Category: Monthly Features

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Sports & A Beer – Managerial Changes

For every sport, every season brings the coaching carousel.  A coach gets fired and then by the next year is coaching somewhere else.  In the National Football League both the Jets of New York and the Saints of New Orleans have parted way with head coaches and surprisingly the Premier League in England has only seen one high profile departure ( so far ), that being Erik Ten Hag being booted by Manchester United.  It is too early for NBA firings but there are plenty of coaches whose hot seats are warm.

After the changes, the team may win a few games and the word leaks out that the coach had “lost” the locker room as if a character in The Importance of Being Earnest.  It is more likely that any given sports team is a fragile state of being.  It is why dynasties are so intriguing because they are not the natural state of affairs.  United can rule Manchester and then can be usurped by City.  Red replaced by light blue.

Coaches are integral but so is a dominant player or healthy players and luck.  Lots of luck.  A football in America can bounce so many ways and a football in Britain can ping just under or just over a crossbar.  Which makes coaching changes such an object of discussion because the avid fan cannot really pinpoint why a coach will succeed or fail. If indeed they did either.  A true bad coach is rare and may just be someone who is better as an assistant in truth.

Tying this into craft beer.  Is there a brewery that you think could use a change in brewer.  Not because one is bad per se, but just as a means of refreshing the current beers and dreaming up new ones?  Maybe a brewery that has added a beer(s) to their line-up that are not in their wheelhouse while discontinuing others that were legend?  Next time you are beer shopping, check out the beers that you think could use a new direction.

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A Podcast & A Beer – My Unsung Hero

Since it is the month for giving thanks, there is no more fitting choice of podcast than My Unsung Hero hosted by Shankar Vedantam.

“Each episode reveals what the news ignores: everyday acts of kindness and courage that transformed someone’s life. Listen — and renew your faith in humanity.” Boy do we need that in our lives.

For a craft beer to pair with this, I would suggest asking the beertender at your local brewery what beer needs a little love on the tap list, one that needs a craft beer drinking hero to come to the rescue. Oh, and then make a generous tip as well.

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The Firkin for October 2024

It is easy nowadays to summon a car to deliver you to a brewery or from one brewery to another. You also will find running clubs associated with a brewery. And if you really want to take your life in your hands, you can bike. I hate to run but even I would take that over bicycling.

My choice A is walking and whilst in Denver, I was able to saunter from a brewery, to another and then another. The next day, I walked around a lake from one corner to another to visit two breweries. I miss being able to do that in Los Angeles as there are relatively few neighborhoods where multiple breweries exist.

Torrance on Del Amo is one. Arts District in DTLA is a second. Both have their charms and drawbacks. And maybe if economic times improve or a new gust of brewery wind hits the sails we will be able to create more walkable beer paths.

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Sports & A Beer – Future NBA Cities (and countries)

With the news of Portland getting a WNBA franchise, time to turn attention to re-creating another PNW grudge match.  Blazers vs Sonics.  Ever since the Thunder came into being because of duplicitous Oklahoma ownership, basketball fans have lost a rivalry game.  With the Ducks running for the money train, the UofO – OSU game has lost its luster and we could use an old fashioned derby game.

The other near lock for a new franchise (with LeBron’s backing) is Las Vegas.  That tracks too because that city has been real vocal and supportive even with the bastard step-children franchises from their relationship with Oakland.

But I would like to see a franchise added to the Eastern Conference and it might raise some eyebrows but Puerto Rico would be someplace to look at.  There would be expat fans and it would balance out the lone Canadian franchise. More importantly it could use a boost that the NBA could bring and there is no reason why the NBA or the NFL can’t use their power to build up instead of always choosing cities with that already have a lot of sway.

For beer, get yourself a couple beers each of Oregon beers and Washington beers.  Pick one style, like pilsner of West Coast IPA or stout and get a friend to help you blind taste test and see what the rankings are.

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Sean Suggests for October 2024

I am not a Halloween person or a horror movie person but I do enjoy the creativity of Spooky Season beers. But I will also make a nod to the summer season past for this month’s beer shopping choices.

Angel City Zombie Rotbier –  5.2% – “Rotbier is a traditional Nuremberg-style red lager (rot = red) we brew every year just in time for spooky season. This style of beer is perfect for our warm fall season in LA, being a refreshing lager with a maltier backbone.”

