Category: Where to go…

bottle shops, pubs and breweries

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Divinity

November 18th and another HenHouse (kind of) collaboration.
“Father Divine” Dunkel Weizenbock comes from Craftsman Brewing Company and certified cicerone®, Sayre Piotrkowski of HenHouse Brewing Company.

Here is the beer description: “Divine” a stronger, darker take on the Hefe style. The beer is brown and hazy, with aromas of chocolate, dark fruit, bananas foster and allspice. It is about 7.5% ABV.

The beer will be pouring at Barbara’s at the Brewery along with….

“Winning Team” Adjunct (Jasmine Rice) Lager, brewed as a collaboration between HenHouse, Temescal (Oakland, CA) and Eagle Rock (Los Angeles, CA)

“Frozen Envelope” NE-Style IPA, HenHouse

“Saison” Farmhouse Style Ale brewed with Spices, HenHouse

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Keeping Up with the 60+

Do you know how many breweries are in Los Angeles County? Did Mayor Garcetti’s backtracked World Series bet get you to thinking what L.A. beer you would send to another city?

There are two ways you can have a handy list on hand when your phone is low on batteries:

First up is the upcoming new t-shirt from the good people over at Hopped LA…

The second is the handy foldable L.A. County Brewers Guild map. For the kids, it is something your parents used before Waze led you down blind alleys and cul-de-sacs to avoid traffic.

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Harajuku + Baird Beer

There has been a noticeable decline in foreign beer but maybe that tide is turning.

Harajuku Taproom opened their first U.S. location in Culver City. The five strong chain from Japan does izakaya fare with craft beer.

The oddly Germanic named Adam Guttentag longtime friend of Bryan Baird, founder and owner of Baird Beer, and the original Harajuku Taproom in Tokyo is behind the new Southland venture.

There will be traditional yakitori, skewers and house-made gyoza but most importantly, Baird Beer will be in abundance, see below, and that is a good thing.

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New Taps


TAPS Fish House & Brewery, already a mini-chain with three TAPS restaurants, will expand next with a not-restaurant. Opening early next year will be a full-scale production brewery and tasting room in Tustin.

“The new TAPS concept, which will include a 1,900-square-foot tasting room, a patio with a 12-seat fire pit, and multiple TVs and videogames.” There will be 16 TAPS beers on tap as well as bottle choices.

This should give the talented brewing combo of David Huls, Kyle Manns and Jonathan Chiusano much more “head room” to make their award winning beers and allow for more luxuries like crowlers and growlers to go.

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Two New from the L.A.A.W.


If you are looking for something off the beaten track, well L.A. Ale Works has a pair of off-kilter beers for you.

Last Friday saw the release of Chanterelle mushroom porter. Adding a “Woody-earthiness combine to bring forth this truly unique take on our classic Parliament Porter.”

Coming after that will be “several local fruit variations of our Lievre Saison including Guava, Kumquat/Calamansi, and Huckleberry.”

And if you just want the warm embrace of PSL then there is a special version of the California Cowboy, called Lil’ Pumpkin Boy.

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PDX Peek – Zoiglhaus & Great Notion

Zoiglhaus

I was super excited to go here because of the fact that the brewmaster is a fellow Linfield alum. And the beer did not disappoint. The Cedar Fever was a great combo of light pilsner base with cedar and hops. It really popped and got my trip off to a great start. The Festbier worked well too. Good malt to luxuriate in. The restaurant space left something to be desired. It was cavernous and pretty empty on a Friday afternoon. Also the food was only so-so for Portland.

Great Notion

Well this place was busy. Even some brave souls out on the patio. I had to find a standing room only spot for my taster tray. My favorite was the Contraband Saison despite the rep for the hazy IPA’s. I did check out three of the hazy offerings of the seven listed! Of those Grape Lotion was the most intriguing with a wine grape addition that fought the hops to a draw.

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Bend Beer – the recap

I had been to Bend way back in college days. Back when Deschutes was probably the only game in town.

Now it is a major beer city. Warranting it’s own line in the Beer Advocate places in Oregon.

My goal was to check out Crux Fermentation and Ale Apothecary. And from there, everything else would be gravy. I got one out of two and the gravy.

Before I got to Bend, I so had to stretch my legs from the long drive from Portland, so I stopped in at the Sister’s Saloon and enjoyed a Boneyard staple, RPM IPA. It was a great start to the Bend beer overview.

First stop was Crux where I ordered up two fresh hop beers. One a pale and the other a lager. Neither struck me well though the bumping crowd with barely a seat to spare seemed to be enjoying the nice selection of beers on offer. I had better luck with their Sonoma charity IPA which had a really layered bitter flavor. The location is typical for a brewpub. Industrial area with food trucks nearby that is slowly gentrifying around it.

I sampled two beers from the Old St. Francis where I was staying. The Backyard Special Bitter and Let’s IPA. The former was the clear winner though it would probably have been better to order something on the porter/stout or rauchbier tip to pair with the fire pits in the courtyard.

I missed out on Ale Apothecary. Limited hours and nothing on Sunday meant that I was not yet in town when it was open. But happily, GoodLife is right next door and I found a pair of fun beers in my sampler tray. Tossed a British IPA was nice and balanced. I also liked the Sour IPA – Secret Stash 004. And, of course, Sweet As was just that.

Two other notable stops to relate. Sunriver Brewing has a lovely spot on Galveston near Growler Phil’s (get it?) where I had my favorite of the trip a hazy DIPA, Parkes & Wreck. The best place to drink a beer was Bend Brewing which has basically a little park overlooking Mirror Pond. An extremely peaceful spot to enjoy a beer.

As is my usual, I missed more than I tried. I didn’t visit a bottle shop or the newer breweries. But it just means that I will have to go back.