Link-Hop-tober-Fest

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For the weekend of the 19th and 20th, Atwater Village will become a California-ized version of a later than normal (on the calendar) Oktoberfest.  Here is the information and most importantly, the brewery list for the event.

LINK N HOPS OKTOBERFEST!
Saturday and Sunday, October 19th and 20th, from 1 pm-5 pm each day

“Join us for our first annual Oktoberfest as we celebrate the fall season with craft beer and great food for two days in a row in Atwater Village!  Sip on a variety of seasonal specialty beers by four amazing Southern California breweries and munch on a savory sausage with Belgian fries. Enjoy the cooler fall weather of Los Angeles at Atwater Village’s own sausage and craft beer spot, Link N Hops.

Each brewery will feature Oktoberfest- or Fall-inspired specialty beers like Pumpkin and amber ales. The breweries involved include Bootleggers, Hangar 24, New Belgium, and Golden Road.”

Here are your pricing options and the site to buy the tickets is HERE

A $27 ticket gets you six tasters of 6 ounces each, plus a food option, which includes a sausage sandwich plus fries (one day per ticket).
A $20 ticket gets you six tasters of 6 ounces each (no food, one day per ticket). At the door prices will be higher.

#DrinkPink

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Eagle Rock Brewery is one of two breweries in the LA area that reaches across the aisle to raise craft beer awareness to women.  And for their Women’s Beer Forum for this month, they will tie that cause to help benefit the Keep A Breast Foundation for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

According to Ting Su from the brewery, “We’re going to be featuring a bunch of pink beers…. Don’t worry, not gross ones. The line-up is actually going to be pretty amazing, particularly since we’ve got Craftsman, Ladyface, Pizza Port Solana Beach, The Bruery, Angel City, and Goose Island participating at the event. And everyone’s bringing out some really fun stuff for it.”

So use the hashtag #DRINKPINK for the event to remind people that it’s for Breast Cancer Awareness that is a much better use of the pound sign!

The cost is $22 and it includes a commemorative Women’s Forum Glass with pink logo, flight sheet, mingling time with brewers/brewery reps to talk about the beers they’re trying, a flight of 7 pink beers.

Uppers and Downers

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If you love Stimulus from Eagle Rock and have enjoyed Groundworks Coffee Porter from Smog City then this event is for you…

“October 19th, Intelligentsia in Los Angeles is partnering with Michael Kiser, the author and photographer behind Good Beer Hunting to bring together some of the industry’s most famous beers and brewers to discuss, discover, and drink what coffee and beer truly have to offer.

Kiser will lead a panel discussion with visionaries from Three Floyds, Solemn Oath, Lost Abbey, Stone, Firestone Walker, Angel City, and Goose Island. During the talk, we’ll be sharing tastes from a variety of styles, processes, and formulations for coffee beers that represent both the benchmarks and the future of the art. Because as good as some of these beers have gotten, there’s so much more that can be done when we understand the origins, characteristics, and processes of the ingredients in the glass.”

That is an eclectic list of breweries for one event.  And just the mention of Three Floyds gets beer geeks running.  But I am interested in seeing what Solemn Oath is about and what Angel City will bring to the table.

Food GPS Teaser – A Boomtown of Breweries

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Tomorrow on my bully pulpit of Brew & You on Food GPS, I will give a quick rundown of the opened, soon to open and future brewery openings in the Los Angeles area.  One of which is Boomtown from the Stout chain of Burgers and Beer.

But I wanted to give an early warning about a beer festival that flew under the radar a few months back but I heard great things about. but is coming back again.  BeerFest for BeerGeeks will be at the Studio City location and here is the lowdown for the November 3rd edition:

“There will be 18 hand selected breweries that will be pouring 2 beers per brewery. All the beers will either be barrel aged, sours, or unique one-offs. These beers will never be seen again or very hard to get, so don’t miss out! Every attendee receives unlimited 2 ounce pours, a souvenir glass, and appetizer type food.”

 

 

L.A. Beer Week in Review

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Another L.A. Beer Week is in the books and this year, I took a more relaxed approach to the “Week+”. I did not schedule an event (or two) each and every night.  In years past, I would scurry around Los Angeles hoping to not miss a single beer. Now I know that I should enjoy each beer as it comes and not worry so much about the next.  And not go chasing waterfalls.

With that as a reference point, my personal version of LA Beer Week was quite fun. My quick snapshot:

I had a taste of Double Mountain beer from my home state of Oregon at Sunset Beer Co.  Tasted three versions of Eagle Rock’s Solidarity at Story Tavern. Learned about beer writing and writing for the interwewbs at at the L.A. Beer Bloggers meeting at Angel City.  Volunteered at Union Station and marveled at how fast it came together.  Went on a Brue D’Etat at Glendale Tap.  Was treated to some great food and Green Flash beer at Tuning Fork.  Sampled beers (and found two favorites) from new San Diego brewery, Modern Times.  Went rare at Smog City and El Segundo breweries with grapes and melons.  And ended by Taking the Black on the roof above Blue Palms.  Not a bad line-up considering I also took two days off to recharge my beer batteries.

My favorite beers were Blue Sugar Cubed from El Segundo and Grape Ape from Smog City with Fortunate Islands and Blazing World from Modern Times in my third and fourth slots.  Golden Brett from Allagash would round out my top five for the stretch of time.  Craftsman’s Oktoberfest would also be close in there.

The only event that I really wish I could have gone to was the Craftsman/Maximilliano dinner.  After seeing what Craftsman brought to Union Station and knowing what the food is like at Maximilliano, I can imagine a tremendous experience.  Count yourself lucky if you were there.

