L.A. Beer Week – Page 7 – Beer Search Party

June 30, 2016August 29, 2018

#LABW8 – A Look to 9

So the 2016 edition of L.A. Beer Week is behind us.
Time to reflect on what worked and what else I would like to see happening…
1. I liked the idea of the Gold Line Pub Crawl with different breweries featured at different bars along the route of the train. Next year, it should expand to the new Metro line and the Red Line too. Heck, maybe even the Orange Line busway too.

2. I like the idea of Kick the Keg and Battle of the Guilds and the other competitions but it would be good to have more focused, smaller contests. Select Beer in Redondo Beach had the right idea with four IPA’s going head-to-head. Maybe have mini-contests each day of the week. Monday is Best IPA with one each from San Diego, San Francisco and LA, then the next night, rotate to a new bar for Saisons and so on.

3. The Kick-Off Fest needs to sit in one place for a while. L.A. Center seems to have enough space and the layout was A-OK this year, so I vote for keeping it there if possible. The other idea would be to alternate years. One on the Eastside and the next year Westside but at the same locations .

4. Food and Beer pairings are still out there but I would love to see (again) more focused events that are not so wallet damaging. Beer and cupcakes would be lovely. Special Beer and (insert favorite food here) pairing events in the vein of The Oinkster’s Burger Week.

5. Oregon Night at Beer Belly was a great idea and I would like to see that extended to the Brexiteer’s or German beers.
As usual, the organizers (especially the esteemed Franny) and the breweries are to be commended for all of the hard work and sweat put into this year’s craft beer celebration. The work for one festival is jaw-dropping. But they had to deal with two plus all the events in-between. All so we can have a plethora of choices.

June 26, 2016August 29, 2018

#LABW8 – Belgium in Glendale

L.A. is large, if you haven’t noticed, and sometimes great beer events are held too far away for me to get to. Heck, trying to get to Hollywood from Burbank on a weekday to a 7pm event is stressful.

So when I heard that the famed brewmaster from Brasserie Dupont was going to be in town for L.A. Beer Week, I said a little prayer that the event would be in striking distance. It wasn’t. But then, luck smiled on me and my Eastside/Valley Beer Week plans. Olivier Dedeycker would be making a stop in my city at the Glendale Tap!

It was scheduled at 9pm but in beer time that means something else. I waited until after 10pm drinking the insanely good Deux Amis without nary a sign of the famed brewer or the other famed partner, Tomme Arthur.

Thankfully, earlier in the day. Tomato Pie was on the agenda as well as beers from Glendale’s Brewyard Beer Co.

First up was the new Brewyard Perky DIPL coming in at 9.3% which makes it the biggest beer that the duo have concocted to date and it took quite a bit of work and first time making it jitters. Initially I go watermelon notes but then there was quite a mineral laden bitterness that really followed. Some beers don’t fit the style that they are talked of but this beer is a DIPL for sure.

To simultaneously ramp down and jolt up, I tasted the Sunday Morning Joe. Which was grand. The light base of the beer really left room for the coffee to shine which it did. More and more, I like coffee beers that aren’t laid on top of large, grand stouts.

Then onto the Tap where Deux Amis waited…

…and the beer is just so good. The only review I need to convey is that if you see it on tap or in bottles, BUY IT! It has a Hefeweizen clove aroma but it is so smooth with an undertone of hops. Simple and complex at the same time. I amend my previous suggestion. Buy it. Also buy the dry hopped Saison and the “plain” Saison Dupont and invite friends over for a tasting.

I did mention it was good? Right?

June 25, 2016August 29, 2018

#LABW8 – DTLA United

Last night was the night for Downtown LA beer to shine. L.A. Beer Hop was shuttling from Boomtown in the North East to Iron Triangle in the South and each brewery in between.
DTLA United
I did not stop at each and everyone but I did get a few pints and here is the report from the LABW8 evening….

Thank God for ½ pours and tasters. A long night stretched ahead starting at Boomtown where Dry River was the guest and where I started my beer ordering with their Cigana Brett IPA. It had a strong does of bitterness which was cut by heavy horse blanket notes. This was old school Brett. Then I moved on to the the other beer on offer, Lady Roja. The first of two red/pink beers that I would have on the evening. It had a lot of pie spice notes and heavy hibiscus but neither was too overbearing.

