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The Beer Allowance – September

I did not dawdle when it came to selecting my special September beer. I did take awhile to post here on the blog though.

You can tell by my happy face that I have grabbed another cellar beer to add to my collection…..

Here is what Deschutes has to say about this special anniversary beer…”XXIV. 24 years after Black Butte Porter’s debut, our potent, layered, imperial tribute returns. As usual, it’s a jazz riff, guided by the brewer’s muse and the lure of exotic ingredients. Artisanal dark chocolate nibs. Deglet dates. Mission figs. It may, possibly, hopefully, be the best edition yet. But, as it should be, you’ll be the judge of that.”

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FoodGPS Teaser – Fourth time’s a Charm


Tomorrow on FoodGPS, I will be giving you the top picks of where to go and what to drink as L.A. Beer Week unspools. Here is the initial info blast to prep you before then….

“LA Beer Week makes its triumphant return a little early this year! Now its fourth iteration, this epic celebration of local beer culture will take place throughout Los Angeles & Orange Counties (and their respective environs) from September 20-30, rather than in October as in years past.

LA Beer Week aims to present a large number of events all around town, with focused tastings, educational seminars, and beer pairing dinners that will please craft beer aficionados and neophytes alike. These resplendent activities will culminate with the signature LA Beer Week Festival on September 30, from 12-4pm at the historic Union Station. $50 pre-sale tickets for the flagship festival are available now, which entitle attendees to unlimited 4oz. tasters of beer from over 70 of the world’s most respected craft and artisan breweries, including some rare and special releases. Gourmet food trucks and local artisans will also be on site to peddle their tasty treats.”

And here is the list of LABW Brewers that are participating in the Prickly Pear collaboration project:
• Eagle Rock Brewery
– Berliner-Rye with Red and Green Prickly Pear Fruit
– Available throughout LABW activities & at Union Station
• Golden Road
– Honey Blonde with Cactus Honey and Mesquite-Smoked Prickly Pear Fruit and Pads
– Available throughout LABW activities & at Union Station
• Cismontane
– Hefeweizen with Hand-Pressed Prickly Pear Juice
– Available throughout LABW activities & at Union Station
• Ladyface Ale Companie
– Prickly Pear-Infused IPA
– 1-2 kegs available at Union Station event only
• Beachwood BBQ & Brewing
– Belgian Golden Strong
• Smog City Brewing
– Prickly Pear-Infused Saison
– 1-2 kegs available at Union Station event only
• Monkish Brewing
– Belgian Dark Wheat with Prickly Pear
– Not sure of quantity
• El Segundo
– Not sure of style or quantity to be brewed
• Hangar 24
– Not sure of style or quantity to be brewed
• Kinetic Brewing
– Not sure of style or quantity to be brewed

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before L.A. Beer Week starts

As if L.A. Beer Week needed to be any more fun, here are 3 more ale-ventures to accomplish between the 20th and 30th this month.

From the fine folks behindL.A. Beer Week:

1. CAPS FOR CAPS INITIATIVE
We’ve got some awesome local breweries with some beautiful looking bottle caps emblazoned with their logos. Homies like Eagle Rock Brewery, Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, The Bruery, Black Market Brewing, and Brouwerij West. If you can collect a dozen of those bottle caps, you can trade em in for an official LABW hat at the LA Beer Week Festival. (Hat = cap. Bottle cap. Caps for Caps… see what we did there?)

And for those local breweries who aren’t yet marking their bottle caps with their logo, we’ve partnered with local bottle shops/LABW sponsors to place special stickers on those caps to help spread the love and make this little program even more of a happy success. Look for the stickers at these fine potent potable purveyors:

Wally’s Wine and Spirits (West LA)
K&L Wine Merchants (Hollywood)
The Oaks Gourmet Market (Los Feliz)
Red Carpet Wine (Glendale)
Co-Opportunity (Santa Monica)

If for some unknown reason you aren’t attending the LA Beer Week Festival, you can bring said 12 caps to Eagle Rock Brewery or Beer Belly to claim your superfly sombrero.

2. THE LA BEER WEEK BUCKET LIST
As an added incentive to head out to multiple events this year (as if the events themselves weren’t incentive enough), we’ve devised the brilliant LA Beer Week Bucket List to help steer you in a few adventurous directions. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to collect special stickers by participating in certain types of events: visiting local breweries, attending a beer education seminar, moseying out to one of our highlighted shindigs, and seeking out an extra special, rare beer. Those who complete this most noble quest, collecting all four stickers and bringing their finished Bucket List to the LA Beer Week Festival are then entitled to a bottle of the official LABW beer, Unity, from Eagle Rock Brewery! It also gets you into a drawing for free tickets to the amazing BAM Fest (Beer, Art, and Music) on Oct. 6th in Santa Monica!