Pizza Port Endless Shoreline IPA – 7% – “Endless Shoreline IPA captures the essence of sun-soaked days with a refreshing burst of earthy tangelo and bright Meyer lemon. Brewed with Riwaka, Waimea, NZ Cascade, Crystal, & Columbus hops – the mid-palate reveals a tropical blend of sweet citrus, lush mango, and juicy papaya, transporting you to a beachside paradise. The finish is dry and crisp, leaving behind subtle hints of peppery lemongrass and a touch of slightly sticky resin.”

The Bruery Dear Great Pumpkin – 10.1% – “a crafted golden stout inspired by the beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte. Featuring a golden pour and creamy white foam, you’ll notice tastes of cinnamon, milk sugar, nutmeg, and coffee.”

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A Book & A Beer – The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville

Keanu Reeves does acting and rocking out and now novels with the new hard fantasy book, The Book of Elsewhere. Penned with China Miéville based on / continuation of the graphic novel series, BRZRKR.

This is not a hard book to read per se. There are a lot of grisly and graphic violence and a somewhat basic military plot at its core. It is a book though that you have to pay attention to, there are a lot of unknown, well nigh, unknowable words and references here that make an immortal deer-pig easy to comprehend. The viewpoint changes from one person to second person to third person and chapters alternate between the history of B. / Unute and present day. There is a lot of philosophy meaning of life talk.

It is a book that will divide people. Some will immediately be put off by the stylized writing or the gore or will just wait for the inevitable TV version. But I found it to be looking at life from many different angles and could not wait for the quieter passages where humor snuck in and where the big questions could be pondered.

To use the abused and overused, “it’s a combination of” idea, this is John Wick meets Interview with a Vampire meets Jack Ryan.

I would suggest from name alone that the new-ish Death Dealer from ISM Brewing and ( a little spot on ) Ghost Town Brewing would work but it is such a light and joyful even at 6.66% abv that I would instead find beers that are divisive. Too sour sours. Too hoppy beers. Too extreme beers. Or if that is not your cuppa, since the main character is named B. Go find a nice Bock beer.

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A Podcast & A Beer – Blocks with Neal Brennan

Blocks with Neal Brennan is part of the large industry of comedians talking to comedians that also includes the likes of the Marc Maron podcast, Jerry Seinfeld’s TV show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee or even live events like Smartless.

The hook for this one is in the title, Brennan adds a component of mental health and self-help to the proceedings so that it doesn’t become just a softball type of show. The shows run a bit long for my taste but there are helpful nuggets that the guest share about how they deal with what life can throw your way.

For craft beer pairing, I would make a list of beer styles that you have tried but were either m’eh on or didn’t like and go back and see if the 2024 you has the same opinion on it.

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In the Tap Lines for October 2024

We have entered Q4 of 2024. As always, the year just swings by before you know it. Before the calendar switches, we need to pack in fun like a trip to Colorado, which I will be posting about later.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries that won at this year’s GABF

~ special featured reviews of Halloween inspired beers

~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events

~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark

~ A Book & A Beer reads The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Blocks with Neal Brennan

~ Sports & A Beer returns with WNBA and NBA expansion to Portland and maybe Seattle

~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month

~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

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A Podcast & A Beer – NPR Student Podcast Challenge

Back when I was in the fourth grade, I was most certainly not making podcasts with my classmates. But here in 2024, NPR can run a challenge for best fourth grade podcast and find some really good ones.

So follow this link HERE and dive into some topics ranging from murals to recovery to the American Revolution.

It would be a touch inappropriate to suggest drinking a beer for this particular set of podcasts so why not a craft root beer or cream soda from such purveyors as Rocky Mountain Soda or a local brewery that dabbles in soda.

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A Book & A Beer – The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

When I started reading The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley, I had no idea it was book one of what is a three book series so far.

And I do not think that I will be taking in books two and three. This book is set in Victorian England approximately and we follow a government worker, Nathaniel (annoyingly called Thaniel) along with Grace Carrow a physics student at Oxford and Keita Mori, the titled watchmaker formerly of Japan.

The story has a bomb plot and a supernatural plot and an HG Welles mechanical invention side plot and none really coalesce into a hole. Oh and Gilbert and Sullivan make an appearance too. All that would make for a fine ramble but the characters are just sketches expect for Nathaniel who is just a dithering lump who makes book plot choices and not strong character choices.

For beer, be on the lookout for a brewery doing a series of beers. Be it in a variety pack or a quarterly series and crack one open and do your best to forget the book and that you have other beers and see if based on the one beer, you would order up the rest.