collaboration With Marker 48 Brewing Out Of Weeki Wachee, Florida. This Beer Is Know As An ErntBier Or A Harvest Beer. The Grain Bill Consists Of Mostly Vienna Malt Providing A Nice Bready Malt Forward Backbone. Using A Kolsch Yeast Strain And Noble Hops Helps to Cut The Sweetness Of The Vienna Malt For A Dry And Crisp Finish. Never Had An ErntBier? We Got You Fam.”

Post-Boredom Kolsch – “A collaboration between Country Boy and Scout & Scholar, Post-Boredom is our take on a refreshing German-style Kolsch with a heavy-handed dry hop pushing notes of tangerine and strawberry. This is the official beer of putting the past in the rear view and moving on. Tasting Notes: Bread dough, light cereal, slight mineral, strawberry, honeydew, gooseberry, hint of passion fruit.”

Stick and Poke – “Rum Runner Inspired Kettle Sour. Conditioned On Pineapple, Blackberry, Banana, And Key Lime. Then Aged To Perfection In Rum Barrels. Collaboration With Our Friends At Atrium Brewing In Louisville.”

Sage, Scout and Spirit – “This KristallWeizen Was Brewed In Collaboration With Our Great Friends At Log Still Distillery And Against The Grain. Aged In A Monk Road Gin Barrel This Beer Has A Unique Botanical Vibe From Start To Finish.”

I also had their Treading Paper IPA and their Miranda Belgian Dark Strong. Of the six, the Stick and Poke was my winner followed by the Miranda.

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1st Visit – Malibu Brewing Company

The Hopped beer website has been pumping the gas on this new brewery for months now.  None of their canned line has made it over to the Valley so, the first weekend they were open for guests, I headed there with fellow beer fan Richard to scope out the beachy taproom of Malibu Brewing Company.

Here is the 1st Visit report….

Upscale barn meets PCH version of a strip mall. The restaurant and taproom (brewing operations are in Westlake Village) is in a development leaning heavily into the distressed wood look. There is a small bar area and a medium amount of seating inside and out.

There is a two side list of beers which is a quantity not normally seen in a just opened tap list. Granted they have been packaging their core beers for a few months but impressive even if discounting the Zima, sorry, Zuma hard seltzer.

I had a custom flight of a Schwarzbier, plum Porter, IPA and a Hoppy Rice Lager + their hazy DIPA. Pours are not badly priced considering it is near the beach. Look at the ounces key though. All slimmed down. You cannot order a pint!

That said, the quality of my five beers and the consensus of the table was that everything was solid. A new brewery almost always has a clunker or two or a bent to doing one style better than others. This menu had a hatch chile beer and a Rose lager in addition to others and all were good.

Sitting outside was great for people watching and nice after some roasty temperatures. The food was good as well.

If you need an escape from L.A. proper then you will find a lot to like here.

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Spirited Brewery # 2 – Entre Compas

This month I am going to highlight breweries in towns rich in distilleries as well as breweries, in a nod to where I recently went, Portland, we head to the new on the scene Entre Compas.

That phrase is slang for compadre, translating to “between really good friends”.

They do not have many brews out in the world yet but they do have a couple IPA’s out such as Entre Compas IPA and Verano IPA made with Culmination Brewing. They also have a Vienna lager as well.

You can find the beers at restaurant Los Ponchos which is the current home for Entre Compas. They are contract brewing while also looking for their own brewing space in the future.