Tag: Best Beers of the Month

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Best Beers of November 2022

I guess we should call November Topa Topa Month.

Two of the Ventura based and growing brewery placed as best of the month. First was their Howler Coffee IPA that balanced the hops and coffee very well and very smoothly. One step better was the Bourbon barrel-aged version of their Tux milk stout, King Tux. Just decadent mixing of spirits and sweetness.

Runners-Up include Green Cheek’s wonderfully named Thrives on Relaxation DIPA, Firestone Walker’s Parabolita Salted Caramel Stout and Ogopogo’s 4th Anniversary Pale Ale.

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Best Beers of October 2022

Time to reflect on the beers that I drank in October that have come back to haunt me. By haunting, I mean, why did I not buy more?

We do not get a bounty of Wet Hop beers in SoCal much like we don’t get Christmas beers. Not as many hop farms here (though growing thanks to Sow A Heart Farms) and not much snowy cold weather for Xmas ales.

Preface aside, the Radiant Beer Co. fresh hop, The Speed of Now captured that bright, rubbing a hop cone taste that I prefer in the style.

Also a shout out to new Pasadena brewery, Wild Parrot. I really liked the Doug Heavy Lager which proves that mistakes can turn out unexpectedly.

But my winner was a beer that I did not have high expectations for, Kujo Cold Brew Coffee Porter by Flying Dog. It was on the usual warm shelf of my Trader Joe’s (whose beer shelf is a shell of what it once was, thanks Glendale). I am not a cold brew coffee fan but took a flyer and was rewarded. Nice chocolate and coffee mix with just the right viscosity.

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Best Beers of September 2022

Part of the month was spent in Kentucky but only one beer made the Best of the Month roster.

Let’s harshly rank this month…

  • 4th – West 6th Brewing Dankechain Oktoberfest
  • 3rd – Malibu Brewing First Point IPA
  • 2nd – Firestone Walker / Green Bench Dabbling in Decoction
  • 1st – Ambitious Ales Dream Tea Hazy IPA
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Best Beers of August 2022

It was a bit of a hoppy month, was August. The three runners up were all in the pale to IPA categories. My first beer from Wagon Wheel, their Pintail Pale ale made an impression as did two collaborations. MadeWest + Alvarado Street and Short Lived as well as Common Space + Riip Beer with Three Hop Drop. But the best was Magnificent Everything from the new Everywhere BeerCo..

It was super, super soft and the ABV was well hidden and the fruit and wheat were allowed to shine.

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Best Beers of July 2022

With all due respect to the beers that I had during the other three weeks of July, the beers tasted in Portland were the clear frontrunners.

From the three (yes, three) Grodziskies that I had to the retro All Cascade IPA at Assembly Brewing, the Best of July was picking from one week.

Tied for second for me were the two beers at brand new Living Haus including this tangerine bomb done with Great Notion, Little Haus of Horrors.

One of the juiciest beers I have encountered that also steps aside to be a big burly Imperial IPA.

But the winner was a can picked at random from a line-up of Rosenstadt beers at a tiny gourmet market near Mt. Tabor. Houblon, a French-style pilsner was just perfect. Crisp and hoppy, just a lively fun beer that made me wish I had bought all of their beers.

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Best Beers of June 2022

LABW13 ran its course this month and I have picked a beer tasted at the Cellador Friends Fest as well as an L.A beer as my four best for the month. It’s just not the sane beer.

Non-LA favorites were the Ledge Bier from Great Notion Brewing. It was a very gin and botanical lager to me and it was more silky than I expect a lager to me. And yet, really struck me as good. Staying with Great Notion but with a collaboration with Fremont Brewing, Mr. Sun II. This hazy DIPA ticked all the hazy boxes that I have and was just fruity all the way.

In LA, Chilloo IPA re-gained the winning ways of Brouwerij West and revived an interest in driving down to their coastal brewery. That leaves North Park and my favorite beer of the month with a fantastic name as well, Ancient Civilization West Coast DIPA which I liked more than its sibling, City of the Future Hazy DIPA.

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Best Beers of May 2022

The Premier League finished this month and with it came post-mortems and best of and worst of lists. What these lists has in common was expectations. A player expected to score goals who did vs one who didn’t. A player who was injured vs one who wasn’t.

Or a player who came cheap and overperformed vs an expensive player that was just OK.

Same can be said of beers, a beer gifted to you vs. a beer you hunted down and paid top dollar for.

This month, I was kindly gifted two beers from Shades Brewing in Utah. Had never heard of the brewery before and they were sours which I have less of due to stomach responses.

But the Passion Fruit Sour and Plum Berliner Weisse were easily the best of the bunch and if ever in the Salt Lake state, I would encourage a visit.

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Best Beers of April 2022

I do not drink a lot of sours these days. One is that there is a tilt toward the smoothie sour which is a little to kids candy for me and second, that acid rumbles my tummy big time.

All preamble to April and the choice of two sours for my best of the month. First is Honey Mile from Cascade. No surprise that the NW masters of sour made something tasty but the mix of chamomile and honey was excellent. Second was French Twist from Smog City. A barrel-aged “cocktail” beer. Saison aged in gin barrels with lemon and vanilla.

Same story for both beers. A base sour with adjuncts that added layers and depth of flavor.

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Best Beers of March 2022

Some months the frontrunner is clear. March led me to some tough choices. Re-tasting Maudite Dubbel from Unibroue was a delightful visit. The coffee Kolsch from Los Angeles Ale Works, Bengal Brew was a nice change-up from IPAs but the dual winners are from Highland Park.

Fireweed Lager was a chewy and malty revelation using a new to me ingredient and tied for first was the High 8 Anniversary pilsner which again shows that for as well as HPB does IPAs (they have High 8’s in that style too), it is hoppy pilsner where they truly shine..

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Best Beers of February 2022

Birthday week and month is now over and it was an easy pick for best of the month, Eagle Rock Brewery and their nitro pour of Umi Kumā Lua, their anniversary IPA.

The IPA in standard form has nutmeg in the recipe but that is amped a notch with the nitro pour that has fresh ground nutmeg over a super creamy top plus umbrella to get the full effect. The hop and that cream layer with that spice really work as a whole. No nitro cans but the non-nitro version is also quite good with notes of pear and pine.