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I am all about the smaller sized to-go option. As much as I love crowlers, 32oz and some of the prices are too steep for me to pull the credit card trigger.
But Glendale’s Brewyard Beer Co. has started testing a new 16oz canning machine. And now, you can order up a pint of their selected tap beers for the road.
Brewyard has a second can release in the pipeline filled with the C’s Chinook, Cascade and Columbus in their Younger influenced IPL. Look for it in one week on St. Patrick’s Day.
Instead of talking about the final score of yesterday’s really good game, instead let’s talk about the score of bottles and cans that were had while waiting for play to resume on the field….
Beer buddy Richard and I started with Bell’s seasonal Hopslam. Go big or go home. The smoothness of the honey really works with the hops. It’s been a while since I had this beer and it was really good.
That was followed by KSA from Fort Point. You can’t drink big hops all game long especially a game with so many interruptions (though this year, not too many flags from the officials) and KSA was a good palate cleanser.
On to the third can of the day, this one from Pizza Port, their new Surf Stop Pale Ale, which seemed more IPA, maybe session IPA.
Next came yet another can, this the first cans ever from Brewyard Beer of Glendale. They put their Blonde Common Lager, Sunday Morning into 16oz cans and it was probably the winner of the day by a field goal over the crowler of Fortunate Islands that I had picked up from the DTLA Dankness Dojo earlier in the day. This was the grapefruit version and it was brewed here in Los Angeles.
As confetti rained on the Eagles, the final beer was opened from Yo-Ho Sorry Umami IPA made with bonito flakes. It wasn’t super savory. Was actually more like a saison and though not an IPA it was quite good.
P.S. Thanks to the Metro Expo line for getting me to the party and back in one piece!
Thanks to a test run and the artwork of Jacqui Smith, the first canned Brewyard beer is available today!
Sunday Morning – Blonde California Lager 5.5% abv.
The easiest, most drinkable yet flavorful beer you will find. The clean crisp lager finish truly serves as a canvas to bring out the 100% malted barley grain bill and our unique “common” flavor profile.
16oz Can 4-Packs sell for $12. No Singles. No limit. Only 30 Cases available.
Brewyard of Glendale has a holiday anniversary to celebrate. The Western Avenue brewery will be hitting the 2 year mark and will have what they call an “extremely potent Woodford Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Belgian Dubbel” on hand on December 9th.
The Bottle release and party will have outdoor drinking, live music, DJ’s, Food, Raffle Prizes & a Silent Auction.
Brewyard of Glendale keeps on with the new beers and this month two hoppy offerings are dropping.
India Pale SMaSH (Single Malt Single Hop) Common
This experimental pilot batch uses Meccagrade floor-malted 2 row and Ekuanot Cryo Hops.
EXPECTED – Mid October
Bavarian White Melon IPA
We’re brewing up a new IPA to replace our Juicy Lies IPA. Why? Just cuz. It will use the same hops but will be closer to an actual IPA in terms of color and body. The Mandarina Bavaria, Hallertau Blanc and Huell Melon hops give this light IPA a refreshing citrus flavor and pronounced hop finish. Perfect for the hot Los Angeles climate.
EXPECTED – End of October
Start looking at your December calendar and blow off the company Christmas party for…..
Brewyard Beer Co. will be breaking out a specially made for the occasion beer and will have outdoor seating as well.
L.A. is large, if you haven’t noticed, and sometimes great beer events are held too far away for me to get to. Heck, trying to get to Hollywood from Burbank on a weekday to a 7pm event is stressful.
So when I heard that the famed brewmaster from Brasserie Dupont was going to be in town for L.A. Beer Week, I said a little prayer that the event would be in striking distance. It wasn’t. But then, luck smiled on me and my Eastside/Valley Beer Week plans. Olivier Dedeycker would be making a stop in my city at the Glendale Tap!
It was scheduled at 9pm but in beer time that means something else. I waited until after 10pm drinking the insanely good Deux Amis without nary a sign of the famed brewer or the other famed partner, Tomme Arthur.
Thankfully, earlier in the day. Tomato Pie was on the agenda as well as beers from Glendale’s Brewyard Beer Co.
First up was the new Brewyard Perky DIPL coming in at 9.3% which makes it the biggest beer that the duo have concocted to date and it took quite a bit of work and first time making it jitters. Initially I go watermelon notes but then there was quite a mineral laden bitterness that really followed. Some beers don’t fit the style that they are talked of but this beer is a DIPL for sure.
To simultaneously ramp down and jolt up, I tasted the Sunday Morning Joe. Which was grand. The light base of the beer really left room for the coffee to shine which it did. More and more, I like coffee beers that aren’t laid on top of large, grand stouts.
Then onto the Tap where Deux Amis waited…
…and the beer is just so good. The only review I need to convey is that if you see it on tap or in bottles, BUY IT! It has a Hefeweizen clove aroma but it is so smooth with an undertone of hops. Simple and complex at the same time. I amend my previous suggestion. Buy it. Also buy the dry hopped Saison and the “plain” Saison Dupont and invite friends over for a tasting.
I did mention it was good? Right?
I have lived in Glendale for quite some time now. Going on 20 years if my math is correct. And in all that time, there has been a total of one brewery that attempted to make a go at brewing in the Jewel City. The long, long gone GlenCastle which became a Don Cuco’s Mexican restaurant for a short while and is now vacant. I don’t remember the beers being world class but the location and interior were nice and if the fallout of brewpubs hadn’t happened maybe it would still be here today.
You could argue that Golden Road or Eagle Rock, though technically both LA, are so close to Glendale that it makes the need for a brewery moot, it would be nice to have a coaster from a brewery that said “Brewed in Glendale”.
Come 2015, it might become a reality.
Though the irony is that though the proposed Brewyard Beer Co. would be located in Glendale, it is probably closer to a majority of Burbank residents than Glendale ones. Myself included. But for those thirsty souls who work at Disney and Dreamworks and ABC7, they will have beer close to hand.
For the time being, it is follow them on social media to gauge their progress. The duo behind the brewery Kirk Nishikawa and Sherwin Antonio have a home brewing background and hopefully the moxie to make Glendale home to a local beer again.