Category: Monthly Features

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The 1st Firkin of 2023

Speak for 11 seconds otherwise Skynet will know that you are inebriated. Confused? Read THIS, then come back.

Now, my first inclination is to think that the creators of this speech recognition software are tooting their horn a little bit too much. I am thinking of early lie detector tests where foolproof claims were made that just could not be backed up. Primarily because body reactions may not be about what you are being asked but what someone is afraid will be learned.

A person could have just gotten a yes to a date proposal, for example, and be really giddy. Maybe as giddy as I get when tipsy. Or they could have been told no and start mumbling. Would that trigger as an alcohol caused speech pattern.

And going back to my happier mood, how does the AI know my baseline? And what if I am particularly happy because my birthday month starts tomorrow? How does that factor in?

As with the lie detector, this inebriation sensor might be good as part of an overall set of proofs, not as a sole one.

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The Best Beers of January 2023

January proved to be weird beer month. My two co-winners this month were made to resemble tea and ice cream.

But before I jump too far ahead, honorable mentions for the month are the Simcoe IPA from El Segundo Brewing that stole thunder from their Meltdown behemoths. I also quite liked my first beer from Une Annee, their Tripel, with a sparsely decorated label was right on the mark.

Back to the weird. Cuppa a British Dark Mild with lovely notes of Earl Grey tea was way down the ABV scale, in the 3% range, but it was filled with malt and tea flavors. Near the end of the month, I was pleasantly surprised by a cream ale from La Bodega Brewing in Whittier, with added lactose so they could call it Whittier Ice Cream Ale. Again, not a big beer but well done.

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Hop Culture Best New Brewery of 2022 # 3 – Fox Tale Fermentation

Our final stop for January is in San Jose, California at Fox Tale Fermentation. And boy do they have some fun ingredients in their beers.

Time to pick some projects for the taster tray…

Plant Cultura – Oaxacan Green Corn Lager

Magic Monday – Farmhouse Ale with fresh pressed Asian Pear Juice.

Fung Shui – Farmhouse Ale with Candy Cap Mushrooms

Legend of Pandan – Tiki Inspired Golden Ale with Macadamia, Coconut and Pandan.

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Sean Suggests for January 2023

Let’s take a little drive around SoCal to taste all sorts of hops from Noble to un-named and Pilsner to IIPA to start the year off right.

Bottle Logic – Semplicitá Italian Pilsner – 5.2% “Saphir and Saaz hops tout delicate aromas of pine and white flowers and transition to the palate with an up-front bitterness. It lingers for a moment and folds into the fresh bready sweetness of the malt base with a medium-light body and effervescent carbonation.”

El Segundo Brewing – Simcoe West Coast IPA – 6.8% – “Once again, we love a hop so much, we had no choice but to name a beer after it. Simcoe’s been around since 2000, making it a classic hop of the West Coast IPA. There’s been plenty of hops that have made a splash since then, but Simcoe has a certain… je ne sais quoi that keeps us coming back for more.”

Ogopogo Brewing / Harland Beer Co. – Merlion 2 DDH Hazy IIPA – 8.5% – “With Citra, Incognito Citra, HBC 586 and HBC 586 Cryo.”

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A Podcast & A Beer – Seen Through a Glass

Seen Through a Glass is hosted by bourbon and beer writer Lew Bryson who many already know and may have heard on other podcasts. Now he has his own show….

…and I think it is really good. It takes a small section of Pennsylvania and blows it up for everyone listening to hear. Plus you have to love Bryson’s big laugh that drops quite frequently during each show. It has a bit of that Rick Steves travel feel to it.

Los Angeles does not get much Penn beer especially not the small producers that Lew has talked about so far but a good substitute would be find your nearest food cart hub like Steelcraft here in Los Angeles so that you can have a food and beer experience since Bryson weaves food into each episode. Plus those trips will get you back into travel mode.

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Paso Wine Podcast

Paso Wine Podcast – Where Wine Takes You had a recent episode with guests from Firestone Walker and Re:Find Distilling. One cool section of the discussion is when they talk about a collaboration white dog that the two companies made for a bunch of us beer bloggers way back in the day. I still have my empty bottle in my office.

Another reason to take a listen is to hear about beer from a wine show’s perspective.

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A Book & A Beer – Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Stephen King made his mark with horror but he has a firm grasp on many genre styles including pot boiler, thriller, crime. The dude could probably write books for toddlers and sell them like hotcakes. He is back into fantasy with the somewhat blandly named Fairy Tale.

It takes awhile to get to the tale and the action as King patiently sets up the main character that you will be following through the journey, Charlie Reade. Unless you are a dog person, then the main character might just be Radar.

As usual King books move. Even the early pages turn quickly. But I felt the book tried too hard to make Charlie a saint by his actions but a flawed one by his early teenage bad days which were continually brought up again.

And I almost preferred the front half story about the father and the son and the mysterious man in the crumbling house. The fairy tale land is purposefully pale but that makes it less interesting.

To pair with a book with such a there and back again quality, I would go for a one beer, then a variant of that beer. A pilsner, then an Italian Pilsner, West Coast IPA then Cold IPA or maybe a Pale ale with a past like Sierra Nevada paired with a Belgian Pale ale

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Needed or Not? – Brewsy

Or, and hear me out, I could buy a bottle of wine or can of cider in less than an hour at, say, Trader Joe’s. Instead of straining a pour little cranberry into un-natural positions.

Or, you could head to a home brew shop and learn how-to make your own wine and cider in probably the same amount of time.

Leave poor Ocean Spray out of it.

So very Not Needed.

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In the Tap Lines for January 2023

Welcome to 2023! Are the years moving fast for you as well? I know time is a construct of humans but boy does it move fast at times. This blog now enters its 14th year!! Crazy. Let’s start strong with….

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Hop Culture Best New Breweries list of 2022 like Fox Tale Fermentation Project, Bizarre Brewing and Mahalo Ale Works

~ special featured reviews of ciders received for Christmas from Portland Cider Co.

~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 Fairy Tale by Stephen King

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Seen Through a Glass

~ 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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The Final Firkin of 2022

Before I dive into my quick thoughts for the end of the month, I would like to give a quick R.I.P. to Mumford Brewing in DTLA as they close after 7+ years. I visited when they first opened and thought the beers were only OK, but then a subsequent visit showed a fast growth. It taught me that some places need time to gel. From there on out Mumford was a solid winner especially with their hazy IPAs. Buy those few cans out in the wild still if you can.

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Bourbon Pursuit and Breaking Bourbon have noticed that bourbon and spirits tend to run the opposite of craft beer. Big brands dominate. Making it hard for craft distilleries to get air where in beer bigger seems to default to worse or boooring.

As we head to a new year, both good beer and good bourbon will need to learn from the other. Heritage breweries will need to figure out how ubiquitous brands like Jim Beam or Maker’s Mark can remain popular even though they are much larger than little distilleries.

Craft distilleries need to ponder how chasing new trends works for small breweries and how they harness that energy to stay on the tips of tongues and front of minds.

And what I think might be more important is how do bourbon and beer combine past the simple fill a bourbon barrel with an imperial stout.