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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.
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.”
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.
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.
Since America is in a hate moment. Sorry, strong words to start a sports post but with the recent election cementing our centuries long march of hate. I thought I should inaugurate the year with a look at franchises that I, and many others hate.
The logos above show off a few truly despised teams but different parts of the country have their own heated rivalries. For me, any Seattle team is automatically on the list since I am from Portland. Also, add the Lakers as well. Nothing like hearing all of Portlandia screaming Beat L.A. even if I do currently reside in SoCal.
The Cowboys are on the short list with their whole America’s Team showmanship. The Patriots because of Brady. The Yankees because of their open checkbooks (much like another baseball team formerly of Brooklyn). Alabama as a representative of the high and mighty SEC conference and Ohio State with that super annoying THE Ohio State crap.
A sure way to get on the hate agenda is to have success plus be uppity about it. All the teams mentioned have both and boy does that spur people on. On the flip side, when those teams are not in their thrones boy is there some gloating going on. The Michigan Wolverines helped the country out with that last year. The other factor that I noted is that, like the orange baby, there is more crying of unfairness from the hated teams and not as much of the traditional fans saying, wait till next year bonhomie. There just aren’t many Chiefs haters and the small amount that there are feel like their hearts are not in it.
Now I am not going to ask you to drink a beer from someplace you do not cotton to. What I instead suggest is getting a beer from a brewery you admire and jotting down why you admire them. Why? It is much better to spend time with those we love than those we hate. That is why I do not watch the Lakers.
Ventura’s MadeWest Brewing Company has reached their so set sail on February 8th.
AleSmith Brewing is bringing back their Coffee & Beer Festival for a second year and holding it on February 22nd.
Expect to taste the combined talent of brewers and roasters when this event caffeines into gear.
If you are a Mai Tai fan, Paperback Brewing right here in Glendale has a new sour ale out for you, Tiki Tini.
You will get sweet lime, pineapple and cherry notes. If you are like me, you like that fruit salad mix and we all need to get our sour ale drinking done.
I have not written about the terrible fires that popped up seemingly everywhere earlier this month in the Los Angeles area. Mostly because it is so sad and disheartening to see such catastrophe some of it closer to where I reside in Glendale than wildfire has ever been.
And Los Angeles was already barely able to build enough as it was, especially when it comes to affordable housing for all economic levels. Now rents and home prices will push even higher than they already were.
But this is not a housing blog, though it kind of is, because the more people that can find housing at a price point that isn’t 75% of take-home pay, the more people will go out and buy good craft beer.
Anyway, the preceding paragraphs are prelude to the actual point of the fact that Common Space Brewery has stepped up to rally our remaining L.A. breweries into a special beer to help the rebuild cause, We Love LA will be showing soon up from over 50 California breweries participating and close to 10 from out of state as well, and I will be grabbing from wherever in financial support. I strongly suggest that we make this beer a complete sell-out.
Beer writer Tom Acitelli with past works as Pilsner and The Audacity of Hops is back and his latest book is The Golden Age of Beer: A 52-Week Guide to the Perfect Beer for Every Week of the Year and will be released at the end of February by Apollo Publishers.
This book is described thusly – “Acitelli’s inviting, accessible voice and dives into homebrewing, beer icons, today’s industry game-changers, and more. It cuts through the noise and the hype to leave you with a lush, inspiring, and reliable guide for sampling and entertaining all year long.”
Probably should have been released last year so that we could get a jump on 2025 but we go March to March.