Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
I do get abnormally excited when I learn about a new book coming out and I realize that the author already has previous books. So when I heard about beer historian Ian Webster and that he had a new book in the works. I rushed to check the interwebs for other titles and lo and behold there were two.
Both on a topic that I know a little bit about but could do with learning more about….
Los Angeles Ale Works has risen up to their 8th anniversary at the original Hawthorne location and on March 8th, they will mark the ocho milestone.
Beer festivals do not have the same luster as in the glory days of years past but one way to combat fest fatigue is to try out one outside of your town with breweries less known. And for Angelenos, we have the neighbor to the south who have plenty of festivals that can provide a jolt of the new.
Such as the North Park Beer Fest
Just from a quick glance at the breweries attending, I see Goal and Hopworks and quite a few others that could make this a cool event.
Not a Star Wars droid but the 7th Anniversary for R.T. Rogers Brewing up in Sierra Madre.
Eagle eyed readers of the blog will know that I am not a big fan of baseball. But if I do watch it is minor league because they seem more fun.
And here is a prime example…
…The Reading, Pennsylvania franchise will change over to the Reading Prost for a few games next year. I can see beer fans buying the hat for sure.
Before my beloved and frustrating Trailblazers went on a big 8-1 winning streak in January and February things were looking dire. They were sitting at 13-28 and had suffered some serious blowout losses. It was looking like yet another season of waving the white flag in the hopes of getting a shot at drafting Cooper Flagg.
But now things are looking better and with continued good play we just might be the top of the non-playoff tier in the Western Conference. The next progressive step would be playoffs next year.
To do that there are two things that I hope the organization and head coach Billups do to evolve the team like the logo above…
First, we do need to trim the roster a bit and hopefully acquire some additional long term draft picks. The Time Lord Robert Williams III could fetch some attention as could Jabari Walker and Matisse Thybulle and as good as Jerami Grant has been as a Blazer, he could garner us some picks as well. The roster reduction will provide a flight path for more minutes for Clingan, Scoot and Dalano Banton.
Second, solidify a rotation and send in waves of fresh players. Being able to bring players who have started like Scoot, Shaedon, Dalano and Clingan off the bench allows us less of a productivity drop off so I would kindly suggest doing hockey like shifts and just tire other teams out.
For beer, I would suggest locating a new brewery and buying a few of their beers in a can taster flight of sorts. Wild Parrot Brewing in East Pasadena springs to mind as does ISM Brewing in Long Beach.
Each year, I pick a special beer to be my birthday drink. For year 55, I have picked a sentimental flavor combo from Christmas, the Terry’s Chocolate Orange as re-imagined by Crooked Stave in Colorado.
The orange is covered by zest while the chocolate is provided by liquid cacao which I had never heard of before. It pours a very dark brown and it is curiously devoid of aroma. It is a Baltic Porter base which should allow flavors to pop but this is pretty muted flavor wise as well. The orange doesn’t show until the end and faintly at that. The chocolate is OK but not wow, thank for liquifying. Was hoping for a little Christmas magic that does not appear.
I think America needs to have an intervention with the folks at Pringles. We do not talk about the weird sorta potatoey thing you do or what weird machines you use to make the shape but why on earth are they attempting a flavor based on beer can chicken. The hillbilly grill that generally uses low grade flavorless beer water to cook chicken. Why Pringles?
I am not a LOL FAFO acronym spouting person so I did not know that in some circles BRW is code for brew or beer. So when I saw an ad on social media for BRWTXT claiming to be a Los Angeles beer service, I admit to being confused and a little wary of internet skulduggery.
Then I checked and you are prompted to add your credit card number as well, just to get text notifications. Still seems fishy to me. If anyone in craft beer land has tried this and has opinions or hot takes, let me know.
Consider this your fair dues warning, March 3rd is International Tripel Day. Probably should get at least a half-day off for it. You can look for one of the below choices….
….or check your local brewery tap list to see if anyone has their own spin on the style.