Category: Beer Reviews

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Review – Gold Brick Pale ale from Ol’ Burro

My local Trader Joe’s (and by local, I mean across the street) has upped it’s beer game in the past 5-6 months.  More options and newer options as well. But that hasn’t meant a stop to their “house” brands.  So my beer radar was up when I saw Ol’ Burro Brewing of Los Angeles on their shelves.

Now their house brands are pretty solid. Unibroue and Gordon Biersch with Firestone Walker doing some as well and now it appears Golden Road as well. No mention of it on the box.  Other than a mysterious “brewed in Los Angeles”.

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Since there are not many breweries in Los Angeles and not many at all that can. It is not much of a leap to Golden Road.  A cursory Googling found only an address.  An address on West San Fernando Road.  Which if you have been to Golden Road, is their street location.  After my Sherlocking, I asked the clerk where it was brewed and you can guess the answer I got.

Now I don’t know why the subterfuge.  The beer geeks will find out and all they are fooling are people who may not understand the contract beer thing.  And that may turn people off if and when they find out.  I would put proudly brewed for Trader Joe’s by Golden Road on the label and if people liked this lower priced offering, they might reach for the higher priced Heal the Bay Or Wolf Among Weeds the next time they beer shopped.

That is a topic oft covered on this blog so lets get to the beer…..

It pours a dark amber brownish/orange color.  For a pale ale, there is not much hop nose at all.  45 IBUs doesn’t scream hoppy though it is more in line with a traditional pale ale.  The first sips mirror the aroma.  Primarily maltiness.  Super easy to drink.  Leaves a pretty lacing on the glass too.  Very quenching but more an ESB than a pale.  And if the box and can replaced pale with ESB, I would have been pleasantly surprised.  As a pale ale, it is no great shakes and could use a serious bitter boost.

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Obviously at a lower price point, you can’t expect Citra, Nelson or Rakau in your pale but you would expect more hoppiness to be there.  They also have four packs of a blonde ale as well.  Usually those don’t stray too far style wise.  That makes the choice easier.  If you want light, go for the blonde it will only set you back $4.99.  If you are in a malty mood then pony up an extra buck for the Gold Brick (ESB).

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Review – Collective Distortion IPA from Stone

In recent years, I have become more fond of the Stone Collaborations then there core line-up.  They can get a little too zany and pump up ingredients that should be bit players when simplicity might work better.  But their experimentation is a welcome switch from their usual flavor profile.  And though I was not a fan of WootStout or the R&R Coconut IPA, I liked that they were enlisting home brewers of both the non-celebrity and celebrity types in their creations.

And the latter continues with a musical (String Cheese Incidient / Alice Cooper) themed collaboration that adds a reliable hop like Nugget with somewhat newer varietal Comet and Calypso with dry-hopping of Vic’s Secret, a new Australian hop.  Then they added in coriander and elderberries.

That is the backstory, now here is the review…

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The “CD” pours a bright and clear orange.  Not much of a head to it.  Nice and bubbly looking though.  The smell is a bit non-descript with a hint of soapiness to it.  The first flavor that I get is grape.  Concord grape.  Grape jelly grape.  Then there is a really harsh bitterness that fades into a currant note. To the point where I Googled elderberry to see if that was what I was tasting. After a few sips this bitterness coats the tongue and the mouth and the grape notes fade to the back and one is left with the harshness only.  There is also an astringent and wood pairing of notes as well.  The former adds to the debilitating bitterness and the former tries to perk things up without much success.

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I don’t know if it was the mix of hops or the elderberry and coriander or the combination of all three but this is just too much and it becomes oppressive tasting.

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Review – Dixon California Nugget Ale from Ruhstaller

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I love the design on the Ruhstaller beers.  They are playful and simple.  The neck is adorned with fabric and tape and though the graphic is busy, it isn’t annoying.  It is like a piece of art that some may like and others may not.  Plus their backstory on the beer is simple and straightforward as well. This hoppy beer made with hops grown in Dixon, California at the Ruhstaller farm. It is part of their Rapid Fire R&D series.

That bodes well but what about the beer itself? It pours a really dark reddish/brown.  Akin to an imperial red, hence the lack of an IPA moniker in the name.  The initial aroma has balsa wood notes and some caramel as well.  It is one of those beers with a low ABV that taste stronger.  The hop character is mostly woody and herbal and is pretty strong without being overwhelming.  Their website alludes to a licorice taste that I don’t quite pick up myself. But I do get some toast notes here that balances the affair out.

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Review – Plan Check (Fairfax)

There are many, many L.A. craft beer spots that I need to visit.  My pace is slow for sure but thank to an invite from the folks at Plan Check, I was able to cross another establishment from the list while learning about their craft beer vision.

