News broke this month that James Watt has stepped down as the CEO of the embattled Scottish brewery, BrewDog. How that will, if at all, the problems inside the company will play out but I fear since Watt will still be involved as “captain” and co-founder, while also serving as a non-executive director means that this is not a vast shift in direction.
But, maybe, this is just a first step of many that are needed at the once groundbreaking brewery. Until substantive changes are made, this beer fan is staying away from their beers.
The old King Harbor space on 182nd Avenue did not stay quiet for long as it was quickly taken by Trusted Gut Beverages. A Long Beach company that does not only beer but seltzer and kombucha too. It has taken me too long to visit but I finally made it.
And though the space can louden up real quick and the food truck outside was generating a generator racket, the beer list was a happy surprise. Saison, Kolsch, Amber Ale and a Schwarzbier among many styles to pick from. I went Kristalweizen and followed with a Scottish Ale because, don’t know when I will see either on draft in the near future.
Both were solid examples of their styles with the K-weizen being my favorite. I did not the either of the two kombuchas or the POG seltzer but I would come back when next in the Lawndale / Redondo borderlands to hit up some of the other lesser seen beers.
Every brewery, back in the day, would celebrate not only anniversaries but also when they reached batch number milestones. You don’t see it as much anymore but MadeWest has their Batch 1000 out now, “a triple dry hopped triple hazy IPA featuring Citra, Nelson and Idaho 7 hops.” With “aromas of tangerine, pink cotton candy and ripe mango.”
Tree House is known for some buzzworthy beers that back in the day would generate long buying lines. Now they have two gins that I would stand in line for.
First up is their Hildegard Von Bingen New England Gin which “balances the sweet flavor of malt with a potent dose of resinous hops and juniper.”
Then there is the lower proof variant Bee’s Knees made with the above gin but layering in Lemon, Honey and Natural Flavors.
Both sound quite tasty to this gin fan especially the use of hops.
Hopefully, I will never know how a tiger growls unless it is Hobbes but the beer version from Stone Brewing is next on the review docket, described as a “Double IPA that features Citra and Talus hops which pounce on your palate with abundant sweet orange and stone fruit notes.”
Growls pours a dark orange. This is sorta heavy. The first third swipes at your palate, then there is a bit of grape and candied orange in the second part and then you can feel the ABV in your throat on the way down. The heavy portions are carried by grassy / woodsy notes. A bit different from past Stone big DIPAs.
This one is a recommendation from my Mom and when I went to check it out from the Glendale library, I was a bit startled by how many pages it was. Around 575. But there are short books that are slogs and doorstops that breeze by and The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles glides by like a Studebaker on the highway.
It tells the tale of Emmet and Billy Watson. Two brothers in the middle of the country going on a trip to find their mom who left them many years previously. Other characters come in and out like the Duchess and Wooly, Sally and
This was a pleasant enough book but all the characters seemed very soap opera thin. You had the noble leader, the stalwart gal, the wise younger brother, the wild card and the dim but lovable character. The crazy thing that I though of was the book reminded me of the later Back to the Future movies where everything got very broad and you could see where a scene was going to go from miles away. So if a safe needed to be cracked you knew the wild card would fly off the handle, and the preternaturally smart kid would figure out the combination.
But the end of the book threw me for a loop. I did not see that level of casual disregard to happen.
Anyway for beer the obvious way to go would be to Google the Lincoln Highway route and see which breweries are close that route and have those ready. I would add that finding some Bay Area beers would be a good choice too since the end destination is San Francisco. Maybe a Pliny the Elder would do for the wise kid.
2024 seems to be the country year, Cowboy Carter and now Trademark Brewing in Long Beach is breaking out the mechanical bull and line dancing for their fifth anniversary in Long Beach.
Screenshot
I will take my chances with the bull as my dancing could cause way more harm.
It is probably not much of a shock for Stone Brewing to have an anniversary IPA. The only question is, what sub-style will it be? The answer, at least for year 28 is a hazy double IPA brewed with Nelson Sauvin and Mosaic hops. More details below…
