Category: Monthly Features

Posted on

The Firkin for August 2022

This is a tough question because I have changed methodology depending not just on the quality of the beers but on many other factors.

In general, I sip a little of each beer to see first but if beer A is light and really good and the rest of the tasters are darker, I may polish off the light one to not wreck my palate. I also sometimes try to find what exactly a flawed beer has wrong with it and thus finish it, before I go back to the best beer of the bunch.

If all the beers are of equal quality, and one is not a stylistic outsider, then all will be drunk at the same pace. But if all beers selected are not good, and it has happened. I may drink the best one and drink enough of the others to obscure my dislike when I bring the glasses back.

It is not an easy question to answer because of the Choose Your Own Adventure decision tree involved.

Posted on

Needed or Not? – Heineken Beer Shoes

I guess walking on water is passe when you can walk on beer? But man these sneakers ain’t pretty to my eyes so I would hope to sink.

Here is the snippet from Adweek, “The company used a specialized surgical injection method to inject Heineken Silver into the soles, aiming to create a ‘smooth’ sensation when walking in the shoes that supposedly mirrors the taste profile of the beer.”

Needed ? – No on the beer inside which is probably skunked and no on the generic Italian flag color scheme.

Posted on

Sean Suggests for August 2022

Thanks Climate change!  Time to go a little lighter this month to compensate what we humans have done to this planet.  Let’s drink some lighter beers and also help, just a little while we are drinking.

Arts District Brewing Summer Crush – 4.3% – “Crafted on a bright and tart sour wheat base, our brewers go all out pulverizing Meyer Lemons into our own purée to double down on that acidity, and then toss in heaps of raspberry and blackberry for a mega jammy and sweet tart experience.”

Unsung Wormhole Pale Ale – 5.5% – “Hoppy west coast pale ale with strata & simcoe hops.”

VNBC Hair We Go Hazy IPA – 6% – A mixture of Cascade, Saaz, Calypso and Citra Cryo.  Proceeds from the sales will be donated to Wigs for Kids.

Posted on

A Podcast & A Beer – A History of Coffee

Might be more iced coffee time than hot but either way I suggest you check out A History of Coffee podcast.

Hosted by documentary maker James Harper and professional historian Jonathan Morris cover the history of coffee, sustainability, the rise of craft coffee and the future of coffee.

It is a six episode series with nearly as many bonus episodes and the hosts strike a good balance of positive and negative, light and dark.

This is a bit of a no brainer. Look to the stout section of your beer shop cooler and search out their coffee beers. But to throw a twist, look for a golden coffee stout. Or to get even twistier, look for one of the Oregon coffee IPA’s like Java the Hop from Fort George or Cold Brew IPA from Rogue Ales.

Posted on

A Book & A Beer – Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby

Some books you have to read with a capital R, others just propel you page by page. Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby is the latter.

Despite that propulsion, I was left with questions about characters questionable choices throughout the book. As hard as Cosby tries and as hard-headed as main character Beauregard “Bug” Montage is, selling his daddy’s car is so plainly the best course of action that the suffering wife character becomes one dimensional whenever she asks him to sell it.

Damn great name for a lead character though, especially the last name.

Secondly, throwing in with n’er do well or even n’er do the bare minimum Ronnie Sessions is just big stupid.

I can certainly see this as a movie, hopefully a limited series which might be able to flesh characters out more.

Beer wise, the soon-to-open L.A. brewery driven would be a hip choice or head to El Segundo for Upshift Brewing and order either the Usual Suspects Hazy IPA or go bigger to Double Clutch DIPA.

Posted on

In the Tap Lines for August 2022

header_attractions

August is a non travel outside California month so I will take the weekends to play catch-up with L.A. breweries that I haven’t been to in a bit. But if you do travel, maybe layover in NewJersey and show support to their breweries who have been burdened with some truly galling laws.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from New Jersey who have been handcuffed by anti-beer laws
~ special featured review of pilsners and lagers
~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 Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to A History of Coffee
~ 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.