3. LA BEER WEEK BADGE ON UNTAPPD
The true craft beer cognoscenti are using Untappd to check-in to their favorite beers, a newfangled 21st century kind of way to drink socially, if you will. Users of the free app can receive the official Untappd LA Beer Week badge simply by checking into any beer between Sept. 20-30, with their location geotagged anywhere within Los Angeles or Orange County. Not using Untappd yet? Well, what are you waiting for?! Head to untappd.com on your smartphone to get started.

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Appreciation for 4 Points (and beer)

Earlier this year, I applied to be a member of the 4 Points Beer Advisory Board and I was lucky enough to be one of the chosen. I will write more about the group and the Brewster’s bar inside the hotel later on FoodGPS (after L.A. Beer Week) but now I want to talk about the Sourfest that happened last Friday.

As you can see this was an impressive list of beer. Not extreme sours and some fruit first beers but a nice mix of breweries and flavors.

My pick for favorite of the night came from the Italian brewer Birra del Borgo.

Duchessic was herb spicy and only slightly tart but really shone as unique amongst the other beers. I also enjoyed the subtle and funky wild strawberry beer from Mikkeller. Very Belgian upfront and the strawberry came in late but was subtle and quite nice.

Either, surprisingly or not, two other Mikkeller beers ranked at the bottom for me. Monks Brew aged in wine barrels and It’s Alive also aged in wine barrels both were dominated by powerful aromas that put me off and made drinking a bit of a chore. The tastes were strong and harsh on the tongue.

But that is what is great about a tasting. You don’t have to buy a full bottle and later find out that you don’t like it. You can find hidden gems to buy later and expand your palate.

You have three more “appreciation” nights this year starting with an Octoberfest. So check their website and see if the list or theme strikes a chord and give it a whirl.

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Beer Right Now!

I am not in Philadelphia or New York. But if I was, I would be intrigued by this beer delivery service. Beer Right Now pretty much tells you what they do right up front.

And by the logo, you can tell that they are not totally craft driven. I took a spin on some Philadelphia choices and most were fairly bad. Though there was a glimmer of hope in the form of Yards, Troegs and Yuengling. Maybe as this rolls out more craft beers will pop up because otherwise they will be ignoring a large chunk of the audience that really likes to spend money on beer.

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a year round Almanac

One of the more interesting brewery and beer release schedules comes from Almanac Brewing. They have done three different beers timed to the seasons with different seasonal produce. Now they are coming out with year round beers!

“Our Honey Saison and Extra Pale Ale are the first farm-to-bottle Almanac brews available year-round in convenient 12oz. bottles. Perfectly balanced, these beers are brewed with California barley, hand-selected additions from local farms, citrusy hops and a touch of oak. Whether shared with friends over a celebratory dinner or afternoon picnic, we invite you to enjoy a new line of beers that could only come from California. Now available in 4-packs of 12oz bottles and on draft.”

Honey Saison : 4.8%ABV
“Our Honey Saison is a beer for all seasons. Brewed with Bay Area honey from Marshall Farms, wheat, California two-row barley and fresh, local ginger root for a hint of spice. Balanced with earthy Mount Hood and Saaz hops and finished with a touch of French oak, this is a refreshing brew enjoyed best with your favorite seasonal fare.”

Extra Pale Ale : 6.0% ABV
“Our Belgian-style Extra Pale Ale is brewed with heaps of sweet Mandarin oranges from Blossom Bluff Farms and California two-row barley. We dry-hop with generous doses of aromatic Cascade and Columbus hops and finish the beer with a hint of lightly toasted American oak.”

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Sean suggests for September

This month I bring you some fall seasonals. Two from either ends of the great state of California and one from where this whole Oktoberfest tradition began, Germany.

Sean suggests for September 2012

Just click that link twice to get a handy print out to guide your beer shopping.

And speaking of beer shopping, if you are based in L.A. like I am, you can turn your beer purchases into a free L.A. Beer Week hat! Bottle shops around town will be selling specially stickered bottles or you can pick up a logo’d cap like Eagle Rock or Browerij West and if you collect 12, you can turn them in for a cap. Caps for Caps.

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4th Estate


Press Club in San Francsico was brought to my attention thanks to a weekly e-mail I get from Weekly Pint and this is what they have to say about this beer spot to add to your itinerary the next time you visit the bay.

“What was already one of the best wine destinations in all of San Francisco is now a beer lover’s playground, too. Under the watchful eye of general manager and beer lover Kristian Cosentino the subterranean minimalist style of Press Club is now even cooler, with flights of rare kegs by European masters like Mikkeller, Brasserie de la Senne, and Picobrouwerij Alvinne—always in top condition.”

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Ritual Brewing

Redlands is getting a new brewery, Ritual Brewing

Now the trip east becomes even more worth it now that there will be two stops in town.

Plus, thanks to a bright-eyed FoodGPS reader, there is another brewery fermenting in Riverside by the name of Thompson Brewing.

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Providence


Looks like Trader Joe’s is having Unibroue add to the private label beers that they supply with the coming soon Providential Belgian Golden Ale.

Not only can you get Unibroue branded beers at a discount at the chain there private label offerings are an absolute steal for the high quality you get. Just avoid the Boatswain beers. Not good.