Category: Beer in the news

Great articles that you should read.

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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.

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Causes in Can Form

Wading into political waters with craft beer is sure to spark debate, that can be a good thing which is why I like the idea that Sparkke a brewery in Adelaide, Australia has decided to tackle. Being a socially conscious craft brewery.

You can see from the cans (which are very well designed IMHO) below that the brewery is not shy:

• “Consent Can’t Come After You Do” – a cider tackling sexual consent
• “Change The Date” – a Pilsner targeting Australia Day
• “Boundless Plains To Share” – a hearty ginger beer demanding better treatment of asylum seekers
•”Nipples are Nipples” – a lemonade addressing gender equality and supporting #freethenipple

Even cooler is that the brewery is run by a group of nine women. That, in and of itself is a statement.

They are making another statement by donating 10% of their profits to a range of community groups.

I have so many ideas that I would like to see added.

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Not Up to Snuff


Craft Beer Cellar has always had a strongly opinionated business stance. And 2017 the 28 stores in the chain will bring another one forward….

Each store will carry a set of “required and highly recommended beers,” and there will be a “Do Not Sell” list. You could, for instance, find no room on the shelf due to “lack of adherence to style, off flavors, and inconsistency in quality…”

What this means is that you could walk into one of their branded shops and not find a local brewery or far flung brewery in the cold case because they are not above the standard. Or you might find, the hefeweizen on sale but not an IPA with a proven bad track record.

Part of me agrees with this. We all need to be more open and upfront about beer flaws. Is it hard to do in a nice manner that can be taken constructively? Yes, but that is partially because we are out of practice in doing it. If CBC can fairly judge and pass that grade to the brewer and help them improve, then great. But if it turns into a bickering match then nothing is improved.

The other part of me though wishes that the call was up to the store owner. Due to the Byzantine nature of distribution in this country, some owners might have an easy time dropping a brewery. But others may have to buy other beers from a portfolio which could lead to some awkward sales calls.

Either way, the breweries on the naughty list needs to be transparent to the customer so that informed decisions and true education can happen.

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The More Yanow

Ever since Westwood Brewing went belly up and morphed into just another bar, there has been a beer sized hole at Bruin central.

That could change in 2017 as Tony Yanow of Tony’s Darts Away and Mohawk Bend is teaming with a group named the Artisanal Brewers Collective to place a beer-centric spot in the former Yamamoto space in Westwood Village.

This marks the second project for Yanow who is also in process for creating a still un-named brewpub in Sherman Oaks.

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Happy Zoigl-ing

z-word-3
Two preliminary things about the following. One is that the brewer is a Linfield alum like me which is super cool and two, we need more of this Zoigly thing going on. But first here is the information….

“While you can’t legally sell beer out of your home, you can do the next best thing: fill up your carboy with freshly brewed wort at Zoiglhaus, take it and a fresh can of yeast home with you to ferment your own beer. Add dry hops, extra flavorings, or leave it as is. It’s up to you. When the beer is done, you can share it with family or friends in the Zoigl spirit.”

Alan Taylor the brewer at Zoiglhaus Brewing was inspired so much by the medieval tradition of village brewing that he put the hard to spell word into use for his Portland brewery.

What excited him was the practice where each village had a single brewhouse which the villagers could utilize by getting the wort made and then taking it home to ferment. Then when done they would sell it from the home/taproom.

The first wort from Zoiglhaus was a pale ale by the name of ZPA, it was made available to buy by the carboy and then next month on the 7th, those that want to participate can bring their creations back to the brewery for judging by the people. The winner wins, well, the next batch of wort to play with.

What I would like to see is an L.A. brewery creating a wort then giving it to three other breweries to “finish”, then have a blind taste test to determine the winner.