Then it was over to the Boomtown side of the room to try their Aliso – Belgian Strong Dark. This beer was right on point for me. Nice hit of Candi sugar, bit of bitterness, and it had good strength to it. Probably my favorite of the night. Then it was on the bus to….
dtla hop
Iron Triangle where I picked up a pair of new hoppy samplers starting with the Sluice Gate IPA. Nice. Probably a notch above the vast swath of IPA’s that are just fine. It had good body and aroma and I paired it with the Jawbone Black IPA. Which to me was not so hoppy. More on the dark malt side of the equation. There was a lurking grapefruit flavor in the back but that didn’t match well with the malt to me. I also had a few sips of the Socially Awkward Berliner. There is an initial burst but then the tart fades too quickly. Left with wheat notes.

Then the next stop was….
strawgose
…Angel City to try the premier of their Strawberry Gose. First off, strawberries are hard to add to beer. This is probably one of the better attempts at utilizing the berry. Now is it a gose? No. But there was a huge aroma and it was very tart and very cloudy pink. It worked for me.

Overall, this was a great way to get people to enjoy the beers at the breweries. There was a couple of things to add for next year. The buses stopped at 10pm and Mumford closed up shop around that time. Each of the LA Beer Hop buses should have had that fact displayed to help people plan. My group was left without a bus at Iron Triangle and had to get back to the center of action via alternate methods. Had we known the closing times, we could have planned our time more effectively. My second thought was that information about the breweries in DTLA could have been on the bus to pass out to. If the goal of the night is to get people to try new breweries, then a little bit of info might be a good sales pitch.

I just wish there had been more time to sneak in one more brewery before the clock struck last call.

June 24, 2016August 29, 2018

#LABW8 – Beer Belly goes to Oregon

As a native of Milwaukie, Oregon, when I saw that Beer Belly was using #LABW8 for a night of Oregonian beers, it was literally the first thing on my calendar for the week.

And the list was full of rare in L.A. beers. I had my eye on the Session IPA from Breakside and the Banished Barrel-Aged Freakcake from Crux Fermentation. Both of which did not live up to my expectations. Rainbows & Unicorns was really light and just not hoppy at all. Freakcake was sour with a Christmas-y spice profile that finished with a teeny-tiny bourbon barrel push at the end.

Luckily, other beers did live up to the hype. Both Cascade sours were excellent with Figaro getting the nod over Shrieking Violet because it was more complex all around. Buoy Beer’s NW Red Ale seemed more ESB’ish to me but was a good finish to the night.

On nights like these, I wish there was a mega-taster flight. Maybe 3oz pours of each beer. Or I will have to wait for next year, and maybe Beer Belly goes to Oregon, Part 2.

June 23, 2016August 29, 2018

#LABW8 – Polly Want a Whiskey?

Reverse barrel time for #LABW8 as Steve Lipp, owner of Alexnder Murray & Co, and the esteemed David Walker, of Firestone Walker Brewing Company, will be pub crawling this Saturday, June 25th to showcase their collaboration Polly’s Casks in Santa Monica.
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What are Polly’s Casks? It is a “Highland Single Malt Scotch that has been aged in Bourbon Casks previously used to age American Craft Beer.”

The three bar crawl will feature specialty cocktails with Alexander Murray Scotch whisky line along with Firestone Walker’s core and specialty beers (Parabajava Coffee, Sticky Monkeee Qua). Participating bars include: The Basement Tavern, Areal, and The Library Alehouse.

June 22, 2016August 29, 2018

Cider during LABW8?

The answer is yes. Here are some apple specific events for you to take in, starting tonight!
cider
Wednesday, June 22nd
We’re celebrating LABW by tapping our newest cider blend, Sunset Swizzle. A spin off of a traditional Haymaker’s Punch, this is a dry cider made with local strawberries, fresh ginger, local lemon verbena, then naturally conditioned with local orange blossom honey. On the beer side, Westlake Brewing Co. will feature a syrah barrel aged Kolsch on tap!

Wednesday, June 22nd
“Highland Park Brewery and 101 Cider House have teamed up to create a beer and cider hybrid for LA Beer Week. We’ll have this funky, fruity, barrel-fermented concoction on tap, along with a few special treats from 101 Cider.”

Thursday, June 23rd
“This is a battle of the ages, a showdown of traditionally made ciders versus their modern day counterparts. Taste handcrafted ciders from LA’s local 101 Cider House and Oregon’s Wandering Aengus Ciderworks, joined by classic European ciders from France and Spain. Ticket price includes 8 ciders (4oz pour), plus burger & fries.”