Posted on

The Firkin for July 2022

New Jersey breweries are now limited to the following:

• Hosting only 25 on-site activities per year (Events such as trivia, live music, etc.)
• Host only 52 private parties per year
• Attend only 12 off premises events per year

In addition to the above, this ruling also prohibits breweries from the following:

• Selling coffee on site
• Collaborating/ coordinating with food vendors/ trucks
• Selling food or operating a restaurant
• Selling specialty cocktails using malt alcohol
• Offering a free drink to any guest
• Offer Happy Hour pricing

You can read more about it right HERE and it is not good for beer. And it just seems to be yet another instance where one industry that should be tight with beer seem to want to knock them down a peg.

Why can’t restaurants work “with” breweries? Why can’t a coffee roaster create a special beer with a brewery and sell their coffee at the taproom? How does limiting 12 off premises events help anyone? Especially charities that get funds from beer festivals.

Other beer writing voices have chimed in on this with exasperation and I expect that New Jersey will water down these rules or selectively enforce them. What may also happen is that breweries go into the restaurant business to work around some of these rules.

As a show of solidarity, I will be highlighting New Jersey breweries all next month.

Posted on

Sean Suggests for July 2022

Summer might be the time for pilsners and lagers to shine but there are still a lot of IPAs out there with almost all the hops you can imagine.

Smog City Squall Line IPA – 6.4% – “the next beer in our Smog Days IPA Series. This is one bright & crushable West Coast IPA, coming in at 6.4% and featuring Azacca, Veteran’s Blend, & Simcoe hops. It’s got wonderful flavors of mango, pineapple, & stone fruit.

Fremont / Bale Breaker Cultivision Cold IPA – 7.5% – “we used Yakima Chief Hop’s 301 Mosaic Fresh Cryo Hops. Just because it’s not fresh hop season, doesn’t mean we can’t bring you a fresh hop beer. By using fresh hops it really accentuates the pine, grassy and fresh floral aromas.”

Societe Brewing Glorious Odds Hazy IPA – 7.5% – “a playful hazy with a boat load of stone fruit notes. Adorn your senses with aromas of peach, tropical fruits and lemon followed with some orange & sweet aromatics. Crafted with Idaho 7, El Dorado, Mosaic, and Azzaca hops, this spunky brew is mildly bitter with a heavy haze.”

Posted on

A Book & A Beer – Tracy Flick Can’t Win by Tom Perotta

I have not seen the movie Election nor have I read a Tom Perotta novel before even though his works have been made into a lot of TV.

Maybe this wasn’t the best book in his list to start with then. Not because it is a sequel, I don’t mind them and even like checking in on the same character in later books.

No, this book just seemed slight. Sure most of the characters are bruised and beaten by life and make decisions based on that pain but they seem paper thin still.

And do not be fooled, this is not a Tracy Flick book. She is one of many characters who get their turn at the narrator mic and her arc is fine but her hurdles seem to pop up out of nowhere.

My main flaw found with this book is the end. There is an incident at the school where Tracy works. The person causing the incident gets basically one chapter before then creating havoc. It feels forced and too sudden and really ended any chance of me recommending the book.

I haven’t had too many negative book reviews so it is new territory for me when choosing a beer pairing. But let’s tack to Sierra Nevada and choose a few “little things” beers. Hazy Little Thing, Wild Little Thing, Sunny Little Thing and Big Little Thing. You could consider brand extensions like a sequel and the characters in this book could be described as sunny, wild, big and hazy (especially in character motivation).

Posted on

A Podcast & A Beer – Betwixt the Sheets

Wanna get a bit kinky with history, well Betwixt the Sheets has the juicy (in more ways than one) news.

And there was a beer specific episode that would be a great entry to the podcast…

Your host Kate Lister is funny, asks good questions and finds good topics and corners of history such as a British cardinal who owned brothels or a history of vasectomies.

Since some of the topics are considered dirty or subversive when they should be normalized and not kept secret, I suggest drinking something so plain and unadorned that each episode becomes less scandalous. How about an amber lager, or a simple porter.

Or if you want to embrace the color of love and wear that scarlet letter, find yourself an aggressive red ale.