Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
We stay in Southern California for our light and dark choices but in the middle we fly far away to have a foreign sparkler.
Click on the above link, then click again (because I don’t know whey PDF’s don’t load well) then print out and start shopping!
Every month I like to point other beer bloggers out that people should check out to get a different perspective on beer than mine or your own.
This month we get Lost in the Beer Aisle.
JD has loads of reviews on his site but he also hosts events, does creative beer Facebook posts and has guest reviewers contribute to his site. (Like me) He also does group beer reviews. Lots of good stuff to scroll through here.
“Petit Obscura is a new sour ‘wild ale’ made with the second runnings of a batch of the Rhinoceros Rye Wine… it’s a small beer with a twist, available in 750-ml bottles only, starting in February.”
Good to see this Santa Barbara brewery expanding the line-up.
Ugh! Politicians make me want to scream.
Mississippi (home of the fabulous Lazy Magnolia Brewery) is losing the ABV restriction battle it seems. Check out this ARTICLE for the info.
All the politicians have to do is raise the limitation. And it isn’t even a big ask. from 5 to 8%. Mississippi would still be excluding alot of beer (if that is their goal). But more breweries might open if the cap was at 8% and Lazy Magnolia would be able to brew and (gee whiz) sell more beer too!
So check out the website for Raise Your Pints and support from wherever you are.
“Made in collaboration with fellow brew masters at Republic of Tea, Peach Pit ale is a truly unique beer. It is a light rosy-gold color and has a satiny malt background which works to display rich flavors and aromas of bright spices and fruit from the use of whole-leaf Ginger Peach tea in the brew. The natural sweetness of the malt and peach is balanced by a light dry spiciness from the ginger and black tea.”
For all of you session beer fans or flavored beer category judges this may be one of those beers that you will either have to determinedly seek out or luck into. And if you are one of the imperial porter crowd then this beer is probably not going to be for you. I have had a chamomille beer from Rogue (Many years ago) and was surprised by how well it worked. Tea and beer should work as well together as coffee and beer in my mind so let’s hope more examples head our way.
Expect to see it under the name Sierra Nevada Tea Ale and not Peach Pit.
The wine world has sommeliers and us craft beer geeks have ciccerone’s. And if you want to learn about craft beer from a certified ciccerone and really funny guy then head to the Craft Beer Class.
And when you are done watching the video, head to the main Drink Eat Travel site for food and beverage tidbits from the LA area. All good stuff.
This month, I am focusing my e-brewery tour focus onto New Zealand. And our first stop is Auckland’s Epic Beers.
Here are some of their unique offerings:
PORTAMARILLO
“A collaboration, a Festive brew and the world’s first tree tomato beer. A sorta-Porter fermented with New Zealand grown Tamarillos, which were smoked using wood chips from the sacred Pohutakawa tree (also know as the NZ Christmas tree).”
PALE ALE
“You can only drink so many beers in a lifetime, so you better make each one count. That’s where we can help. Because at Epic we’re obessed with creating big hop-fuelled beers. This takes a shed-load of skill. It also takes a shed-load of hops. In fact there are 23 crammed into this bottle. Many brewers would call that ‘insane’. We call it flavour.”
ARMAGEDDON IPA
“In the beginning, there was nothing. Then an impish brewer piled a ludicrous amount of hops inot a batch of beer. This zymurgical big bang is Epic Armageddon, an apocalyptic assault on your preconceptions and taste buds. It may be too huge for this fragile planet so enjoy this beer like it was the last one on Earth”
Check out the ERB website HERE
Here are some photos from the release party of the new Kona Brewing beer, Koko brown named after (and seen in the label) a distinctive part of Hawaii.
…or your expanded brewery!
The brewery explains…”The first beer out of our new brewhouse is Brooklyn Main Engine Start, a burnished gold ale in the rare “Abbey Singel” style, reminiscent of the un-filtered beers that Trappist monks make for themselves. It’s dry and biscuity on the palate, with a lilt of spicy Belgian yeast character and a snappy hop bite. Judicious dry hopping with Slovenian Aurora hops lends an appetizing herbal note. It’s tasty enough to stick with for the whole evening, and at about 6% ABV, it won’t have you tripping over snow banks after just one.”