Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
VIP Tickets to the Smog City Anniversary Party on May 9th slyly went on sale last week and may be gone by now. (check HERE to see)
But you will want to get any remaining ones that you can because it is a steal of a deal with “early and exclusive access, rare beers (including one very special collaboration we did), limited edition bottle tote, bottles of Steam Funk Brett IPA (2015 Anniversary Beer), and more!”
And if you miss the VIP, don’t fret, your beer choices are sure to be mind bottling.
One of my favorite breweries is hitting the tripel mark, Happy 3rd to Monkish!
And today, they will be celebrating from 1pm to 8pm with a killer beer list from taps and bottles including my favorite beer of 2014.
Below are my ideal beer flights:
Light & Hoppy Flight
ST. CITRA – Citra single-hop belgian pale
SELECT MONK 1 – multi-grain single dry hopped w/ Sorachi Ace
SELECT MONK 3 – multi-grain tripel dry hopped w/ Sterling and Sorachi Ace
SELAH – saison w/ brett
CRUCIS – single conditioned w/ brettanomyces (Brux)
Dark Night Flight
HEM & HAW – dark saison w/ brett
ARRIVANT – rye saison w/ brett
FUNKY HABIT – brown saison w/ brett
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL – Belgian-ized imperial stout
BOURBON-BARREL-AGED MAGNIFICAT – bourbon-barrel-aged spiced winter ale
Special Addition Flight
SHAOLIN KICK [ON CASK] – dubbel w/ sichuan peppercorns + Thai Basi + Sriracha
SEME DELLA VITA – tripel w/ pistachios and vanilla bean
CAFFE DELLA VITA – tripel w/ pistachios and vanilla bean and coffee
APOPHATIC – dark specialty ale w/ orange peel, cinnamon, coriander, fennel seed
Beer events usually involve beer geeks. Not a bad thing. But sometimes casting a wider net of beer drinkers can yield more interesting conclusions. The 1st Beer Talk with the theme of IPA was just such an event.
For example, have noted IPA lover Tony Yanow of Golden Road talking about his take on the history of the IPA style to a crowd that included a home brewer, beer bloggers and a person who has never been to Mohawk Bend and you end up hearing new viewpoints on an oft discussed and oft drunk beer style along with generous samples to compare and contrast.
Tidbits that I picked up:
Tony is a big fan of the Kernel Brewery in London. I tried to put a bug in his ear about a transatlantic collaboration. Maybe that can happen.
A 4% beer with 80 IBU’s would be more of a palate wrecker than Palate Wrecker.
Deadheads were big Sierra Nevada fans and as they followed the band they brought the beer with them around the country. Possibly getting the US accustomed to hoppy beers.
Anything over 100 IBU’s is really theoretical. You just can’t utilize that much alpha acid.
To me the best aspect was getting to try Blind Pig next to Sierra Nevada Pale ale or the Pliny the Elder next to Wolf Among Weeds because it does really show the differences off and can lead to a greater appreciation for a beer that may get passed up. Plus to see the faces of people who either haven’t had the beer before is really cool. Toss in a little blind tasting where I ranked Wolf slightly higher than Pliny along with a couple others is fun too.
And the $20 price tag is a steal in an era of $50+ events out there.
Starting tomorrow, Select Beer Store in Redondo Beach will celebrate their 3rd anniversary with a long weekend blow-out.
Thursday brings the collaborative beer Select Monk 3, a tripel naturally, that was brewed with Monkish Brewing in nearby Torrance and then their “favorite LA and Orange County breweries” will be on tap for your pleasure along with food from the Barley Hops Grill.
Support your local craft-centric bottle shops so that more will open in the future.
FirkFest, Orange County’s first cask beer festival, is ready for Round 2!
Two weeks from now 34 Southern California breweries will bring their cask game to Farmer’s Park in Anaheim. And not only might there be a “wait list” for the drinkers but there is on for the brewers, which shows that brewers are a bit excited about creating a special one-off 10-gallon cask.
Here is the list of who will be pouring on the 21st: (with my selections of breweries to watch in BOLD)
Anaheim Brewery
Artifex (new to me)
Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits…
Barley Forge
Beach City (been hearing good things about this Huntington Beach brewery)
Beachwood BBQ & Brewing
Belching Beaver
Bootleggers Brewery
Bottle Logic Brewing (a crowd favorite last year)
Bravery Brewing
Cismontane Brewing Company
Coachella Valley Brewing Co
El Segundo Brewing Co
Firestone Walker (‘cause it’s Firestone)
Four Sons (new to me)
Golden Road Brewing Co
Good Beer Co
Hangar 24 Craft Brewery
Hoparazzi (new to me)
Karl Strauss
King Harbor
MacLeod
Monkish Brewing
Noble Ale Works
Phantom Ales
Pizza Port San Clemente
Saint Archer
Smog City
Strand Brewing
The Bruery
Three Weavers
Tustin Brewing Co
Twisted Manzanita
Valiant Brewing
L.A. Beer Week is on the move. And this year it will remove all of your L.A. June Gloom in the process.
2015’s version of Beer Week is from June 20 through June 28. Instead of the iconic Chinatown locale of 2014, the festival will be held in Exposition Park. This new USC adjacent spot will allow for “even more local and guest breweries”.
The two-month + difference means that presale tickets to the kickoff will go on sale earlier, on April 3, and the general ticket sales begin on May 1.
I like the idea (and I hope it sticks) of moving the festival around Los Angeles from year to year. And pair that with being near Metro trains. The other add that I would like to see is moving it west and/or south. It has been downtown and east intensive for its entire existence.
The reason for swapping September for June is twofold. First is for us fest goers. June should be cooler which is better for drinking beer outside. The second is for the brewers. June is before the festival circuit that is insane in summer. And it also avoids having L.A. Beer Week butted up against the Great American Beer Festival.
From my perspective it seems like a smart move.
I have been hard on beer festivals of late, but something about the eagerness of the I-15 fest seems to work for me.
“We are doing with the I-15 Brew Festival is injecting new life into the traditional brew festival. We feel that by hosting an event at night, bringing in concert and laser lighting, specialty performers and music to surround the breweries that it will be an event that will go over big with the audience.”
Now, hopefully, more local (ie Temecula) breweries will appear on the participating brewery page.
I don’t know if I could trust a beer geek that didn’t enjoy attending a home brew gathering. Not because the beer is always top drawer, but because the people are excited to show off their beers, even ones that they don’t feel are up to their exacting standards.
Here are some photos from my too short sojourn at the Pacific Gravity 20th Anniversary party. Thanks to Tomm for hosting and thanks to Brian Holter and all the home brewers who shared their creations. (below the photos I will briefly talk about the beers that I tasted)
Club Dubbel – bit of burn. Some sweet dry finish. 20th anniversary.
Horchata Stout – nice and creamy. Spice and chocolate. My second place winner.
Pumpkin porter – a little thin. Not enough pumpkin or pie spice notes.
Blueberry wheat – this beer was 6 years old and showed it but still held up well considering.
Barleywine from Norm was really good, my personal favorite
Centennial Simcoe IPA did not work for me. The hops were at odds with each other.
You can’t say you don’t have enough advance notice. Hangar 24 will be turning 7 and there will be planes in the skies above Redlands to prove it….
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.