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Native Land

Don’t know how I missed it but in addition to the Black is Beautiful and Brave Noise beers, there is also the Native Land project .  It too is a national collaboration.  The beers done for this project aims to acknowledge the contributions and history of Native American People in the United States. It is the brainchild of New Mexico brewery, Bow & Arrow who announced the project on Indigenous Peoples Day back in October.  “Each brewery who chooses to participate is asked to acknowledge whose ancestral land they are located on and recognize the tribe on the label, while committing to donate proceeds from the beer sales to Native organizations whose work focuses on ecological stewardship and strengthening Native communities.”

Bow and Arrow founders Shyla Sheppard who is part of the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation, and her wife Missy Begay of the Navajo (Diné) Nation started the project and I hope like the others, the beers get people talking.

Below is the Ruse Brewing version…

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Review – 2 from AleSmith

Two new releases hit my doorstep courtesy of AleSmith Brewing and I couldn’t choose which to review, so I chose both!

Here are the brewery details on the latest Speedway Imperial Stout variant, “We used the comforting trio of Mexican dark chocolate, sea salt, and Mexican coffee to give the beer delectable notes of cacao and dark fruit, a subtle touch of cinnamon, and a kiss of roasty earthiness.”

The Tower of Flower is described thusly, “We’ve teamed up once again with our good friends at Beachwood Brewing to make this behemoth west coast-style India pale ale that has been double dry-hopped with Galaxy, Cashmere, and Nelson hops. This monstrous hop blend gives this beer intense notes of passion fruit, citrus, peach, and melon.”

On to the reviews…

The Tower of Flower pours a medium yellow shade. Initial thoughts are that it is crisp and bright, almost like an IPL. The dominant flavor for me is Concord grape. The four fruits listed in the description elude me. I also get a grasy bitterness as well. And that really sticks.

I expected more from the Speedway. Chocolate, coffee and sea salt are big flavors. I didn’t get much of a hit of that trio. Slightly like a milk chocolate covered espresso bean but really toned down.

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Stone Society

Or should I say Stone and Societe.

I am kind of surprised that the old school and new school San Diego breweries hadn’t collaborated before. But since they are, I am glad they are going the West Coast IPA route.

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Norwalk is Collaborating

Quite the range of cities for this triple collab….

You’ve got wine country, SLO and L.A. combining on a hazy IPA.

“A portion of proceeds from this beer will be donated to
OC Mariachi Kids in honor of the late great Maestro Zavala.”

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Refraction

One of these days, I want to ride along with wort as it is passed from one brewery to another to see what that journey is like. I assume Refraction went via land or rail and not air.

That wish aside, I hope a few bottles of this collaboration between Russian River and Brooklyn Brewery makes its way to SoCal bottle shoppes

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Not A Coffee IPA?

from the Hop Merchants social media feed

Long Beach Beer Lab and Ambitious Ales are only separated by a mile or two and now they are even closer on the label for a new beer that is A) hazy B) over 10% and C) made with oat cream.

So more latte than coffee IPA it seems.

PS – I recently opened a can and it is fantastic. Big coffee. Big latte and still the hops show through too. Pick one up.