We head to botanicals and lemon/lime for the second featured review of the month. GT Gose from Anderson Valley is a further extension of the Gose brand from the NorCal brewery.
The G&T inspired Gose pours a dark and clear yellow. Lemongrass and lime greet the nose pretty strongly. The flavor is 90% tart lemon. Almost bitingly so followed by grain notes and a barest touch of spice. I am not getting much juniper here though. It isn’t quite lemonade-y because of the botanicals that do show up briefly but I would like to get more to soften the citric assault. This beer sticks to the roof of the mouth and fades into a nice bread taste. I just wish the lemon was dropped a couple notches and the spice revved up a bit more.
Featured Review – Peach Berliner Weisse from Angel City
Time to dive into a summer treat with the Peach Berliner Weisse from Angel City in DTLA.
From the Warehouse Collection comes this fruited take on the classic German beer style. It comes close to emulating the peach color but is a couple shades too light. There is a hint of fruit and tartness on the nose. The beer is very bright on the tongue with an almost soda carbonation. Throughout, the peach taste is there. Fleshy stone fruit notes almost but never gallops ahead of the beer. There is still quite a bit of grain here. The flavors end up sticking to the roof of the mouth with each sip.
Overall, this is a lovely and light beer that I think would make an excellent beer float.
Review – Quinannan Falls Special Lager from Bell’s
It has been good that a steady supply of Bell’s and Founders has found it’s way to Los Angeles because it allows me to try beers in the proper season as opposed to getting all at once. This is especially helpful when it comes to the Quinannan Falls Lager.
I get to try it in summer and see how well it matches up to our SoCal July.
The lager pours a bright yellow from the can. The aroma screams Pilsner with a touch of pear juice. Minerality is high but doesn’t distract from the beer at all. Salt tinged but also juicy. It might be too much as a table beer but certainly is well-suited for summer. A bit of grapefruit here as well. Nice and varied. Might be one of my favorite Bell’s beers.
Featured Review – Fat Tire & Friends – Part 2
At the beginning of the month, I reviewed two of the Fat Tire & Friends riffs. One from Firestone Walker and the other from Rhinegeist Brewing.
Now, I tackle the remaining three of the collaborations variety box which I have dubbed…
…the Sour & Wild Trio.
Again, there are twin goals here. Which beer “adds” to the original Fat Tire while retaining its essential amber-ness and simply, which beer is best.
Starting with…
The Fat Sour Apple Ale from Hopworks Urban Brewery
Has a pronounced apple cider aroma but the mouthfeel is practically nitro. Very creamy with a green apple taste that is less sour than it is fresh Granny Smith apple juice. I can taste the Fat Tire underneath almost as if the beer was simply layered. The creaminess really ties this together like an anti-rejection drug.
The Fat Wild Ale from Avery Brewing is the closest collab of the group.
When poured it looks just like the regular Fat Tire but that first aroma heads straight to wild country. It is sort of a plain wild too. It doesn’t quite grab my palate though. There is an underlying spice note and a touch of sweetness with a kind of oaky hit to this one.
The Fat Funk Ale teams New Belgium with stalwart Belgian-style brewer Allagash.
Much like the wild ale, the Fat Funk is a perfectly pleasant beer. Not out of place especially in the Allagash universe but when I think “funk”, I guess I am expecting more much like I expected more from “wild”. Lots of clove here that I enjoy but I would order an Allagash White again before this.
The winner for this round is the HUB apple offering. Overall, I would take the Firestone Walker hopped version. And in the future I will have to keep my expectations in check.
Review – Luponic Distortion – Revolution 002
Three months have passed and we are now onto the 002 version of Luponic Distortion from Firestone Walker.
Before the review proper, let’s get the Luponic 002 Lowdown, as it is called in their press release: The lead hop this time is a new cultivar from an experimental plot in the Pacific Northwest. “It has these vivid peachy flavors with tropical notes reminiscent of papaya,” per Matt Brynildson, the brewmaster.
“Hops from New Zealand and Germany are also in the mix. Of the seven hops in the blend, only two are carryovers from Revolution 001—and three are hops never used by Firestone Walker before.”
“This beer truly touches every corner of the hop growing world,” Brynildson said. “The southern hemisphere hops add these bright Sauvignon Blanc-like accents of grapefruit and gooseberry, and there’s this new variety out of Europe that ties everything together with honeydew aromas and an underlying herbal pine quality.”
Those are the hop ingredients but what I get from this dark yellow hued IPA is a mix of apricot and peach that folds into a really rindy grapefruit taste. The beers really seems to be striving to have a juicy quality but the bitterness really pulls back on the reins. In the end you are left with a resiny taste in the mouth and all the fruit disappears. You could say this was three different beers. Peach aroma. Citrus to Resin flavors. This is one of the IPAs that makes me long to taste beers made from the individual hops.
Little Brett @ Milkfarm
When Allagash comes a callin’ with a new beer, any beer blogger worth their salt will want to taste it. Such was the case when I got an invite to taste the new Little Brett from the Maine brewery at the cheese shop / deli, Milkfarm in Eagle Rock.
L.A. rep Hallie Beaune led me through a tasting of favorites forgotten as well as one of my favorite beers that just was re-released in our beer market. But let’s start with the star of the show.
Little Brett was started on the Allagash pilot system and the beer evolved from where it began. Utilizing Allagash house 2 row malt and their own version of brettanomyces. All the while managing to be at 4.8% abv. And be a complex beer and not watery. The initial aroma is Mosaic hop which transitions to some cool tropical fruit notes before the not so little Brett makes its appearance. It is very Brett at the end finishing with leather and barnyard notes. As with the other beers in the flight, the a uniform dryness completed the picture.
