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In honor of fresh hop season, this month it is all about hop varietals. Three choices filled with all sorts of different hops to feed the bitterness that we all seek.
Everywhere Beer Co. Branching Out – 5.6% – Modern Pilsner hopped with Krush (586), Nectaron, and Nelson
Beachwood Brewing Lupulin Lounge – 7.1% – IPA hopped with Citra, Strata, Idaho 7 Cryo and Columbus
Green Cheek Beer Co. Playing It Loud – 8.6% – DDH Hazy DIPA hopped with Citra and sprinkled with Mosaic, Motueka and Strata
Our third round of Fest Biers brings a duo that you won’t have to seek to far afield to taste…
To the left is Lighter-Hosen from Far Field in Lawndale and next to it, also with a fancy mug is Seek Beer Co.s Fest Bier.
And how about a pair from R.T. Rogers Brewing Co. as well….
Angel City Brewery has a new beer release with a fruit that is not often seen in beer (or cider for that matter), pears.
Sounds both refreshing and autumnal at the same time.
I like all sorts of collaborations as is evidenced by the amount of posts tagged with that title but I do really like cross country versions like this Sam and Schneider one…
Samuel Adams meets SchneiderWeisse for a Fest Weisse offering called Beer Garden, which is a great name by the way.
It is amazing the speed of time, every day you learn that a movie is ten years old or a song is thirty years old. Or that a beer is now twenty!
Heady Topper from The Alchemist has been around two decades and it has a special, amped up version to mark the occasion….
L.A. gets the Heady and Focal every once in a while but I do not expect to see this in California.
If you need more than one day to properly fest, well Benny Boy Brewing has a whole weekend planned for you and whomever holds your stein for you….
On the 21st, if you are looking to get fest-bier-ive, head to North Hollywood and Hop Merchants ( maybe they should re-brand ad Fest Merchants that day ) for their Oktoberfest celebrations.
You will get the usual pretzels and stein holding but they will also have great Okto drafts too.
My lovely local craft beer bar the Glendale Tap had Filipino craft brewer, Engkanto on tap and since I have never had a craft beer from that country, my curiosity was piqued.
I had the Paint Me Purple Ube Lager which poured a medium dark purple color and had sweet yam taste to it. But also a bit of offsetting minerality as well. Slick mouthfeel too.
I also sampled their Hive Hive Honey Ale which was really good on very hot day. The honey was definitely in attendance as was that minerality again. Slightly slick mouthfeel but not too sweet at all. I liked that the bottle had the brewery name in the glass.
Here are two more Oktoberfest biers to add to your late fall beer cooler, one from north of LA and one from south…
First is a classic from the old world inspired Enegren Brewing and next to it is a good wurst from Radiant Beer Co.
Sierra Nevada’s famed Narwhal is getting a campsite variant with a Barrel-Aged Toasted S’More. It is an imperial stout aged in Bourbon barrels with cocoa nibs and natural graham cracker flavors. No mention of marhsmallow though for this 11.9% beer.