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The Ale Trail leads to Bruery Provisions

Tomorrow night, there will be a combination of two of my favorite things at a favorite location of mine. A beer book with a tasting at Bruery Provisions! The tasting flights at the Bruery are great and you will probably end up with a few bottles on the way out along with the book that you should get too.

Here is what you need to know, “On Thursday, February 23 2012, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., the public is invited to join author Christian DeBenedetti at The Bruery Provisions (143 North Glassell Street, 503-232-4677), for a free local beer tasting and reading and signing of his first book, The Great American Ale Trail: The Craft Beer Lover’s Guide to the Best Watering Holes in the Nation (Running Press; Paperback; $20.00 US).

From crab shacks and copper-lined brewpubs to farmhouse startups and elegant New York Restaurants, DeBenedetti leads readers on the ultimate coast-to-coast road trip of craft beer. This is the first definitive guide to the worthiest places to discover and drink craft beer across the entire United States. With over 400 destinations and suggestions for what to order in each one, it also maps out how those beers relate to the local, national, and international beer cultures and profiles the interesting characters behind all the great beers.

A native of the west coast, DeBenedetti will be signing books, reading from his new release, and talking all things beer and road trips. Kendra Birdwell, Assistant Manager of The Bruery Provisions, will be serving up a special flight of local LA beers for guests to enjoy as they get to know the author and his national Ale Trail of craft beers.

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The 2012 Birthday beer!

Each year on this very blog on this auspicious day, I make a note, so to speak, of the special beer that I decide to have to celebrate another year in the life.

Last year it was North Coast Old Stock Cellar Ale 2009 which was a great beer but super thick and huge ABV that almost made me wish the bottle was smaller.

This year, even though I am celebrating at Golden Road Brewery. My featured beer is a home brew from my brother in law. It is the enigmatic BP11.

It took my poor, enfeebled with age brain a while to figure out that BP more than likely stands for Baltic Porter. I will add the review to the bottom of this post later, so for now, cheers and may you all have as good a beer on your birthday too!

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Pfriem

My idea of heaven would be Hood River. Small town. Beautiful view of the Columbia river. Restaurants aplenty. Fruit orchards. Oh and breweries. Lots of breweries now and when Solera and Pfriem come online.

Pfriem Brewery will (legalities willing) be pouring by Memorial Day. Josh Pfriem (formerly of Chuckanut and Full Sail will be manning the kettles. Belgian-styles and Northwest-style hoppy beers will be the focus at the start. For More information read the interview over at the New School HERE.

And it is pronounced FREEM.

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One Night Stand

I love Meet the Brewer nights but a much better name has been devised by Beer Belly in Koreatown, A Series of One Night Stands, the first of which is starting February 22nd, 2012

“Behind every craft beer is a story, and starting in February we’re bringing the story to you.

We all love craft beer, that’s a no-brainer…but just how well do we know the stories of the beers we drink?

This year the Beer Belly family is going straight to the brewer and bringing back the stories of local brewers to share with you and the Beer Belly community.”

What this means for you:
-Throughout the month stay tuned-in to our Facebook and Twitter for news, stories, and specials…starting with this video from our visit to Hangar24:
-Mark your calendars (see below) and join us for our One Night Stand community nights where we’ll feature a variety of beer styles from the featured brewery
-Meet and greet fellow craft beer lovers, brewers, and more

The One Night Stand schedule:
2.22: Hangar 24 Anniversary Party (ONS Kickoff)
3.21: Golden Road Brewing
4.18: Bootleggers Brewery
5.16: Coming Soon
6.20: Coming Soon
7.18: Coming Soon

This is a labor of love for us and we really hope that you’re able to join and be a part of this craft beer passion project.

Follow the beer,

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The Beer Allowance – February

For Christmas, one of the best gifts that I received was an extra $20 each month for beer or beers that I would normally not buy. And even though, I just came back with a ton of great Portland beer. There was one that I left behind. From….

And luckily the Sunset Beer Company had Logsdon in bottles for the first time and one on tap as well! So, I spent my $20 on this…
That would be Kili Wit. The Belgian Wit Bier with coriander and then on the side some Green Flash action with Rayon Vert which I have never had before. And that still leaves me with cash to spare. Even though I did partake of a Lagunitas IPA while I was shopping.

