I made a trip slightly north with fellow beer afficionado Richard to catch up (as best we could) on the beers of Camarillo, Oxnard and primarily Ventura. Here are some of the photos:
Ventura Beer – Photos – Part 1
Over Town
I should not be surprised when another brewery suddenly pops up without me knowing about it. And yet, I am, each time. Here is the latest:
Wingwalker is barely open a couple months and another one enters the Monrovia market, Over Town Brewing Co. There will be a first visit report coming later this month or in April.
Temecula Beer Photos # 2
Since the article of Temecula breweries visited by yours truly is hitting Food GPS tomorrow, here are some more photos to whet the appetite…
Temecula Beer Photos # 1
For my birthday weekend, I got a night in a vintage Airstream trailer and to check out the beer scene in Temecula. Here are some photos from the days…(words on the matter to follow on Food GPS)
Gone in 60 Seconds
Entitlement. Some think that they deserve to go to the Firestone Walker Invitational Festival. Each year, I hope that this year, on sale day will not end up with someone on social media whingeing about not getting tickets and within hours, that is stomped on like Paso Robles grapes at harvest time.
The reason that this festival succeeds like it does is due to the amount of tickets sold. More tickets sold would make hotels more costly, lines longer, tapped kegs more frequent and create a heat vortex that would rival the Sahara in summer.
The beer certainly helps create buzz but as FW notes in their post above, there are a great many great festivals out there, many cheaper and closer to wherever YOU are.
This is not to discourage people from going. Far from it. If there was a way to rotate tickets to first timers that would work without being hacked, I would recommend it. I would highly suggest visiting Paso Robles anytime in the year and even on THE weekend if you don’t have tickets. There is plenty of beer and fun to be had at Silva Brewing alone.
I include myself when I say that no one deserves to go, they are LUCKY to go. And if you think that you deserve it and you find yourself there, I would also highly suggest recalibrating and at least pretend to be lucky because then, the FWIBF truly becomes wonderful.
The Hi-Lo Counter
The wonderfully fun little specialty shop, Hi-Lo in Culver City has added a tasting counter with draft beer as well as wine to make your time near the Expo Line more fun before you grab some take home cans and bottles.
New Ogopogo – Sharlie
If you haven’t made your way out to Ogopogo Brewing, well the above beer should be another reason why you should make the drive out to San Gabriel and check out their lovely brewery. While there, I highly suggest trying the full range of their beers.
1 Cent
Reasons to root for the Rams tomorrow:
- Because the Patriots are the opposite of America’s Team
- Because this is L.A.
- If the Los Angeles Rams come away from Sunday’s Super Bowl with a win you can celebrate at Iron Triangle Brewing because they will be pouring their lager from 2-10pm on Monday the 4th for a mere 1-Cent!
Burning to Open
The time has come and Burning Daylight Brewery is now open for business in Lomita as of the 24th!
Their hours will be as follows:
Thursday 3-9pm
Friday/Saturday 12-9pm
Sunday 11-6pm
Monday 3-9pm
Expect a first visit review when I can make my way down to the sign of the hop.<
Beer Media Propagation at FW-Venice
The newly re-branded L.A. Beer Media had their first meeting of 2019 and thanks to the generosity (excellent as usual) of Firestone Walker, we learned quite a bit about the creation of the newest year round beer that the brewery will be releasing, Rosalie.
The company is branding this as Beer Rose and after remarks from the Lion himself, David Walker, Evan Partridge the Propagator brewer and the soon departing Rob Emery from what I will just call “the lab” gave us the full rundown of how this beer came to be.
They started with (3) components that they wanted the finished beer to have:
- Acidity – light but noticeable
- Color – a reddish hue
- Wine – to connect with the wine region of Paso Robles
The process started back in January of 2018 and Partridge and Emery walked us through acid spiked versions of the Firestone Walker lager to show what they were looking for in component # 1, then we tasted a mixture of water and hibiscus to show the color aspect and then lastly, they gave us a sample of wine/grape juice as well as a sample of wine created with the grape blend that they filled a silo with.
Firestone Walker had teamed with Castoro Cellars to provide them with a blend that included Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat and Viognier. Once the grapes were in place the recipe honing process could begin. We tasted four of the steps along the way as well as the finished product and it was fascinating to see how the blend went from tart to less tart but still wine forward, to pilsner with hibiscus, to finally a blend that truly mixed beer and wine AND had the right color.
Rosalie comes in the Sixpoint 12oz skinny can and I found it to be tilted to the wine side of the fence but the acidity comes through just enough to make this unique. Plus it actually looks Rose and not just red. It really worked for me.
Considering last year’s Terroir event that was a blend of wine and beer hybrids and the fact the BarrelWorks has been toying with it as well with ZinSkin among other creations, this seems like a no-brainer, gateway hybrid that will draw those curious as to how wine and beer mingle. And using Paso Robles grapes as part of the equation really makes it unique as the Rose style becomes more Brut sized.
