Verdugo

As the rain recedes and sunny days intrude, it becomes lighter beer season in Los Angeles and one that is out again now from Lincoln Beer Co. should be on your radar, Verdugo Pilsner named after the mountain backdrop for Burbank where the brewery is located.

Review – Strawberry Dipped Infinite Wishes from Smog City

Imagine my surprise when a delivery person knocked on the door with a box from Smog City Brewing. Inside were two wishes, both infinite.

Today, I will talk about the Strawberry Whipped variant.

Once I got through the blood red wax, I immediately got a rush of strawberry. When I got another sniff, it was like a See’s chocolate with a strawberry middle. Just super berry notes. That perfume follows into the beer but then the milk chocolate takes charge. It is straight up strawberry truffle. This is a decadent dessert beverage. Lava cake would be a great pairing because this beer despite the double digit ABV is still light and would cut the richness of the lava while the chocolate would sync from beer to cake. This is a luxury ale.

DTLA de Mars

Angel City Brewery has a new Artist Series beer out and inside the pretty label is a not often brewed or canned style, Biere de Mars.

The DTLA version of “this Belgian-style table ale is a lightly veiled, crispy springtime refresher brewed with a medley of natural herbs like purple sage, Yerba Santa, yarrow & California bay leaf, giving it a mixture of fruity and herby notes on the tongue alongside floral and earthy aromatics.”

Saffron

It has been a bit since I have mentioned Firestone Walker and Buellton but a new beer is coming out that changes that trend and it is a unique one, Saffron Saison a wild saison ale with (take a guees) saffron, sweet orange peel and Indian coriander. It is a Batch No 1 release.

Where To Go, When You Go, to Oregon

When I travel, either solo or with wife, once the travel is booked the second thing that I do is start looking for breweries to visit.

But getting current and smart recommendations which should be easy in this internet age, only sporadically is. Usually, hours of operation are out of date, can’t find taplists or food menus. I tend to now have plans B and C in my pocket wherever I go. Because I expect that location A may be closed.

Bit of a preamble to very exciting news from the Beervana Blog and esteemed drinks writer Jeff Alworth about a new (and large) project that will help beer travelers plan trips to Oregon.

Read the announcement HERE.

Once up and running, it could be an invaluable travel resource and a clearinghouse of Oregon craft beer information.

2 New from Beachwood

Beachwood Brewing released a pair of IPAs this month that you should look for on shelves….

First released was Pizza Corgi, “A double dry-hopped West Coast IPA packed with enough dankness to make and hop-head drool featuring Nectaron Cryo, Nelson Sauvin, and Nectaron hops.”

Second was Animatronic Friends, “This modern West Coast IPA boasts a futuristic blend of innovative hops and electric aromas.” With Mosaic, Ekuanot Cryo, Columbus, Centennial, HBC-586 hops.

Cold and Short

The Short Lived Series from MadeWest Brewing has thankfully not been short lived and the latest has arrived with a gator on it and the latest partner, Firestone Walker.

It is a Cold IPA hopped with Mosaic, HBC 1019 and Nelson and the description is “bright hop character full of citrus and tropical fruit with notes of orange, honeydew and peach.”

Not Wrestling

Stone Brewing is getting into the science of Zumology with their new “monstrously refreshing” IPA with Zumo hops from Segal Ranch as the lead.  Their will be some Mosaic in there as well if you want an extra bitter boost.  Per Stone protocol, this will be a higher ABV beer hitting 7.5%.

18

Yes, I thought that the movie The Witch was great and that the goat portraying Black Peter should have won an award but what caught my eye about this Wayfinder Beer release is not the sinister connotations that abound, but rather that the style is sparkling lager.  Hope a bit makes it way to L.A.from Portland.