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What struck me first was the simplicity of the menu.  There weren’t 500 variations of burger and 100 taps.  Nope.  You had a few options and a special plus fries in a couple preparations and appetizers.  16 taps. But you could do a lot with that number as you can see below.

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And there tap take-overs aren’t one and done affairs.  They usually stretch over a course of days, so that if you day 1, you aren’t out of luck.  Though they did run through both 329 and El Hefe Anejo pretty quickly.

The space on Fairfax is roomy with booths on the edges and some cool industrial lighting.  The bar area is pretty cool looking with the bottles getting light on them and they have a hop vodka cocktail on the menu that I will be trying the next time that I am there.

 

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Review – Hopothermia from Alaskan Brewing

This DIPA from Alaskan Brewing pours a light orange and clear color.  You never know what to expect anymore from IPA’s.  Are they really doubles? or are they regular IPA’s?  This one tastes more like a session American barley wine to be precise.  It doesn’t have the hop bite that many doubles or even regular IPA’s have.  It has a caramel-y set of aromas and it tastes boozier than the ABV stated on the bottle.  There is a mixture of tea tannin and citrus notes and it does stick to the tongue, so age may have set in a bit but I don’t think the bitterness was reduced except aroma wise where I got a more fusel set of smells.

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I would like to try this fresher to see if it is indeed just a freshness issue.

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Review – Point Bonita from Headlands Brewing

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Pt. Bonita a Rustic Lager / Bohemian Pilsner is the second beer that I have had from Headlands Brewing Co. in the Bay Area.  Now I just have to sample their Double IPA, Hill 88 to have had their mainstays of their line-up.

Pt. Bonita pours a very clear yellow with loads of bubbles rising to the top. A slightly sweet bread aroma on the nose. Taste is brusque upfront. A tang of hop bitterness and carbonation that wakes you up. A little viscosity rounds the mouthfeel out. Solid malt taste here. And a little zing of lemon at the tail end.  Quite nice.

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Review – Monumentous from Coachella Valley Brewing

I had my first beer from CVBC at Firkfest and then on the road to Paso Robles, a sip or two of Kolschella made it’s way into my glass courtesy of Erin (aka The Beer Goddess).

Now it is time to formally review their IPA – Monumentous.

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The IPA clocks in at 7% ABV but initially tastes a little heavier than that.  My palate feels weighed down by a dankness and herbalness that just sits on the tongue and doesn’t move.  It has an almost silky mouthfeel to it which is a bit strange and different from IPA’s that I have had.  Although, I have encountered it in Imperial or Double IPA’s.

The aroma is mostly pine but not the needles.  More the actual cut board.  A hint of sawdust is there.  There are some citrus notes here and it certainly isn’t burdened by caramel maltiness which confuses me even more.  I would expect this to be more sprightly.  Maybe I am being confused due to the whole hop flowers and two separate dry hop additions.

All I know is that it is certainly different from many IPA’s but without a born on or best buy date I can’t be sure how fresh this bottle was.

 

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Homebrewin’ tastin’

One of my former co-workers has begun brewing.  She (identity protected to protect the innocent) is and adept cook and her first batch using the Brooklyn HomeBrew kit and recipe was solid.  Recently she invited me and my beer buddy, Richard from Travels with Cap’n to taste her latest brews.

But before the photos and the reviews, a warning

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I won’t protect his identity because I don’t think Craig would like it if I did.  Anyhoo, on with the reviews

The first beer was a lavender honey ale. Honey being used instead of Belgian Candi sugar. It was well balanced and bone dry. A hint of lavender which is much preferred to too much. It poured a pretty light yellow color as well.

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The Tea & Toast was an avenue for experimenting with tea. The recipe called for English Breakfast but could accommodate others and the very smokey Lapsang Souchong was chosen and it imparted a big smokey kick. There was a nice toast/wheat note that punched in briefly as well.

Of the two, a the honey lavender would be an excellent go to summer beer and I would like to try Tea and Toast with another tea variety.

There is a Peach Cobbler bubbling away with a Gose in the future. And I am excited to try them.

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Review – Mr. Pineapple from SanTan Brewing

Whilst window (of the coolers) shopping at Sunset Beer, I spied a new set of arrivals from SanTan Brewing of Chandler, Arizona so I picked up a can and it so happened to be the one that was selling the fastest.  People like pineapple I guess.

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Mr. Mister pours a hazy light orange. Sweet fruit notes hit the nose. Pineapple is there as is, strangely, banana. It has a very smoothie-esque consistency and taste to it.

I was expecting more wheat and a brighter fruit taste but on the flip side, I was worried that the pineapple juice would totally overwhelm the proceedings. Neither happened and I was kinda disappointed with the the more Radler effects that seemed to take over. More wheat and a little more carbonation would have made this better for me.

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