In my mind, the Bruery has been on a roll in 2012. So many beers covering a wide range from light to dark and some great local collaborations with Eagle Rock and Bootlegger’s to name just two beers. Now they have teamed up with the high flyers at Hangar 24 for a strawberry accented beer called Ichigo Highway. Here is the review…
Here is the label copy, “Ichigo Highway is a collaborative beer that we created with Hangar 24 Brewing from Redlands, CA. The base style is a sessionable sour red ale that we aged in oak barrels along with a whopping amount of strawberries, most of which were picked from the fields besides Hangar 24’s brewery. Aged for approximately 8 months, this beer has developed a pleasant funk and a delightful acidity that is balanced by the intensely sweet aroma and flavor of the strawberries as well as a unique dryness achieved by using a sake yeast along with our house strain along with souring bacteria.”
Beer Review – Gigantic & Three Floyds – Axes of Evil
Beer # 3 from Gigantic is a collaboration with Indiana’s famed Three Floyds. Here is my review of Axes of Evil.
P.S. Beers 4 & 5 came out last month. Black Friday and the Royale….
Rhizing to the Horizon
Looks like the collaboration between Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada was fun enough and didn’t harm Life and Limb. So now they are back with a beer name likely to be misspelled on many a blog.
I would have liked to see them do a pilsner of helles but I will be trying this out if I run across it.
Throw the Stein
A great video about the collaboration between The Bruery and TAPS for A Stein’s Throw part of the Provisions Series of beers. The Bruery just this year has gotten together with Eagle Rock, Bootlegger’s and now TAPS.
Collage
For those of you who were scratching their heads at Conflux # 2. Here is the info on # 1!
“The beer is a blend of two Deschutes beers, The Stoic and The Dissident, as well as two Hair of the Dog beers, Fred and Adam. All four were brewed at Deschutes’ facility in Bend in March of 2010. All four were then aged in a variety of wooden barrels for two years including Rye Whiskey, Cognac, Sherry, Pinot Noir, Bourbon, used American Oak which previously held beer, new American Oak, and new Oregon Oak.”
An Oscar Worthy colLAboration
The colLAboration folks have done it again. Putting on a most excellent Oscar pre-party at a unique spot in Los Angeles that would not have been out of place in The Artist.
Multiple levels of the Belasco Theater were utilized to create a moving picture of craft beer. And, to me, the space proved a fitting backdrop with plenty of seating and outdoor nooks to huddle into and soak up a brilliant L.A. day.
The one fix that I would have made would have been to light the place up. Mood lighting is OK but near pitch black is another thing. I can deal with music and TV though I am not a fan of them at beer events but if I cannot even see what is on offer on the menu unless I am within a foot of the board then that is problematic.
I purchased (4) tokens and hoped that I would get my drinking in before the madness of Pliny the Younger. Which I thankfully accomplished. I started off with Hangar 24’s Vineaceous. A unique malt forward brew that had tastes of oranges first before any grape notes entered the picture. I moved on to Dogfish Head’s Ta Henket. More out of curiosity and it was a fine beer with black pepper notes hidden in it’s yellow hued color.
I sat in the balcony to enjoy my second Hangar 24 beer of the afternoon, the Spring Beer. A Belgian Hoppy pale. It took home favorite of the day for me. Good hop kick with a nice side of grain flavors that really worked well together. I finished up with High Water’s barley wine, Old and In the Way. Boy did that have a bourbony nose and body. As I drank more, notes of coconut came up along side some vanilla. A pleasant way to end an outing.
Oh and I got to see some world class beer pong from Ryan and Bryant….
Stone is a serial collaborator
Stone Brewing really picks interesting combos for their collaborations. Whether it is a big trio of Dogfish, Victory and Stone or a Japanese theme, they really explore many different breweries. And the latest duo to combine with Stone are Ninkasi (fresh off a collaboration with another Stone collaborator, 21st Amendment) and The Alchemist (the famed East Coast brewer that is on my long, long wish list of brewers to try).
Nelson Sauvin, Delta, Galaxy & Citra hops combined into More Brown than Black a brown/black ale with proceeds going to help The Alchemist dig out from flood damage caused by storms earlier this year. Maybe this will be the medium roast version of the Escondidian that was good but a little too roasty for the hops (which appears to be a trend in the Black IPA/CDA style).
Bottles should be available now and would make excellent stocking stuffers!
A Christmas ColLAboration
Who says L.A. can’t do Christmas? We may not have the biting cold, or frost, or snow and we may be able to walk around in shorts on Christmas Day but we can do the winter warmer.
Just in beer garden style, one week from today, thanks to the hardworking people behind ColLAboration. “This time around, the garden will feature a selection of winter and holiday brews (including 2 special releases from Golden Road), along with old favorites from: Golden Road Brewing, Eagle Rock Brewery, Cismontane, Hangar 24, Anchor Steam, Sierra Nevada, Eel River, Firestone Walker, Stone, Russian River, Lost Abbey, Dogfish Head, Oskar Blues, Avery, New Belgium, Bootleggers, TAPS, Bruery, Beachwood, Smog City and many more.”
Check out the details on the attached flyer below.
PLUS – Golden Road will be premiering two new beers from their Brewer’s Choice line!
colLAboration in July
If this can happen…
…then what may happen when the colLAboration takes a month long residence in West Hollywood?
Check out the website HERE to get all the details because you don’t want to miss the beer or the people at these events.
But for starters here is the general where and when….
Saturday, July 9th
12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday, July 16th
12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday, July 23rd – A Salute to Belgian Beers!
12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
8950 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, CA 90069
The new Duvel/ColLAb glasses are $15. Those who purchased the $10 glass from the first or second event can use that as their admission; most beers will be $5 to $6.
Surly Goat + Dogfish Head + The Bruery =
…the kick-off to the latest announced collaboration between Dogfish Head and The Bruery.
I started off my Surly Goat night with The Wanderer from The Bruery. This is another semi-rare Bruery offering. This one was brewed for the excellent City Beer Store of San Francisco (that if you haven’t visited, shame on you).
It was tart but not puckery with great raspberry/cherry notes. I could see this paired with ice cream.
After a somewhat desultory tasting of Red & White. (just didn’t work for me), the night was concluded with 90 Minute put through a “randall” with Intelligentsia coffee. Wow! The aromatics were amazing. And it carried through into the flavor. Tasted like a coffee amber. Delicious.
