Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Being born and raised in Oregon means I like to hear about what is going on in Oregon beers from down south in LA. And one of the better stops to get my Portland Beer Info fix is Jeff Alworth’s Blog Beervana.
He has also in the process of writing a book plus he has a book of his best beer musings out too.
Check out the Beervana. It’s almost as good as going to the actual place.
The special releases keep coming from Karl Strauss. This one might be interesting to try side-by-side with the original and see how pronounced the differences are.
“After brewing the award-winning Red Trolley Ale for more than two decades, Karl Strauss Brewing Company is ready to unveil the beer’s turbo charged cousin—Off the Rails. Off the Rails is a double version of Red Trolley Ale with more malt, more hops, and more alcohol. This West Coast Imperial Red Ale is full of dark fruit flavors, toffee, and a smooth warming finish.
Small batches of Off the Rails have been brewed over the past two years for draft only…”
Here is all the information you need for the crawl that is in one month:
“The beer festival so nice, we’re doing it twice! The 2nd Annual Los Angeles Craft Beer Crawl is happening again this year on Sat. August 13th. Again, we will showcase and celebrate all things craft beer in lively and vibrant historic downtown Los Angeles.
Taste as many samples of over 50 delicious craft beers across 7 different unique venues all within easy walking distance of each other (7 Grand, Golden Gopher, Las Perlas, Cana Rum Bar, Cole’s French Dip, Broadway Bar & Casey’s Irish Pub) We Beer Chicks are curating the beer and are collaborating on this event with Cedd Moses & 213 Ventures that will feature some of the top Craft and Artisanal Brewers in the country!
We are also proud to have the host of KCRW’s Good Food, renowned author and executive chef/owner of one of LA’s favorite restaurants, Angeli Caffe, Evan Kleiman involved with the Crawl this year. She’ll be curating a selection of delicious food trucks to indulge in along the crawl route.
A portion of the proceeds will go to Heal the Bay. an organization dedicated to making Southern California waters healthy, safe, and clean.
TICKETS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE ONLINE and cost $49.00. A bargain for what it includes: a 6oz tasting glass and wristband gaining access to all the venues featured in the festival, unlimited tastings of over 50 different taps in 7 different locations from 3pm-8pm. Hurry up, because tickets are going fast!”
I missed the first iteration of this event so I can’t give a thumbs up or any helpful hints. Except for making sure you use Metro. OK, another suggestion look for Noble Aleworks and Uncommon Brewers. Last thing, it is good to see resident L.A. food host Evan Kleiman involved. The craft beer scene could use her voice advocating for more breweries and better beer lists at restaurants.
Tomorrow you can check out my FoodGPS column on the Yeastside Brewers, but I thought I would tease you with some photos of the event today.
Now that you are intrigued, head to the Blue Palms site to purchase your tickets.
On Saturday Night Live, there was a recurring segment called “Really?”. Whenever the writers hear of an issue that strikes them as outrageous or dumbfounding, they use this segment to give it the satirical roasting it deserves.
I wish I could hire the writers of that show to give me better words for this occasion, but I will have to settle for “Really?”
What is this occasion? Eagle Rock has to go in front of the Zoning Administration to defend itself as part of the Conditional User Permit it was granted. And if they pass this test, they get to do it again in 3 1/2 years. Before Eagle Rock is questioned tomorrow, here are my questions for the City of Los Angeles….
You are actually thinking about stopping a growing business that has actually hired people in this economy and possibly force them to move. Really?
You would rather a building sit empty than have people inside buying products that are taxed knowing that those dollars then go to the City of Los Angeles? Really?
You want to make the City of the Angels MORE unapealing to entrepreneurs who would like to be opening breweries? Do you know something that Portland, Oregon, Asheville, North Carolina, San Diego, California, Seattle, Washington and New York City, NY don’t know? Really?
You desire to antagonize the small but tight knit craft beer community? A community that has propelled economic growth in a down economy? Really?
Eagle Rock Brewing is an asset not only inside city limits but across the country because they not only employ and serve our local citizens, but also represent Los Angeles at national events – like when they brought home a gold medal from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.
This is a law abiding, tax paying, community building small business who needs your support. Really.
As part of my weekly LA Beer Blast duties, I get the occasional call to visit new beer-centric spots around the southland. I have a high bar, but I also want to have a wide variety of different beer locales that reflect both the diversity of people and beer styles.
And I was pleasantly surprised by the two-month old BruHaus. Wedged next to “Mexican themed” bar next door, you find a warm and inviting spot with an open kitchen and a solid set of beers. And they have taken the extra step of pairing the sausages and other menu items (Sweet potatoe tots) with primarily German and Belgian beers that really sparkle next to that hearty fare instead of just choosing the trendy beers of the moment.
Charlie Hwang and his partners are also super nice. They took the time to speak to me for a long while about their future plans (Kolsch for the summer in the authentic Cologne glassware) even though I am sure that they had multiple items on their to-do list.
The craft beer invasion continues as more places spread out across LA. Soon every neighborhood might be so lucky as to have a Bruhaus near them.
As promised, here is the first of three Surly Brewing reviews. We start with CynicAle…..
Saw this on the Craft Beer Chronicles and thought it should get another audience after bouncing around Facebook and Twitter last week.
These two timelines really show how young we are as a craft beer community. I sometimes feel impatient with the growth of breweries and bottle shops here in LA but I have to stop comparing to Portland and Denver and see that that most of the places that I frequent aren’t even 5 years old. We have to walk before we can run. And here is what I think we will need in the future to really make LA a beer destination.
1. More breweries. We are on the path and if the City of Los Angeles would just get the hell out of the way we could have a bumper crop in a couple years. A community of brewers will only create higher standards and more experimentation.
2. A couple specialty beer bars. We need a real ale establishment or a sour beer house or heck even a bar that serves out of town beers to all the LA people who came from someplace else. Maybe a movie house with taps like the Alamo Drafthouse.
3. More media coverage. I’m looking at you LA Times and KCRW’s Good Food.
4. A lot more summer beers. LA gets hot if you didn’t notice over the 4th of July weekend. We can’t be drinking high ABV Triple IPA’s and Barrel aged stouts. We need light session beers and pilsners and we need more of them in cans so the active set can take them to where they want to go.
Another day, another beer for charity. By now, I think you could probably spend an entire year just drinking brews for a cause. It is one of the reasons why I love the craft beer. Kudos to Skagit River