Featured Review – Zero Flocs Given from Angel City

I came home from vacation to find two cans of the best named hazy IPA on my doorstep. Zero Flocs Given from Angel City Brewery is

Pours a slightly hazed light yellow color. Lots of lacing on the glass. Has the signature softness of a NE IPA. Herbal and grassy on the nose. Tastes a bit sticky. There’s good strong bitterness that coats the tongue. A bit of dried orange comes through as well.

I would deem this as an everyman’s hazy IPA. It could easily start someone on a journey of the style.

Less than Zero


One of my favorite beer names of the year comes from Angel City, Zero Flocs Given. Both timely and profane.

This LA via NE IPA is the latest can release from the DTLA brewery. ZFG will arrive on Friday, October 20th, available exclusively at the Brewery. The beer will also be on draft at the Brewery’s Public House while supplies last.

Here is the brewery description, “A New-England Style IPA with 7.3% ABV and 50 IBU, Zero Flocs Given catches the eye with a cloudy golden orange appearance and awakens the senses with aromas of ripe tropical fruit, citrus, pine and resin. A slightly stinging bitterness balanced by juicy malt sweetness…”

There will be a Can Release party ,starting at 4pm, where the first 50 in line will receive a free Zero Flocs limited edition art poster and sticker.

Featured Pumpkin Beer Review – Pumpkin Ale from Kennebunkport Brewing


This was literally the only pumpkin beer that I found in Trader Joe’s on a late September day. Two years ago, they would have been gone. Already sold.

The new canned version of Pumpkin Ale from the Kennebunkport Brewing Company comes in the orange accented 12oz. My last last Untappd score for this beer was 1.0 for the bottled version. This canned version tastes better than that but still not super. The pumpkin taste actually seems less pie and more actual pumpkin. It is still too sweet to my taste buds and on the thin side but leaves with a nice pie spice finish.

FW Lager

More canned beers coming are way from Paso Robles with Pivo Pils getting a lager cousin….

From the simple color scheme and light shadowed Firestone Walker lion and beer, one could make the guess that the beer inside will be simple and light as well. The question being, did this one get hopped or not?

Featured Review – Magic Flute NE IPA from SoLArc

Sneaking in one more review before July gets completely away with a new canned offering from the wild and crazy crew at SoLArc.

Magic Flute is their gruit filtered take on the NE IPA. And it certainly looks the hazy part, orangecolored with a fruit juice look. This beer has a strange metallic aroma to it and the taste has some of that aspect too. The lemongrass comes on loud and strong which leads the bitterness to be low and underneath that spice. Some grain notes lurking too. Not sure that I am digging the label design kinda has a Pied Piper old-timey look with too vivid colors.

Cask Cans


Everywhere you look, there are can releases in L.A. And MacLeod’s is in on the act with a double can release this Saturday. You can purchase 16oz cans/4-packs of London Lager and Scottish Sparkling Ale. These are both limited release items.

Two from MadeWest

I was beer shopping and finding quite a few new Artifex beers in the coolers when I thought I saw some beers that were upside down. My eyes were deceiving me though. Artifex’s logo is similar in font to Ventura’s MadeWest.

I ended up with a pale and IPA and now is the time to render a verdict. Which can would I buy again?

Pale Ale – Pours a clear and dark yellow. Aroma is very herbal and grassy. Nice dank bite with a spritz of carbonation at the start that rounds into a lovely peach note. That bitterness sticks to the side of the mouth long after the sip is over. Right at the end is a wheat toast note. The combination is nice if stronger than expected for a Pale Ale.

IPA – Pours an orange color. Aroma has a touch of citrus but somewhat mellow. Picking up grapefruit here in the flavor, it is predominant. More silky than the Pale Ale. Less dynamic in certain ways too.

I think the peach notes puts the Pale over the top. Or maybe I don’t cotton to hop 07270.

Featured Review – Unicorn Juice from Artifex

Our random walk through beer styles continues in the latest featured review, of Unicorn Juice, a wheat beer with passion fruit from San Clemente’s Artifex Brewing.

This was my first canned beer tasted from Artifex. This wheat ale pours a hazy light orange color. A touch of a tropical fruit nose to it. The major note is an off putting metallic one. Maybe a green unripe fruit taste? Overall, the taste is tilted to the fruit as the wheat is relegated to barely a minor role.

Not a fan of this one, maybe I don’t believe in unicorns.