Category: BEST

best beer for….

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The Best Beers of May 2023

To be transparent, I did take a pre-Invitational beer break so May drinking was cut short a few days but since I am a very picky beer buyer, the quality is there if bot the quantity.

This was a particularly strong beer class as well. I had Green Cheek’s Illusion of Choice (great name – by the way) Hazy on draft at North Hollywood’s Hop Merchants and it was great. Had the haze but didn’t have that unfiltered apple cider brown look. I also had a collaboration lager from two Washington State breweries, Lowercase and Machine House which was fantastic. Glad to see super high quality lagers in cans.

But the winner was Seoul Searching IPA from right here in Los Angeles. Party Beer Co. teamed with LA Mill Coffee on a tea driven IPA and it had such a bright tea note, very floral, without sacrificing the hoppiness. A really grand aroma when the can was cracked open.

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Best Beers of April 2023

This month, just for fun, I will list the four best beers that I had this month and then I will give a not so subtle clue as to which beer is my overall pick…

  • MadeWest / Ghost Town Short Lived IPA
  • Firestone Walker Wookey Jack
  • 14 Cannons Fuck the Patriarchy IPA
  • Upshift Wheels Up Hoppy Pilsner

The winner starts with a swear word.

14 Cannons Pink Boots IPA was just super fresh and bursting with greenery close to a wet hop beer. The MadeWest and Ghost Town collaboration had a bit of that as well so it is a close second.

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The Best Beers of March 2023

I was excited for the California Craft Beer Summit because I had a few breweries on my list that I wanted to visit and though I had some really good beer whilst at the state capitol. Overall, was a bit disappointed.

But there were some gems to be found. The Urban Roots 10Degree Czech Lager was perfect with BBQ and served in a hulking dimpled glass added luster to it. I was also taken by the IPA’s at Alaro Brewing. Both Castillo, their West Coast and Avenida, their Modern IPA. Their label artwork is also some of the classiest that I have seen.

But best goes to Wild Fields. I tasted their IPL, Montana de Oro which was crisp with a nice bite to it as well as a splash of their brown ale, Pine Mountain Monolith. Both were at the sweet spot of simple but complex.

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The Best Beers of January 2023

January proved to be weird beer month. My two co-winners this month were made to resemble tea and ice cream.

But before I jump too far ahead, honorable mentions for the month are the Simcoe IPA from El Segundo Brewing that stole thunder from their Meltdown behemoths. I also quite liked my first beer from Une Annee, their Tripel, with a sparsely decorated label was right on the mark.

Back to the weird. Cuppa a British Dark Mild with lovely notes of Earl Grey tea was way down the ABV scale, in the 3% range, but it was filled with malt and tea flavors. Near the end of the month, I was pleasantly surprised by a cream ale from La Bodega Brewing in Whittier, with added lactose so they could call it Whittier Ice Cream Ale. Again, not a big beer but well done.

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The Best Beers of December 2022

All my choices for best of December were hoppy. I did have sone really good Christmas beers but those lupulins won out again.

First is the MadeWest and Fieldwork Short Lived collaboration IPA. As usual the artwork was great. Comic panels work wellon a 16oz can and the beer was excellent. Another collab earns a place with Native Son and Common Space meeting up for an IPA called Step Sons. If only Native Son had made their new LA home more them.

Runner Up gets a Christmas bump, Docent Brewing’s Life Coach Pale Ale was nice and hoppy without leveling up to IPA status. Was also first Christmas vacation beer.

First was a new hoppy pilsner from Highland Park, Thiol Dial which had a great musty, fruity hop note to it. Proving that HPB and pilsner is a fantastic combo.

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Best Beers of November 2022

I guess we should call November Topa Topa Month.

Two of the Ventura based and growing brewery placed as best of the month. First was their Howler Coffee IPA that balanced the hops and coffee very well and very smoothly. One step better was the Bourbon barrel-aged version of their Tux milk stout, King Tux. Just decadent mixing of spirits and sweetness.

Runners-Up include Green Cheek’s wonderfully named Thrives on Relaxation DIPA, Firestone Walker’s Parabolita Salted Caramel Stout and Ogopogo’s 4th Anniversary Pale Ale.

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L.A. Scores in Best Of…..

….Craft Beer & Brewing’s annual round-up.

Here are the Los Angeles winners…

Readers Top 50 Beers – #23 Highland Park’s Timbo Pils

Readers Top Breweries – #13 Monkish, #15 Highland Park, #17 Beachwood

Editors Best Beers of 2022 – Highland Park Competition IPA, King Harbor Choco-Latte

Readers Best in Styles – Hazy IPA #8 Monkish, Abbey Ales #16 Monkish

Other friends / almost local Winners – Green Cheek, Figueroa Mountain, Bottle Logic, Firestone Walker

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Best Beers of October 2022

Time to reflect on the beers that I drank in October that have come back to haunt me. By haunting, I mean, why did I not buy more?

We do not get a bounty of Wet Hop beers in SoCal much like we don’t get Christmas beers. Not as many hop farms here (though growing thanks to Sow A Heart Farms) and not much snowy cold weather for Xmas ales.

Preface aside, the Radiant Beer Co. fresh hop, The Speed of Now captured that bright, rubbing a hop cone taste that I prefer in the style.

Also a shout out to new Pasadena brewery, Wild Parrot. I really liked the Doug Heavy Lager which proves that mistakes can turn out unexpectedly.

But my winner was a beer that I did not have high expectations for, Kujo Cold Brew Coffee Porter by Flying Dog. It was on the usual warm shelf of my Trader Joe’s (whose beer shelf is a shell of what it once was, thanks Glendale). I am not a cold brew coffee fan but took a flyer and was rewarded. Nice chocolate and coffee mix with just the right viscosity.

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Best Beers of September 2022

Part of the month was spent in Kentucky but only one beer made the Best of the Month roster.

Let’s harshly rank this month…

  • 4th – West 6th Brewing Dankechain Oktoberfest
  • 3rd – Malibu Brewing First Point IPA
  • 2nd – Firestone Walker / Green Bench Dabbling in Decoction
  • 1st – Ambitious Ales Dream Tea Hazy IPA
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Best Beers of August 2022

It was a bit of a hoppy month, was August. The three runners up were all in the pale to IPA categories. My first beer from Wagon Wheel, their Pintail Pale ale made an impression as did two collaborations. MadeWest + Alvarado Street and Short Lived as well as Common Space + Riip Beer with Three Hop Drop. But the best was Magnificent Everything from the new Everywhere BeerCo..

It was super, super soft and the ABV was well hidden and the fruit and wheat were allowed to shine.