Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
We head to Maine for a weather update in the form of a Snow Report from Allagash Brewing. One of the few saisons for winter.
“The forecast is calling for an accumulation of festive beers in your fridge. Snow Report is our celebratory saison brewed with local wildflower honey. In it, you’ll find balanced notes of melon, green apple, and a touch of honey.”
Each year Craft Beer & Brewing magazine publishes their Best of Issue. I have gone through it and plucked three breweries out of it to highlight this month, the second brewery is Strong Rope
They are all in on NY too, stating, “Strong Rope Brewery® was created in 2015 with the purpose of showcasing New York ingredients and to make truly regional beers.”
Here are my picks from recent-ish beers…
Road to Deliration American Mild Ale – “Our new take on a classic style, Road To Deliration packs large flavors in a small package with complex layering of pale, crystal, and chocolate malts held up by Cascade and Chinook.”
Grain Head Golden Ale – “Fresh baked bread with notes of honey and apricot, full bodied, herbal hop finish.”
NY Classic Pale Ale – “Floral hop with notes of lemon rind and fresh pine needle on pale, bready malt, satisfying bitter finish.”
Blood of Gods Red Ale – “Malty nose of caramel, toffee, and toast with crisp pine and citrus finish.”
More Oregon beer but this time with a Kveik yeast, the brewery is Little Beast Brewing and dark ales are great this time of year.
Wingwalker Brewing will be shutting down and closing the taps as of 12/30/23 so if you want to raise a glass to the Monrovia brewery, you had better get going.
Secret Santa is often a recipe for Christmas disaster. But it would be so much better if the secret was holiday craft beers like this one from Ethereal Brewing…
North Coast Brewing is one of the “old” breweries that beer people (including myself) sleep on a bit too much, but maybe a 35th anniversary ale will change your mind.
Plus, that it is cool to a fancy wrapped bottle like that.
Back to my neck of the SoCal woods with a new cold IPA from Absolution Brewing.
“Light bodied and crisp. Mosaic, Strata and Nelson Sauvin. Notes of blueberry patch, juicy berry, white wine and a touch of dank on the end. Refreshing and super yummy!”
If you need to know just two things about me. I like books and I like my podcasts short. I can’t believe that it took me so long to find the Book of the Day podcast from NPR.
Basically, book segments from other NPR shows packaged up neatly into a bite sized under 20 minutes. It is a wide variety of books to, not just best sellers but a little bit of everything.
That short running time is key because there are a lot of books on my “to-read” list and it would be easy to see a 45 minute episode and take a pass but now I can take a quick dip to really see if it is something that I want to check the library for.
If you are in L.A. then a very obvious choice would be to pick-up a mixed pack from Paperback Brewing. A deeper cut would be to check past episodes and see if you can find a beer that pairs with that episodes book or author. There was a memoir episode that talked to Henry Winkler and Arnold Schwarzanegger. So you could find an Austrian beer or find a beer to match Happy Days or Barry.
Not the correct weather here in Los Angeles to ice skate but a good substitute would be a Trillium Brewing beer, Rink IPA.
“Glowing orange in color, with a soft, moderate haze, we’re immediately offered a synthesis of tropical notes. Upfront aromas of bright pineapple and ripe papaya transition to candied peach rings and dried apricot as the beer makes its way across the palate. The mouthfeel is what you’ve come to expect from a Trillium IPA, medium-bodied, plush, and well-rounded. Finishing dry with a gentle piney bitterness, we’re excited to share a rink-side pour with you while it lasts.”
I totally get a cheese and beer pairing but a cheesed up beer? Well Oregon’s Rogue Creamery has collaborated with Crux Fermentation Project in Bend on limited-edition, lambic-style ale brewed at Rogue Creamery’s cheesemaking facility. And it didn’t utilize the ingredients of any cheese. It was the cheesemaker’s famous blue cheese, Rogue River Blue.
Crux filled up their Coolship portable vat with uninoculated wort, drove that Coolship to the Creamery. Rogue River Blue cheese was pitched into the beer wort and overnight inside Rogue’s facility the yeast and the went to work.
Two years later that beer is now ready. I will be following reviews on Untappd to see what the tasting experience is like.