Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Ambitious Ales has enlisted Topa Topa Brewing to guide them to the IPA mountaintop with See You at The Top, a West Coast IPA with Mosaic Dynaboost, Mosaic Hyperboost, Mosaic, Citra and Motueka that climbs to 6.9% ABV. Described as having “notes of Candied Orange, A touch of dank and hint of lime this ultra resinous hop forward” IPA.
I love a good coffee collaboration and Ambitious Ales has a new one, Barako Stout which is “conditioned with Barako Liberica coffee beans from the Philippines, sourced + roasted by Teofilo Coffee who they work directly with Philippine farmers, pay fairly + reinvest into planting trees. This isn’t just about taste—it’s about heritage + empowerment.”
Flavor notes include: “Bold, roasty, robust—notes of cocoa nibs, dark chocolate, roasted nuts, jackfruit + dried stone fruits.
One last fun fact provided by the brewery, “Over 99% of the world’s coffee is Arabica + Robusta. Less than 1% is Liberica—grown almost exclusively in the Philippines. That’s why this is the rarest stout on planet Earth.”
Ambitious Ales has been to the hop farm and has come back with a new XPA brewed with the Experimental D5-055 and Mosaic from Hollingbery Hops.
Scuba Steve is a “hoppy beer with a new varietal being grown in Yakima called D5-055 for this year’s harvest. It’s super oily and packed full of tangerine and citrus notes. We paired it up with some very nice Mosaic.”
Plus it is another really cool, nearly three dimensional label design as well.
I am not a good golfer or even a mini-golfer but it did not scare me off All in the Hiips from Ambitious Ales and as you can tell from the name, Riip Beer Co.
This westie pours a really light yellow color. Aroma is a 50/50 mix of grassy and grape. That must be the Nelson hop kief shining the brightest. It is very light in body as well which is at odds with the 7.2% ABV. There is a slickness that sits on the tongue as well leaving a sizable hop greenery on the palate.
Ambitious Ales has a new feature in their taproom that you may not have noticed, a Lukr side pull faucet.
Like so…
Here are the details from the Bixby Knolls brewery: “What is it and what does it do you may ask? This is a faucet designed specially to pour Czech style beers to give the beer tender full control over the flow rate and foam to promote next level texture and aromatics of the lager being poured.”
First up was the 12° Czech Style Pilsner, 6FT Nachos in the “Hladinka style, meaning smooth pour.” Next will be the Bohemian Spaceman Czech Dark Lager with more to come.
This month, it is all about collaborations and it includes at least one Los Angeles brewery in the mix in honor of L.A. Beer Week.
Ambitious Ales / Solaris 6 FT Nachos 12° Czech Style Pilsner – 5% – “Using only Floor Malted Bohemian Malt, a pseudo-decoction method, and a healthy dose of 100% Czech Saaz Hops. 6 FT Nachos pours a beautifully clear gold color, showcasing marvelous foam, a soft mouthfeel and firm bitterness all backed up with a zesty floral hop character.”
Smog City / Fremont Highway Hypnosis West Coast IPA – 6.8% – “cruises through orange zest, yuzu, peach, melon, and a smooth twist of coconut and pineapple.”
Highland Park / Monkish Light Eaters Triple Dry-Hopped Hazy DIPA – 8.3% – “with Abstrax Citra Quantum, Citra Hyperboost, Citra T90, Galaxy, Citra Cryo and Krush Cryo.”
Ambitious Ales will be celebrating their sixth year in Bixby Knolls. It is a lovely spot to sip a beer and people watch. Set aside the weekend of March 21-23 to check out the action.
Since February is a short month, there is only a top three but they are a good selection for sure.
With the bronze medal is the collaboration between Societe Brewing and Urban Roots. San Diego to Sacramento on a Fun Fare IPA. The label looks like a boarding pass and in a crowded IPA field, this one stood out.
Silver is the Smog City Infinite Wishes variant, German Chocolate Cake. Lots of pecan and coconut simply expressed onto a barrel-aged base.
First, primarily for charitable reasons, is the first canned We Love LA beer that I had from Ambitious Ales, their take on a hazy pale ale.
Ambitious Ales and Far Field Brewing has put a spin on the traditional collaboration with their new West Coast IPA, Gold Brothers. It is the “Same recipe. 24 hours. Two different brew systems.” And two different labels for the brew hopped with Citra, Nelson, and Citra Dynaboost.
Some months, the best of is better than others. This month, I had three beers that just bowled me over. And they were not one style, they were all over the spectrum. I will go in order of drinking them and not rank since they are within a hair of each other.
First was the 2024 version of Topa Topa Brewing’s Howler DIPA. No ordinary hop attack, this is a coffee DIPA with beans from Dune Coffee and it was a two-pronged attack of coffee and hops in equal measure.
Second is a three way collaboration from Brewyard Beer Co., Ambitious Ales and Five Point Five Brewing. The beer is a fruited pastry beer. No stout, no sour just a Filipino driven ode to JolliBee named Jolli beer and it was spot on. Crust and mango combined.
Finally, Long Beach Beer Lab had an excellent winter ale named Amburana for the wood the beer was aged in. Spiced up with cinnamon and hearty without being overly heavy. A great example of a winter warmer.