The taster flight started with the beer that made the brewery, White. I haven’t had that beer in soooo long and it was almost new to me. It was much more Belgian-style yeast driven. Very dry and I was reminded to swirl the glass to get the sediment moving and give the cloudy effect. Nancy, their yearly cherry beer was as awesome as I remembered. Just a blast of pie cherry flavor with a restrained sour/tart tang to it. If I had to pick a cherry beer to give to someone as a template, this would be it. Curieux was as good as always and I learned that a gin barrel beer had been made at the brewery. If it is as good as this Jim Beam barrel classic, it will be awesome to find.
Lastly, I had my first taste of Sixteen Counties, their Belgian Pale which has a Maine Grain malt bill and a slight touch of hops. I really enjoyed it. All of the beers had a simplicity to them. No gimmicks. Just a dogged point of view. You could really tell that these beers came from the same brewery.
By the way the Cheese of the day was Alpha Tolman. Milkfarm has a small selection of wine and beer to choose from with some pricey corkage but according to Beaune the sandwiches are great. So grab a beer and a sandwich and enjoy in the Cali sunshine.
Review – And Chill from Field Recordings Wine
This wine meets beer from Field Recordings Wines is more accurately a Chenin Blanc meets Gose. It pours a sharp pee yellow. To me this is wine with grapefruit rind. A rind that is accentuated by a liberal dose of sea salt. Two others tried it and said it was more hoppy and 50/50 wine to beer.
Either way, this experimental can that I was given when I visited the Paso Robles brewery last month is not boring at all. From the super cool koozie as label design with all the grape, vineyard (Jurassic!) , barrel and beer-y ingredients plus the canned on date on one side and some Keith Haring style art on the other, this is a thought out limited edition. I wish most beers had this detail with what they are made of.
When I hit the lottery, I am joining the can club for sure. Experiments like this may be polarizing but they are worth trying.
IPA Flight Test at Pacific Plate
Pacific Plate hosted a holiday weekend, IPA 4th of July. I arrived via the Gold Line which drops you off a mere 4 block from the brewery without the hassle of traveling the increasingly worsening traffic of the 210 East. And I had my beer in time to catch the pk’s of Germany vs. Italy in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Euros. Worst penalty kicks I have seen in a while. Buffon did all he could do in goal for Italy but I have seen grade schoolers do better.
I settled down with the 6 beer flight and jotted down my notes:
Mango IPA – lighter orange not as cloudy as guava. Potpourri a bit. Bitter first.
Guava IPA – wins the fruit IPA cup. Cloudy. Grapefruit. Fruit first.
San Andreas IPA – grassy and a little weird. Not as good as the rest.
South Pacific Smoked IPA – Very smoky. Good balance even though the burnt notes take over.
Widowmaker DIPA – caramel. Sugar. Bitterness comes in at the end.
Black Widow Black IPA – British at first then the hops kick in.
Overall, the Guava is the leader for me with the Black IPA coming in second. With more hop bite, the Smoked South Pacific could sneak into the top three.
Next anniversary for the Monrovia brewery is in August. Number three.
Review – Fat Tire & Friends – Part One
For round one of the Fat Tire & Friends Riff Pack, I separated out the hoppy + the one and only Fat Tire from the wild and sour group (which will be post two). This will test my reviewing because is the goal for the beer to be connected by a flavor profile or color or ABV to the original? Or do I review simply based on which tastes best?
Let’s get down to it and see….
1. Original Fat Tire
I have not had this beer in a long, long time but I sorta know what to expect. There is a little alcohol on the nose followed by a touch of honey sweetness that is balanced by carbonation. The grain flavor kicks in at the tail end but there is not much else here. Plain, simple and unadorned. Super tasty on a hot day in Los Angeles.
2. Collaboration Fat Pale Ale with Rhinegeist
This is a Belgian XPA according to the label. Pours really close to the same color as the OG. It manages the feat of starting out mimicking the Fat Tire before taking that Belgian turn. Banana and clove notes are prominent. Bitter but that is the lingering and not the main focus here. Fat Tire gets Hefe’d to me.
3. Collaboration Fat Hoppy Ale with Firestone Walker
Fat Hoppy Ale is a serious departure from the amber. Starting with the medium yellow color. Then the big difference hits. This is really hop forward. Grassy and fruity and really juicy with a touch of spice too. This is a wonderful session IPA/ Pale Ale but not really redolent of Fat Tire much. A killer hop combo for sure. I am digging this one.
On the which tastes best scale, with three beers yet to taste, I have to go with the Fat Hoppy but in the category of connection to Fat Tire, the Rhinegeist is the clear winner.
Review – Unity IPA (bottled) from Three Weavers
After experiencing Unity 2016 from Three Weavers and the LA County Brewers Guild in the cask format, it was time to try the bottled version. Though I am not a fan of the artwork on the label, I can see why a certain niche would think it is cool.
I cracked open the bottle and immediately the hop nose bubbled up before even pouring into the glass. It was a dual hit of pine and tropical fruit with berries swirling around. After that though, the beer sorta fizzled out. Bitterness was there, but the aroma just didn’t carry through into the flavor and when that aroma faded off, I was left with a bit of an underwhelming IPA.
I had a can of Stone’s Go To IPA earlier in the night and that beer had a well executed juicy orange character to it. Did that influence my taste buds? I don’t know but I couldn’t help but compare the two and hoping for Unity16 to pop a little more. Instead it just sorta rolled downhill into a bit of dankness at the end.
It leaves me perhaps to try it on tap and see if that is the optimal dispense for this beer.