Category: LA Craft Beer Events

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It is an Anniversary Weekend

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On Saturday, Smog City celebrates and the next day Beer Belly will celebrate their 3rd Anniversary Party!
The party starts on Friday, May 16 leading up to the big party on the 18th when they will pop open a cask from Noble Ale Works.

Friday, May 16th

• Telegraph Handlebar Abbey
• Bruery Bois
• New Belgium La Folie
• Hangar24 Hammerhead
• New Belgium Yuzu
• Firestone Walker Parabola
• Ladyface Derailleur (100% barrel aged in Halter Ranch Mourvedre barrels)

Saturday, May 17th

• Bruery Sucre
• Kinetic Rusted Gear w/ Coffee
• TAPS Blanche de Conundrum (Conundrum wine barrel ages sour blonde)
• Firestone Walker Sucaba
• Lost Abbey Red Poppy
• Bruery Tart of Darkness
• El Segundo Hop Tanker
• Faction Defcon 1

Sunday, May 18th

• SPECIAL CASK: Naughty Birthday (Noble Ale Works Naughty Sauce w/cherries and bourbon-soaked oak chips)
• Bruery Melange #9
• Double Mountain Rainier Kriek
• Eagle Rock Ginger Saison
• Almanac Flowering Gose
• Bruery Oude Tart
• Smog City Bourbon OE
• Smog City Anniversary (strong saison brewed w/ Merlot)
• Bruery Windowsill
• Bruery Marron Acidifie ’12
• Bruery Sour in the Rye
• Monkish Saleh
• Golden Road Anejo Hefe
• Pizza Port Solano Beach/Three Weavers Sassy Rye IPA

On Sunday, Mexicali and Churro Borough twill be cooking from 12pm-4pm.  With a Chipotle Wing Eating Contest at 6pm.

 

 

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If it is Tuesday…

…then it must be time for a tap attack at Tony’s Darts Away.

This is just a gentle reminder that they do these most Tuesday’s and it is a perfect time to check out a far away brewery’s wares without leaving Burbank.

Coming up on May 20th at 6pm is….

CISMONTANE BREWING
flights and individual pours of the following..
4th Anniversary Doppelbock with Cranberries
The Citizen California Common
Black’s Dawn Coffee Imperial Stout
Double Rainbow Double IPA
Smokin Santiago Scotch Ale
Specialty Cask TBA

I will be checking out the Dopplebock for sure.

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A Session at Eagle Rock

Everyone has their favorite yearly beer event, for me it is Session Fest from Eagle Rock Brewery.

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Here are my thoughts and photos of the 4th annual…..

This year there were 26 taps a pouring according to Ting Su whose Bitter Ting was a hoppy English bitter.  There were guest taps this year like the medal winning Torque from Kinetic and the two guest taps that I sampled, Saisonita from Monkish and Oats of Birmingham from the Brewery at Abigaile’s. It was a wide ranging guest tap list, all to help benefit the LA Brewers Guild.
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Last year might have had crazier ingredients but I was introduced to a PaterBier and the smokiest, hammiest Gratzer this year from the Eagle Rock side.  Plus the layout made getting beer even more easier without waiting in line.  All of the guest taps were in the main taproom with the Eagle Rock 12 being in the brewery itself.

In my personal best of show, it was a close call but the Texas Brown won by a nose over the Radler with bitter orange.  The brown was hopped up but it didn’t lose it’s base style  under a hop onslaught.  The Radler was delicious and the orange was great but it was a bit too soda-y for me to vote it as the best.  Third place of the Eagle Rock brews would be the English Breakfast.  English traditional meets hops.  The winner for prettiest goes to the hibiscus tinged Hop A Feel Session IPA which poured a pretty pink. It also tasted great but the aroma was missing and would have tied it all together in a bow.

It is great to go to a fest where I don’t have to worry so much about the ABV.  Yes, you do have to pace yourself but it is much easier to kick back and enjoy a Session without having to be always asking the server how much alcohol is in this one.  Plus it encourages much more experimentation because you have that room.  If I have one 11% beer, I may miss two or more beers because I need to slow down.  Here, you can sip away.

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Anni

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Smog City will be celebrating their first year in their Torrance brewery on May 17th.

And if the  thought of “delicious beer, crazy experimental beer and exceptionally balanced beer” sounds good then head down to their taproom.

They will also be releasing a special anniversary beer, a Strong Saison brewed with Merlot.

The festivities take place from 12-8pm.

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Oinkster in Hollywood

Those that know beer in L.A., know that the Oinkster is part of a beer loving restaurant group that is tied to Maximiliano and Little Bear and that they have added craft beer into their equations which other celeb chef driven spots seem oblivious too. (Looking at you Bourbon Steak at the Americana)

So I was happy to get an invite to the soft opening of Oinkster 2, the sequel.

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Thanksgiving Turkey Burger and El Segundo Citra Pale ale. That is how I inaugurated the new Oinkster on Vine. And since I am a fan of the original. This article will be peppered with comparisons.

The new location (years in the making) has six taps compared to four in Eagle Rock. Josh Salinas (who has ably managed the rotating list) will manage both. There will be the same plastic cups that customers are used to as well. You can probably expect plenty of locals like Craftsman and Eagle Rock on tap.

Minimalist design is the motif inside. A bit retro diner meets Ikea. Their is some color mismatch which is jarring with teal on one wall then the classic red tablecloth pattern in one section. Some tables have bench seating and others don’t. Seems a bit random but I am not an interior designer. There is wrap around outdoor seating. It is a nice open space and a dog patio will soon be added as well.

