Category: Beer in the news

Great articles that you should read.

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Simmzy’s House Beer

It is good when a press release can answer two questions in one fell paragraph.

Question 1 – Is the Simmzy’s brewery proceeding?
Question 2 – Which brewery was going to land Brian Herbertson after Wick’s?

Well read on….
“Mike Simms and Simms Restaurants are gearing up to debut the addition of a 7-barrel brewing facility to the Burbank outpost of the popular Simmzy’s craft beer pub and restaurant. Joining Simms as Partner is Greg Bechtel, a former bartender at Simmzy’s turned beer-buyer/manager and certified Cicerone. Together the duo is proud to announce that Brian Herbertson of Riverside’s Wicks Brewing Co. will be joining them as Head Brewer.”

The Brewery at Simmzy’s Burbank (which will hopefully be shortened) will focus on “sessionable house beers aiming to complement the restaurant’s menu…” The new beers will on tap at Simmzy’s Burbank (obviously), Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Venice Beach.

Bechtel brings ideas from El Segundo Brewing to combine with the Wick’s background of Herbertson. But even better, both guys are super cool and are truly part of the L.A. craft beer community.

Look for beer in the 2nd quarter of the year. Check the Simmzy’s Facebook presence for more updates.

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More RR

What you are looking at is not some country-fied mall but the long-awaited and even more anticipated larger Russian River Brewing facility in Windsor, CA.

And big it will be with close to 15 acres of empty land to utilize in the town of Windsor. The new Russian River facility will include: the bigger production brewery with the capacity to brew up to 50,000 barrels, a tasting room, a brewpub that is bigger than the downtown Santa Rosa location plus a gift shop.

I assume a Disneyland style line for PtY will be part of the grounds too.

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Make Some Noise

I may have given up on a good chunk of the U.S. populace. Can’t shake the sense of impending doom. Others, in the brewing world, haven’t though and are making their protest known through brewing a special beer…

Goldspot Brewing joined forces with Lady Justice Brewing, 3 Freaks Brewing and Black Sky Brewing to create Makin Noise: a Pussy Riot Beer, an Imperial Saison. A portion of the beer sale proceeds will be donated to local charities.

You can read more details HERE.

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Are We Getting RickRolled (lager)

Don’t quite know why now is the time that Mikkeller would team up with Rick Astley. Rickrolling is almost as far in the past as his hit “Never Gonna Give You Up”.

But there is a chance that a lager collaboration is in the offing and if you drive by the Mikkeller brewery in San Diego or the upcoming DTLA bar and hear “Together Forever” or “Take Me to Your Heart” coming from inside, then you might want to pull over.

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K-Cup B-Light


Get ready to waste a lot more tiny little plastic cups. SABInBev has joined forces with Keurig, the K-Cup coffee company with the intent of creating an “in-home alcohol drink system”.

Considering that the Keurig for soda aka “KOLD” went the way of the dodo and American democracy, I wonder why the company would leap back into a pool that even wasteful consumers rejected.

If they felt it was too hard to put a plastic cup into a machine when they could buy the same soda pre-mixed, who does SABInBev think will buy a beer or ____-A-Rita cups. And dear Lord on high, the taste of whatever came out would be atrocious (or as people euphemistically say, “consistent”.

But press on they will as they combine to “build on the Keurig KOLD technology and system innovations and AB InBev’s brewing and packaging technology, and evolve them within the realm of the full adult beverage category.” Notice, no mention of flavor in that lawyer-y bit of gobbledegook.

Another fun note, the “KOLD” sold for north of $350.00. I imagine an alcoholic version would have to retail for that, if not more. Who is going to spend that on a machine that will probably gather dust on a counter?

But this is for future selves to ponder. Like the jet pack and hover board, it is not a reality yet.

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Quiet Riot

Looks like yet another brewery is popping up in the outer boroughs, as it were, of Los Angeles.

Valley Riot is based in San Fernando per their Facebook page but no tasting room is open to the public as of yet and not beer list posted on the main website.

So this can be filed under Stay Tuned. (as in wait for the interview on Food GPS)

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B & BT in 2017


Beer release calendars are not as useful to me as they are for others, I suspect. Now if there were a master calendar that incorporated all of them together, that I would be on board with.

That being said, The Bruery and sibling Terreux have announced what 2017 will look like for the Orange County brewery and the key take-aways in my book are the new and retired:

New:
The Bruery Mischief 2017 with Citra & Motueka — new recipe/label

The Bruery The Order — new beer
A brand new, year-round release from The Bruery, The Order summons The Bruery’s characterful house yeast strain, dates, and a touch of coriander spicing for a Belgian-style amber that’s sure to satisfy fans of darker abbey ales ripe with dark fruit notes. This release introduces a new diecut reminiscent of abbey windows to the Famille Rue lineup.

Bruery Terreux Frederick H. – new beer (has been on tap in 2016)
Frederick Hottenroth was a great inventor, and he happened to be Partrick Rue’s grandfather. His namesake carries on in this low-ABV tart wheat beer that is 100% fermented in American-made oak foeders with brettanomyces and lactobacillus. This brand new year-round from Bruery Terreux boasts a bright acidity and a tropical, fruity aroma and flavor. The label art features blueprints of Frederick’s inventions, complete with his signature.

The Bruery Share This™ – two new treatments during 2017
The third and fourth treatments in this collaborative and charitable imperial stout series will once again focus on a specific region as the ingredient source and donation recipient. $1 from every bottle produced is donated to a carefully selected charity partner. The first 2017 release of Share This will feature chocolate and orange for ingredients, and spotlight its first domestic region: California. #sharethisbeer

The Bruery Hoppy Obligations – new limited release, draft only
A new, rotating series of hoppy beers will be popping up in select markets under the “Hoppy Obligations” banner. It may be an imperial lager, a Vermont-style pale, a hoppy red, or another hoppy brew that doesn’t fit an exact style, but you know it will be delicious and consumed quickly

Retired: Humulus Lager, White Oak, Trade Winds, Rueuze, Hottenroth, Tonnellerie series

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Really Hard Cider

16.6%

The name Wooden Hellfire is accurate for a naturally fermented cider that uses three key ingredients, apple juice, yeast and Kentucky Bourbon Barrels.

Oh and one other thing, instead of icing out the water to concentrate the sugar, Nat West from Reverend Nat’s Cider boiled the apple juice instead. Creating caramelized notes along with the apples.

Maybe, we can get some of this style of cider in LA, Please. Or any of the Tent Show Series of ciders.

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Rhein to the Heits


More German beer will be heading L.A.’s way in 2017. Liquid Projects LLC has gathered together five breweries together to bring more Reinheitsgebot approved beer to us.

The five are Distelhäuser, Zoller-Hof, Friedenfelser Brauerei, Riedenburger Brauhaus and Himburgs Braukunst Keller and they launched on the East Coast at the end of last year under the Reinheits Botens banner.

Will the Helles and Alts take share from the mighty IPA?

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Pac Plate 2

I don’t usually post Facebook screenshots over to the main blog (what with the fake news (come on people, read smarter)) but for people who live in Glendale (like me), this is big news.

Pacific Plate will be opening a satellite tap room on South Brand Boulevard. It is true. I have verified with the brewery and I have actually stood outside the spot.

Review to come. But that means Horchata Stout and some cool IPA’s on the Boulevard of Cars.