Tag: beer shopping

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Sean Suggests for June 2020

This month, I am picking some fruit fun beers. Maybe I will feel brave enough to visit one of SoCal’s excellent farmers markets and pick up some of the great array of fruit they sell.

Light

Modern Times Mai Tai Fruitlands – “is tart, fruity, & frighteningly delicious. The sour, salty base beer lays down a stellar foundation for heavy doses of orange, lime, & pineapple, yielding a ridiculously tasty wall-to-wall tropical fiesta. It’s a marvelous mix of elements that collides with your mouth like a fruit-filled asteroid of flavor traveling at the supersonic speed of party.” ABV 4.8%

Medium

Thorn Brewing Cherry Sour – “The Low Hanging sours are fruited American-style sour ales. They are each made with the same golden ale base, but the real fruit added during fermentation rotates every three months.” ABV 6%

Big

Ogopogo / Mason Aleworks Hodgee – “Pastry sour with pineapple, vanilla, and milk sugar.” ABV 8%

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Sean Suggests for April 2020

Since beer shopping is a different experience these days, the monthly column has to change with the times and today the BUY list is a pair of beers starting with the same base.

Here is the info from Cellador…”If you didn’t know, we brew all our wort at MacLeod in Van Nuys; so in a certain sense every beer we make is a collaboration with them. For this we thought it would be fun to do a twist on something that neither of us are particularly known for. I worked with the brewers David and Stephen to create a standard west coast IPA recipe which we took and fermented in oak barrels with our house mixed cultures (as is our wort). It aged in oak for seven months, then we dry hopped it with Lemon Drop and El Dorado, and bottle conditioned it with local orange flower blossom honey. As our version was getting close to ready, MacLeod brewed the same recipe but did a standard clean version, which will be released in cans and crowlers Monday April 13th. We really hope that you’ll get both versions to try side by side and experience the ways in which using mixed-cultures can drastically change a beer.”

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Sean Suggests for August 2016

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At halftime of every soccer game that I played as a youngster, there were quartered oranges to suck on. Primeval Gatorade as it were. To this day, too much orange in the diet causes me grief but in beer it is a different story. Hence the theme of this month.

~LIGHT
Libertine/ Soccer Mom 6.0% ABV
“A great summer sipper bursting with tangerines and oranges sourced from our friends at Stepladder Ranch. We took our Gouden Foeder base and aged it on freshly picked oranges and tangerines giving our tart funky golden ale a huge citrus burst! This screams summer on the soccer field.”

~MEDIUM
BAIRD/ The Carpenter’s Mikan 6.1% ABV
“This special fruit beer originated unexpectedly, but naturally, from the earnest and genuine friendship forged between a Carpenter and a Brewer. The Brewer never intended to embark on the path of fruit ale production but was led there by the creative inspiration of the Carpenter as well as by the Carpenter’s wonderful orchard that was teeming with delicious citrus fruit. This fruit ale is inspired by the rich tradition of craftmanship in Japan – the ‘Shokunin’ spirit – which is embodied in the Carpenter.

The mikans used in this brew are fresh, succulent, and local — harvested on the land and by the hand of the Carpenter. The Baird brewers hand-process the harvested mikans, shaving off the outer skin of the peel and pressing the juice. Both peel shavings and juice are combined with wholesome, traditional and minimally processed malt and hops (characteristic of Baird Beer). The result is a product greater than the sum of its parts — as is true in the case of great human friendship.”

~DARK
Mikkeller/ SpontanOrange 7.7% ABV
“A Spontaneously fermented limbic style ale, Brewed and barrel aged on oranges at De Proef in Belgium. “

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Sean Suggests for May 2015

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Let’s head to the farmer’s market for this month’s suggestions and pick up some fruit beers raspberries, strawberries and pears make appearances this month.

~LIGHT
Avery/ Raspberry Sour 6.5% ABV
“Luscious ripe red raspberries are elegantly intertwined with a bountiful amount of lactic acidity and delicate barrel nuances to cultivate this stunning sour ale.”

~MEDIUM
Almanac/ Farmer’s Reserve Strawberry 7.0% ABV
“A celebration of the summer harvest, this blond sour ale is loaded with coastal Seascape Strawberries grown at Dirty Girl Farms in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains. These delicious juicy berries are swept by cool evening ocean breezes and drenched in warm daytime sun before being hand-picked and added to this tart and refreshing ale.n”

~DARK
New Belgium/ Pear Ginger Ale 7.0% ABV
“Our latest Lips of Faith release updates the Victorian-era ginger beer with whimsical additions of pear and lemon peel, creating a zesty, invigorating summer sipper crafted for beer glasses and mixologists’ cocktail shakers alike. Warming, spicy ginger punctuates a lively wash of sunny lemon, pear and bready white wheat for a sip that starts sweet, but finishes with just the right amount of heat. Drink it straight, no chaser, or put a new spin on a classic gimlet.”

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Sean Suggests for February 2015

header_beer_shopping_listFor February, a slight change of pace.  Let’s go low ABV and let’s go hyper L.A. local with three very tasty beers that won’t knock you off your stool.

~LIGHT

Noble Ale Works/ Dirt McGirt  4.70% ABV

“Our dirty blonde is a slight variation on the traditional blonde ale. We set the base with Bohemian Pilsher malt and then added in Vienna and Munich malts for a change to bring a soft breadiness to the beer, while still keeping the overall perception light and super drinkable.”

~ANOTHER LIGHT

MacLeod Ales/ Barclay Perkins 1941 3.9% ABV

“A proper historical recipe for a bit of a challenge.  Interesting recipe as it has lactose, inverted sugar, and oats which I believe is rather unusual”

~ALSO LIGHT

Eagle Rock Brewing/ Li’l Fred 3.90% ABV

“Have you met the newest member to our little family? Meet Lil Fred! He’s a red mild with super tasty toast and nutty notes.“