Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
I have to admit that I am not a baseball fan. Not in the least. But I am a fan of the specialty and one off brews done in honor of sports, people or places.
Especially if done with a little creativity, which brings us to…
A black ale made with orange zest. Makes you wonder what the beer would be if the Dodgers or A’s win a world series.
It is great to see new craft breweries springing up in smaller towns that used to have a brewery before prohibition and that is the case with Port Townsend which lost a 1906 opened brewery to the anti-alcohol crowd.
Now you can sample beers like these:
Boatyard Bitter
“Traditional Fuggles and Kent Golding hops (imported from England) dominate the flavor of this English style pale ale. British grown Maris Otter barley lends a round and smooth malt flavor. Truly a classic style.”
Hop Diggidy
“A classic Northwest style IPA. Hop Diggidy has a smooth malt background and full round hop flavors. Dry hopping two separate times in the process insures an aromatic and lasting hop finish. Enjoy this very drinkable Northwest ale.”
I had a flurry of activity on the 2010 challenge in January leaving me tantalizingly close to my goal.
The only holdouts now are Alabama and North Dakota. Actually, hold out is the wrong word. There are reasons why I haven’t tasted from these places. Two to be precise. And they both start with the letter P.
Alabama – Prohibition. Yup, I lay it all on that doorstep. Once that law ended, the state took over and draconian rules were kept and/or expanded upon. If you think draconian is too strong a word then check out these restrictions at Free the Hops. Until my travel plans take me near Alabama, I will probably not be able to check this state off my list.
North Dakota – Population. There just isn’t enough to gain traction for a niche market. According to what I can find on the internet, there is 1 brewery. Granite City. And I can’t expect them to ship someone in a California a growler.
So that is where I stand. As always, if you or someone you know is willing to send me some beer from those two states. I would appreciate it. Reach out at beersearchparty@gmail.com.
This month, I stick close to home with the medium and heavy selections. The outlier being a canned pilsner from Avery.
So onward to Boulder, Redlands and San Diego!
Click the above link which (should) lead to another page. Re-click and a PDF should magically appear!
I subscribe to Beer America TV which reviews some great beers and one of the on camera talents is brewer John Pinkerton who recently won gold at GABF!
“It was for his Rosemary Swamp Fox IPA in the “Herb and Spice or Chocolate Beer” category. It beat out 90 other entries for the honor.
In addition to the normal amounts of Centennial, Chinook and Brewer’s Gold hops, Pinkerton dry-hopped the Rosemary Swamp Fox IPA with fresh rosemary. The beer’s assertive citrus hoppiness was complemented by a blast of the piney, aromatic rosemary. It tasted just like it smelled.”
“And so… It’s time for Naja’s Place to kick off our…
3rd Annual IPA Festival on Thursday, April 21st, 2011 for one week.
To mark our 30th Anniversary, this year we will feature somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 of the baddest, rarest, and resinous IPAs, DIPAs, and IIPAs on the West Coast (and a few beyond).”
What happens when you get three of the leading lights of Craft Beer Writing and let them create a beer with the BrewDog?
“The result is a 7.5% ‘Imperious Pilsner’. Zak wrote some label copy that goes on about killing your ideals and worshipping your heroes and stuff, which is really good and adorns the bottle label. But basically it’s doing to lager what new wave brewers such as Brew Dog have done to pale ales, porters and stouts. (I’m not saying we’re the first – just that that’s what we did.) It features an insane amount of Saaz hops, and was lagered for a full six weeks before being dry-hopped with yet more Saaz.”
Kudos to Zak Avery, Mark Dredge and Pete Brown!
The Deschutes Base Camp rolled into Los Angeles last night with one of it’s first stops being the Verdugo.
And I mean rolled in. Woody the giant beer dispensing barrel (o.k. a trailer) was on the patio and for $5.00 you got a beer AND a glass.
And a strong Deschutes line-up was inside the bar as well. Including Abyss, Jubel 2010 and the mysterious Black Butte XXII.
I started with Red Chair the NW Pale Ale. Because I had to get a beer from the barrel.
Then because I thought it would run out. I grabbed a goblet of the XXII.
In the end, I had the Cascade ale as well and even though I am usually not a big stout/porter fan, the BB XXII was the clear favorite for me as well as my drinking buddy Richard who also sample Abyss and Jubel 2010. Lots of chocolate notes in the XXII. Smooth but not viscous. An enjoyable late night sipper.
Last Saturday, I got to spend a lovely spring LA day drinking beer. Great craft beer at the ColLAboration pop-up Beer Garden. I partook of Stone Vanilla Bean, Bear Republic Double Rocket. Red Poppy from Lost Abbey but my surprise favorite was the habanero Sculpin from Ballast Point. So balanced that I imagine the technical skill it took to pull that trick off. I probably can’t do a pint of it because of my low scovill tolerance but the few sips I had were great. 2nd place went to Brouwerij West’s Blonde. Perfect on a summer day. I love both of their beers.
More analysis to come on FoodGPS on Thursday morning.
