Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Sierra Nevada is collaborating again and this one is with a fairly close by neighbor, Russian River!
They have partnered to create Brux Domesticated Wild Ale with an ABV of 8.3%. It got it’s intro to the beer world at craft beer event in Asheville earlier this month and might be on store shelves (limited release) as of now!
We are now in the heat of the SoCal summer that extends well into October in most years so that means I will review some milds that give you some roasty qualities without big ABVs. Then visits to some new and not quite done fermenting breweries in California along with a slew of information on L.A. craft beer events.
~ e-visits to three breweries in the Golden State
~ video reviews of three milds
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 65 will converge bloggers onto a single topic
~ plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries
Here are two events to get your June started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) July 8th – Stone SourFest
2) July 19th – Green Flash Night and Pig Roast at Kings Row Gastropub
I do not watch much TV. I have my favorite shows. I don’t miss Community, Fringe, Parks & Recreation and Doctor Who but I do not watch any of the “occupation” shows like Storage Wars or Deadliest Catches or logging or wifery.
But I would like to see a show on craft beer. Especially if it was focused on someplace where I can’t go or can’t go to often enough. But as you can tell by what my current favorite shows are, I am nowhere near the target market of practically any network. I am too old. I do not buy what is advertised. I am way too discerning a customer and I simply do not believe that clutching a BMC (Bud-Miller-Coors) beer will automatically attract ladies to my side.
And that is half of where the problem lies. The average beer geek is not in the demographic that advertisers (floundering as they are in the age of skipping any and all commercials) want to reach. First of all, they buck trends. Something that is practically anathema to an industry driven by watching trends and capitalizing on them. You have a hard time selling a crappy sub sandwich to a person who is actively looking for quality in a product.
Secondly, the craft beer world, though growing as opposed to the downward spiral of BMC, is still but a small percentage of the world of BEER. So even though we are passionate and love to watch our people in action and will tune in and talk about it ad nauseum on the interwebs, still only make for a modest success at best. And you just cannot pit a pittance of viewers against the unlimited ad cash of the BMC and hope to keep a show on the air. Discovery and Dogfish Head and the amazingly magnetic (I have seen the magnetism in person) Sam Calagione could not pull enough to surmount that mountain.
But I am still not pessimistic about the future marriage of Craft Beer and TV. I think it can work. And it will work in two different ways.
First, you will see craft beer in more and more product placement. TV needs to pay the grips and props and actors and if commercials ain’t doing the trick then the in show ads will have to. And with our breweries growing bigger and bigger, there might be some loose cash for a modest placement because it is the step before commercials. I envision seeing Sierra Nevada in a bar scene or being pulled from a fridge in New Girl. (instead of the faux Heisler brau).
Second, there will be a cable show about beer but it will be on the travel angle or the cooking edge. A straight up occupation show it will not be. My crystal ball guess is that a home brew show will be first to make a mark and then a travelogue with a host going from city to city talking with the craft beer folk in each town. Maybe in a van like the A-Team had. Wouldn’t that be cool?
What do you think?
For the final beer from the Vanberg & DeWulf portfolio of Belgian beers comes from the Dubuisson brewery.
Some more notes on the beer from the V&D site, “In 1933, when British ales were all the fashion in Belgium, Alfred Dubuisson (Hugues’ grandfather) created a Belgian beer in the English barleywine style. He called his beer Bush, the translation of the family name. The recipe has remained unchanged for 79 years, longer than any other Belgian beer.
It is hard to believe that Scaldis is 12% ABV. Beers this strong are generally quite heavy and sweet. Scaldis by contrast is quite dry with a pleasant nutty finish. Remarkably, Scaldis achieves its strength entirely through fermentation—without evaporating or freezing water to concentrate alcohol. Three different malts go into Scaldis, making it a beer with as much nuance as potency. Woodsy, toasty, sherry nose, with caramel, toffee, candied pineapple and prune notes.”
The craft beer events just don’t stop here in SoCal and here is another for your July list.
Beachwood BBQ & Brewing Tribute to Southern California Breweries 1st Anniversary Party on Saturday July 7th 2012 – 11:30am to Close
Here is the scoop from Beachwood:
“Beer is a regional specialty, a craft that reflects our tastes, philosophies, traditions and aspirations. It’s a temporal experience that takes weeks, months or even years of attention leading up to the moment that it’s savored, gulped down, revered or just plain forgotten. We are all lucky enough to live in a region full of craft
beers that will not be forgotten. In fact they will continue to be duly noted on cell phones, laptops, paper scraps or just by a series of baffled expressions that signify beer geek transcendence. Southern California is a special place for beer and we at Beachwood BBQ & Brewing are privileged to be a part of an innovative, eclectic,
uncompromising and truly exceptional community of breweries. As a tribute to all of their inspiration over the years, we’ve decided to celebrate our anniversary with a festival of Southern California breweries.”
On Tuesday morning, I ventured an hour and a half (no traffic, thank goodness) to Redlands and Hangar 24 Brewery to help in the creation of….
“Polycot is a wheat beer brewed with hundreds of pounds of organic apricots grown in Southern California’s High Desert. We brew this beer during the very small window of time when the apricots are at their peak of freshness, usually early July. The pureed apricots add a wonderful fruit flavor to the beer and combine with the wheat for a refreshing tart finish. This beer goes down smooth, but at over 1.5 times the alcohol of the Orange Wheat, it will sneak up on you.”
I pitted for three hours in between chatting fellow volunteers and drinking Polycot 2011 and the Hangar 24 DIPA.
The Hangar crew would bring out a pallet of apricots (1 pallet = 1 batch) and the volunteers would grab a box take the sticker off the apricots, remove the pit and toss the fruit into a collection bucket.
There were a lot of apricots but the buckets of fruit filled up pretty fast.
And despite apricot stained fingers, it was a fun way to be a small part of the brewing process and I will be able to proudly hold a glass of 2012 Polycot and say that I helped to make it happen.
Last month, I spent my $20 on THIS.
And this month, I spent $3 over on Fort George cans. A nice variety pack that includes the 1811 lager, the Vortex IPA and the new OPA – Oatmeal Pale ale. Courtesy of the free shipping deal over on Let’s Pour that I posted about earlier this month.
The world of Trappist beer is growing into virgin territory as it were as the world’s eighth Trappist brewery, Stift Engelszell has been deemed worthy and now they are ready to ship beers to U.S. Lucky US.
Two beers are slated to get to us, Gregorius, a Dark Triple and lighter Belgian ale by the name of Benno.
The monikers come from past abbey leaders. Gregorius Eisvogel and Benno Stumpf both abbots of Engelszell.
Thursday, June 28, 2012 from 5:00pm until 9:00pm at El Segundo Brewing, Carnitas and DDH (Double Dry Hopped) Pale
El Segundo will be pouring 3 dry-hopped versions of Pale ale, alongside the base beer next Thursday.
Single-hop double dry-hops include:
-Citra
-Simcoe
-Nelson
Beach Mex Carnitas Tacos will be in the house and you can get the Dinner of Champions Package for $10. A flight of all four pales and (2) Carnitas Tacos
To be blunt, I have had a few more misses than hits* from Green Flash Brewing but I do highly applaud there new charitable action like the…..
“Brewing It Forward initiative, a charitable program built to benefit grassroots humanitarian organizations. On June 26, Green Flash will hold a kick-off event for Brewing It Forward where the San Diego series beers will debut, and a portion of proceeds from sales of all three will be donated to local charities.”
You can read more HERE at the San Diego Reader.
* Linchpin White IPA with Founders was quite delicious