Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
These are the beers that I wish I could taste for the first time.
Now I wasn’t fond of Baby Daddy, the session IPA that kicked off the Session 47 series but this new Vienna lager-ish beer, Suds, sounds promising to me.
According to Speakeasy, “The beer was inspired by Vienna Lagers, but fermented with California ale yeast. It associates with English Pale Ales, minus the earthy hops.” You get American Two-row, English Maris Otter, plus Carafa and Carahell malt to match with Cascade and Merkur hops to clock in at 4.7% ABV.
It is a great can design as well.
Sierra Nevada Brewing will be embarking on a yearly collaboration of Germanic proportions when they collaborate with Augsburg’s Brauhaus Riegele, for a brand new Oktoberfest beer.
I have, of late, bemoaned a lack of foreign beers in our mad dash for the most hyperlocal so this beer will shoot to the top of my list when it comes out in August because maltier beers deserve a place at the table too.
Clausthaler must have read my blog. I have bemoaned the gluten-free and non-alcoholic options that seem to have refused to hop over any flavors that are off-putting to regular craft beer drinkers with dry hopping.
Now if I can find a bottle to try, I will review how the mighty Cascade hop makes N-A taste.
If you can’t wait until the 18th then you are in luck, “Flamberge” from Ladyface will emerge from Napa Cabernet barrels 4 days earlier.
The beer is a “special Belgian Flemish Red-style ale is a long-anticipated release from Ladyface’s “Ingenuity Series”, an ale aged two years in Napa Cabernet barrels. Flamberge–meaning “flame blade”–is an undulating long sword; our red-hued, barrel-aged invention is a complex sour ale with strong alcohol, tannic and sharply tart sensations that ripple across the palette. A high carbonation level yields a dry champagne-like effervescence…”
The Firestone Walker anniversary beer components are becoming more and more readily available which may well lead to blending parties as people try to make an even better blend.
The next beer to buy for your blending or cellar or just to share with friends is the strange hybrid Helldorado—a blonde barley wine aged in retired spirits barrels.
The beer will be released on the 18th and is a great way to see how a base beer, in this case a pale blonde, can be barrel-ized into something really intriguing.
Supply and demand. Barrels are at a premium in craft beer land. Each new brewery dreams of a barrel aging program, which means that getting your hands on one is like getting your hands on enough hops.
So landing a barrel or three from Jameson Irish Whiskey is a coup. And Angel City of DTLA came back from Ireland with barrels as part of the Jameson Drinking Buddies program.
Angel City Brewery in Los Angeles was one of five American breweries that also included Captain Lawrence Brewing Company in New York, Deep Ellum Brewing Company in Dallas, Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver, and Hilliard’s Beer in Seattle.
Each brewery got a ticket to the distillery in Ireland and was tasked with making a beer that reflected the barrel and their neighborhood where they brew.
Plus the whole thing was filmed and you can see what Angel City got involved with at JamesonNeighborhood.com. From there you can learn about the Angel City Imperial Irish Ale and the other four beers.
Obviously a tasting will be held at some point and you can either Social Media-ize the brewery to find out when it will happen.
It was inevitable that IPA’s would collide with the other white hot trend of sours. I have seen (and tried) a couple attempts. Both were sour and citrus-y and quite good. Both were also not quite IPA’s in my mind.
To be fair, I am still not sold on Black IPA’s either and I have tried many different versions of that style.
But since New Belgium has had a bit of success, you could say, with their sour line-up and since they have also done well in the hop category, they are well positioned to make a Hop Tart.
Take it away, Mr. Press Release…..”Hop Tart is New Belgium’s latest Hop Kitchen offering, blending Belgian Pale Malt from the Colorado Malting Company, with tart lactobacillus and fruity hops.
Hop Tart’s lactobacillus offers just the slightest hint of sour that propels bursts of passion fruit, guava and pineapple, courtesy of hefty Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy and Experimental Hop 522 dry-hopping.”
No, Eagle Rock Brewery did not host the Unity brew this year but that does not mean that they can’t add a new beer to the #LABW7 mix.
Hence, Milo the Oatmeal Pale Ale, a quite sessionable 5% ABV filled with El Dorado hops and oats. Check it out at their tap room before, during or after L.A. Beer Week.
I appreciate the base beer choice by Stone and their collaborative partners. Past that I really don’t know. Three of those ingredients are sugar filled and the other might not have a chance to balance the proceedings. Oh and beet juice? And lacto?
I am very picky when it comes to Black (Cascadian) IPA’s. Balance is important and that is a hard trick to manage with that sub-style. But I think a Vanilla Bean IPA from the Hoppin’ Frog might be even harder to manage. Would it impart a creamy, nitro-esque note? Or would it become a fight between sweet and bitter. File this under get a taster first.