There seem to be more things on this menu that I would repeatedly order (next time I will get the Bacon Cheeseburger or the Bleu Cheese burger) and for the Yelpers who bitch about parking, this spot has its own plus plenty on the street which is a Hollywood rarity.

I can see this becoming a late night spot to grab food when you tire of the scene to the north. And if the smog is light and if you get the right seat, you can see the Hollywood sign in the distance.

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Eppendorf at the GT

There is a lot of science when it comes to beer. Some of it is useful for beer geeks to know to make educated posts, reviews and stray observations but some just clouds up your brain if you get to far into it and can stop you from fully enjoying your beer.
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Recently the Glendale Tap brought representatives from the Eppendorf company to show off some of their equipment that analyzes beer.  Now I thought that a BioSpectrometer simply measure the color of the beer.  Which is helpful in making sure your amber is amber and your pils is just the right tint of yellow.  But what I didn’t know was that with a little bit of additions you can also measure tannins, IBU’s and many other things.

Granted the darkness of the GT wasn’t the best place to test out color but I hope that breweries will bring this side of the brewery out into the open for bloggers and others to learn about.  In my blogging years, I have only been in one or two labs.  And I think it is vital for us to know about how and why breweries use this equipment.  Maybe we can also get some new posts on BeerSci too.  To help us folks with limited science backgrounds.

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The Casks are Battlin’ (again)

I missed the first battle of the casks that Smog City threw but the battle rages on!

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Instead of a base porter style, this time around the Torrance brewery used “Amarilla Gorilla IPA Casks, all treated with a wide array of ingredients from fruit purees to tea and wine juice…”

Here is the list along with my quick thoughts…

Cask 1 – Orange Zest, Tangerine Zest, Coriander with Amarillo and Centennial hops
Strong taste of citrus zest. Quite sharp and aromatic. Hop taste is minimal.

Cask 2 – EXPLODED and out of the running with Panca Pepper, Vanilla bean and mango smoothie
My favorite of the day. Big pepper taste balanced equally by the vanilla. Slight citrus in the background.

Cask 3 – Merlot concentrate with Mosaic and Simcoe hops
The wine is there for sure but it was pretty tannic and bitter. First sip better than the last.

Cask 4 – Apricot puree with Amarillo and Sorachi Ace hops
There was trouble with this cask but the taste was fine. Apricot over everything else. Favorite with a few that spoke with.

Cask 5 – EXPLODED and out of the running with Lemon peel, lime peel, coconut extract, Pineapple/orange/banana juice with Amarillo and Simcoe hops
Passed on this one.

Cask 6 – Mango and Muscat Oolong tea, Peach puree and Simcoe hops
Probably the weakest of the group. No discernible tea notes. Mango was muted. More peach than anything.

BACK UP CASK – Juniper, Lemon peel and Sorachi Ace hops
This be the one that I voted for. Strong Juniper notes as well as barrel accents as well. Not nearly as good as the pepper/vanilla combo though.

And the popular vote winner? Chris Walowski won for the 2nd year in a row for his merlot accented IPA.
 

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The 4th Dart

It’s anniversary time again at Tony’s Darts Away!

And that means beers aplenty both rare and hoppy.
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Here are the initial details for those who like to plan.

Starts on Saturday, April 5th and heads through the 6th, from 10 a.m. to close
Thet will “be tapping a heavy-hitting lineup of high sought after and interesting beers every hour to hour and a half, including but not limited to:

[the return of] DARTS AWAY IPA Golden Road Brewing (brewed by the TDA team with GRB)
Grapefruit Sculpin Ballast Point
Angel’s Share Lost Abbey
BeRazzled The Bruery”
So check  on their Twitter leading up to the event @tonysda

price: NO admission fee; $10 for a commemorative glass and one pour of Darts Away IPA or $10 for the glass.

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Dragons & Gold Lines

Occasionally, beer events come in pairs and this past couple days was no exception.

Sunday, Ommegang debuted their third installment from the Game of Thrones beer, Fire and Blood. Atop the Fonda and Blue Palms Brewhouse, I sipped the new beer whilst sitting in my rightful place. Well almost. The line for the Iron Throne was longer than the beer line.

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The dragon themed red ale is my favorite of the three Game of Thrones offerings very Belgian Lots of esters here. Nice amount of hops as well. Well done. Some grape notes as well. According to the Ommegang folks in attendance the fire and blood is is a combo of spelt and rye and de-seeded ancho chiles.

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As usual Brian and his crew had the show running smoothly satisfying beer nerds, Westeros fans and fans of really big turkey kegs.

Then the very next night, I headed into DTLA and Angel City Brewery to sample two of their newer offerings.  I have had more beers from this new incarnation of Angel City that fall into the OK category than “Wow!” (and I am one of the few non-fans of the Avocado beer and their French Sip) but on the other hand I do like their pilsner and their Session IPA (which was one of the first I had seen before the 2014 explosion of SIPA’s) so my enthusiasm was both lowered and raised for their new Summer Wheat.

Re-tasting the newly christened Gold Line pilsner, it holds it’s place as a go-to beer for an L.A. summer. Slight minerality/metal note. But crisp with a note of wheat and grain to it. Simple and well done.

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The new Summer Wheat is similar in composition but has a slight off note with a bit of citrus to it and a slight but strange tart note to it. The wheat taste isn’t there for me and it has a bitter finish that doesn’t work with the rest of the beer.

The winner of the night is a beer going on tap tonight that I got a sneak preview of.  It is the winner of “What Would You Brew” contest.  Emily Finch has created a blueprint that brewer Dieter Foerstner has taken to create a really complex beer.  It is a Mexican Cola beer.  It also has citrus and tamarind and it is flat out good.  Certainly in the top 3 AC DC beers.  And their will be a rum barrel version coming down the pike later this year.

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