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from the cellar – Review # 2 Monk’s Blood from 21st Amendment

The second cellar beer comes from 21st Amendment in San Francisco (though the beer was canned in Minnesota, I believe). It is Monk’s Blood.

I opened one can back in March of 2010 and gave it this review “Pours a lovely dark amber / brown color. predominant aroma is stone fruit which fades into fig then some other notes that I can’t pin down. taste is very strong. very warming initially. some vanilla notes. not tasting the oak or cinnamon at all. a well made beer but not to my taste”

Now, almost two years later, is my cellared version review….

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2011 Brewery # 2 – Pacific Brewing Laboratory

We travel all the way back across the country for our second highlighted brewery of February to get to http://www.pacbrewlab.com/about/ in the Bay area.

And they have started with two unique beers. Squid Ink which is a black type IPA and a Hibiscus saison. And that second one sounds really good. I wish more people would use hibiscus in beers. It has such a distinctive and refreshing flavor.

And as many a brewery before it they started via the home brew route, “Pac Brew Lab started in a garage as a place for Patrick and Bryan to experiment with new beer flavors, styles, and brewing techniques. What started out as a place to share new creations with friends grew into a bi-monthly, totally free event with hundreds of our “new” friends and great local street food vendors.”

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Portland Beer Trip – Part the Second

And the Portland craft beer photos continue….

Third time was a charm to finally walk inside the Hair of the Dog taproom. I tried a Little Dog and then this..

That’s the 2009 version Michael (which is my middle name and my Dad’s name). Quite the delicious beer. Slightly fruity with a minor sour note.

One of the great things about Portland is that great beer is literally everywhere. While my mom and wife were shopping, I was watching English Premiere League Football and having Secret Alt at the 2nd outpost of Hopworks Urban Brewery which is basically next door to the Lompoc Sidebar which is next door to the 5th Quadrant bar. Choices. Choices.

Then heading north from HUB, I hit Breakside Brewery which was #2 after Hair of the Dog of places that I wanted to see.

I got the sampler tray and was blown away by the Hoppy Amber and IPA as well as the Italian Amber. The Dry Stout and pepper infused Aztec were good but not to my particular taste.

I capped off my visit with a first visit of Bazi Bierbrasserie. A Belgian themed beer bar just off of Hawthorne. I picked up the licorice-eqsue Kopstooje from Upright and toasted another successful trip.

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23 Years is Old


Wow. Karl Strauss has been around for 23 years. That is amazing. And breweries do well with anniversaries. A lot of great beers are made for the yearly celebration. Like this one….

“The 23rd Anniversary Old Ale was aged for 12 months in American oak barrels and is the first Karl Strauss barrel-aged beer to be offered unblended. It’s loaded with complex layers of toffee, molasses, dried figs, and toasted oak. A pronounced warming bourbon flavor contributes to the beer’s 12.2% alcohol content—making this strong ale an ideal after dinner sipper or accompaniment to desserts like bread pudding. The company only bottled 413 cases of this beer, encouraging fans to enjoy one now and lay another down several years. “This beer is only going to get better with age,” says brewer Segura. “As time passes, the bourbon character will mellow and more of the dried fruit and vanilla flavors will come out.”

The 23rd Anniversary Old Ale will be available on tap at all six Karl Strauss Brewery Restaurants and select beer bars across Southern California, beginning February 2, 2012

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Portland Beer Trip – Part the First

Last weekend, I journeyed up to Portland. I brought some Golden Road Point the Way IPA and Hefeweizen for people and brought back some goodies for me. But in between those deliveries, I did this….

I found this wine and beer shop in Sellwood while picking up dinner next door. Great spot with a nice choice of bottles and (4) taps. I sampled the New Belgium / Elysian Trip XI which was odd but refreshing. I also spied this bottle in the middle.

I made my pilgrimage to Belmont Station as well but I also found another bottle shop with taps in the Mississippi district.

SO hard to choose from a small list!

I decided to go with the Good Life Pale Ale which was only OK in my book. Too hoppy to be a pale and heavy on the vegetal hop notes that are not my favorite at the moment. But it looked gorgeous in the glass.

I went by this “cart” twice but it was not open on either occasion.