Category: Guide to better beer

how to discover new beer to try

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It’s Handy

Handy Market has been a Burbank staple for years and with my love of going to non-chain grocery stores / grocery boutiques a miss on my part.  But after seeing a few beer posts from the store, I decides to drive a town over and see what I had missed.

It is a tiny space in comparison to most grocery stores but the first positive point was the availability of single cans. I picked up a pils from Highland Park and a pastry sour (never had one of those) from Ogopogo. The next positive was the double endcaps of beer. This was where most of the bottled and barrel-aged resided. There was Bottle Logic but also a couple Belgians and de Garde as well. Third positive was the prices were pretty fair. $5.50 for a local beer is pretty good.

The one down is that it is only the small cold case in the corner. It was a limited selection though one last up, was that it seemed to be curated well.

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The Haze Way

Some breweries tend to go with hazy and others go with juicy when they are labeling their non West Coast IPAs.  Los Angeles Ale Works uses the latter and have a new one you should check or or more appropriately check in to, Hotel Hazeway Juicy DIPA with “hoppy notes of peach, passionfruit, white grape and red currant.”

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Signed

During L.A. Beer Week, Lincoln Beer Co. held a Collective Brew party. Now the hazy pale ale dry hopped with New Zealand Cascade is signed, sealed and ready.  You could call it a democratically brewed beer.

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Cactus

Brouwerij West has come out with another creatively labeled IPA but this time not a hazy, “Cactus Eaters is our 6.8% ABV West Coast IPA brewed to celebrate the Pacific Crest Trail, hiking, and great summer trips. This beer features Alora, HS16660, and Mosaic. It’s super bright and clear with notes of peach, apricot, and lemon zest.”

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Stubborn

I have been fortunate enough to have visited both Moksa in Sacramento and Living Haus in Portland and readers of this blog know my love of a cocktail so this beer piqued my taste buds…

𝖬oksa 𝖬ule – Sour ale w/ Lime & Fresh Ginger

“This third iteration of this collab, which follows our favorite Portland brewer as he’s moved around the city, is now a collab with Living Haus brewing in Portland. The recipe hasn’t changed much over the years, though. This beer’s always been about a clean base with bright, fresh lime juice, and an infusion of 25lbs of hand-diced fresh ginger for just a bit of an earthy kick. Mint garnish optional.”

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BP11

The now mostly quarterly Beer Paper LA will be holding an 11th Anniversary shindig at ISM Brewing in Long Beach near the end of the month. I will be up north in PDX but this would be a good time to visit ISM, if you haven’t already….

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Featured Review – Lough Gill Barrel-Aged Beer # 1 – Tara

Back to Lough Gill based in Sligo, Ireland and the last of the three real big beers on three different barrel types…

We have reached Tara. This time the oatmeal stout is aged in Pedro Jimenez Sherry barrels so this should be quite distinct from Spear and Trinity. This is much more my speed. There are layers here. A deep wine sweetness is first. Then there is an oaky woody note that pops up. The base is still thinnish but the flavors are adding to it. Has a proper musty sort of grand library with a fire taste.

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1st Visit – Campsite Brewing

Usually, visiting a brewery taproom for the first time, you expect it to be, putting it kindly, industrial. Campsite Brewing in Covina is decidedly not that.

It is a little oasis with a camping theme but more glamping since there is draft beer. There is an expansive outdoor area with fire pits, an outdoor balcony area, a hidden inside seating area and then the main indoor spot and bar. Oh and an event venue too. This is a restaurant compound. A smaller version of Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens.

I gad sampled two beers from Campsite two weeks ago at the L.A. Beer Week Festival in Long Beach and was heartened enough to go see it.

The beers were all well done and distinct. I went one light, two IPA and one dark plus a Shandy to gauge where their strength was and found all but the Blonde Ale well good and even the blonde was more m’eh than anything wrong. My favorite was the Cold Front Cold IPA since they are on Front Street. It was bright, real bright with a great combo of citrus and dank to it. The S’mores Sweet Stout was also good and sweet in a good way with getting too deep into marshmallow.

Next time I find myself in that neck of the L.A. County woods, I will drop in again.