Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Anchor Brewing has unveiled a new line of beers going by the name of the “Zymaster Series,” which will have its coming out party during San Francisco Beer Week.
It will be a modern re-creation of a lager using California malt and cluster hops to match up with what may have been brewed back in the days before even Anchor Brewing started up. To read up on the research that went into creating this new beer check out the Brookston Beer Bulletin HERE.
It seems like peppers are “hot” in the brewing world what with 11-11-11 from Stone and this from New Belgium.
“Cocoa Molé combines chocolate, cinnamon and plentiful ancho, guajillo and chipotle chilies for a sweet and spicy burst of flavor. Brewed with pale, caramel-80, chocolate, dark chocolate malts and a healthy dash of chocolate rye, Cocoa Molé presents midnight dark with a subtle reddish hue, lifting a pillowy, burnished head. It starts on the tongue with a swirl of chocolate malt that dissolves into the warm embers of a peppery heat. Alcohol by volume is nine percent and it will be available on draft and in 22-ounce bombers.”
“Four native sons are hoping that the name recognition generated from the 15-year-old Coen brothers flick will help launch their fledgling brewing company in North Dakota’s largest city. Their first beer is called Wood Chipper, a whimsical reference to the famous prop from the movie.”
I am surprised that that name hadn’t been appropriated earlier. It is perfect for a palate wrecking IPA. And now the Fargo Beer Company is sending it out to North Dakota (which could use more breweries, if for the only reason that I could knock it off my tried a beer from each state list)
As opposed to the fuss and muss involved in PtY, I spent part of my Saturday in El Segundo with a double dry hopped citra pale ale that has returned (for as long as it lasts) to taps in Los Angeles.
It poured a lovely orange color and the aroma introduced itself proudly. Big lemon and citrus notes. The bitterness really hung with me and coated my palate. Which I learned may have been influenced by me eating something sweet beforehand. Good to know. The more I drank the more grapefruit notes came through.
I heard from reliable sources that the previous night a keg went really quickly and to ensure some beer karma. I just had the one glass. But I look forward to having it again the next time the two of us meet.
One of the side benefits of traveling in this world of great craft beer is the artwork that you come across. I am usually a fan of minimalist design with colors that are outside the normal palette. Which is why I really liked the design that won for the Threadless IPA.
Finch’s beer got 171 design submissions to grace the can of their IPA. It is a fascinating look at what people think of and can draw to fit on a can of beer. And I like how the design called back to the other cans but wasn’t bound to it. The font for the name is well done too. It has a sewing look to it but it can be read and easily too.
All I can say is, “Put a bird on it”.
I ventured way south on a Friday night from my valley hub to Redondo Beach to visit a new member of the FoodGPS Beer Blast and two week old bottle shop and tap room, Select Beer Store. I mentioned them in a post a while back and now I can share some photos.
Owners Wes and Heather have taken a spot just on a bend of PCH and made it into what I see everywhere in Portland a folksy and welcoming place where you can get a bottle to take away or peruse the tap list for something to enjoy on site amongst the bottles.
I also met my contact David and he told me about the tinted windows and the beer safe lighting in the coolers and how they have plans to host events all of which I think are great. But what caught my eye was the fact that they sell make-your-own mixed packs too!
Another neat touch is the wall art of old time canned beers right above the boxes of beer. The place is well laid out and designed.
On Thursday night, I ventured two towns over to Pasadena to the bustling Congregation Alehouse in Pasadena. (The newest chapter of the three strong alehouses) for TAPS night with brewmaster Victor Novak in the house.
Here are some photos of the night…..
Travis from Congregation with Victor
My favorite beer of the night. Crystal Pils.
My second favorite of the night was the coffee aromatic Mocha Stout.
The TAPS barleywine.
Me with Travis.
The Washington Beer Blog is hosting this month and here is the topic du Jour
“These days people take growlers for granted. In my neck of the woods, growlers are a relatively new phenomenon. I don’t recall exactly when they appeared on the local beer scene but it could not have been more than eight or ten years ago. Maybe they existed in obscurity before. My memory fails me. Today growlers are everywhere. I think. Growlers are very common around the Pacific Northwest, anyway. I cannot speak to their popularity elsewhere. I’d love to know.”
Boy does this topic come at an awkward time. Or maybe it is destiny.
I have been blogging about the growler situation in California for awhile to the point where I even put a petition widget on my website. I got some interest and some offers of help but the wheels have been spinning in the same spot until earlier this month when someone influential in the Twitter-sphere mentioned it and I suddenly got a massive (for me) influx of signatures on the petition.
Which is great but I have a new-ish job and the time to work this issue the right way is just not there for me. But I do not want this momentum to wane and blink out. So here is an unpaid job opportunity for the California beer lover with connections to breweries and the tourism arm of the State of California as well as the people who govern liquor laws in the Golden state. Maybe that is one person or three (or more).
Here’s the deal: The State of California does not allow plain growlers to be filled by breweries. The growler must be purchased from the brewery who is filling it. So, you can’t take your Eagle Rock Brewery growler to Golden Road and get it filled. Or vice-versa. And you can’t have a mason jar or any other container filled with your favorite beer like they can in Portland. That means some people have second homes filled with growlers from all the different California brewers or they have to pick and choose which growlers to buy and only get fill-ups at those places.
My proposal is simple. Have a statewide “Brewed in California” growler that can be filled at participating breweries from north to south and all points in-between.
This project needs someone to take the helm and drive.
Coming soon (depending on your market’s thirst for beer), you might be seeing some beers you are used to seeing in bottles in canned versions.
1) “Kona Brewing Company has announced plans to offer its flagship Longboard Island Lager in 12-ounce cans, which are scheduled to hit shelves mid-March 2012. All Kona markets will receive Longboard cans, including the newest markets of Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey.”
2) Sierra Nevada has been Facebooking it’s pale ale progress towards cans too.
3) Evil Twin Brewing will release its first beer in cans in 2012. Hipster Ale and Bikini Beer will be first up. Brewing will happen in South Carolina (North Carolina is probably too busy) It will be part of the Twelve Percent Import line.
We all should be familiar with the brown bottle with a troika of names on it since Stone has gone full tilt with their collaborations.
And now a new one to add to the mantle….TBA. Looks like a brown ale with molasses and brown sugar and they have gone east coast / west coast just like the More Brown than Black by drafting in Bear Republic of California and Fatheads of Pennsylvania Ohio. Review to come later!