Time to Fall Y’all with Fat Orange Cat and their Pumpkin Patch Kittens.
This is a beer that I alternately really like and then have questions about. It has a goodly haze to it. The pumpkin spice is there as is the promised vanilla which is where it goes a little sideways because that vanilla sorta steals the show but not enough to truly sideline the strong New England hazy. In each sip it tastes good to start, then the vanilla intrudes but then the hazy takes the reins again. Overall successful but with notes.
This month, we are all over the map from fields of lavender and hops, sours to quads. And from Los Angeles to the world.
Far Field BrewingTwo Wheeler Lavender Sour – 4.2% – “won a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival last year for the Herb & Spice Beer category. It’s a tart, effervescent, bright, lively, herbal, spritzy pour that kinda tastes like a party on your palate with some fresh herbs from the garden.”
Highland Park BreweryFresh Hop Sticky Fresh IPA – 7.3% – “a collaboration Fresh Hopped West Coast IPA with our pals Balebreaker Brewing, Yakima Chief Hops, & Loftus Ranches.”
Straffe HendrikHeritage 2024 – 11% – “Our iconic Quadruple has matured a whole year in carefully selected oak barrels. The beer has thus developed a rich and complex character, which will continue to evolve in a bottle to amaze you for many years to come.”
Smog City Brewing has never shied away from experimenting and at the end of the month, just before Halloween, they are bringing back Rarest of the Rare. Beers “ranging from pilsners and IPAs to the bells of the RoR ball, bourbon barrel-aged, sour and experimental beers.”
Just a day for tap room / non-distributed bangers.
For the past 10+ years, I have kept a rolling supply of Firestone Walker Anniversary bottles on hand. One each of the last five years. Each year, I would add a new bottling and take the oldest out to drink. But this year, (since things are going to shit) I am tasting all five. Starting with Anniversary XXIV aka Year 2020 and ending with XXVIII aka 2024.
And my craft co-pilot Richard has been drafted in to assist in the drinking. So LFG!
XXIV – With fresh taste buds I noted Burnt caramel. Sugar notes without being sugary. A little thin in mouthfeel. The dominance of Bourbon barrel-aged beers makes for more Bourbon notes. Richard was able to pick out the Tequila barrel notes.
XXV – Another one that is thinner than expected.. More spirit barrel centered as the Brandy barrel-aged beer makes an entrance for sure. Overall not as complex though.
XXVI – This one is finally a bit fuller in the texture. Spice and sugar mix in this one and the Bourbon notes lead the way. This was both Richard and my favorite of the day.
XXVII – This was the first one that seemed monotone with the bourbon flavor. Both of us agreed it was good but needed something else to push it higher in the rankings.
XXVIII – Honestly a bit of a blur at this point. Four over 10% strong beers can do that to you. But this one, though it has PaRyebola and a Milk Stout as part of the blend didn’t rise above 26.
I love a good coffee collaboration and Ambitious Ales has a new one, Barako Stout which is “conditioned with Barako Liberica coffee beans from the Philippines, sourced + roasted by Teofilo Coffee who they work directly with Philippine farmers, pay fairly + reinvest into planting trees. This isn’t just about taste—it’s about heritage + empowerment.”
Flavor notes include: “Bold, roasty, robust—notes of cocoa nibs, dark chocolate, roasted nuts, jackfruit + dried stone fruits.
One last fun fact provided by the brewery, “Over 99% of the world’s coffee is Arabica + Robusta. Less than 1% is Liberica—grown almost exclusively in the Philippines. That’s why this is the rarest stout on planet Earth.”
Hop Merchants in North Hollywood the bottle shop and tap room will be celebrating their 7th Anniversary and they will have a lot of taps of new beers as well as a big DIPA from Ogopogo Brewing to mark the occasion on the 18th of the month.
Time to take a splash with Sierra Nevada Brewing and their line of fruit flavored hop waters.
Going from right to left, Lemon and Lime is first up and once the can is opened there is a definite hop pellet aroma. Like opening a bin of hops at the home brew shop. The hoppy flavor of Crystal hops continues for the first few sips before some light lemon notes start to appear in the cracks.
The second duo is Grapefruit and Blood Orange, both very assertive citrus notes. The hop for this one is Mosaic and it comes through less in the aroma but is very grassy and in stark contrast to the grapefruit notes that are much bigger than the lemon or lime in the first Hop Splash.
The last pairing is brought to you by the letter P for Peach and Passion Fruit, the widest flavor difference in the group and then going crazy with Krush hops and boy do the Passion Fruit and Krush work well together. That grassy and tropical note from the hops merges right into the fruit. The Peach is a minor player but does add a nice tertiary flavor.
Overall, if you are looking for more straight hops than go for the Lemon and Lime. If you want the fruit head to the Grapefruit and Blood Orange. But my favorite was the last. It had both in abundance.
Dry-hopped Lambics are a tiny niche in craft beer but Oud Beersel has a third one out now. “This time, we chose to infuse our one year old Lambic with Talus Cryo Hops® from our friends at Yakima Chief Hops.”
Here is more from the brewery, “Thanks to the cryogen process, which allows for the extraction of more aromatic components from the hops, the Talus provides an intense fruity flavour, with tropical fruits taking the forefront. The bitterness is enhanced, but does not take over from the Lambic, as they both blend into one harmonious whole.”
