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It appears that Pasadena is getting into the beer festival business. And they have read the tea leaves and are going very local. Not some generic affair.
I will go on record as saying that only Absolution and The Dude’s have underwhelmed me so far. Alosta and Timeless Pints still have something to prove and I don’t know all that much about Wolf Creek to be honest. But the remaining 15. Well, they are good. Which makes this an event to watch.
Wanna break out your Zombie costume or are you more of a Governor? Either way, Ninkasi will be crawling through cities in LA for their Dawn of the Red ale.
Check out the details, HERE.
My plan was to ride up the 101 to Agoura Hills to check out the Lady in the Wood (the Anglicized version of the Ladyface Alehouse 5th Anniversary beer). Due to traffic, I was forced to take a different route but even with the detour I got much more than one beer. Two taster flights to be exact…
The 5th Anniversary was half wine-ish and half woody barrel tasting but even with that bifurcation, it was distinctly one really good beer and it was quite a treat to try it side by side with the 1st Anniversary beer that kicked pretty early in the evening. But the standout of tray 1 was the Onager. It was bright and funky and was one of those beers that separates itself from the pack. The Cherry Picture City Porter had a lovely restrained cherry note and a pie aroma to it that would make it a great dessert beer.
Tray 2 was the sour (in general) group and with the exception of Stack VI which had a strange combo of anise and wood in the old ale that didn’t work for me, were all solid but in the company of the first four were the losing team in the Super Bowl. Still great but not at the same level this night.
For such a small space, Ladyface is consistently strong with their barrel program and if you haven’t had the anniversary beer of 2015, then do yourself a favor and find any route to get to Agoura Hills and try it.
Special 5th year glassware was broken out to celebrate the Eagle Rock anniversary occasion along with a the beers on tap in three different locations in the brewery…
The beers of El Segundo Brewing were always the draw but I couldn’t help but notice that the label design had a huge hole in the middle where a little photo or graphic seemed swallowed up. The labels were fine but the only one that really “popped” was the autumnal Smoky Hollow beer and the ghostly bagpiper with 3d smoke. Well, now it is different. Now they all pop.
Now both the name and the image are there front and center. Plus the name font and the beer style font match and pull the eye in. Plus the color really makes these shelf eye catching compared to the blue and black of before. Now the outside looks as good as what is inside.
And they have teamed up with Inside the Cellar for Freshies Club. Want fresh Mayberry but can’t brave the traffic to pick up a growler? Then get it home delivered. Much better than the alternative……
All I can add to that poster is that if you live in LA and love beer and haven’t been to an anniversary party yet. Well then, you need to get to work and help celebrate a milestone in LA craft beer.
Don’t miss it! Special treats include AleSmith Brewing Company and Kern River Brewing Company who sent over special beers for the celebration. Why those two breweries, we’ll both Eagle Rock and Kern use hand me down AleSmith equipment.
Plus there will be the debut of their very own 5-year anniversary beer! Populist XL.
In 2014, I think I hit 10 or 11 of the Beer Belly One Night Stands and this year, they have another killer line-up of local breweries coming to Koreatown…
And it all kicks off tomorrow night!
OAKstravaganza is right! The Library Alehouse has been sitting on some Firestone Walker beers and has set the date of January 15th to put them up on tap. Including one of my favorite beers that they have done, Bretta Weisse.
The list: XVIII Anniversary, Parabola, Sucaba, Stickee Monkee, Double DBA, Velvet Merkin, Velvet Mocha Merlin, Li’l Opal and Agrestic.
This is one surefire way to start off the SoCal beer year with a bang.
Where are you going to be on Saturday, January 17th at noon?
Smog City of course! You can get your 2nd vintage of The Nothing so you can taste test the 2014 to the 2015 and then you will want to compare them both to Infinite Wishes (2014 The Nothing which spent 364 days in bourbon barrels).
You will be kicking yourself if you don’t at least taste these two chocolatey stouts. But you should really plan on buying some bottles.
Tomorrow night, 1627 Colorado will be officially christened as the Eagle Rock Public House.
The ERB team has always had a focus on beer/food pairings so I am excited to see what Chef Jerry Su has in store. He knows the beers inside and out and I am sure that knowledge will be put to good use.