Taste Showdown Nitro IPA vs Nitro Wit from Sam Adams

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Sam Adams and their Nitro Project has finally started to show up in L.A. (though BevMo seems to hide it strategically through their Burbank store).

I purchased four packs of both the IPA and a White Ale to see which would win taste-wise and which best showcased the Nitrogenation process.

I started with the Creamy & Smooth White Ale.  The sound of the can popping is like starting up an engine.  The head is big and creamy.  There is near milkshake quality to this.  Almost like a horchata shake.  Pie spice nutmeg-gy ness.  It seems to me that the essential subtle shades of Wit Bier (AKA White Ale) are overwhelmed by the creamy nitro.  As it warms, the navel orange notes really start to pick up which adds a missing dimension.

Next on to the Bright & Citrusy,  the hops certainly do combat the nitro more.  There is a pungent, piney hop kick to this beer that seeps through the foamy head.  Lots of wood notes to this hop blend.  As it stays cold the nitro half stays in effect.  I sampled the beer straight from the ‘fridge and also after sitting at room temp and found it to initially be more citrus focused before settling into the woods.

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Overall, I would take the White Ale since it held a little more nuance.  The IPA fought through the Nitro and unleveled that playing field too much.  Now I might have to try the third offering, the coffee stout/

Take a Trip

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Break out your backpacks and hashtags, Eagle Rock Brewery has teamed up with the National Forest Foundation to brew up some canned beers to take with you out into the Great Outdoors (for me it is the Great Indoors). Plus, as a bonus, portion of the proceeds of all sales will be donated to the National Forest Foundation.

The cans will be released into the wild tomorrow, 4/28 in time for you to hike or climb or (for me go out on the patio) and enjoy the #ERBdaytrip.

Review – Hello LA from Highland Park Brewery

Rain doesn’t visit L.A. all that often but it came out on the day of the first canned release from Highland Park Brewery. HPB crew and brewmaster Bob Kunz were selling their beer in the cold and drizzle at the Hermosillo.

I got there three hours into the sale and was glad that they had four packs of there Hello LA IPA left. (They would all be snatched up by the end of the night, so sayeth social media.)
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And for a first effort on can design the label is way cool. If these had been on a shelf, you could not have missed it. The white background wrap around is bright and cheerful and not only locally brewed but locally designed as well.

The beer itself is light and fruit forward and dare I say a sessionable IPA. The Mosaic and Citra hops really work well together and also pack a late punch of bitterness that adds a layer to the beer. A great combo of the lighter side of IPA (which I gravitate towards) but with a nice kick.

Bob has made one of my favorite pilsners, he won the recent LA IPA Festival and he does very inventive sours and now he does canned beers that are perfect for sending to other parts of the country to show off L.A. beer.

Hopslam has Hit

Cans of Hopslam from Bell’s have hit Los Angeles. Whale Hunters have donned their gear to buy what they can. And at least it has muted the Pliny fever for a bit which is a relief to me.
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Just make sure that you drink what you buy quickly

I tasted the 2016 vintage at The Glendale Tap and found the sought after IPA to be fine but I kept searching for the piece of magic that has made it so talked about in the realm of magical IPA’s that has it ranked with Heady Topper and Pliny the Younger.

Maybe it is the fact that Hopslam has a definite honey sweetness and a heavier malt base to it that weighed the beer down to me. After the draught version, I opened a can and found it to be more honeyed but it tasted better to me. It was more sprightly and the hops came through a touch more.

HT and PtY though big beers have a lightness to them that I prefer in my IPA’s and though I find the hype surrounding them deafening at times, I can see how they have earned it. Hopslam doesn’t quite reach that crescendo for me.

Then again, I seem to be inoculated from hype.

Go West

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Since, Fritz Maytag left the building the product line for Anchor Brewing has been slowly expanded and another IPA joins the group in both bottles and cans with the coming introduction of the dry hopped Go West! (not the band from the 80’s) Looks to join that citrus/tropical group of IPA which is more and more my preferred sub-style.

Death by Coconut or Hotbox Coffee?

With new releases from cannery, Oskar Blues, I thought it time to taste-off two porters.  One with coffee and one with coconut.  Who will win?
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DBC is really coconut filled to the point of being a liquid version of a Mounds chocolate bar. Truth in beer name advertising for sure. The aroma of coconut is just huge and that flavor never leaves. There is a touch of smoke, very faint. But this is coconut first, second and last. And it is very viscous both on the glass and the palate.

Hotbox Coffee Porter is the java version and there is more balance here. The viscosity and the chocolate are more equal players in this porter. In fact the coffee might be ranked third in flavor strength.

Neither beer really rocked my taste buds. But I would take the Hotbox over Death if given the choice.

Canned Yeti

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Looks like the Yeti has been contained in a can. Great Divide will be packaging their base Imperial Stout (that amazingly has 75 IBU’s) into 12oz cans.

It will make horizontal Yeti tastings a little easier and the storage of cans will take up less space.

Reseal it

Resealable beer cans, seems easy but just never done before. Two options could show up (maybe) on beer cans near you.
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I count myself a fan of the new can as cup (fully removable can top) that Hess Brewing uses now but that isn’t the only can technology that might be seen in craft beer in the future. PopSeal and XO cap the can in different ways but both might be just what the crowler could use to help seal up a beer from a vast 32oz can.

PopSeal is the more auto, don’t have to think about it option of the pair. Strike the center of the domed can top and the seal is cracked. And unless you push it all the way in, the little tab will pull back up each time you start drinking and then re-open when your lips press on it.

The XO Resealable Can is more like a zipper in their words. Crack it open like a regular can tab and push the little slider zipper open to get your beer. Sorta like what you may use on a re-usable travel coffee mug to prevent spills.

Personally, I would need to try the same beer from each tab style (cause I am geeky that way) but I think I would prefer the manual zipper lock version. I can imagine myself having an auto-locking tab preventing me from getting at the beer I want. Panic would ensue.
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Holiday Ale # 16 – Wild Christmas

Upslope has transformed their popular Christmas Ale into a wild version of the holiday classic. Aged for 10 months in Leopold Bros. Maryland-Style Rye Whiskey barrels and their house sour culture, the Belgian-style spiced dubbel Wild Christmas Ale is a complex yet balanced blend of holiday spices, dark cherry caramel and whiskey-spiced oak. Mildly tart due to the Brettanomyces, this ale also boasts a slight chocolate finish and notes of candied orange. At. 9.2% abv, Upslope’s Wild Christmas Ale is sure to bring you warmth and cheer this holiday season.”
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Review – Marooned on Hog Island

Hog Island Oyster Company is a big deal.  Not being a fan of oysters or their effects on the anatomy, I only know that through hearsay.  The only way I can make any judgement is through the beer that 21st Amendment brewed using Sweetwater Oysters.
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This has a certain salinity in the aroma or maybe I have read the can too much and am expecting it to be there.  The beer is quite silky in mouthfeel at first then the taste morphs at the midway point and I detect honey and a bit of dryness.  Marooned has almost a Baltic porter base in my mind. At 7.9% it has a bit of heat to it.  A cheek warmer for sure.

A multi-faceted beer for sure and after my enjoyment of Toaster Pastry, I now want to find the Sully cans and try that beer as well.