Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Starting tonight you have three chances to get some of this year’s 16th anniversary ale from Firestone-Walker.
Chance # 1
BottleRock in Culver City 7-10pm Firestone flight with XVI TONIGHT!
Chance # 2
We are also having XVI poured at the Daily Pint on Nov 29th. 8+ Firestone Beers on tap plus XVI and DDBA. Beginning at 7pm
Chance # 3
We’re doing a XVI party at Steingarten on Nov 30th around 7pm. Dave Watrous has stocked up some goodies to pour alongside XVI.
For all of you lucky enough to be in Los Angeles, Parabola from Firestone-Walker will be pouring soon from many of the fine craft beer establishments.
So check out Blue Palms, The Daily Pint and this Tuesday the 18th, the Surly Goat for a chance to taste why F-W is a World Beer Cup winning brewery.
Roll out the red carpet, LA. Forget the Oscars and the Grammys. Last night brought two new and highly anticipated beers to the City of Angels.
First at the Daily Pint was Life and Limb from Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada. Sadly, Limb and Life did not make it, yet. Now this a winter warmer. As I tried to explain it to people, this beer is a porter with Sierra Nevada hoppiness on one side and Dogfish Head alcohol warmth on the other. It worked for me but it like the other beer I had are sippers.
Then I drove back across town to Blue Palms for the unveiling of Firestone-Walker 13th Anniversary. Brian Lenzo had the foresight, nay genius, to start buying these beers years ago and has amassed quite the impressive collection. He had a sampler of 10, 11, 12 and 13. The 13 was nice. You may know me as the dark beer hater but 13 had a good balance. Some liquor aroma and bite but the beer was still there and it was smooth. Plus it was good to see celebrated Celebrator writer Tomm Carroll amongst all the familiar faces. Next years vertical flight should be killer.
Thank you Daily Pint for pouring the latest Vertical Epic from Stone! More on that in a bit. First, I have to say, that I really like Stone beers in French Oak. I had Arrogant Bastard from the Daily Pint handpump and it was smooth and hoppy with spice notes that could also make it a session beer. Of course, I recommended it to various people and they were taken aback. Presumably due to the lack of arrogance.
On to the Epic. It pours dark black and almost has the espresso head on it. It has spice notes and roasted notes and is easy to drink at first. Then the alcohol swoops in and it becomes more of a sipper. I am not a big dark beer fan but this is a complex beer with multiple flavors swirling in the glass.
photo courtesy of Richard Rosen
I made my first trip to the Daily Pint this Memorial Day weekend and it was well worth it. Very similar to Lucky Baldwin’s in Pasadena. Old (in a good way) with the smell of casks past. Really nice selection of good beer choices though I must say there were two customers who ordered BMC that made me wince.
On to better news, the beer! I started with the Sublimely Self-Righteous from Stone.
They really do dark IPA’s well. Probably better than anyone else. This pours a beautiful dark black with a great head. Easy to drink but heavy. This would be great for a late fall BBQ.
Second up was the Einhorn Spezial Pilsner.
Another beer that looks really good. Now, I am not a big pils fan. But this one is pretty good. I could have done with just the pint instead of the boot.
Lastly, I had a combo. A mixed beer cocktail so to speak. Youngs Double Chocolate with Raspberry lambic.
This was sooo good. Like a candy bar. The mixture was just right. I highly recommend this. Great for dessert instead of ice cream.