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Deschutes Base Camp in LA

Woody and the Deschutes crew will be rolling into LA with a few stops including….

Tuesday, April 12th
Beer Tasting at Verdugo Bar (5-9pm)
“Our giant wooden barrel, affectionately known as Woody, and brewer Veronica Vega will be on site for this special Jubel 2010 tasting.”
Wednesday, April 13th
Specialty Beer Tasting at Surly Goat (5-9pm)
“Our giant wooden barrel, affectionately known as Woody, and brewer Veronica Vega will be on site for this special Jubel 2010 & Lost Barrels of Mirror Mirror tasting.”

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E-Tour of Foggy Noggin

Our first stop in the state of Washington is Foggy Noggin. They are located in Bothell. You will have to really Mapquest it to see where that is. They brew English style beers like the two below that struck me….

Christmas Duck – Porter
“A mouthful of sweetened roasty flavors that linger long as a roasty dryness. Satisfying in every respect and a pint of the holiday spirit each time. Everyone deserves to celebrate Christmas year-round. Jingle Beers! Jingle Beers!”

Oski Wow-Wow – Scotch Ale
“Brewed in the olde Scottish traditional manner, Oski Wow-Wow is made with patience and love for the founders of this delicious beer style. The first 10% of the mash runnings are caramelized in the kettle, then liquified and added to the rest of the boil. Toffee and caramel flavors you have never tasted before are the result. Best enjoyed in Strawberry Canyon on a nice fall afternoon, you are sure to hear those enjoying the bounty of this special seasonal. One taste and you will shout – “Oski Wow-Wow!”

One more word, I think their logo is really cool. Simple but evocative.

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Ruby is 25

This McMenamin classic raspberry brew turns 25 this year and I thought I would offer up some thoughts about it.

But first, this is what McMenamin’s has to say about it: “One of our most popular standards, we still make Ruby with the same aims we had when brewing the first batch back in March 1986: To create an ale light, crisp and refreshingly fruity. Great Western Premium 2-row and 42 pounds of Oregon-grown and processed raspberry puree is used to craft every colorful every batch. Simple but delicious.”

Ruby Ale along with Weizenberry from Thomas Kemper were my gateway to beer geekery. Some may scoff at fruit beers unless they are aged or sour nowadays but whenever I am in Portland I usually have some Ruby. It’s a beautiful pink color and the taste is crisp and sweet at the same time. It is also my sis-in-law’s favorite so it is a special beer to me.

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Extra! Extra!

Do you need an excuse to go to San Diego? Well, here’s one…..

For those unfamiliar with the event, here is the information…
“We are very excited to announce that this year’s San Diego County Fair will be hosting the San Diego International Beer Festival for the fifth year in a row. The festival will be held on Friday, June 24 through Sunday, June 26. The San Diego International Beer Festival has become one of the largest in the country and continues to grow in popularity each year. The festival hosts more than 150 breweries and as many as 350 beers and counting from all around the world.”

For more information and to see past Best of Show winners, click HERE

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24oz

Black Star is coming out for spring. I reviewed this beer a few months back and I recommended it with some reservations about the double hop claim.

But these 24 oz cans priced around $2.00 bucks is a steal. Now you can have a great lawnmower beer and not sacrifice the taste.

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Pop-Up Warning

If you live in Los Angeles and love craft beer, and you DIDN’T know about Saturday’s ColLAboration pop-up beer garden, then you are quite the professional hermit.

All pre-sales are now closed. There will be a limited amount of ColLAboration glasses (which are the admission ticket for this and future pop-ups) on sale Saturday.

I will be there enjoying the atmosphere and the beer and taking photos for a future post. To further whet your appetite, here is the first tweeted beers that will be there…”Bruery Gremlin, Russian River Redemption, North Coast Barrel Aged Old Stock.”

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Oak Me


Stone knows how to throw a party. I have been to SourFest once, Winter Storm once and their Anniversary party for the last two years. So when I saw this, I had to post it up for the greater beer world….

Barrel-aged and wood-infused beers are some of our favorites, and it’s so refreshing to know that there’s no shortage of craft breweries making them. (Knock on wood!) So imagine our delight in hosting the second annual Oakquinox, an entire festival that celebrates the combined works of brewer and cooper. It makes us want to let out a righteous “Hallelujah!” in a most angelic timbre!

“Last year’s Oakquinox was a raging success, but we’re taking it up to another level this year,” says “Dr.” Bill Sysak, resident bon vivant and Beverage Supervisor at the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens. Oakquinox brings over 100 different beers (from 9 different countries) out of the woodwork to converge upon our splendiferous event, making it one of the largest wood-aged beer festivals in the country. “We’ve got some very special beers lined up from around the world,” explains Sysak, “and plenty of treats right from our neck of the woods.”

Sunday, April 17, 2011 10:00am to 6:00pm A $40 ticket ($45 beginning April 1) gets you a commemorative glass and 3-ounce pours of 15 ligneous libations of your choosing. Not to mention Chef Alex and his crew will be whipping up tasty edibles for purchase to help stave off your hunger. We don’t know about you, but that’s more than enough to get us to lumber out of bed on what would have been an otherwise lazy Sunday.

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Hitachino in Manhattan Beach

Tomorrow, get your Hitachino…..

Thursday, April 7 · 11:30am – 2:30pm

Brewco Manhattan Beach
124 Manhattan Beach Blvd
Manhattan Beach, CA

“Join us Thursday, April 7th to help raise funds for the Japanese Earthquake & Tsunami relief efforts. $20 gets you a flight of 6 different brews from the Hitachino Brewery. All proceeds are donated to the Red Cross. Since the earthquake, the good folks at Hitachino have stopped brewing and are focusing all their efforts to bottle water for those in need. Come in and enjoy these great beers while they are still available and drink for a good cause!”

I recently had their White beer and it was excellent. Tasted of chamomille tea. Buy some to show not only support but give them a reason to brew again.

UPDATE: You can also do this at Blue Palms on Thursday the 7th.

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Dedication Series

This new special set of beers was brought to my attention by Mike Besser at Brewdad. You can re-cap his tweets of the event HERE.

This is what the brewery had to say about the beers: “The Dedication Series includes; Imperial IPA, Imperial Red Ale, Scottish Style Ale and what we call Double Danger, an Imperial Dark Ale. The Dedication Series will be available in 22oz bottles and also on draft starting April 1st, 2011. With each beer coming in at over 8% abv, and each with its own unique twist, we feel Dick would be proud.”