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SpeakEasy Night and the chance to go to the SF BEER WEEK!
Tonight, January 20 at 5:00pm at Blue Palms BrewHouse
“We will be serving Speakeasy beers and for every pint you have you will recieve a raffle ticket. We will be raffling off 2 Tickets to the Opening Gala and AirFare to SF BEER WEEK Opening Gala February 11. Cheers!!”
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
The two selection of fries were my favorites and then there was a little beer at the end with dessert, starts with a “P”.
More details to follow in my weekly posting at FoodGPS on Thursday.
…..NOW!
And one place where you can take in all of the action in Los Angeles is the fabulous
They will have nights devoted to…Firestone, Lost Abbey, Alpine & Ballast Point
Just be sure to at least hit one night of special events at your local and show your appreciation in physical and monetary forms.
Let’s throw some numbers at you. (3) courses, (1) cheese from the wine camp and one from the beer, (1) main course from each faction and then (1) dessert offering from each group.
The crowd looked wine friendly but the breakdown was only slightly tilted to the vino crowd with many more having no preference. So I was expecting a wine win but hoping for a tie.
I was blown away by the results. Wine received the most votes on the first cheese and then beer won the next (5) rounds. And not nail biters either. These were double digit wins.
The best pairing of the night for me was Tomme de Savoie cheese with toasted rye cracker and apricot chutney with Saison Rue from The Bruery. I have not had Saison Rue in a long time but it really pairs well with food.
I have to say that this was a well organized event. I know some of the people involved, so I am a little biased, but the food and drink was served at proper intervals and was well done. The voting system was easy to use and their was plenty of staff to help. The only thing I can see improving is the sound system because after a few rounds the noise level markedly increased.
Tomorrow night at the wonderful Blue Palms is…”a loosely structured double-blind tasting of beers within a set theme– this time, “Cupid’s Arrow: The Beer That Got You Hooked.” The idea is that this is a way to strip away any pretensions and preconceptions about specific beers you are drinking, and to challenge and educate your palate about the flavors and aromas you experience.”
Just bring in (1) bomber or (2) twelve ouncers to join in the fun and train your palate some more.
For more details go to Blue Palms Brewhouse.
It’s red carpet time…
for BEER!
Check out this link at BLUE PALMS BREWHOUSE for the details on tonights beer premiere and cheese tasting. Sounds like a great time. Mischief is a really great beer and Oude Tart is on my ever growing to try list.
Roll out the red carpet, LA. Forget the Oscars and the Grammys. Last night brought two new and highly anticipated beers to the City of Angels.
First at the Daily Pint was Life and Limb from Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada. Sadly, Limb and Life did not make it, yet. Now this a winter warmer. As I tried to explain it to people, this beer is a porter with Sierra Nevada hoppiness on one side and Dogfish Head alcohol warmth on the other. It worked for me but it like the other beer I had are sippers.
Then I drove back across town to Blue Palms for the unveiling of Firestone-Walker 13th Anniversary. Brian Lenzo had the foresight, nay genius, to start buying these beers years ago and has amassed quite the impressive collection. He had a sampler of 10, 11, 12 and 13. The 13 was nice. You may know me as the dark beer hater but 13 had a good balance. Some liquor aroma and bite but the beer was still there and it was smooth. Plus it was good to see celebrated Celebrator writer Tomm Carroll amongst all the familiar faces. Next years vertical flight should be killer.
Hollywood got treated to an awesome line-up of Green Flash beers last night. I had a tasting flight of four beers and I still could have had two more flights of just their beer. Chuck Silva came up from Vista to talk with the drinkers in attendance.
Green Flash is known for using teheir fair share of hops but the beers that worked best for me was their 30th Street Pale which was almost a session IPA. It had a great citrus taste without a bitter hit at the end. The other beer that I enjoyed was the Coffee Stout. It had a nice blend of coffee, chocolate and bourbon flavors mixed into a nice smooth brew. The other hit of the night amongst my drinking companions was the Saison. Nice and light with an excellent light yellow look.
Click HERE to get to the LA Beer Week site
The Blue Palms hosted the Coney Island Freaktoberfest and I would have to say that the beers were freakier than the guy pounding a nail into his nose or the lady who was carrying a large snake around.
So I started with the titular beer of the evening. Freaktoberfest which pours red due to “Zombie blood”. It was a crisp amber lager at 6.66% abv. A fine way to start the evening off.
Then because the list at Blue Palms is so impressive, I went for a sampler tray. First was the Jew’belation Bar Mitzvah. 13 Grains. 13 Hops. A big imperial stout. This is a sipper beer. There are bourbon notes in this dark black beer. Next was Speakeasy’s Mickey Finn. Another imperial but this time of the red variety. It is really hoppy up front then it fades and the alcohol takes over. Number three on the list was the Avery Piglet Purgatory. A 1/2 version of their popular IPA. It is a really nice beer. A good citrusy hop taste that is perfectly balanced. My favorite of the night. Next was St. Feuillien’s Printemps which was the weirdest beer of the night. There was a distinct candy / licorice flavor to it. It was light and sparkly but that sugar taste really skewed the palate. Lastly, I had a taster of the Midas Touch from Dogfish Head. It was a cross between a witbier and a hefeweizen and it worked for me. It was the lightest beer I had and quite good. My 2nd place finisher for sure.
A loud shout out to Paige who alerted me to the event. And if you act quickly, the Schmaltz and Coney Island crew will be at Boneyard Bistro tonight and the Freaktoberfest will be at the Other Room in Venice on Wednesday. Don’t miss out.
Click HERE to get to the LA Beer Week site
FREAKTOBERFEST!!!
at the Blue Palms Brew house
check out this LINK for more information