Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Since it is a Portland and Oregon centered month here at BSP, thought I would pass on info that will be travel handy next time you see that famous PDX carpet at the airport.
Not only is Powell’s Bookstore returning but Loyal Legion will also be opening a spot in August. So now there is another beer spot for before or after a flight.
Santa Monica Brew Works hosted the winners of this year’s Maltose Falcons Mayfaire Competition by brewing the top 3 beers. Which are as follows:
So I had to taste them. The Bird is my winner because it fulfilled its task. Bring some smoke and some malt. It did that and made you hungry for BBQ. Ikasu was my second choice. I did not get Matcha notes but I did get a quite nice mix of cantaloupe and lime that I liked. Last was the pale ale. It was kind of dank but not super hoppy. Has a bit of stone fruit to it. But stood out less than the other two winners.
Thanks to Santa Monica Brew Works for providing a platform to taste what homebrewers are doing.
Summer in Portland and two vacation days that covered the spectrum of beer at five breweries. Starting at the Woostock Avenue outpost of Double Mountain. First but not last taster tray ( unless you are ranking and not going by time ).
I sampled the old school IRA, their Japanese lager, Jiro, an ESB and a pair of IPAs. Aside from Jiro, the other beers were below par to me. The IRA that I loved back in the day seemed a little mis-brewed. But it was great to be sitting outside watching the people go by in this busy section of town.
Second was a brief stop at Duality Brewing. Eagle eyed readers will remember that I raved about this brewery earlier this year and the second trip revealed another set of interesting stuff. Boysenberry Hazy Pale, Saison with fig leaves, and what I chose a Kveik yeast beer made with Egyptian barley. This brewery is just flat-out creative.
The next day was a trip to Mount Angel and the Abbey on the hill. Down at the bottom is the Benedictine Brewery. This is a lovely spot with two covered picnic table seating areas and an indoor area. Overlooking a bit of hop fields across the street. Which was already partially harvested.
Flight two time and these beers were solid to great all around. The St. Michael Helles was my favorite, followed by the Half Cloak Belgian single. There were dark beers aplenty and the table quickly agreed that the St. Gabriel Dubbel. It was a great melding of space, beer and divinity and it was real popular, filling up within the first hour.
Then it was a short hop ( sorry ) to Crosby Hop Farm and their beer garden in the hop field, TopWire Beer Project. Operating on the premise of pouring beers made with their hops. Which is how I could be sitting between rows of hops drinking a beer from Chicago, Anti-Hero IPA from Revolution Brewing.
Just a great spot to enjoy a beer and the variety was fantastic. Pilsners, hazies and even an amber ale. I mean who brews that anymore? And I love that it is a summertime treat.
Last stop of a full day was Little Beast on Division for their Tart Ale take-over and BBQ. I had a strawberry lemon sour that was like drinking lemonade. A small pour was what I needed though later I thought that I should have gotten their Japanese rice lager.
Busy, busy and still three days of drinking to do.
When I saw the label for this beer from Harland Brewing, before I looked at logos, I said to myself that it has a touch of Brouwerij West to it. By golly, it is a collaboration beer.
I do like the lava lamp look.
Six episodes of Beer TV is coming. United Crafts of America is a series “that celebrates the craft beer revolution sweeping across the United States.”
Starting in the first episode that feature NYC and Interboro Spirits of Brooklyn before heading around the U.S. to Portland, Asheville, Boston, Great Falls and San Diego.
You can watch the trailer HERE.
Full disclosure, I am calling this an iCooler. It is not a new product. Below is an image and the description of the Claw Cooler from fading into obscurity hard seltzer brand White Claw.
“The CLAW Cooler is a first-ever cooler designed for an endless stock of cold White Claw – without ice! The “magic” inside it involves a specialized sensor that detects when the stock is running low and prompts the user’s smartphone whether they need to refill. The cooler is also temperature controlled via a rechargeable battery, has an LCD interface for emptiness levels and alerts, and has waterproof Bluetooth speakers. “
Needed or Not? – no one needs a web enabled cooler or refrigerator or coffee maker, or name the appliance. Who wants more texts? Or more emails. And I will bet that the battery will either run low in the middle of the day or you will forget to recharge it the night before.
Add this beautifully packaged beer to your treasure hunter list…
La Trappe for their Oak Aged Batch 51 has matured their Quadrupel for 18 months on very fancy Pineau des Charentes Rouge Cognac barrels. Sounds quite luxurious.
Here at BSP headquarters there sits an old-style (thankfully not rotary) phone. It is the red phone, because it is red, and when people have bad ideas, they should call us. Which they never do.
Bit of an intro to say that the Brew Brothers who have eponymous spots in North Hollywood and Burbank are headed to a third place on Ventura Boulevard near Vineland. The place is called…
It is a bit of a tired name to me. Once you finish groaning about the pun, Google it and you get bars all across the United States so you won’t be really standing out namewise. Plus it has a negative connotation.
Now that I have that out of my system, it is great to see that there will be another craft beer bar coming to town and subsequent posts show that they are putting in a lot of effort on the interior look.
Everywhere Beer Co. fresh off their Hot Dog Week have hit the two year mark and they have a few things on the agenda that attracted me.
3 special bottle releases included rum barrel-aged painkiller and a brand new barrel-aged stout
a celebratory piñata
a tiki-seltzer bar with adult “capri sun” packs
Be ready August 2nd through the 4th.
I am not into Avocado or guacamole which puts me into a minority here in Los Angeles. There is always an exception though, and for me it is the Avocado Ale from Angel City Brewery which I find to be an excellent summer drink.
This year is the twelfth edition of the Avocado Ale Fest in DTLA. Get there early as lines grow and try this summer tradition ale,