Tag: cans

Posted on

Oatmeal Pale Ale

Following on the heels of Cavatica Stout and their Stout month, Fort George has started to can up their popular Sunrise OPA (Oatmeal Pale Ale).

Here is what the brewery says about it, “Nice and Creamy session-style American Pale Ale. Good beer for drinking anytime of the day, even when the sun is rising, due to its dry nature with Mild bitterness and lovely hop aroma. This beer is based on the first beer ever produced at the Fort George Brewery, Beer#1, We decided to add 50 lbs of Oatmeal to make it even better. Famous quote: “I’ll have just one more OPA, please.” This beer has become a staff staple.”

Posted on

California Heights Market

The Bixby Knolls section of Long Beach has not only The Factory for craft beer but now I have learned there is a bottle shop in those whereabouts as well. California Heights Market can be the place to check out their beer collection.

You can never have a big enough arsenal of beer stores (especially in the vast and quite often traffic ridden expanses of the LA area) so I am happy there is another location that offers up the good stuff.

Posted on

A harbinger

I know that I seem to be pushing Sixpoint hard of late, but I really like both their beers and their marketing. And I am not the only one.

It is one of the fastest growing breweries in New York. And they are sending out more and more beers in their modern, yet traditional looking cans. I have been fortunate enough to have had a couple different selections from them and now they are bringing out more like Diesel and Harbinger to put on my wish list. Seeing a saison in a tallboy just brings a smile to my face. It really blurs the boundaries for people who still see cans as just lager receptacles.

Posted on

Welcome to Canland!

Yesterday was a big day at the yellow building at Golden Road Brewery. Not only were the cans ready to be sold and taken back home to ‘fridges across the southland but four new beers made their debut yesterday.

But back to Canlandia for a moment. These are really well designed. The first and most important part is that they hold a full 16ozs. You are getting your full pint. Second, these have a lovely design that really says Los Angeles on it in a James Cain’s “Paradise” sort of way. Wistful and evocative of an earlier time in L.A. And I love the personal note from Jon on each can. I am a sucker for a well designed label and these are great but it wouldn’t matter all that much and I certainly wouldn’t blog about it if the beer inside wasn’t worthy of it. It is. Point the Way is a great session IPA that doesn’t over bitter the senses and still makes room for a strong malt taste. I heathenly had one straight out of the can and it tasted great. Nice and fresh. The hefeweizen is strong too. Especially on the banana flavor side. You can get both at the brewery or later this month at Whole Foods down here.

On to the new. There was a wide spectrum of styles unveiled. The oft-overlooked brown ale was represented by Get Up Off that Brown and there was an alternate world IPA called Lost its Way. Both of which I will have to sample another day because I went with the cheekily named Either Side of the Hill Strong Ale and the El Hefe Anejo. Either Side is like the hefeweizen in that it is very much on point style wise. It was strong with a raisin, plum and candi sugar swirl of flavors. And like the other Golden Road brews, isn’t at all harsh. Very controlled. A nice winter warmer. The El Hefe sounds like a weird idea. Put Hefeweizen into a tequila barrel. But it works. You get a strong vanilla flavor at first that blends into a banana taste. And then there is a hint of spice at the far back. It did not remind me of tequila but it was extremely tasty.

Thanks to Meg, Jon and Tony for throwing a great introductory party for the tallboys!

Posted on

A Design Tip o’ the Hat

Cheers to Santa Fe Brewing for this great design.

Clean and simple with an appropriate color choice. It is eye catching because it is not trying to beat you over the head with graphics. Just a simple brand logo and a nice counterpoint with the green color on the font.

Oh and the beer sounds delicious too: “This is the kind of beer that gives the word “stout” a reputation. Extra generous quantities of barley malt, followed by vigorous fermentation leaves this “imperial” heavy weight with 8% alcohol A.B.V. and a body as full as chocolate bread pudding. A complimentary and complex array of bitter notes comes form potent American hops, earthy British hops, black-roasted malts and, of course, coffee. Santa Fe Brewing Company uses only top-quality ingredients like organically grown East Timor coffee beans blended with New Guinea coffee beans, locally roasted by O’hori’s Coffee House. Its heavenly flavor and aroma can’t be beat or imitated.”