Category: I would love to taste,,,

These are the beers that I wish I could taste for the first time.

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XVIII

When I see the all cap words, THE FINAL BLEND, in a Firestone Walker press release, I start scrolling like a madman. And when it refers to their 18th Anniversary beer, I pour over the list and start comparing to past years.

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38% Parabola Aged in Bourbon Barrels
16% Helldorado Aged in Bourbon and Brandy Barrels
16% Bravo Aged in Bourbon and Brandy Barrels
14% Stickee Monkee Aged in Bourbon and Whiskey Barrels
5% Velvet Merkin Aged in Bourbon Barrels
4% Hydra Cuvée Aged in Bourbon Barrels; collaboration with Flying Dog
3% Wookey Jack 100% Stainless Steel
2% Ol’ Leghorn Aged in new American oak barrels; collaboration with 3 Floyds
2% Double Jack 100% Stainless Steel

Now I won’t presume that I could pinpoint the flavor and aroma that each component brings to the bottle but the addition of two collaborations beers is what jumps out to me.

More numbers to throw at you, FW “blended together 227 oak barrels and nine different beers” to create this year’s version.

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Long Name. Really Long Name.

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Not a huge fan of the artwork on the Jester King labels but I have to admit the liquid within is usually pretty tasty and I like the chutzpah of the extremely long name. Which translates from German to English as, “collaboration beer with Czech hops, wild yeast, and bacteria”.  The partner in this farmhouse beer is Live Oak from Austin, known for their German/Czech beers.  And I also like that this was brewed in one brewery and the yeast added in another.  I know how hard logistics can be with beer so the fact that they added this extra step is pretty cool.  And as I mention, repeatedly, I hope to see bottles in LA if Texas doesn’t buy it all up.

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Breakside + Toro Bravo =

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Maybe it is because I will be going up to Portland soon, or that Breakside won gold in the IPA category at the Great American Beer Festival but I really want to try this beer.

Oh right, that’s why this made my mouth water, Toro Bravo.  Potatoes Bravo and their Melon Salad are awesome.  I am a big fan of restaurant and brewer collaborations.  I think it kicks more ideas loose because there is a shared vocabulary but still there are major differences between chef and brewer.

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Not Hawkins

Beachwood Brewing will soon be releasing the third beer in Beachwood Brewing’s 2014 series of barrel-aged beers, Sadie.

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Tasting notes from the brewery describe Sadie as having “Rich accents of caramel and vanilla are carefully intertwined with delicate notes of oak and toasted oats.”

SADIE will be released as a limited edition beer on Tuesday, October 14th at 6pm at Beachwood BBQ in Seal Beach and Beachwood BBQ & Brewing in Long Beach, California.

Saduewill be available in 22oz. bottles on October 14th at 6pm at both Beachwood locations for the price of $25.

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The Roof is……

…..filled with hops and Angel City Brewery’s newest creation, Rooftop Ale.

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This limited release Ale is “brewed with a number of hop varieties grown on Angel City’s roof, including Cascade, Chinook, Columbus, Pearle, Mt. Hood and Tettnanger.”

In keeping with current trends, it is a sessionable pale ale clocking in at 5% ABV. I had the opportunity for a sneak peek (and taste) and I was amazed because the spent grain was being used (yes, for feed) but also to make compost to grow hops. The roof of the brewery has a trellis system set up by Manager of All Things Spent, Ray Narkovicius. He uses ground up coconut shells and his compost mixture to create the base for growing the hops, then there is a ingenious watering system as well. Narkovicius also has to make sure the water is right otherwise the soil doesn’t get fed enough. Then there is the heat as well. So many hurdles to growing anything, let alone a finicky crop like hops.
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2013 yielded under 5 pounds and this year 14 pounds. Enough to add a hearty dose of extremely local and fresh hops alongside a few other hops to create the beer that tasted more earthy and vegetal than hoppy. It pours a darkish yellow color and looks really pretty in the glass. It will be dry interesting to see how the crop fares from year to year and if the flavor changes for Rooftop 2015.

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New Sessions in 2015

Looks like the Session stubbies from Full Sail are branching out for 2015. Currently there is the red labeled lager, alongside the other year-round Black lager. Then there will be a full-time Session IPA. Joining the Holiday Fest lager in the Session seasonals will be an Export lager and a second ale, Session Cream bringing the total ales to two and lagers to 4. All with distinctive colors to make for easy shopping. Of the coming arrivals the cream ale is the one that I would buy first. I prefer the less brewed styles obviously.

