I was inspired to review this style of beer by the Unity 2012 beer that Eagle Rock brewed for L.A. Beer Week this year. And because I have seen a mini-flurry of the style resurfacing at pubs and bars. So first up is Heretic Brewing and Tartuffe….
Here is the website description from Heretic, “A tartuffe (tar-TOOF) is a hypocrite who feigns religious virtue. Heretic’s Tartuffe is our take on a Berliner Weisse-style ale. Our head brewer has a thing for this beer style. He loves the tart, refreshing character that comes from using lots of wheat malt and a multi-day sour mash. Try it by itself or mit schuss, the traditional German addition of raspberry or woodruff syrup. Either way, enjoying life is a true virtue.”
GABF Brewery # 2 – No-Li Brewhouse
One of the new breweries that I tried at the recently concluded Great American Beer Festival was No-Li Brewhouse out of Spokane, Washington.
I was drawn to their booth by their simple but cool bottles that they had next to the pitchers of their beer.
L.A. people may bristle at the W.S.U. Cougar roots of No-Li. They will not at the beer. I sampled Silent Treatment (One of the best beer names ever) and it cut through the other beers that I had sampled at the convention hall.
Next time, I will try the following….
BORN & RAISED IPA
“This big bold copper colored ale showcases a big malty body and sweetness contrasted against a substantial hop presence which begins in the nose, continues in the flavor and ends with a lingering hop finish.”
CRÉME ALE
“Very pale, flavorful version of an original American beer style which combines the fermentation characteristics of an ale with the smoothness and maturity of a lager. Look for delicate soft maltiness complimented by the finest Northwest hops.”
Rhizing to the Horizon
Looks like the collaboration between Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada was fun enough and didn’t harm Life and Limb. So now they are back with a beer name likely to be misspelled on many a blog.
I would have liked to see them do a pilsner of helles but I will be trying this out if I run across it.
Beer Flats crackers
I turned the corner onto the beer aisle at my Whole Foods and what did I see nestled in amongst the Hangar 24 Oktoberfest 4-packs? Beer crackers. In pilsner and porter flavors no less.
They come from a company called Beer Flats. They “are artisinal flatbread crackers made with craft beer, whole grains and butter.”
Now you can grab some cheese made with beer, some of those Dogfish Head pickles and have a true gourmet craft beer binge.
Glendale Tap
I get to write about beer that is actually located in the town that I live in! No offense to Golden Road which is literally across the street from Glendale or Eagle Rock which is right next door as well but they are both technically L.A.
This EaterLA article lays out what is happening but hopefully it will open soon and I can give a proper review.
UPDATE: They open on October 24th. Wednesday at 5pm.
Sean suggests for October
Been back from the Great American Beer Festival for a couple days and getting back into the swing of the blog again with the monthly beer shopping list….
Click the link (once or twice depending on the type of computer) then print out the list or memorize (depending on the type of brain) and then shop for beer. It’s my favorite pastime.
Beer Search Party at GABF – Facts & photos
I am now back in Los Angeles and I am looking back on my second Great American Beer Festival visit. My first trip a couple years back was overwhelming. It only took two days and one session for me to say “no mas!”. But I was also new to the beer blogging scene. I didn’t know anybody and quietly drank some beer and left. Also the scene was different in Denver then too.
This year, thanks to expanded access and to pacing myself, I was able to really enjoy not only the beer but also all the people that come out every year too.
The Brewer’s Association always puts out fun tidbits from the festival. Data like how much ice is used and how many beers are judged in the IPA category. So here are some of my Beer Search Party facts. With breaks for some of my favorite photos from my visit.
By rough estimate, I tasted 87 different beers. Most in 1 ounce pours.
I had three sampler trays from three new Denver breweries – Prost, Renegade and Strange. And re-visited three “older” Denver breweries – Great Divide, Wynkoop and Breckenridge.
My top three beers were Fiat Luxe from Brooklyn Brewery, Monk’s Indiscretion from Sound Brewing and Kaffir Lime Wheat from Denver Beer Co.
There were 49 California medalists at the the awards ceremony. You can search the medal database for GABF HERE.
I FINALLY tasted an Alabama beer. Freckly Belly IPA from Back Forty. Then I tasted a Peanut Butter beer from another Beer Engineers! Now I only have North Dakota to complete my 50 beers!
GABF is just a beer lovers paradise. Even if you don’t go to the main festival, there are enough breweries to visit, special events and beer tappings to find and hidden gems (like the Beerliner) that you find yourself having to decide between so many different places to go and beers to try.
Beer Search Party at GABF – the last beers
After the awarding of medals it was time to hit the convention floor for a last spin across the beer country. I had a chile beer from Gigantic that was great (Hot Time, Summer in the City) A nice alt from Grimm Brothers (Big Bad Wolf) and my two very favorites of both sessions that I attended Sound Brewing from Poulsbo, Washington with their Monk’s Indiscretion and Brooklyn Brewing’s Fiat Luxe. Both woke up my overworked palate and showed that light beers can be bold and flavorful.
The two more Denver breweries beckoned and taster trays were purchased. First on the agenda was Renegade Brewing.
Their Elevation Triple IPA was the winner from the four sampled. So much so that bought a bottle of the oak aged version to take home!
Then it was time for some Strange Brewing. Their sampler tray held 9 beers. I enjoyed the pupkin porter and their cherry beers which were both a touch sweet but had a big cherry pie taste but the winner from that group was a rosemary IPA by the name of Zora.
Beer Search Party at GABF – Part 3
Today dawned bright and early for awards day!
Brewdad Mike (recent winner of the CanFest blogger contest) and I headed back towards the convention center to learn which beers were deemed the best for 2012.
This years ceremony was held in a much bigger space which was well filled despite the early hour and the fact that it overlapped with the Saturday morning session.
And the L.A. scene saw some awards come our way…..
And that was not all that was won. Figueroa Mountain picked up some hardware as did Pizza Port locations and Firestone-Walker too. California did good but the big winner was Devil’s Backbone from Virginia who won medal after medal and will set off many a metal detector on the way home.
Beer Search Party at GABF – Part 2
Started the day on a bus filled with New Belgium beer headed towards Fort Collins. BrewDad Mike secured us passes for a brewery visit and this is a tour like no other.
New Belgium is a huge campus. Really huge. Pipes everywhere. All labeled and all monitored by a computer straight out of Minority Report. And the place goes on and on. Our tour took us past three bars! And so much equipment. To wrap the kegs in plastic for shipping they used a big piece of metal that quickly encircled kegs in layers of plastic. There were labs and two story fermenters and foeders everywhere you looked.
And the lunch was awesome. Great classy food with no pretension. Grilled cheese wedges with tomato soup. Peruvian chicken wings and other little nibbles like Belgian waffles to go with the beer. I went back for seconds and thirds.
We headed home after another beer and on to Freshcraft a new (to me) gastropub on Blake street for the Taplister relaunch. Great beer and a contingent of Portland folk (bloggers and beermongers) plus Joe from Ratebeer. As we were departing, Jeremy and Ting from Eagle Rock strolled in. That is one of the great things about Denver during the fest. Everywhere you stop, there is usually someone you know.
After Freshcraft were stops at Falling Rock (short due to it being it’s usual packed to the rafters self), Breckenridge (for food and a place to rest weary legs) and to cap the night a taxi ride out to Prost Brewing to try their German styled beer. The Pils being my favorite of the taster tray.
The beers are starting to blur together but onward I march to Saturday.