I know in some minds, the festival, be it at the end as in years past, or as an opening gala like this year is the measuring stick for the success L.A. Beer Week.  For some, it is the only event people attend.  (Which I think is crazy)  I have not written much about the Union Station event because I was a small cog in the group that arranged and executed the event. Moving to a new space inside Union Station created a new set of issues that the craft beer selection eventually bested, but I think with some medium sized alterations that it could be improved.

First though, gotta talk about the elephant in the room.  Much blog ink has been spilled about the entry cost but, to me, the first to complain are those that don’t look at all at either the price tag for Union Station or the donations to the LA Brewers Guild and The Spero Foundation. You, the customer, get unlimited tastings from a wicked set of brewers in exchange for helping out two organizations doing good in the real world and the LA Beer World.  Most times when you donate charitably you get a happy feeling for doing good and maybe some address labels.  Here you got beer!  And instead of organizing so called Fest Boycotts, how about patronizing a craft beer bar and spend your money there? Help create a stronger L.A. Craft Beer Community.  Don’t set yourselves apart from it.  Maybe create a fringe beer festival or a home brew fest? I am a fan of positive suggestions instead of kvetching and moaning.  Turn the spent grains into something.

Now that my mini-rant is over, my suggestions start with… Better signage akin to what the Downtown LA Beer Crawl created is really needed. From where to line-up, what beers are available and where food is located.  Professional signage with the logo emblazoned on it is a must.   The smaller space also requires more bathrooms and a food solution needs to be found. (that may be logistically hard but maybe there is a way to squeeze into another room).  I would also split it into two sessions and skip the after party. Lastly, I would have a pair of Festival volunteers roaming the area available to answer questions, talk about the Untappd badge and generally let people know about other events during the week.

I have been asked repeatedly what makes a successful beer week. That can be split into personal and the entire city. From my personal standpoint, each of the five iterations of L.A. Beer Week have had enough fun and odd events to make it fun.  From an overall standpoint, if the craft beer profile is raised a notch in the L.A. area, then it is worth it. And from my journeys over the past ten days, I think that goal was achieved.

#LABW5 Pick of the Night – Sunday 9/29

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Another L.A. Beer Week comes to a close with a nod to our role in the mythmaking of the movies and TV.

Game Of Thrones “Take The Black” Stout L.A. release party at Blue Palms Brew House & The Fonda Theatre rooftop

Channel your inner White Walker and sample the 2nd offering in the Ommegang / Game of Thrones series, and Take the Black under the stars in Hollywood.  A ticket is required if not already sold out.

#LABW5 Pick of the Night – Saturday 9/28

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Each morning throught L.A. Beer Week, I will give you my Pick of the Night.  The ONE event I think rises to the top of the list.  Some days that choice will be harder and there might be 1A and 1B’s (if I get wishy-washy).  I will endeavor to pick events you can just head out to.  But if tickets are required, I will mention it.  But expect crowds.  Craft beer and craft beer in L.A. is popular.

Rarest of the Rare at Smog City Taproom

I cannot add anything that cannot be better said by this tap list:

Cask
2009 O.E.
2011 Callaborative Evil w/Vanilla Beans

Draft
Quercus Circus – 19 month sour barrel-aged belgian blonde
Tempest – 18 month barrel-aged sour red rye
Farmhouse Funk
Bourbon Collaborative Evil – 2011 Collaboration with Julian Shrago of Beachwood BBQ
Bourbon Red – 15 months in bourbon barrels
Bourbon O.E.- Bourbon barrel-aged Olde English
Bourbon Imperial Porter
Weird Beer- 5 Grain Saison with spices
Hive Five- LABW special ingredient beer! 5 different types of Honey at 5.5%abv
GrapeApe IPA- IPA made with 500lbs of flame grapes, pressed on site

#LABW5 Pick of the Night – Friday 9/27

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Each morning throught L.A. Beer Week, I will give you my Pick of the Night.  The ONE event I think rises to the top of the list.  Some days that choice will be harder and there might be 1A and 1B’s (if I get wishy-washy).  I will endeavor to pick events you can just head out to.  But if tickets are required, I will mention it.  But expect crowds.  Craft beer and craft beer in L.A. is popular.

Modern Times Exclusive Los Angeles Preview at Verdugo Bar
Friday September 27th 2013 7:00 pm-11:00 pm

Celebrate the Exclusive Los Angeles Preview of Modern Times Beer!

Join us at Verdugo Bar on Friday, Sept 27th at 7pm for a taste of the San Diego brewery that focuses (non-monogamously) on aroma-driven, complex, flavorful, sessionish beers and other hybrid styles and mash-ups.

The Taplist includes:
Lomaland Saison
Fortunate Islands Hoppy Wheat
Black House Oatmeal Coffee Stout
Blazing World Amber IPA
Roraima 100% Brett Trois Amber

You may have heard about their mega-successful Kickstarter appeal.  You may know about their ties to San Diego.  But now you can actually try the beers.  And that is what it is all about.

#LABW5 Pick of the Night – Thursday 9/26

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Each morning throught L.A. Beer Week, I will give you my Pick of the Night.  The ONE event I think rises to the top of the list.  Some days that choice will be harder and there might be 1A and 1B’s (if I get wishy-washy).  I will endeavor to pick events you can just head out to.  But if tickets are required, I will mention it.  But expect crowds.  Craft beer and craft beer in L.A. is popular.

Belgian Take Over w/Monkish & New Belgium at Village Tavern
Thursday September 26th 2013 7:00 pm-10:00 pm

Thursday Sept 26th New Belgium & Monkish Brewery Tap take over and Pint Night give away. Rare and Selective beers from both breweries on tap.

I have yet to visit the Village even though it is in nearby Atwater so this is a perfect excuse to see the decor and ambience.  And the beer too.  Those are two strong breweries paired together.