Category: Guide to better beer

how to discover new beer to try

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Review – K-Town Lager from Common Space

Los Angeles has been on a bagel kick over the last couple years and my wife has had me driving from Highland Park to Culver City and points beyond for taste tests.

On a recent Saturday, I was on the road to Calic Bagel for another round when I noticed that there was a featured beer named K-Town Lager. I scanned and saw a few Common Space Brewery beers and deducted that they had made this beer for this bagelry. So, does this lager pair well an everything bagel?

Pours a bubbly and fairly dark yellow color. Got a nice zip to it. A burst of floral hop notes from the German Magnum hops. Followed by a full but not slick mouthfeel with a good corn taste to it without being sweet at all. One of those where the glass is empty before you know it beers.

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Best Beers of March 2024

Time to get into the time machine and tab the top beers of March before we head into the April drinking session.

Honorable Mentions go to Long Beach Beer Lab for their Brewte (Brut) IPA, good to see this sub-style pop up on tap and this was a nice executed crisp, dry and pear version. Next to mention is the pilsner High 10 from Highland Park Brewery. The menu board had re-brews of past years and there were many High 10s to choose from but I really liked the West Coast Pilsner. I also quite liked the latest Short-Lived IPA from MadeWest brewed with Firestone Walker. Crisp and biting with nice fruit notes.

The March winners was the strawberry whipped Infinite Wishes from Smog City Brewing. Filled with berry notes and a slight touch of vanilla, it was luxury when paired with a bourbon barrel imperial stout.

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Short Lived but Not Too

Usually when I post about MadeWest Brewing Company and collaboration and IPA, I mean the latest installment of their Short Lived series.  But Wave Pattern is different.

Yes, it is “an easy drinking IPA, over-flowing with aromatics of guava, bubblegum, ruby grapefruit zest and pine resin! And with a malt bill consisting of Rahr Northstar Pilsner and flaked wheat” but this is an El Segundo Brewing beer done with MadeWest and not vice-versa.

This new West Coast IPA is filled with Strata, Simcoe, El Dorado and Riwaka hops.

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1st Visit – Long Beach Beer Lab Zaferia

It was an eventful first visit to the second Long Beach Beer Lab location in the Zaferia District of Long Beach. I had taken a couple sips of Brut IPA (you remember that sub-style right?) when that too familiar crunch sound made me swivel on mybar stool.

There was one car flipped over and one car with all air bags deployed. The fire and police departments were soon on the scene and attention could be turned back to the space and the beer and the pizza.

I have to say that the Wrigley location is more my speed but the more I thought, if this was in my neighborhood, I would be glad it was there. Yes, too many TVs but thankfully, most were about the brewery and bakery. And the cooler with mix and match and 4-packs is great.

And I did love the Brut (Brewte IPA) which was super dry but sweet with a pear note. So, thumbs up even for someone not from the neighborhood.

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Brandied About

Chimay has been putting some of their classic Belgian ales into barrels and this year, the new Barrel-fermented Grand Reserve is aged in “barrels of Brandy sourced from one of the oldest wine regions in the world”.  It is certainly on my extra long wish list.

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Not 42 Yet

Science, along with agriculture underpin beer and a brewery who is deep into both has another experiment coming out.  Actually two as Russian River Brewing recently released RnD IPA #40 & #41.  

They “were born from a collaboration with Omega Yeast for a special discussion at the 2024 CCBA Summit. Similar in taste yet distinct in appearance – one embraces a subtle haze while the other stands clear, all due to a genetic variation in the yeast.” 

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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.