Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Dubuisson has a few special big bottles and one that is on my wish list is their Bush Triple aged in oak barrels. Those barrels previously housed white Burgundy wine, the famous Charmes Meursault.
I think barrel aging and Tripels sounds great.
Figueroa Mountain Brewing has partnered with the Santa Barbara Zoo for a series of beers celebrating a few of the special animals that you can see the next time you are up the coast from Los Angeles.
Do not shy away from Finally! A Show About Women That Isn’t Just a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare because despite the lengthy name this is a simple podcast premise.
Produced by Jane Marie, of “This American Life”, and Joanna Solotaroff, of “2 Dope Queens”, Finally! are half-hour episodes that follow a day in the life of a wide swath of American women. From people who sing or skydive. Catch cats or catch the final moments of life. These are portraits of people and what they do and it is quite affecting.
Your beer choice is just as straightforward. Find a beer brewed by a woman or a brewery owned by a woman and have one of their beers. Preferably a simple, straightforward beer style such as a porter or an amber to match the simplicity of the show.
There is a really good series of articles over at Hop Culture about Czech beer and brewing. This link sends you to an article about tapsters but there is a really cool fresh hop Budvar piece and a piece about the Kazbek hop too.
Russian River’s Fonio will be a Belgian-style blonde ale in a collaboration with Brooklyn Brewery. The beer will be a Belgian-style blonde ale that will be releasing in August.
On Saturday, July 13th, the mighty Beachwood Brewing will be celebrating 13 years of brewing IPAs and all sorts of other styles at all five Beachwood locations. Five locations and thirteen years which is amazing. Pick your favorite spot and have fun!
Just before we ticked over into July, the Beachwood Blendery released Masucot a spontaneous lambic-inspired sour ale aged in oak barrels with Masumoto Sun Crest & Gold Dust peaches & Golden Sweet apricots.
There are a few private breweries who only sell memberships and whose beers do not grace store shelves. I am not a club joiner because I like to pick and control and they usually have lots of extra purchases involved but others like the surprise of a mystery box of beer and the true camaraderie of a group of like minded folks.
One of these clubs is Horus Aged Ales and for the month of July some of their beers will be available on the beer retail site Tavour. So if you want to make it a big stout summer, this is your chance.
Despite the downturn in beer, celebrities are putting skin into the beverage game. There is, of course, levels to celebrity so Hulk Hogan (now sober) is pitching for Real American Beer and the Kelce Brothers are now primary owners of Garage Beer.
Celebrity alone can be enough to push a brand into success even if they are just a front and are not involved. A brand can also be a success if the celebrity is actually involved. It can also succeed or fail whether or not the liquid inside is good or not.
The crux of the matter for me is the transparency of it all. It can be hard to suss out if it is at one end of the spectrum, a mere cash grab or an actual side hustle. I tend to avoid the celebrity beers whether it is musicians or actors if it is not made by a reputable brewery that has other good beers in their portfolio. See another wrestler, Steve Austin and El Segundo Brewing.
Time will tell whether the beers actually succeed.
Start with a hoppy red ale, move on to a Witbier and then finish with a blueberry muffin pastry stout. Then enjoy the fireworks and the local craft beer you stocked up on today. Just be careful with flames and heat and save some beer for the 5th.