Best Beers of March 2024

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.

Brut N/A

There are certain styles that I feel would work better than others within the non-alcoholic realm and one of those is the out of favor, Brut IPA and Athletic Brewing has tackled it…

…the dryness of Brut combined with hops should cover that N/A deficit that many low alcohol beers show even in great examples.

Becher

Does the word in the headline ring a bell? It didn’t for me when I saw it on a can of Brutiful Day Brut IPA from AleSmith.

Becher is a shortened name. It is a German Pub glassware choice also known as the Willi Becher or Willybecher.

It is close, in style, to the much maligned shaker pint with a slight inward push near the top giving it a more sleek look in my opinion. I don’t know what aromatics make the glass appropriate for the Brut style but I will experiment since I do believe I have one of these glasses in my vast collection.

Brut Populism

I have been a bit remiss in posting about Eagle Rock beers lately. I have had their Smoke Stache recently and really enjoyed it as well as their hoppier offerings. Now they have a new Brut IPA in cans.

I will look for this green hued can because the Brut IPA is starting to become more of a favorite to me especially with some of the local interpretations. And using their base Populist IPA to build on intrigues me to compare and contrast.

Review – Brightside Extra Brut IPA from Drakes


It is probably past time for a review of the Brut IPA style, so here goes with the Drake’s Brewing Co. Brightside Extra Brut IPA from what you could call the AOC of the style, the Bay Area.

This IPA comes across not so bitter to me because there are other forces at play here that are stronger. It is indeed very dry. Bone dry to be more precise. Almost tannic in the taste. It pours a clear dark yellow and orange mix. This beer has a lovely and strong hop perfume aroma to it which foretells a bigger hop punch than what arrives. That aroma though is my favorite part of this beer. All of the fruit esters have been driven away and there is a super crisp finish to this. I like it but I if you gave me a dank or tropical or even milkshake-y IPA, I might reach for those first for a IPA kick.

Brut AF


The Full Pint beer blog has made it pretty easy to help them celebrate their 11th anniversary. They released a beer with Pizza Port, they have another with Faction Brewing coming up and for Angelenos, they have…. BRUT AF.

Here are the details for the El Segundo stop: “And we’re canning this sucker and throwing a party in its honor…Saturday, August 11th, 12PM-10PM, MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The Full Pint crew will be here hanging out and Vella Pizza will be cooking your favorite pie.”