Category: Guide to better beer

how to discover new beer to try

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Best Beers of February 2025

Since February is a short month, there is only a top three but they are a good selection for sure.

With the bronze medal is the collaboration between Societe Brewing and Urban Roots. San Diego to Sacramento on a Fun Fare IPA. The label looks like a boarding pass and in a crowded IPA field, this one stood out.

Silver is the Smog City Infinite Wishes variant, German Chocolate Cake. Lots of pecan and coconut simply expressed onto a barrel-aged base.

First, primarily for charitable reasons, is the first canned We Love LA beer that I had from Ambitious Ales, their take on a hazy pale ale.

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The Beer Search Party reviews We Love LA beers

There has been such a fantastic outpouring of support for Los Angeles by breweries far and wide in the wake of the devastating wildfires of this past January.

There are so many beers out and still coming out from the program spearheaded by Common Space Brewery that it is now time to tell you what beers I have sampled so far.

Here are the first three that I have had, let’s get going….

HopSaint Brewing – Blonde Ale – Light yellow. Malty touch of citrus. easy drinker

HPB – Hello LA DDHd with Nelson Sauvin. Quite a hop pellet kick with grapes following.

Ambitious Ales – hazy pale ale.  proper hazy this.  nice pillowy mouthfeel.  good sharp bitterness. 

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Review – MadeWest 9th Anniversary

Hazy IIPA conjures up a double digit ABV beer. For MadeWest Brewing, their 9th Anniversary beer is down the scale a skosh at 8%. More DIPA range to me.

Boy, oh boy, there is some pineapple flying off this in the aroma and in the first sips. You can taste the strength as well. A bit fluffy in the mouthfeel. Some other tropical notes come into play as you drink it.

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To the North

Beer festivals do not have the same luster as in the glory days of years past but one way to combat fest fatigue is to try out one outside of your town with breweries less known. And for Angelenos, we have the neighbor to the south who have plenty of festivals that can provide a jolt of the new.

Such as the North Park Beer Fest

Just from a quick glance at the breweries attending, I see Goal and Hopworks and quite a few others that could make this a cool event.

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BRW

I am not a LOL FAFO acronym spouting person so I did not know that in some circles BRW is code for brew or beer. So when I saw an ad on social media for BRWTXT claiming to be a Los Angeles beer service, I admit to being confused and a little wary of internet skulduggery.

Then I checked and you are prompted to add your credit card number as well, just to get text notifications. Still seems fishy to me. If anyone in craft beer land has tried this and has opinions or hot takes, let me know.

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International Three

Consider this your fair dues warning, March 3rd is International Tripel Day. Probably should get at least a half-day off for it. You can look for one of the below choices….

….or check your local brewery tap list to see if anyone has their own spin on the style.

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For Jimmy

I know that craft beer world may not need another charity beer right at the second. Especially here in Los Angeles, where there are quite a few wildfire charity beers out and about (that y’all should be getting).

from WNEP website

But…. I would like to see a few Jimmy Carter beers like this one from Wallenpaupack Brewing in Pennsylvania. “Jimmy” beer, in the American pale lager style. A callback to his brothers infamous “Billy” beer.

You can read a bit more about it HERE.