Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
It has been a bit since I have mentioned Firestone Walker and Buellton but a new beer is coming out that changes that trend and it is a unique one, Saffron Saison a wild saison ale with (take a guees) saffron, sweet orange peel and Indian coriander. It is a Batch No 1 release.
I will be at a different festival on April 15th but if you are looking for a lager that day, there will be a lot on offer just north of us, so read on.
“Over 40 craft breweries will be pouring some of the best Lagers in the Country. Lagerville will take place at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. in Buellton.
Guests will get to sample throughout the day and talk to the brewers that make these approachable Lagers. Your ticket includes a souvenir glass, and sampling from any of the breweries on site.
VIP Tickets are $65 and include an hour early entry. This is a limited ticket and will sellout soon! There will be special VIP beers poured that won’t be available during the General Admission Session.
General Admission tickets are $55 and include entry at 12 p.m.
Tickets at the door will be $65 for General Admission and there will not be VIP tickets available on the day of the event.”
If you are nearing lupulin overdose, hold on. There is a festival coming in May that can help.
Figueroa Mountain will be hosting their 1st Lagerville event at their Buellton based brewery on May 19th. L.A. locals like Eagle Rock, Enegren and King Harbor will be in attendance along with TAPS, Chapman Crafted , Brewery Rex and other known names.
A portion of the receipts will benefit the Los Padres Forest Watch, a charity that FigMtn has been working with for years.
Keep up to date with new over on Instahoot @lagerville.
Figueroa Mountain has added a new special series of beers to their super rapidly growing brewing empire that ranges from Santa Barbara to practically everywhere it seems. It is called Liquamentum and it literally means concoction but what it means for the consumer is more beer and wine blends since their Buellton HQ has some wineries around it. They will also be doing some additional barrel aging as well. The first two are in the pipeline already…..
Double Down Davy Brown (ABV 10.7%):
Davy Brown Ale has been one of our best-sellers and award-winners for some years now. More than that, it’s one of our favorite beers. One of our favorite beers to brew, to drink and to share with family and friends. We love this beer so much that we did what any appreciative brewery would do: double-mashed it and bourbon-barrel-aged it. This double-strength version of our beloved brown ale has all the qualities of the standard, plus the sherry/red fruit overtones of aging and a subtle undertone of American bourbon.
Hell’s Half Acre (ABV 11.4%):
Sitting below McKinley Peak, the tallest mountain in the Los Padres range, exists a craggy valley of boulders and rock outcroppings. Hell’s Half Acre, as it is called, is certainly one of the roughest and most textural features in Santa Barbara county. For its namesake, we brewed the most layered, complicated and textural beer to date: a massive, complex barrel-aged Barleywine. After a battle of epic proportions to fit the most malt we have ever put into our mash tun, testing the limits of our yeast’s strength and aging for 18 months in locally-sourced pinot noir barrels, we give you Hell’s Half Acre Barleywine. A viscous, vinous, ominous brew: sherry, oak, toffee and caramel on the nose with massive body and flavors of spun sugar, red fruit, granola, treacle and chocolate.
The last stop on the grand tour of Firestone-Walker that the brewery sent us humble L.A. Beer Bloggers on was in Buellton at the new in 2013, Barrelworks.
And at this stop, after another grand lunch with some really fresh and hoppy Pale 31, we had to do some (gasp!), actual work. OK, that was bit dramatic but we did get to try our hand at blending a sour beer.
We were given four beers to play with and let loose to create our own sour masterpiece.
My partner-in-crime for this experiment was Craig Berry from LA Beer Blog . We found a free spot and had to figure out how to blend the following:
Component #1 – Saison-Lil with Brett and Lacto in from an Opus One barrel
Component #2 – Saison with just Brett from a Viognier wine barrel
Component #3 – Saison with Brett and Lacto from a Viognier wine barrel
Component #4 – Bretta Weisse from a retired Union barrel
We then had to find our favorite by blending different percentages of each beer. Since I am a novice at this, it was a bit like playing Battleship. Guessing which beer should be in lower amounts and which beer needed more and then having to go back and trying again.
We came up with five different blends and liked the last couple attempts better so we were learning fast. But more importantly, I now know how hard it must be to do this and I have even more appreciation for “Sour” Jim who heads up the program. To figure out which blend is best is not easy.
Firestone-Walker is getting some competition for their Buellton outpost. Figueroa Mountain Brewing will be firing up their kettles with a nice variety of beers including Hurricane Deck Helles, Danish Red (for the Solvang crowd) and Stagecoach Stout. They have an experienced brewer on board and I hope they can compete against the massive crush of wineries in that area of California.
Good Luck and I hope to visit soon.
