Category: BEST

best beer for….

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Best Beers of June 2025

For this month of pride, here are the beers that I drank that shined the brightest to me in June.

Two IPAs, both collaborations, are the runners up to a barrel-aged beer that was quite a surprise in the heat of a SoCal early summer.

The IPAs are Little Bay from Far Field Beer Co. and HopSaint Brewing and then a super big collab, Dankerman 3 from Tarantula Hill Brewing, Artifex Brewing, Burgeon Brewing and Craft Coast for this San Diego County inspired beer.

The winner is Brandy Barrel-Aged O.E. Barleywine from Smog City Brewing. When barrel-aged beers work for me, it is because that particular barrel takes the lead without dominating proceedings. And that is truly the case with this beer that is so brandy forward, in all the good ways. I also have the Bourbon version as well and am excited for that as well.

As an honorable mention, I would strongly suggest that you get a 4-pack of the Unity 2025 beer from ISM Brewing. It is a light and lovely IPA that doesn’t skimp on bitterness.

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Best Beers of May 2025

So, this is the All Ireland edition of Best Beers of the Month. This isn’t gonna be a small list so buckle your seat belt before take-off.

My first two picks are the two beers that I had at Treaty City Brewing in Limerick. The Danke Sean German-Style Pilsner and Edge their Rhubarb Sour.

I was surprised that I really liked the Guinness Hop House 13 as well as their Rock Shore Irish Lager to a lesser extent.

The taster tray at Dead Centre Brewing in Athlone went from didn’t finish to the really good Seeking Sunshine Pale Ale, a lovely soft hazy at 5%.

ABV is not high in the Emerald Isle but I did find some nice DIPAs including Galway Bay Brewery and their Of Foam and Fury – Riwaka DIPA. Another hoppy gem was Donegal’s Rustbucket Rye from Kinnegar Brewing which you will learn more about tomorrow.

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Best Beers of April 2025

This month coffee infused beers are ascendant. Starting with Long Beach based Trademark Brewing and their Morning Drive Coffee Cream Ale which I tasted at their new outpost in Torrance. This was followed up by Broken Timbers and their Dublin Dawn Oatmeal Coffee Stout, which had a real nice coffee meets whiskey but without going too far.

But my favorite of the month is a collaboration between Faction Brewing in they Bay Area and Riip Beer. It is Bergs of a Feather, a Hoppy Dark Lager. I complain about Black IPAs rarely striking the hop to dark balance, but this hit all the marks for me.

I also want to mention the Meet Me in the Woods cider from Benny Boy here in Los Angeles. It is pricey for sure, but I found a unique strawberry meets spruce combo to really work. But my drinking buddy, Rich sure thought it was too much tree for his liking.

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Best Beers of March 2025

I have had quite a few We Love L.A. beers this month, and will probably have more next month too so it seemed kinda inevitable that my favorite beer of the month might fall under that banner of worldwide beers.

But the one that sparkled the most to me was from Stone Brewing. They went the hazy IPA route and it was bursting with fruit flavor while also having a back and forth between soft mouthfeel and a bitter bite.

Also earning plaudits this month was the St. Patrick’s Day themed Aged With Luck Sour from Far Field Beer. Guava and lime were the headliners but the vanilla added a nice counterbalance to this chardonnay barreled beer. El Segundo took inspiration from an IPA sub-style that has fallen out of favor, the Belgian IPA. It had a wonderful estery note that worked in tandem with the hops.

Lastly, I quite enjoyed the hazy IPA marking the 11th anniversary of Highland Park Brewing, their High 11 was nice and frothy and had me eagerly wanting to have the High 11 West Coast and the High 11 Pils.

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Best Ticked

Earlier this month, Untappd unveiled its best of the best. There were lots of individual beer winners like this…

…which show that stout life is still bankable for high scores but for me the breweries with most medals is of more interest because it shows a wider breadth of admiration.

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Best Beers of February 2025

Since February is a short month, there is only a top three but they are a good selection for sure.

With the bronze medal is the collaboration between Societe Brewing and Urban Roots. San Diego to Sacramento on a Fun Fare IPA. The label looks like a boarding pass and in a crowded IPA field, this one stood out.

Silver is the Smog City Infinite Wishes variant, German Chocolate Cake. Lots of pecan and coconut simply expressed onto a barrel-aged base.

First, primarily for charitable reasons, is the first canned We Love LA beer that I had from Ambitious Ales, their take on a hazy pale ale.

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Best of January 2025

I had an interesting month of drinking and not just to forget the downward spiral of America. Firstly, my Trader Joe’s has been pretty regular with La Fin du Monde from Unibroue and that is just such a darn good tripel that it could win many a week. I also had a really interesting sour from Alvarado Street in Double Howzit Punch which was just a fruit bomb. I also really liked the cross the pond collaboration from Thornbridge in Britain and Sacramento’s Urban Roots. Under the Trees IPA was quite tasty with a soft citrus bitterness.

But the winner was North Park Brewing who I have yet to find a bad IPA from. Their charity driven Higher Calling IPA was another super balanced beer. The hops and malt are just in total sync.

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Best Beers of December 2024

Some months, the best of is better than others. This month, I had three beers that just bowled me over. And they were not one style, they were all over the spectrum. I will go in order of drinking them and not rank since they are within a hair of each other.

First was the 2024 version of Topa Topa Brewing’s Howler DIPA. No ordinary hop attack, this is a coffee DIPA with beans from Dune Coffee and it was a two-pronged attack of coffee and hops in equal measure.

Second is a three way collaboration from Brewyard Beer Co., Ambitious Ales and Five Point Five Brewing. The beer is a fruited pastry beer. No stout, no sour just a Filipino driven ode to JolliBee named Jolli beer and it was spot on. Crust and mango combined.

Finally, Long Beach Beer Lab had an excellent winter ale named Amburana for the wood the beer was aged in. Spiced up with cinnamon and hearty without being overly heavy. A great example of a winter warmer.

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Best Beers of November 2024

Despite the Fall, IPAs dominated this month’s Best of List though not the Best beer of the month. That was garnered by a chain brewery.

First though, the bitterness…

Lagunitas Lil’ Sumpin, Sumpin Wheat IPA surprised me with the toned down from their 19.2 oz flavoring bombs IPA in a 12oz can. There was another gem in the Short Lived series from MadeWest Brewing pairing with Highland Park for their rotating IPA and then another collaboration as Beachwood and Green Cheek came together for Adventures of Lucky and Cheeky IPA.

The winner, for me, was BJ’s Brewhouse 25th Anniversary Grand Cru. Maybe I am a sucker for that number since I leveled up to that this year as well but this was a well done Belgian styled beer that really showcased the yeast.

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Best Beers of October 2024

This is going to be the all Pumpkin, all Colorado vacation edition of the Best of the Month.

Here are the contenders:

Bristol Brewing Pumpkin Ale weighing in at 5.9%

Our Mutual Friend Porch Pumpkin at 8.8%

Odyssey Beer Works Fluffy Pumpkin lowest at 5.6%

4 Hands Pumpkin Ale at 6%

Odell Brewing Pumpkin Spice Dottie 6.4%

Fluffy Pumpkin edges out Bristol Brewing because that marshmallow and pumpkin combo just had the Halloween vibe, even though Bristol has the most gourd to it.