June 21, 2016August 29, 2018

#LABW8 – Cellarmaker & Highland Park Brewery

Day 2 of #LABW8 is a friendly takeover of Highland Park by Cellarmaker from the Bay Area.
First up is Trading Burritos….
Brett IPA. Cloudy orange juice look. Has a sticky taste to the back. Hops are really juicy. The Brett isn’t big barnyard which is good. Guava aroma? Tropical fruit for sure.

..then Baby Blammo
A Donut Friend collaboration. Stout with Angry Samoas from the next door donut house. Barrel aroma. Bit of smoke note to it. As it warms more chocolate starts revealing itself. It is probably too rich to even pair with donuts.

This event got busy just like last year. With the bright and oppresively hot light streaming in it was hard to read the beer list to the point where I wish the beers were better listed. Which are collars and which are Cellarmaker.

June 20, 2016August 29, 2018

#LABW8 Kickoff Festival – The Review

As threatened, here is my take of the Kickoff Festival to L.A. Beer Week…

Usually I go to a craft beer festival and wander like a hobbit looking for a second breakfast but for the LA Beer Week Kickoff Festival, I was assigned to the Stone Brewing booth to pour. And pour I did save for a brief taste blitz midway through the the fest.

Which means this post is less about beers drunk in a Nick Hornby list manner and more about the people that walked past or stopped and ordered a beer.

First off being under a tent when LA is baking hard is a much better place to be than in the flow of the throng. With a prodigious amount of sunscreen I avoided getting burnt. Stone had two beers flowing. Made easier by the fact that both were double IPAs north of 9%. Enjoy By Independence Day and Mocha IPA.

The Mocha was quite good. Hops in the aroma, followed by coffee with a milky chocolate finish. No wonder that the small keg kicked pretty fast. It was pretty good timing to be with Stone reps after news had broken that brewmaster Mitch Steele was leaving for a new brewing endeavor. They were as wrong footed by the news as most of us were.

Most of the conversations were broken by surges of crowds. The life of a fest-Ista is not glamorous. It involves moving kegs and gear. Getting the beer to a decent temp despite the heat and fielding the same question repeatedly.

(I came to regret saying please enjoy when handing a glass of Enjoy By over the table)

I was able to try the Pilsner from Enegren, the unfiltered Pilsner from Brouwerij West, the new grisette from Monkish, another Pilsner from State Brewing and a Watermelon Chili IPA from Ladyface of all places. Notably, I had my first Sante Adairus beer too, their saison, Bernice. I missed Homage and Pocock as well as a couple Drake’s beers even though they were right across from me.

There were some funny little hats and a few strange outfits but mostly people who were there to enjoy some beer. Thankfully there were only a couple glass breaks for people to inexplicably cheer for. I will get into the set-up and quibbles later though.

The take-away is that the ticket to entry was a ticket to try all of LA craft beer in one spot. All you had to do was find some shade to enjoy the beers in.

June 19, 2016August 29, 2018

#LABW8 Kickoff Festival – The Photos

Now that the 8th L.A. Beer Week Kickoff Festival is complete, here is part one of BSP coverage. Tomorrow, my review of the festival…

Beer Bloggers prepping the Unity IPA for pouring.

One of my tasting stops. Waiting for the Saison to stop foaming.

June 18, 2016August 29, 2018

Review – Unity IPA (bottled) from Three Weavers

After experiencing Unity 2016 from Three Weavers and the LA County Brewers Guild in the cask format, it was time to try the bottled version. Though I am not a fan of the artwork on the label, I can see why a certain niche would think it is cool.

I cracked open the bottle and immediately the hop nose bubbled up before even pouring into the glass. It was a dual hit of pine and tropical fruit with berries swirling around. After that though, the beer sorta fizzled out. Bitterness was there, but the aroma just didn’t carry through into the flavor and when that aroma faded off, I was left with a bit of an underwhelming IPA.

I had a can of Stone’s Go To IPA earlier in the night and that beer had a well executed juicy orange character to it. Did that influence my taste buds? I don’t know but I couldn’t help but compare the two and hoping for Unity16 to pop a little more. Instead it just sorta rolled downhill into a bit of dankness at the end.

It leaves me perhaps to try it on tap and see if that is the optimal dispense for this beer.