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Where (and when) the Wild Things will be Released

If you thought tickets to the Firestone Walker Invitational were hard to get and worth every penny then how about the special Barrellworks beers?  One new one is coming out shortly, Agrestic which has been seen in the past but is now coming back in 375ml bottles.  Believe it or not it is a weird spin off of a DBA base.  Just with a bunch of what FW calls “a proprietary collection of microflora.”
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Then of course aged for a bit and blended just so to the point where even super beer geeks are wondering what sort of magic they do.  But that is not all….

Feral Vinifera
Feral Vinifera is an ultra-limited release also being liberated on September 20. Feral Vinifera was born of a collaborative effort with local grape growers and winemakers in Barrelworks’ backyard of the Santa Ynez Valley. Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Orange Muscat grapes were co-fermented with wheat-based wort, then inoculated with proprietary wild yeast to create this trailblazing hybrid.

SLOambic
SLOambic is Barrelworks’ foray into the funky world of lambic style beers. It was inoculated with brettanomyces lambicus, brettanomyces bruxellensis and lactobacillus, then infused with ollalieberries to create a distinctively, dry, cidery, fruity, vinuous and oh-so sour beer. November release date TBA.

El Gourdo
El Gourdo is what happens when the local pumpkin patch calls the barrelmeisters on the day after Halloween, asking if they want some orphaned gourds. Not only did the barrelmeisters take the leftover pumpkins last year, they roasted them in a pizza oven with brandy staves, bay leaf and walnuts before tossing them into a base wheat beer for secondary fermentation prior to oak barrel aging. We’ll just leave it at that for now. November release date TBA.

Reginald Brett
Big, malty, and alcoholic, this hefty brew is supported by a firm oaky backbone and slight tartness from its time in French oak barrels in the discreet company of a certain B. Lambicus. Scandalous! Release date TBA.

 

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Treasure to be Found

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Green Flash Brewing Co. have brewed up their 4th beer in the “Treasure Chest” program, their annual beer release “to raise funds for breast cancer charities” The 2014 edition is a pink-hued Barrel Aged Saison with Plum that will be featured on tap at every Treasure Chest from San Diego to Virginia Beach event through the end of October 2014. Green Flash will donate one dollar from every full pour of Treasure Chest beer sold to a breast cancer charity in each of the cities where events are being held.”

Someone should really draw up a website that features charity beer and their related events. It is hard to keep with them all.

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# 4

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Ommegang brewmaster Phil Leinhart is the latest to join Steven Pauwels the brewmaster at Boulevard for a collaborative brew. And befitting the Belgian background of these two Belgian owned breweries they have gone the Saison route.  They brewed up a batch of wort wand split it into two fermentors. One had Boulevard’s primary Belgian yeast strain pitched into it, and the other got Ommegang’s house yeast strain. Then the two now different beers were blended into one, Collaboration No. 4. Oh and some sweet orange peel, lemon peel, coriander and grains of paradise were added in which is very wit-ish.  Maybe it’s a new hybrid? SaiWit. Witson?

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Liqua-what?

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Figueroa Mountain has added a new special series of beers to their super rapidly growing brewing empire that ranges from Santa Barbara to practically everywhere it seems.  It is called Liquamentum and it literally means concoction but what it means for the consumer is more beer and wine blends since their Buellton HQ has some wineries around it.  They will also be doing some additional barrel aging as well.  The first two are in the pipeline already…..

Double Down Davy Brown (ABV 10.7%):

Davy Brown Ale has been one of our best-sellers and award-winners for some years now. More than that, it’s one of our favorite beers. One of our favorite beers to brew, to drink and to share with family and friends. We love this beer so much that we did what any appreciative brewery would do: double-mashed it and bourbon-barrel-aged it. This double-strength version of our beloved brown ale has all the qualities of the standard, plus the sherry/red fruit overtones of aging and a subtle undertone of American bourbon.

Hell’s Half Acre (ABV 11.4%):

Sitting below McKinley Peak, the tallest mountain in the Los Padres range, exists a craggy valley of boulders and rock outcroppings. Hell’s Half Acre, as it is called, is certainly one of the roughest and most textural features in Santa Barbara county. For its namesake, we brewed the most layered, complicated and textural beer to date: a massive, complex barrel-aged Barleywine. After a battle of epic proportions to fit the most malt we have ever put into our mash tun, testing the limits of our yeast’s strength and aging for 18 months in locally-sourced pinot noir barrels, we give you Hell’s Half Acre Barleywine. A viscous, vinous, ominous brew: sherry, oak, toffee and caramel on the nose with massive body and flavors of spun sugar, red fruit, granola, treacle and chocolate.