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1st Visit – Western Station

After driving by it many, many, many times, I finally made a point of stopping at Western Station a mostly wine (but also beer) bar in Eagle Rock.

It is a small and dim but not dark space with a group setting in front but mostly bar seating. The beer and wine lists are chalked up in frames on one side. There is also a side wall with bottles of wine and a couple coolers with a small but nicely curated choice of beers. Any place that has Duvel bottles is a step ahead of the game.

The small draft list had Highland Park, There Does Not Exist and a pair of Craftsman beers and since I had not had the famous for Los Angeles 1903 Lager in quite some time, I went with that.

File Western Station under where you want to go when you have bi-curious beverage groups. Wine fans will find something and beer fans will too.

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Fire Two

Sierra Nevada is expanding their torpedo fleet by two with the upcoming release of Pacific Torpedo a West Coast IPA featuring Magnum, Chinook, CTZ and Idaho 7 hops and also Dank Torpedo a DIPA that the brewery says is “packed with sticky golden lupulin”.

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Anchor Returns!

Big news from our neighbors to the north, San Francisco came in right at the end of May as, Hamdi Ulukaya, Chobani founder and CEO, announced the purchase of the whole kit and kaboodle of Anchor Brewing.  All of Anchor’s assets, the steam beer recipes, the brewing equipment and the building and warehouses too. The yogurt business must be good.

THIS SF Gate piece has a lot of good bits to it but what struck me was this quote paragraph… “Brands like Anchor don’t come that easy. How do you value something like this? Do you value it because it’s been here 127 years?” Ulukaya said. “Do you value it because of how much love and passion goes into creating something like this? The ingredients and knowledge and tradition and yeast and secrets? Do you value it because of how much loyalty people have for it? Or do you value it for how much money it makes?”

That sounds atypical of most owners, looking at you shady Sapporo, as the focus seems to be the product and the legacy and not financials. It might be too late for beer from Anchor Brewing this year but 2025 is a possibility.

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LABW 2024

This month is going to be all about L.A. Beer Week posts, so buckle up. Of course the signature event is the festival in Long Beach but lets get some other events talked about like to start, this fun event in, checking notes, Long Beach…

June 14 – ISM Brewing will be tapping beers from all our neighboring Long Beach breweries. Additionally, we will have cans and draft pours of the LB Super Collaboration from Trademark Brewing. Craft Beer LB will be in popping up and will have rad LB merch for sale. Hang out with us, jam out with our DJ and taste the best of what LB has to offer. Breweries include: Ambitious Ales, Ten Mile, Syncopated, Beachwood Brewing and Blendery, Altar Society, Trademark, Steady and Belmont Brewing.

June 16 – Highland Park Brewery is hosting a Lager CanJam on Sunday June 16th, 2024! Inspired by our friends, Threes Brewing, we asked some breweries from around the country to send us a case of their tastiest lager!

June 18 – Calling all Cicerones, beer nerds, home brewers, pro-brewers, and just general trivia fans! Brush up on your beer knowledge and head to the Angle City taproom on Tuesday, June 18th. We’re celebrating LA Beer Week with beer-themed trivia.

More events on scheduled, these are just my first set of picks. More to come.

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In the Tap Lines for June 2024

June is L.A. Beer Week Time so the BSP blog will be celebrating that all month long.

~ e-visits to (3) breweries from the Sister Cities of Los Angeles

~ special featured reviews of whatever is in the refrigerator throughout the month

~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 There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib

~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to The Curious History of Your Home

~ Sports & A Beer returns with NIL thoughts

~ 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.

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The Firkin for May 2024

What makes a great beer bar in 2024? It is an interesting thought experiment. With the imminent closure of Seattle’s famous Brouwers Cafe, it is something to ponder anew.

Is it number of taps? Neighborhood? Festivals? None or all of the above? Or is it just the economy stupid?

To me, all of that matters, and any wise suggestions can be blown to shit by a generation that drinks less and doesn’t want to drink what their parents did, is to have the past – present – future on draft on any given day.

The past can be a cask ale or slow pour pilsner, the future can be all the IPA you can get in the door and the future, well that is the hardest part of the equation but also the most fun to play with. A few years ago, it may have meant pastry stouts or Brut IPA or sours (remember them?).

Having a retail component is crucial in my book, especially singles. It can be hard to convince someone to spring $20+ bucks for a four-pack but a pair of singles that gets me thinking. And if you can tell a customer that the beer they like is also to-go, you might just double the sale.

For you and other beer fans, other things may take precedence but I can help but think that as sad a closure is, it also means opportunity.

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Best Beers of May 2024

May brought a nice mix of new beers and new breweries and that is shown in the Best of for the month…

Santa Monica Brew Works Flecha Azul Margarita Sour – I have had a couple nice sours recently headlined by this SMBW that smartly combined margarita with sour in a Gose-ish way.

Trusted Gut Kristalweizen – clean and crisp but unmistakably weizen. Perfect for a summer day.

Ghost Town + North Park Ghost Park IPA – Cannot go wrong with North Park even if they are just half of the brewing team.

The big winner for the month is…..

Brouwerij West 8x8x Hazy DIPA – now this was a proper hazy. it was like drinking cream and pineapple and it had an impressive layer of murk to it.

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Central Coast Stop # 3 – Re:Find Distillery

Even though I will not be in lovely Paso Robles this year for the Firestone Walker Invitational, it doesn’t mean that you (or I) should not hit up some California Central Coast breweries, or a distillery..

Here is my last pick of the month…Re:Find Distillery. It is not far from downtown Paso Robles or, for that matter from the many other distilleries that dot the area. You head up an minor incline and park at the homey little tasting room for both the distillery and the winery as well.

Normally I would skip quickly over the vodkas to the gin and the whiskeys and bourbons but there are some interesting twists such as cucumber vodka, barrel finished vodka, kumquat vodka. You can also find cocktail kits and mixers so, plan some time to visit.

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Pies for Pride

I am on Team Pie when it comes to dessert which means when Benny Boy Brewing and Cider announced Pies for Pride was happening on June 9, I was in.  From 2-5pm Regarding Her Food will have a competition celebrating LGBTQ+ chefs and their best sweet and savory pies.

This will be a ticketed event so make sure to grab your pie pass.