Category: Uncategorized

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Sean Suggests for January 2022

Time for the first beer shopping list for 2022! Last month, I skipped around the style wheel. This month, the arrow is pointed firmly at IPA.

LIGHT

Smog City – Frost Flower – “Frost Flower drinks soft with big punchy fruit tones. It’s medium body contrasts the dry drinkability of west coast haze. This ambrosia salad of tropical fruit steps out with big berry notes, citrus, guava and a touch of coconut while finishing with just enough bitterness to bring you in for another sip.”

MEDIUM

Firestone Walker – Hopnosis – “The Hop Ontology Project is our exploration of the ephemeral nature of the modern IPA. Hopnosis is a crisp West Coast IPA double dry-hopped with some of our favorite modern hop varieties from the USA and New Zealand.”

BIGGEST

Casa Agria – Closely Apart Hazy DIPA – “Citra and Mosaic, you just can’t keep them separated. A friendship like no other, this Hazy DIPA has everything that you need! Introducing Closely Apart Hazy Double IPA.”

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A Book & A Beer – Normal People by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney has gotten a lot of press for her books but it took me awhile to hear about her, and so instead of picking up her latest book ” Beautiful World, Where Are You?”, I chose an earlier one, Normal People.

It follows Marianne and Connell two high schoolers about to leave County Sligo for college in Dublin and how they weave in and out of each other’s lives as the years pass.

Normally, I am not fond of the will they – won’t they being stretched past all reasonable bounds. If you can’t write past meet cute then I lose interest. But the two leas characters in this book are moving, both through life and emotionally and by making them three-dimensional, what could be contrived re-meetings are more akin to two people orbiting each other. I thought the book ended well and would be up to have Rooney re-visit these characters when she and they are older.

Because this book moves through the lives of it protagonists, a flight of beers from your cellar might be in order. Maybe a flight of Anchor Christmas or the Anniversary beers from Firestone Walker.

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Stale but Good

L.A. has seen a beer made from unused bread before from Eagle Rock with Loafer and now MacLeod Ales has joined forces with Toast Ales to create….

“Stalemate, an English Hazy IPA, is releasing on Wednesday 9/29 for UN International Day of Food Awareness and Waste. Toast Ale’s mission is to brew with upcycled bread that would have otherwise gone to waste. By using surplus bread to replace 1/3 of the virgin barley, we use less land, water and energy, and avoid carbon emissions.⁠ ⁠”

Check out the MacLeod socials to see all five things they learned, that you should too.

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Tepache

This summer has brought Tepache to our attention. What is Tepache you ask? It is a fermented pineapple rind drink from Mexico.

Angel City has a Gose variant…

“Tepache Gose is our mash-up of two fermented beverages that come from different parts of the world but make perfect sense when combined!”

And Cellador has a seltzer version…

“A Barrel-fermented, mixed-culture farmhouse seltzer with pineapple and cinnamon.”

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Sean Suggests for August 2021

This has been a hot goddamn August. Time to cool down with some pilsners and lagers. Here are three excellent California choices.

LIGHT

Faction Hipster Conformant Lager – 4..8% Simply, “Industrial lager”

MEDIUM

Artifex Czech Your Citra – 5.1% “Bright, crisp, and hoppy. Dry hopped with Citra.”

DARK

Smog City Hoppy Lager – 5.2% “Hoppy Pilsner are beautiful cans full of refreshing, crisp, & universally pleasing pilsner make the perfect weekend companion and are available in 4-pack cans & draft. Packed with just the right amount of hops to keep things interesting, Hoppy Pils is a great all day sipper.”

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Source Material

Been a bit of an uptick in beer podcasts to listen to, and here is another one…

I have my qualms with some pieces on Good Beer Hunting but laws and beers is a rich topic to cover, so I will be giving Source Material a listen.

P.S. – Listened to episode 1 and boy does history have pockets of wacky stuff hidden away.

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Featured Reviews – Double Bogey DIPA & West Coast Drift IPA from Eureka Brewing

Two more from Eureka Brewing to review (one of which is a bit long in the date tooth)…

West Coast Drift – big, big pineapple aroma and flavor. Like opening a can of pineapple in pineapple juice. Medium low haze in the glass. Overall nice strong bitterness to balance the juice notes.

Double Bogey DIPA – This one was canned in late January so a tad out of date. Sweet tart meets alcohol. Strong but not super bitter. I would like to taste a fresh one for comparison.

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Once and Happily

Offshoot Beer Co. has a couple of romantic tinged IPAs for that summer wedding….

Once Upon a Time is a Hazy IPA bursting with flavor with enchanting aromas of watermelon, hard candy, and a mix of tropical fruits with a citrus kiss. One taste of this tropical medley, mixed with a hint of sweet jolly ranchers and a long citrus peel finish, and you’ll be ready for any adventure.  ⠀

Happily Ever After is a West Coast IPA, pouring a clear straw color that you might just spin into gold. With bewitchingly delicious citrus and pine aromas, the palate rings true to style with a classic piney, earthy, dank flavor, finishing with a citrus medley.   ⠀