Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
The Craft Beer & Brewing publication is adding a sister publication by just changing a pair of words. Craft Spirits & Distilling magazine is currently in the works which is a great development because more magazines is better.
Plus they can do a mega crossover event too!
We have all seen the sub-par beer names. The lazy ones, the sexist ones, the puns for days ones. Maybe we need to have AI on the case. It is passing certification tests left and right, so why not…
Here is one you can try…
….Craft Beer & Brewing’s annual round-up.
Here are the Los Angeles winners…
Readers Top 50 Beers – #23 Highland Park’s Timbo Pils
Readers Top Breweries – #13 Monkish, #15 Highland Park, #17 Beachwood
Editors Best Beers of 2022 – Highland Park Competition IPA, King Harbor Choco-Latte
Readers Best in Styles – Hazy IPA #8 Monkish, Abbey Ales #16 Monkish
Other friends / almost local Winners – Green Cheek, Figueroa Mountain, Bottle Logic, Firestone Walker
Our last stop for all of 2021 is in Pittsburgh at Grist House Brewery.
Let’s see what is in their house…
Twilight Hour Czech Amber Lager – “A sessionable lager full of flavor that is ideal for the winter months. This 14° Czech Amber lager was brewed with Bohemian pilsner and a variety of Crystal, Munich, and Vienna malts that lend flavors of caramel, biscuits, and honey. Hopped with CZ Saaz for balance and slight spice flavors and fermented cold with Czech Pilsen yeast.”
Frosted Silence Dessert Sour – “A beer to warm your soul in the cold winter months. Tart red plums and apple cider combine perfectly with cinnamon and vanilla for a delightful frosted treat.”
Clean Line West Coast IPA – “With big aroma and inviting bitterness, this West Coast IPA may rock the boat. Brewed with Ekuanot, Mosaic, and Simcoe, Canoe Rocker boasts delightful notes of tropical fruit and citrus.”
Siberian Highway Imperial Stout – “This Russian Imperial Stout was aged 12 months in Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels and condition on cacao nibs, Indian Mysore coffee from Allegheny Coffee & Tea, Madagascar Vanilla beans, Cinnamon, Cascabel peppers, and Lactose.”
To Colorado and Czech beers at third Cohesion Brewing Company.
Let’s have some lagers, shall we?
Cohesion 10º: Světlé Výčepní Pivo (Pale Draft Beer) “Single decocted lager with a light hop flavor and touch of malt sweetness. The most commonly consumed style in the Czech Republic. Honey, refreshing, smooth.”
Cohesion Polotmavý: Ležák 12º (Half Dark Lager) “Our amber lager with a name that translates to “half dark”. Rich notes of caramel malty goodness are balanced by herbal hop flavors, and a touch of bitterness. Malty, nutty, balanced.”
Cohesion 12º: Světlý Ležák (Pale Lager) “Our version of the most famous Czech lager – the original pilsner from Pilsner Urquell falling in this style. A full bodied malty lager with a rounded bitterness. Sweet hay, herbal, pleasant bitterness.”
Cohesion Tmavý: 14º Tmavý Speciální Pivo (Special Dark Beer) “Dark brown with rich malt flavors, this double decocted lager has flavors of toffee and a touch dark chocolate, with a light finish. Rich, toasted malt, full-bodied.”
I read through the 2021 Best Of… issue of Craft Beer & Brewing magazine to select three that grabbed my attention. Let’s start with Roaring Table Brewing Co. from Lake Zurich, Illinois.
12 Degree Czech Dark Lager – “Coming in at 4.4 abv this tmavé pivo features pilsen, caramel, roasted and toasted malts. Smooth, crisp and perfect for this time in the Midwest. Na Zdravi!!! And before you ask.. no we are no fluent..”
Ex Libris Wild Ale – “This blonde mixed-fermentation beer comes Solera-style from our Foeder Crafters oak foeder, which we first filled in July 2017.”
Frequency # 2 Pineapple Soursop – “Our tart and funky foeder base aged 14 months on fruit purée in a second-use Chardonnay barrel. Big sweet-tart pineapple and subtle coconut on a dry and zesty body. “
Supergigantic Metafantastic Hazy DIPA – “Get your haze, your hazy days, your metagaze on those metaplays, the one where the one is the one. Get a turtle, get a tortoise, here we are now, thus comport us.”
November is not even finished but in beer punditry world, the year is done and dusted and it is time to rank the beers!
Here are some notables (in my view) from Craft Beer & Brewing magazine and their 20 Best of 2021
Maplewood Barrel Aged Cuppa Vanilla Rye (Chicago) That sounds like a breakfast beer.
Vitamin Sea Tropical Envy (Collaboration with Civil Society Brewing (East Weymouth, Massachusetts) Usually TIPAs don’t make the list.
Green Bench Postcard Pils (St. Petersburg, Florida) Always a pils on the list
Oxbow Crossfade (Newcastle, Maine) Oxbow is one of those who almost always make the list.
Wild Provisions Metes & Bounds: Red Globe Peach (Boulder, Colorado) Now I am interested to try a red globe peach.
Resident Culture Static God (Charlotte, North Carolina) Always a lager on the list.
Breakside True Gold (Portland, Oregon) Go Oregon!
Triple Crossing One and the Same (Richmond, Virginia)
WeldWerks Starry Noche (Greeley, Colorado) Perennially added brewery
Green Cheek It Just Works (Orange, California) I have had this one! Wasn’t super impressed by it.
There is a nice mix of lists from Crafts Beer & Brewing magazine. Bordering on too many almost. You have a main Best of featuring twenty beers of which I had three. Then there are readers choice categories in top 50, favorite brewery by category and a who brews it best by style. Then there are five more Best of’s from different contributors.
From an LA perspective Monkish gets their hazy (and stout) love but Highland Park is making some serious inroads and could almost be considered 1B from our area. Speaking of, the excellent Glendale Tap in my adopted town made the best beer list which s quite the commendation.
The sheer amount of beers can lead to overload but you can see patterns emerge as you see breweries show up on multiple lists. You may have to make notes in the margins but this is a lot of helpful leads.
Our final virtual brewery tour for 2019 takes us to North Carolina for something new, New Anthem Beer Project.
New Anthem has (2) locations in Wilmington and a long list of past beers of which there are a few that I want to highlight from their Belge section…
Nothing in My Brain – Tripel
Quiet Corners – Red Ale
Finger Pistols – Saison
Doing Mischief – Saison
They also have beer sections labeled Hoppy, Dark, Lager and Mixed Ferm.
I looked through the Best of listed from Craft Beer & Brewing magazines lists (organized by barrel size) and plucked out three breweries to highlight this month, starting us off is Hop Butcher for the World.
Hailing from Darien, Illinois and taking their name from poet Carl Sandburg this brewery which is lauded in the less than 15K barrels category has very distinctive branding.
Here are the beers that I would try first and the hops in each beer for this hop-centric brewery…
Supreme Being Pilsner – Saaz, Select & Monroe
New Oklahoma Pale Ale – Barbe Rouge & Mosaic
Lush Terrain IPA – Mosaic, Wai-iti, Motueka, Waimea & Moutere
Blazed Orange DIPA – Citra & Strata