Boomtown Brewery is taking advantage of being Arts District adjacent to adorn their latest DIPA release The Hunted with cool imagery. This time the artist is J. Collins and the beer is a hazy Double IPA. If you are a fan of Galaxy and Mosaic hops, then be ready on Saturday, September 22nd at 12:00PM for the sale. Four-packs are $18 and there will be food trucks, Hunted merch and music.
Medusa
If you have visited Boomtown Brewery then you have seen the art work of mural artist Richard Arthur. He designed both the Roxy Musicand David Bowie murals at the entrance.
Now Arthur’s label art will grace a new Boomtown beer, Medusa. On the 23rd you will be able to taste the hazy IPA on draft and in a can while Arthur creates live art. Also at the taproom will be an art gallery and music all day.
The artistry on and in cans is really setting L.A. apart from other brewing towns.
In the Tap Lines for January 2018
Welcome to 2018! For L.A. Beer fans, it will be a busy first month to the year with many anniversaries and events already on the calendar, anchored by the L.A. Beer and Food Festival. But we will duck outside for this month’s A Book & A Beer and to Durham, North Carolina to visit some breweries from our computers.
~ e-visits to three breweries from Durham, North Carolina perhaps Barrel Culture Brewing and Blending, Clouds Brewing, Fullsteam Brewery or Ponysaurus Brewing Co.
~ special featured reviews of beers bought during one visit to Sunset Beer.
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads The River Why
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Here are two events to get your January started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) January 4th – Boomtown Brewery Tap Take Over at Harajuku Taproom
2) January 13th – Transplants Brewing 2nd Anniversary
Review – Vagabond Cheese + Boomtown Beer
There is a world of cheese out there. In an alternate universe, I could see an alternate Sean writing a cheese blog instead of beer.
Of course that alternate blog would touch on beer, just like I am dancing about cheese now. Vagabond Cheese is showing up everywhere independent beer is at. Don’t believe me? Check out their calendar. It is pretty damn full.
A few days back, I finally did a guided beer and cheese pairing at Boomtown and it was really good. It is the best way to try and find cheeses that you like even though they are spendy, all without breaking the bank.
Here are the four selections that were served up:
Sbrinz AOP with What Gose Around
Ombra with Bad Hombre
Ossai-Iraty AOP with Obscura Guey
Sailnois with Submission
Boomtown meets Vagabond
The Sbrinz, to me, tasted like Parmesan without the grain. The hard cheese and the sour “grated” on me though.
The second cheese was close but not quite white cheddar-y with some butter notes. The cheese outshone the simple beer which did not add much.
The third tasting had it going. A creamy texture meets darker malt which was even better with almonds added into the mix.
There was some grain to final cheese but it also more cheddar notes which here mixed well with the banana esters from the dark Belgian golden. I would have to call a favorite tie between three and four.
Bartz BBQ at Boomtown
I showed up 30 minutes before the Boomtown Brewery taproom opened. Not to tour the brewery or because traffic was lighter than expected.
No, I was there to talk to Dustin Bartz of Bartz BBQ. And, yes, to taste the BBQ too.
You may have seen them set-up outside many local breweries such as Santa Monica Brew Works, El Segundo, Strand, Absolution and L.A. Ale Works
Dustin started serving up his Texas style BBQ at Absolution last 4th of July and has not slowed down since then. He catered the 7th anniversary for Strand and that was the need for his new rotating smoker came around. It has five racks and forty feet of cooking space and is his third and largest cooker in four years since embarking on his BBQ work.
The end product is great especially paired with the Cosmic Charlie Hoppy Brown. The Burnt Ends and pork worked well with the sauce (not a typical Texas thing) and the creamed corn and Mac n Cheese were awesome. And that is only the tip of the menu iceberg.
Bartz will be at Boomtown on Sundays throughout the summer.
New Boomtown
You would be forgiven if you thought that Boomtown Brewery in DTLA was already open.
But now they have actually opened their brand new and quite luxe tap room.
You look for the big mural and head down Jackson to the alley and go back past where the temp tap room was and head to the left and down the ramp to the large space where you will see a large space with dark wood accents on the far wall.
You make your turn to the right and find the bar and taps and the order board that is a bit hard to make out, so grab one of the menus on the bar to get the beer info to help you make your choice.
There are plenty of tables to choose from as well as couches to lounge in as you enjoy your beer.
DTLA tap rooms are a varied bunch and this one just screams classy night out.
Food GPS Teaser – A Boomtown of Breweries
Tomorrow on my bully pulpit of Brew & You on Food GPS, I will give a quick rundown of the opened, soon to open and future brewery openings in the Los Angeles area. One of which is Boomtown from the Stout chain of Burgers and Beer.
But I wanted to give an early warning about a beer festival that flew under the radar a few months back but I heard great things about. but is coming back again. BeerFest for BeerGeeks will be at the Studio City location and here is the lowdown for the November 3rd edition:
“There will be 18 hand selected breweries that will be pouring 2 beers per brewery. All the beers will either be barrel aged, sours, or unique one-offs. These beers will never be seen again or very hard to get, so don’t miss out! Every attendee receives unlimited 2 ounce pours, a souvenir glass, and appetizer type food.”