The hops are loose in the sixth installment of Burning Daylight’s anniversary IPA which is the centerpiece of their celebrations today.
Hop Daylight
In the Tap Lines for February 2025
My favorite month is here. Mostly ’cause it is my birthday month and I use all 28 or 29 days that I get to the point of exhausting everyone else. For this blog, I will do my best to exhaust you with beer news.
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Oregon
~ special featured reviews
~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 Our Share of Night
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to An Arm and a Leg
~ Sports & A Beer returns with How to Fix the Blazers
~ 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.
The Firkin for January 2025
Just before leaving office, the Surgeon General of the United States, following the lead of officials in Europe has suggested that an additional warning of cancer risk be added to alcohol products.
You can read up on the main points HERE but I have three questions that I would like additional information on…
- is this for ALL alcohol? are grapes better than malt or apples better than toasted oak? are the botanicals in gin OK?
- what is the math on amounts? is 16oz of 5.5% beer better than a cocktail with 45abv spirit?
- what is the research (if any) on people who drink but do not get cancer. we have all heard about the old lady who drank scotch every week for forty years and lived to be 100. what is different about those folks.
This is all bearing in mind that science is ongoing, what seemed obvious now might be much murkier ten years from now.
Best of January 2025
I had an interesting month of drinking and not just to forget the downward spiral of America. Firstly, my Trader Joe’s has been pretty regular with La Fin du Monde from Unibroue and that is just such a darn good tripel that it could win many a week. I also had a really interesting sour from Alvarado Street in Double Howzit Punch which was just a fruit bomb. I also really liked the cross the pond collaboration from Thornbridge in Britain and Sacramento’s Urban Roots. Under the Trees IPA was quite tasty with a soft citrus bitterness.
But the winner was North Park Brewing who I have yet to find a bad IPA from. Their charity driven Higher Calling IPA was another super balanced beer. The hops and malt are just in total sync.
2024 Statistics
Time to pause 2025 for a bit to look at some statistical beer drinking highlights from my 2024.
564 beers were tasted in total from samplers to large format bottles.
6.29oz less beer was drunk per week – but I made up alcohol ground with more home cocktails in 2024.
High of 203 ounces in a week with a low of 112 ounces.
The average ABV over the year was 6.97%
Best of the week winners were led by Smog City Brewing in Torrance with (4) weekly winners. There were (3) other breweries tied with (2) wins.
I had 56 barrel- aged beers, 82 pilsner or lagers, 11 sour beers and a very paltry 14 beers from Europe. Of course the big style winner was 256 IPAs with 125 of those being West Coast
Below are the breweries with the most tick marks next to their names:
Firestone Walker 52
Stone 20
Smog City 16
El Segundo 15
Santa Monica Brew Works 15
Beachwood 14
Radiant Beer Co. 13
Creature Comforts 10
Highland Park 10
Sierra Nevada 10
Hop Culture Best of Brewery Tour # 3 – FUZE
We head to Europe, specifically the Czech Republic for FUZE. A French restaurant in Prague with a brewing operation.
We will go from light to dark starting with TransFUZE the Czech Pils then moving on to FUZEnáč 13 what they call their semi-dark lager and then finish up with InFUZE 14 their dark beer. And while there they also have beers from Brewery Zichovec to compare and contrast.
El Segund-two
El Segundo Brewing had their Power Plant weekend recently but tucked in amongst those real, real big IPAs were two other beers you might want to add to your beer shopping list.
First up is Spark Plug, described as “just a little 4-percenter”. A Light IPA hopped with Amarillo, Simcoe and Centennial.
Second is the first (surprisingly) Slice & Pint beer, Perfect Companion IPA. It is “an IPA made to be enjoyed while eating pizza.” Hopped with Simcoe, Citra Dynaboost and Amarillo.
Super Dope
I have a laundry list of styles that I wish I saw more of in production or even just special release, on that list is the imperial pilsner. Thankfully, Dogfish Head has one out now that I will certainly be on the lookout for…
Super Doppio a “leveled-up Italian-style Imperial pilsner.”
Gee Whizz
Great Notion Brewing has leaned into fun. Pancake beers, milkshake IPAs, you name it. Now they are into childhood fun with a new beer, a root beer.
Review – Lifeblurred from Stone Brewing
SoCal has had a tiny not cold spell which has allowed me to thoroughly enjoy darker, heartier beers like Lifeblurred, an imperial brown ale from Stone Brewing.
Per Stone, this is a biggie. 11% to be exact and though at first it doesn’t seem alcohol heavy, by sip three, you feel it. I would describe this as British ale seen through a Black IPA glass, then bulked up. Very woodsy and oaky with an ever so slight citrus hop note. It is a russet and brown colored ale with a hint of a dark caramel taste to it.