Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
This is going to be the all Pumpkin, all Colorado vacation edition of the Best of the Month.
Here are the contenders:
Bristol Brewing Pumpkin Ale weighing in at 5.9%
Our Mutual Friend Porch Pumpkin at 8.8%
Odyssey Beer Works Fluffy Pumpkin lowest at 5.6%
4 Hands Pumpkin Ale at 6%
Odell Brewing Pumpkin Spice Dottie 6.4%
Fluffy Pumpkin edges out Bristol Brewing because that marshmallow and pumpkin combo just had the Halloween vibe, even though Bristol has the most gourd to it.
This month we are going to toggle between Fest and IPA for the best of the month.
My fest best are the always good Oaktoberfest from Firestone Walker and Paulaner’s Oktoberfest Bier. A journey from Germany to Paso Robles.
Hops wise, the Stone 28th Anniversary DIPA strayed a bit from their heavy format to a balanced fruity and big beer. The other is a spooky season named beer from ISM Brewing with Ghost Town Brewing, the 6.66% Death Dealer IPA.
As an added bonus, the Strudel Cider from Benny Boy here in Los Angeles literally tasted like an apple pie. Even though it is not fall yet here, it sure tasted like it.
This month it is the all IPA edition. Which is weird because usually I find most IPAs to be smack in the vast middle of pretty good land. I do my best to taste fresh IPA but even the most ardent hop hunter can fall prey to hops that just aren’t packing the same punch as earlier.
Two were draft and two were canned. In the runners up category was Smog City and their CCBA White IPA, the first of two of that sub-style that I tasted this month. It was bright and light without getting too thin and it had a real nice subtle character to it. The other draft was at Great Notion where I had their Orange Creamsicle IPA. Usually not a fan of the milkshake but this did not have the fake orange and too sweet. It tasted much like the ice cream treat.
The cans were from North Park Beer Co. and from Ambitious Ales and it was a tight call but North Park’s Dead as a Doornail DDH West Coast IPA made me sit up a bit straighter than the Gimme That from Ambitious.
I am going to start with two beers drunk later in the month starting in Mount Angel, Oregon at the Benedictine Brewery. Their St. Michael Helles was absolutely on point and very refreshing on a hot day. I do have to add that all their beers were good.
Dewey Beer Moelleux Au Chocolate Stout was the last beer of the trip and my first visit to Function PDX and their newer Alberta outpost. It was also my only “big” beer of the trip. It was super chocolately and very smooth.
Two other beers make the list of the month starting with the 2024 edition of Russian River’s Pliny for President. Not a surprising choice since Russian River hardly ever make a mis-step with hops. Lastly, El Segundo, also known for hoppy beers, came out with Crowner Kolsch which I think is one of their better “alternative” beera.
June is now in the books so it is time to review the best beers that I laid my hands on this month.
It is a tie for first and a tie for second. And each has an IPA and then a German beer style.
Tied for 2nd are Russian River Brewing’s RnD IPA #44 and Human Robot’s Hallertau Pils. The latter is my first beer from the Pennsylvania brewery and boy was it good on a steamy LA day on the Highland Park Brewery patio. And what can be said about Russian River, whenever I see an RnD IPA, I buy it.
Tied for first was the Hana Munich Helles from Headlands Brewing. When someone says malt makes a big difference, this is what I will point to as Exhibit A. A luxury of a beer, Lastly, Monkish Space Cookie IPA just should not be as good considering it is such a weird beer but boy was it, standing out from a festival crowd.
Time to look back on the 30 days of April and come up with some best beers of the month.
I need to start with the stovepipe can of Imperial IPA from Lagunitas that is Tiki Fusion – Zombie. I did not expect to like it as much as I did. It had a plethora of ingredients to Tiki-fy it and although it was a touch too sweet it had the hallmarks of a cocktail inspired IPA.
Switching gears, if not ABV, the Infinite Wishes – Almond Joyous variant from Smog City was really good and a nice counterpoint to the Strawberry Whipped variant. Both had sweetness that was knocked down just enough to avoid being treacly.
Another winner was the 2024 American Reinheitsgebot Helles Lager from Enegren Brewing in collaboration with Bierstadt Lagerhaus. Crisp and clean with just a wee touch of pear to it made for a really good Sunday starter.
The winner for the month came from an unexpected source. Not the brewery. Firestone Walker has been tagged in my monthly round-ups a few times. But it was the fact that it was Wookey Jack. A beer I have a few of in my life and liked but for whatever reason, on draft at the Propagator it really shined. The hops were there but the malt was not sidelined at all. Fresh on draft can sometimes make a big difference.
Time to get into the time machine and tab the top beers of March before we head into the April drinking session.
Honorable Mentions go to Long Beach Beer Lab for their Brewte (Brut) IPA, good to see this sub-style pop up on tap and this was a nice executed crisp, dry and pear version. Next to mention is the pilsner High 10 from Highland Park Brewery. The menu board had re-brews of past years and there were many High 10s to choose from but I really liked the West Coast Pilsner. I also quite liked the latest Short-Lived IPA from MadeWest brewed with Firestone Walker. Crisp and biting with nice fruit notes.
The March winners was the strawberry whipped Infinite Wishes from Smog City Brewing. Filled with berry notes and a slight touch of vanilla, it was luxury when paired with a bourbon barrel imperial stout.
I have three picks for this month. Two canned and one on draft.
In third with the bronze is the draft Bit-O-Sunny IPA from Eagle Rock Brewery. It was different from their other IPA options, it had a brightness, dare I say Sunniness to it that peaked it above the general IPA din.
Second was my second beer from GOAL Brewing with the long name of Shattered Backboard Ones. A San Diego hazy that like the Bit-O was bright and super fruity.
In first place is the Cold-ed version of Wookey Jack, Arctic Wookey from Firestone Walker. Big dark roast notes but the hops punched through it enough that it never became lopsided like so many black IPA’s can be. Maybe the missing link was the IPLing of the style.
Some months there is a clear front runner for best beer of the month. Not October, so instead of closing my eyes and picking at random, here are the four beers that intrigued my tastebuds the most.
In no particular order:
It was grand to have some draft Trillium this month so I need to put Headroom Hazy DIPA on the best of list for the month. I also have to shout out a dopplebock from Ventura Coast Brewing, Earth Day for being such a pleasant style change from all the hops. Speaking of, I was shocked to see that my AmaWhole FoodsZon had bottles of Russian River’s Hop Growers IPA – CLS Farms edition in their cooler. It was light and delicious.
But my winner is from Oregon, Cascade Brewing’s Tartini. Sour but not puckeringly so. And by goodness, it had botanicals not only in the beer description but in the beer itself. Lovely light spice note. On the nose for gin fans.