Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
my humble and correct opinion
Figueroa Mountain has performed a label refresh of their beer line-up and it looks good. Vibrant colors, good font choices and art but take a look at the right side of the line…
…that is Hiker’s High Hazy IPA – a new “bright and tropical IPA that’s as hazy as those foggy mornings at the top of your favorite peak. The new 6.8% beer is now available in 6-packs of 12oz cans throughout the state”, as well as at their other California locations, my closest is Westlake Village.
To the Universe: When I said to myself that I could not wait until Covid wasn’t the lead and only story, I didn’t mean that I wanted something worse. So, please help Ukraine, OK Universe.
In the meantime, drinkers from all over can help in three different ways by visiting one website, Drinkers for Ukraine.
There is a collaborative brew for brewery owners, an auction for beer fans as well as a live stream fundraising event later this month. Hopefully, this will be resolved in Ukraine’s favor before then.
You can also be on the lookout for local, to you, events where proceeds go to assist the Ukranian people. I have already seen at least one beer in a blue can with yellow accents.
First it was food trucks. Then it was trivia nights. Then big TVs for sporting events.
Brewery taprooms had been filling every nook and cranny of the calendar up to when the 2020 hit. And now that calendar is filling again as we move from pandemic to endemic.
That leads me to two “attractions” that seem to be gaining traction. Maker’s Markets and Reality Show nights. Neither sound particularly tied to beer in my view.
You can point that say, craft soap and craft beer share that descriptor but if I want to buy a bar of locally made soap, I can do that without a brewery. Why do I need a few Etsy-ized tables in front of a brewery? This coming from someone who loves going to little shops. Wine + Eggs in Atwater Village is cool. Hi-Lo Markets are grand.
Then there are the Bachelor or Bachelorette nights. Maybe my hatred meets lack of interest in phony love not reality is showing and I understand that a weekly event might bring in regulars but it’s just icky. Like a footballer jersey sporting a Russian company sponsor. I do not have a replacement idea that would draw a drinking crowd but you are not going to see me watching a couple in a windmill or some bro hightailing it over a fence.
And to get to the future, you have to talk about the past. And that past is fraught when you are a minority brewery in this country.
Which is why it was great to hear Shyla from Bow & Arrow and Teo from our SoCal Crowns & Hops talk about their respective journeys in a beer world that is quite white.
Here are some of the words of interest that struck me from the discussion…
A week or more back, the NAGBW broached the three-tiered topic of distribution. The speakers were Kimberly Clements of Pints LLC and Lester Jones of the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
Here are my nuggets of wisdom from the Q&A…
It is no secret that I am an aficionado of label art and I am quick to give a hot take on designs on bottles and cans.
That is all prelude to the fact that I quite like the new direction taken by Hop Secret Brewing of Monrovia…
It’s bright, the font is new and bold and it has a modern art feel to it, though the lips on the left are a little much. I also like the bottle name, a nod to a funny series.
Looks like Alan Sprints has decided to retire which means that Hair of the Dog Brewing, the much lauded Portland brewery will be retiring as well.
From a video that Sprints posted, he will be done in the summer, there will be a few more new beer releases but mostly, it will be selling what is in stock until the last bottle is sold.
This is a legendary brewery and I highly recommend snaring a bottle or two to have for special occasions.
Cascade Lakes Brewing may have put a name to a new IPA trend, Red Haze.
Here is their description, “Our Seasonal NW Red is full of sticky, dank tangerine hop character with just the right amount of malt to accompany you through to warmer days ahead.”
Is the current IPA customer needing a turn back to dank, will the malt add enough sweetness. We will see of 2022 brings more of the red haze.
Or, who knows, maybe French Pilsner is the next new thing.
I have been off Twitter for two plus years at this point, so some things I catch second-hand. Like this question that I saw on the Appellation Beer website.
That is a thinker. All those years ago when I first started in beer, there was a growing number of choices available but it was limited and forcibly local. You had to travel to find the beer two towns over. Now, well, you can sit at home and scroll across a world of beer and a few days later you get a box in the mail.
I believe that beer would seem as much a dark forest as wine does to me now. I would not know where to start and because of that, might not drink as widely as I do, which is saying something considering the preponderance of IPAs I sip.
I would also see it as part of day to day life where before it was way more of a revolutionary cause. The battle has been mostly fought and I would also say mostly won. Even the crappiest bar or smallest grocery store has craft beer inside.
But since I cannot un-live my beer life, it is all guessing but fun guessing.
SweetWater Brewing Company recently announced expansion all across California. The march west includes the opening of SweetWater Colorado in Fort Collins plus the acquisition of passed around San Diego beer brands, Alpine Beer Company and Green Flash Brewing Company.
The Georgia based brewery is the nation’s 11th largest craft brewer and is turning 25th this year, both impressive numbers but I don’t think if you asked California beer fans to name five out of state breweries they would like to see here that SweetWater would make the list except for Marvel movie crew members who shuttle from L.A. to Atlanta.