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Part of the NBA pre-season for me is seeing who The Portland Trail Blazers have teamed up with for a Blazer beer. This time it is Rogue Ales & Spirits bringing out the Rip City IPA.
Gonna have to send my mom to one of the Rogue pubs to get me a can so that I can root on our youngsters as they hopefully take the first steps towards a future NBA title.
The Pizza Port Strong Ale Festival should certainly be on any beer fans bucket list. Now in its 26th year down in lovely Carlsbad, it is a feast of big beers many of which are Belgian in style and perfect for December drinking.
Institution Ales Fall Seasonal is back with a Black IPA. It is “brewed with Citra, Simcoe and Amarillo hops. Deceptively dark in appearance, this beer drinks similarly to a piney, citrusy West Coast IPA with only small hints of toasty and chocolate malts.”
If there is anything this blog is known for, it is posts about collaborations and / or anniversaries and here is a little of both. The Rare Beer Club is having its 30-year anniversary this year and they have teamed with the Lost Abbey on The Last Sipper, “an 11.5% blended oak-aged imperial brown ale which was brewed for our members to celebrate our anniversary, and Perennial’s Prodigal, an 11.5% Imperial Milk Stout with chocolate and vanilla.”
And don’t sleep on the other 4 beer clubs either, it is a good way to taste around the country and the world and make excellent holiday gifts.
Left Burbank International Airport early in the AM and despite a little turbulence into Denver, everything went smoothly and by early afternoon, I was in Colorado Springs sipping beer at Ivywild an old school converted into food and drink with a brewery (Bristol Brewing) and distillery on site.
Over a bacon and bleu burger, I tasted four beers. A pale ale, a fresh hop IPA, a nitro IPA and for a change a pumpkin ale too. All four were above average which is not bad for a brewery that I had never researched at all. So good that I got a big ol’ bottle of their saison, which also rang true. A good start to the trip.
Next up was a drive south to the Cristo de Sangre mountain range town of Westclifffe, where the beer choices were a tad slim but luckily the stovepipe cans are around and I found a reliable Colorado choice in 90 Shilling Ale and flagship IPA from Odell Brewing and also a not so mini whiskey from Laws Whiskey House.
I have been lucky enough to find some Russian River beers at my local Whole Foods / Amazon and maybe I will see the new R –n- D Series beer coming from the Santa Rosa brewery because Hazy IPA #54 is coming and it is coming with Brewer’s Gold and Citra hops.
The Brew Walk Craft Beer Festival is back for its second year.
It has featured breweries / local favorites that are not the usual suspects such as Norwalk Brew House, La Bodega Brewing Co. from Whittier, Brewjeria Company from Pico Rivera, Cerveza Xteca from San Diego, and Cerveza Cito hailing from Santa Ana.
And 100% of the proceeds from Brew Walk will directly benefit St. Linus School, that money goes to supporting educational programs and resources for the students. Maybe one of whom will become a brewer in the future.
A food hall in SoCal without a brewery presence is probably not really a food hall. But what if your food hall has two breweries?
Haven City in West Covina, wedged into an already busy big strip mall has recently opened and when I visited had a big crowd (even before a Dodger playoff game had started). Lots of food vendors right next to a big grocery store and there were still spots like Amboy not ready yet.
On one end is Ogopogo Brewing which had a full slate of their beers including two Fest-ish beers in Drude Marzen and Nachtkrapp Schwarzbier as well as a collab Nectaron Pils with Arrow Lodge. They are in a quiet corner that could probably use more seating but Drude was quite excellent.
Over on the other side is Burning Bridge Brewing which also does a small menu of tacos. They had quite a line-up on tap including a Belgian Dubbel, a PSL beer and, what I was told is a quite popular rice lager. I went with a hefty Hazy DIPA, Swing of the Axe, another beertender recommendation.
This City was full of people watching and also has a nice outdoor seating area as well. I would say pick a spot for a beer, then wander and choose some food and then have a second beer.
I posted about Slice & Pint from El Segundo Brewing expanding to a second location down the road in Redondo Beach, well in no time flat, they already have a special beer for it.
Naturally, it is an IPA. Now to find the right pizza for it.
Firestone Walker is riffing on the Short-Lived series of IPAs with their new Short Stay IPA in collaboration with MadeWest Brewing. As the name implies, you might want jump on buying it in case it is gone far too soon.
