Category: Monthly Features

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A Podcast & A Beer – Doctor Dante

This month we get into hypnotism with Doctor Dante. And boy is this guy a huckster with a radio announcer voice of the ages.

Hosted by Sam Mullins with a mixture of awe and incredulity, Dr. Dante tells the tale of a man driven to be successful no matter what the cost. To go from being married to Lana Turner to an Arizona penitentiary is quite the roller coaster.

For the beer to drink with this podcast, what beer would you need to be hypnotized to drink? Me, overly sweet pastry stouts or too smoked Rauchbiers would be on my list. So pick a beer you would normally turn up your nose at, make a bad beer decision, heck, everyone in this podcast made bad choices.

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In the Tap Lines for May 2023

It has been a colder than usual spring here in L.A., heck the whole West Coast. No joke but it snowed in Portland on April 1st. Let’s dive into a month of beer fun with shorts on.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the upcoming Firestone Walker Invitational

~ special featured reviews of whatever is new in my ‘fridge

~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 Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Doctor Dante

~ Sports & A Beer returns with the proliferation of team jerseys

~ 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 Firkin for April 2023

At first, I thought that I should probably not comment on the whole Bud Light controversy. Primarily because it is just so emblematic of America to get offended so easily by showing the colors of the rainbow. A bit too “been there, done that”.

But I do have my two-cents to add, because beer, especially craft beer, should be more about community. And that is coming from an introvert who prefers to drink his beer in peace.

And all people should be allowed to drink their beer in peace. I am not going to tell someone with a can of Bud Light that they have horrible taste. I think they probably already know it. If asked, I will suggest better options. Something local perhaps. But overall, I keep my mouth fucking shut. Except on this blog, but Bud Fans ain’t here so I feel OK expressing myself.

But if a Bud Light hater is here and you feel the need to make a Tik-Tok showing you destroying a can of Bud Light, stop. Just stop. Buy another brand of beer and move on. Let others drink their beer in peace.

Here is the simple truth. Bud Light will go on. Those protesting will probably buy it and drink it this year. The Transgender community will still be here. No matter how much you deny them or demean them. So live your life and let others live theirs. The liquid inside the can is the same.

..and now this…

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Best Beers of April 2023

This month, just for fun, I will list the four best beers that I had this month and then I will give a not so subtle clue as to which beer is my overall pick…

  • MadeWest / Ghost Town Short Lived IPA
  • Firestone Walker Wookey Jack
  • 14 Cannons Fuck the Patriarchy IPA
  • Upshift Wheels Up Hoppy Pilsner

The winner starts with a swear word.

14 Cannons Pink Boots IPA was just super fresh and bursting with greenery close to a wet hop beer. The MadeWest and Ghost Town collaboration had a bit of that as well so it is a close second.

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Sports & A Beer – Tanking

To be a commissioner for a major sports league probably requires spending an inordinate amount of time to stop teams from tanking.

Tanking being that decision to either trade away or not play your best players in order to get a high draft pick after the season. The poster child of tanking were the Philadelphia 76ers about six years ago who re-imagined tanking as “the process”.

My beloved but hard to watch Portland Trailblazers have pressed the tank button the last two years and the Dallas Mavericks head coach came out and said they were not going for a win, were actively trying to avoid the playoffs which they mathematically could have reached.

To properly tank you have to avoid that Mavericks path. You cannot publicly acknowledge the tank. You just silently do it. Otherwise, karma will more than likely come for you. By karma, I mean the league office with fines.

You can debate the morality of tanking but until you have a real negative consequence such as relegation to a lower league, there is no stick nor enough of a carrot in expanded playoffs to not do it.

For beer to pair with this not so savory part of sports, see if you can find one of two beers, both related to consensus NBA pick #1 this year, Victor Wembanyama…

  1. Something from the R&D brewer from Figueroa Mountain – Victor Novak.
  2. A French Saison to match Wembanyama’s nationality.

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Sean Suggests for April 2023

We are going to stick to SoCal but let the styles wander all over the place this month.

Ogopogo Outnumber the Downs Pilsner – 4.5% – A West Coast Pilsner brewed with Northern Pine Brewing.

Trademark Morning Drive Coffee Cream Ale – 5% – “light in body with an aromatic coffee punch.”

Societe Flashback Time IPA – 7.2% – “a virtual collision of juicy flavors and hoppy infatuation.”

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A Podcast & A Beer – Ringer Food

I was reading the paltry food coverage in the Sacramento Bee thinking that there has got to be more and fun food news out there, and there is if you listen to Ringer Food.

Hosted by Juliet Litman and David Jacoby, you get a fast paced on the clock round up of news about food. What’s up with a theft of Cadbury Eggs, why did the guy bring ribs onto a flight? Taste tests and more.

Mostly it is fun banter between two people who enjoy food and sharing their viewpoints. You might even find out why some people call ketchup Tommy K.

For beer, no need to don your chef’s toque and apron, instead look for a fun beer. Maybe the label is fun like a Pizza Port IPA with the surf and sand on it, or a wild ale with some crazy ingredient in it. The goal being to keep craft beer fun. Whichever beer does that works.

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A Book & A Beer – Dr. No by Percival Everett

The book for April is not by Ian Fleming, it is by Percival Everett, and it is a clever modern day re-imagining of the old take over the world plot.

Dr. No introduces us to three main characters, Wala Kitu, Eigen Vector and villain John Sill) plus a very important dog named Trigo. And it is a rollicking read about nothing. More specifically, finding nothing and the power of nothing.

Now I am no philosopher nor do I like math but Everett makes both really interesting and thought provoking. And his dive into the character of Wala is fascinating because you don’t get a lead who is on the spectrum get to be both broad but also deep.

The elevator pitch for this book would be Bond meets Dr. Strangelove with a hearty dose of metaphysics. And I highly recommend it.

This would be the perfect time to break out the N/A beers since they are both beer and not beer at the same time. I would suggest finding the weirdest beer you could like a glitter N/A beer.

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In the Tap Lines for April 2023

We just have to get few the April Beer Fool’s Day and then we can re-focus on the search for great beers here in Los Angeles and beyond, along with the following…

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the State of Washington

~ special featured reviews of whatever is new in my ‘fridge

~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 Dr. No by Percival Everett

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Ringer Food News

~ Sports & A Beer returns for month three with Tanking talk

~ 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 Firkin for March 2023

Is it more wither sour and wild ale or whither?

At the recent California Craft Beer Summit, it seemed this style was more a past thought than a future one. Russian River Brewing is transitioning their sour space to hold more lager and pilsner production. Sierra Nevada is in the kombucha space and now also energy drinks. New Belgium is going hard into the VooDoo.

More local, Cellador Ales has moved into a space at Smog City while looking at their own taproom but are currently bottles and cans and before that move they had released one (or two) more seltzer-y items.

Personally, I think that the American palate that leans into nearly diabetic sugar territory is primarily to blame. There was never going to be a big market for Wild/Sour to start. Second, the cost is amongst the highest in craft even with the proliferation of $20+ 4-packs.

Small market and high price seems fine economically. But add in tough times and slow to no growth and you have a style that you move away from in search for profit, and I don’t mean profit in a bad way. Just that a labor intensive, ingredient intensive, time intensive beers are a luxury.