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Last weekend….

I am still recovering from 2 big events here in Los Angeles. The best part being that both were food and beer related.

On Saturday was Woodshop 5.1. Held at the Blue Palms and stretching from 9:30 in the AM with beer mimosas.
woodshop breakfast
Along with the mimosas was a great and very unique breakfast. Truffle hash browns, Belgian breakfast burritos, fruit with festina peche beer. Excellent way to start the day! And if that wasn’t enough, we got a special dessert from the new Four Cafe in Eagle Rock
plum dessert
Then it was on to the beer. 24 blind taps. Plus bottle sharing going on left and right. People were very generous. Which I now almost take for a given at these events. I got to sample beer from Flossmoor station. Sours from many different places and an awesome coffee beer from Bell’s Brewing.
woodshop bier
Palate fatigue limited me to only some of the 24 taps but my winners for the day were the Odonata Saison (making it’s first visit to SoCal) and the super fresh Moylans Hopsickle.

Big kudos to Dave, Chris and Brian for putting in the hard work to do this event.

Moving on to Sunday, it was time for Firestone-Walker and Tony’s Darts Away and the Dionicess VI.
dionicess
Great beer and great food for a great cause, The Real Medicine Foundation. Food by the staff at Tony’s and Randy Clemens (who has a new cookbook coming out) and beer provided by Jace Milstead and Firestone.
beer at dionciess
The two selection of fries were my favorites and then there was a little beer at the end with dessert, starts with a “P”.
dessert at dionicess

More details to follow in my weekly posting at FoodGPS on Thursday.

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World Cup + World Beer – England

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TODAY: England V. Germany

No one would have thought this would have been possible. A titanic clash in the 2nd round. Can Germany regain the flair of game 1? Can England find the scoring that came so easily in qualifying?

Since this will be a battle, I have selected an appropriate beer. Bengal Lancer from Fullers. According to the fantastic Jeff Evans (if you don’t have one of his books, you are not a true beer geek).. “To my mind, Bengal Lancer sensibly marries a high score on the hop register with excellent drinkability. Bundles of Golding, Fuggle and Target hops present a resin-like bite and dry the palate, bringing tropical fruit and lemon jelly flavours to complement sweet, biscuity malt.

A little peppery warmth reminds you that this is not exactly a quaffing beer, but the way the leafy hops and their tangy fruit dominate the very dry finish means that you’re hardly likely to bolt the glass anyway. In short, it’s a solid, satisfying beer with bags of character.

The number of serious, grown-up IPAs available in the UK is increasing every day. Fuller’s latest take on the style is one of the best.”
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Coolships from Allagash

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Allagash is doing some experimental beers that are done coolship Belgian style. None are available as of yet which is a bummer. Here are the first three in the line…

Allagash Coolship Resurgam
This is a Blend of 2 year, 40% 18 months, and 6 month spontaneous beers.

Allagash Coolship Cerise
Coolship Cerise is a blend of 90% 2 year spontaneous with 10% 6 month spontaneous which sat on local Maine Montmorency tart Cherries for 3 months.

Allagash Coolship Red
The same blend as the Cerise, but sat on fresh raspberries for 3 months.

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World Cup + World Beer – USA

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TODAY: USA V. Ghana

My heart is still pumping furiously from the wild win against Algeria in group play. How could I not pick another American beer for the start of the 2nd round of the World Cup?

In honor of the 90th minute goal, how about Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA?

“… our first continually-hopped beer, which is a method of hopping that allows for a pungent, but not crushing hop flavor. Since introducing the world to the continual-hopping method with our 90 Minute IPA, we’ve since released a continually-hopped 60 Minute IPA, 120 Minute IPA and even a 75 Minute IPA (a cask-conditioned blend of 60 & 90 Minute IPAs).

In addition to the continual-hopping 90 Minute IPA recieves during the boil, we also utilize our ‘Me So Hoppy’ device to dry-hop the beer during conditioning.”
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World Cup + World Beer – Portugal

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TODAY: PORTUGAL V. BRAZIL

What a way to end the group stage. This should be a titanic battle. Will Portugal step it up or will Brazil prevail?

No better way to end than with Super Bock!
super
Super Bock is a Portuguese brand of strong pale lager from the Unicer brewery. A bit conflicting in the description but when in Portugal.

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Oyster Stout

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Is this the start of a burgeoning craft beer trend? Oregon is starting to get into Oyster Stouts.

Here is what Fort George says about their version, “Right before we transferred this beer to the fermentor, we ran the wort through 3 buckets of Willapa Bay Oysters. We let the oysters sit in the wort until they started to pop open infusing the beer with the briny oyster juice. Although you cannot taste an immense amount of oyster in this stout, you can taste a hint of salty goodness that lingers in this beer. Drinking this beer is truly like kissing the ocean.”

And this is what Upright Brewing has to say, “In the end we decided to add roughly ten gallons of oyster “liquor” that Jason picked up fresh from the coast off a train. We didn’t want to brew an oyster stout without any oyster meat though so we also picked up eight dozen DeCourcy oysters from B.C. and cooked them during the kettle boil. After eating all the wort-soaked meat we cleaned and saved the shells to add later to the beer, post fermentation, like dryhopping.”

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World Cup + World Beer – The Netherlands

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TODAY: HOLLAND V CAMEROON

I have always loved the free flowing play of Holland AKA The Netherlands. They are always on the cusp of winning then they run into Argentina or Brazil and fall. Maybe this year.

For the game how about trying Wieckse Witte: a classic Dutch “white” beer. Light and cloudy, Wieckse Witte has a genuinely sweet and mild taste, without a hint of bitterness. Refreshing and delicious.

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