I still haven’t had the Galaxy Hopped barley wine and another special reserve comes down the pike. This one a lemony slice of summer. Lemongrass that is. With the added kick of muscat too. Another one for the wish list from Widmer.
Pour it Black
One of the announcements lost in the shuffle (a bit) on the Stone grand expansion plans was the addition of the Pour it Black festival.
More will be said later but for now, save the date.
One beer that might be in attendance is the latest collaborative brew….
Manzanita Brewing
Near San Diego, in the town of Santee is Manzanita Brewing. They are a small-batch brewery with five year rounds beers and a few seasonals tossed in throughout the year.
We are a Small-Batch Craft Brewery in Santee, CA. We are passionate about Quality Craft Beer. We will have 5 year round beers and many seasonal beers available throughout the year.
Here are two beers that caught my eye….
Gillespie Brown; “a malty and sweet brew followed by a toasted chocolate flavor. Its dark brown appearance and deep roasted aroma translates into a smooth warm distinct finish.”
“A pint of Manzanita Horizon Red Ale is guaranteed to deliver a great initial malt flavor with a roasted grain aftertaste and dry Irish finish every time.”
Review – Iron Fist Golden Age
For the month of June, the Beer Search Party is reviewing beers from Iron Fist in Vista California. Our second brew is Golden Age…
Golden Road Brewing
As if running a successful bar in Burbank wasn’t enough.
As if partnering on the ColLAboration events wasn’t enough.
As if opening a huge 65 tap bar wasn’t enough.
Well now Tony Yanow is really going big. And this will be huge for the LA craft beer community. Last night, I along with other craft beer writers got the sneak peak at the facility and more importantly the team behind Golden Road Brewing.
Jon Carpenter (brewmaster) is originally from San Diego but you may recognize him from the late lamented Brewmasters show because he was most recently at Dogfish Head.
Meg Gill (co-founder and Presidnet) comes from two brewing hot spots Boulder and Oskar Blue’s and San Francisco and Speakeasy Ales and Lagers. Combined with Tony they have taken over three distinctively colored buildings next to the train tracks in Atwater Village (on the dividing line of LA and Glendale).
There will be a pub in the yellow building. A barrel aging facility in the red and the blue building will hold the brewing operations.
The styles are yet to be determined. Too early in the development stage for that but don’t be surprised to see a hoppy California style brew. And it will be canned! The line has been purchased. Obviously with a barrel room their will be aged beers done but again too early to give definitive answers as to what kind though the word sour was bandied about.
If I can be corny for a moment, craft beer in LA looks golden right now.
El Segundo Brewing – Home of Blue House Ales
I got the chance to talk to Rob Croxall from the newly debuted El Segundo Brewing recently and just wanted to tease you in advance about the interview which will be posted on FoodGPS this coming Thursday.
Rob talked about his homebrewing start, his time at UC-Davis as well as the craft beer community in LA while a batch of IPA and Pale Ale were waiting for the perfect time to be kegged.
He is already getting praise for his citra pale and I can imagine that the IPA will be received as warmly as the pale has been already.
You can try the Blue House line at Rock ‘N’ Brews which is literally across the street from the future tap room as well as other fine craft beer bars in Los Angeles. It looks like we have another brewery who will be as in demand as Eagle Rock has become.
1,000 – part 3
I have now rated 1,000+ beers on RateBeer. and so I have been uncovering golden nuggets of statistical information about what I have been drinking.
Last week I covered my top beer in each style. Today, we delve into which cities make the best beer according to what I have rated. This means a city needs to have a minimum of 10 ratings and more than one brewery. As with last week, this is based on the RateBeer information.
City – Average Rating
Ashland, Oregon – 3.11
Bend, Oregon – 3.18
Boston, Mass. – 2.89
Boulder, Colorado – 3.03
Copenhagen, Denmark – 3.31
Denver, Colorado – 3.22
Eugene, Oregon – 3.20
Fort Collins, Colorado – 3.17
Hood River, Oregon – 3.06
Los Angeles, California – 3.25
Portland, Oregon – 3.18
San Diego, California – 3.19 (not inlcuding Stone or Port)
San Francisco, California – 3.12
Seattle, Washington – 2.98
New Zealand goes all in
This sounds like one amazing beer. And you can not only drink it, but watch a video about the growing craft beer scene in New Zealand too.
“Here is an amazing world first for New Zealand, creating the world’s largest collaborative brew, with most of the small independent breweries of New Zealand contributing. This project was filmed and will become an online TV series about the craft breweries of New Zealand.
The resulting beer, Mash Up, is a New Zealand Pale Ale at 6% abv that is an ode to the deliciously refreshing New Zealand hops. It uses a blend of Kiwi and British malt (many brewers are British or got their inspiration from the UK beer scene) and is touted as being the world’s largest ever collaboration beer.
“We both think Mash Up is a great summary of where NZ beer is at,” states Ryan. “With the popularity of our great brewing ingredients on the rise abroad, it’s definitely time that we celebrate their quality here at home.”
Kiwi Hops
After reading about New Zealand in the current issue of All About Beer, I was intrigued by the new hops talked about and thought that a little hop education was in order. But since I am not a grower or brewer, I decided to let the descriptions from THE source do the talking. New Zealand Hops Limited
Pacific Gem
A high alpha hop with a pleasant aroma and a useful bitterness level of 13% alpha acid. Pacific Gem can produce a cask oak flavour with distinct blackberry aroma, along with a woody character. Used as a bittering hop by internationally famous European brewers.
Green Bullet
This hop variety has a unique raisin-type character, a slight floral note and has been likened to giving a Styrian style flavour to the beer. It consistently averages more than 12% alpha acid and its aroma qualities match its excellent bittering power.
Super Alpha
A very reliable variety always giving better than 10% alpha acid. Super Alpha has a very encouraging humulene-caryophyllene ratio, similar to European aroma hops. A unique cross of the best English and German hops, Super Alpha produces a crisp clean flavour and also has some nice resin character.
Southern Cross
A spicy and lemony character typifies this high alpha variety with some slight piney and woody hints. Southern Cross has an excellent essential oil profile and low Cohumulone, whilst still producing alpha acid of 12%. It produces a very “European” flavour in beers.
Pacific Jade
The most recent release of the New Zealand Hop Research Programme Pacific Jade is a high alpha hop, averaging 12-14%, with low Cohumulone and an excellent oil profile. Brewing trials have shown that this hop gives the beer a clean crisp taste, with a nice balanced palate.
Both Pacific Jade and Green Bullet intrigue me. But which hop would you like to see more of?
June’s other Beer Blog – The Full Pint
I have seen the Full Pint guys at many an LA beer event and since I was talking California breweries this month, I figured I should give a “Tip of the Hat” as Stephen Colbert says to these California beer writers.
They have a full but not busy site with beer reviews, beer news and most importantly, events that you can attend.
So stop by and check out their site today!