Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
These are the beers that I wish I could taste for the first time.
I have not ridden a bike in a long, long time and I certainly wouldn’t want to start amongst a large group of bike riders but I still think that the Ciclavia program is really cool.
And Los Angeles Ale Works has a beer for it that drops today.
And a bonus, you can now pronounce it correctly too.
Radiant Beer Co. has had a busy year, so they are looking back with, All The Things We’ve Done (Year 2).
“Brewed to celebrate our second anniversary, our staff collaborated to produce this love letter to Radiant. A Triple IPA clocking in at 11.3%, this is a sneaky beer with an array of flavors as vast as our experiences over the last twelve months. Big citrus and tropical fruit aromatics, weaving through tangerine, grapefruit, mango, and apricot give way to bold notes of cantaloupe, rainbow sherbet and pineapple. Perfectly balanced with low bitterness and a dry profile that complements the well-hidden alcohol. The perfect second anniversary beer.”
Wheatwine, stop if you have heard this before, doesn’t have its own space in the bottle shop cooler. But when you can find one, it usually is a special release and one to try. Such is the case with Karl Strauss and their 34th anniversary release.
Here are the details from the brewery, “To kick it up a notch for our anniversary, we aged ours in Chardonnay barrels with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc grape peels. Aromas of freshly baked bread and caramel dance with hints of oak from the barrels and subtle herbaceous notes from the grape peels. It’s full-bodied, with a luscious mouthfeel and a smooth finish.”
Graffiti, the Artist Series DIPA from Boomtown Brewery in DTLA returns in “Purple Plush” or “Guac in the Park Green.”
It is a “…double dry hopped Hazy DIPA brewed with Galaxy, Cryo Citra & El Dorado hops. Orange and mango on the nose with flavors of guava, mango and resin.”
Spice and me are not generally friends. I prefer the bite of ginger over chiles but that said, a Thai Chile meets Citra hop IPA does intrigue me. And since Institution Ale Company is using their White Walls IPA as base, you can taste both versions.
Firestone Walker is a big campus in Paso Robles and the barrel-aging area is a sight to behold. Let’s throw another big deal out there…
Getting to 10,000 anything is amazing. Especially with a beer style like bitter that does not get a lot of traction in a brewing schedule filled with 805 and Mind Haze.
It may have been past time for New Belgium Brewing to update the Fat Tire recipe. The VooDoo Ranger series of IPAs has been ahead of the iconic Amber ale for some time now.
And the inside and outside are now new for 2023.
“Today, Fat Tire blends a subtle malt presence with a slightly fruity hop profile and crisp finish, to create a bright and balanced beer that drinks easy, anywhere.”
I might have gone with seasonal versions and used this lighter one for summer and gone with something maltier in Winter.
Barleywines are always sneaking around the periphery. They pop up here and there but never in stout numbers but there is a new one in Downtown LA at Hi-Def Brewing…
…you will be singing alto after the rye and bourbon.
I missed the party announcement for Burnin’ Daylight Brewing Co. but maybe you can still grab their anniversary IPA, Burn Four.
Beer recipes evolve unlike people who seem to do the opposite so I was glad to see that The Bruery had re-visited Tradewinds their Belgian Tripel that was such a staple in the early days of the Orange County brewery.
Now it is a Gust of Wind described as taking “the base recipe for Trade Winds and deconstructed it to an even more classic version of an abbey tripel, allowing the fermentation characteristics from our house yeast to shine. Huge amounts of phenolic spice, just the right amount of fruity esters, crisp and dry, with enough alcohol to remind you it has backbone without being over the top. Perfect for our retro fans, drinkable enough for our new friends, and enough bite for all the big beer lovers out there.”