Sean Suggests for December 2013

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Time to break out and strong for Christmas. Get some beers to share with the family and friends around the fire. Here are three excellent and diverse choices for the Christmas.

~LIGHT

Grand Teton / Coming Home Belgian Dubbel 7.5% ABV

“Brewed in the Belgian Dubbel tradition, this year’s Coming Home Holiday Ale is big and bold yet imminently drinkable. Coming Home 2013 features celebratory flavors of dark sugar and raisins and a spicy, dry finish. It was brewed with pale and brown malts plus special dark candi sugar. The sugar addition provides a sweet aroma and dark fruit flavors without the cloying thickness typical of all-malt brews. Coming Home 2013 was fermented with ale yeast from a Belgian Trappist monastery to add hints of nutmeg, clove and other holiday spices. At 7.5% ABV this is an ale to be savored, enjoyed with friends over a holiday meal or paired with flavorful cheeses.”

~MEDIUM

The Bruery / Six Geese A Laying 11.5% ABV

“6 Geese-A-Laying is the 6th beer in our “12 Days of Christmas” series and is a return to the more classic dark and toasty winter ale, following the
appropriately blonde 5 Golden Rings. Brewed with cape gooseberries, this malty ale displays notes of plums, dark cherry and bright, citrus-like flavors from the namesake berries. Delicious right now, but suitable for aging up to 6 years, upon the release of 12 Drummers Drumming”

~DARK

He’Brew / Jewbelation Reborn 17 17.0% ABV

“How could we hope to top last year’s Jewbelation Sweet 16 with its cupcakes, unicorns, & Satan’s Ferrari birthday cake? massive challenge. So for Year 17, we threw in a whole new dimension to our shtick – we built our very own brewery! After 17 years of contract brewing, our first Shmaltz Clifton Park batch emerged 17 months after the first draft of the business plan.”

in the Tap Lines for December 2013

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December brings the “official” start to the Beer Search Party holiday ale season. One of my favorite times of the beer year. Maybe because it will be slightly cooler here in LA. Almost like fall. So there will be holiday ale posts, holiday ale reviews and as a bonus a report and photos from a Thanksgiving trip to Northern California breweries.

~ e-visits to three breweries from who do great holiday beers
~ video reviews samples two holiday beers
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 82 will converge bloggers onto a single topic, maybe thought provoking or maybe just fun
~ plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries

Here are two events to get your November started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) December 1 – Green Flash Brewing invades all the Congregation Ale House chapters
2) December 5th – Library Ale House hosts a Firestone Walker Anniversary bash

Sean suggests for December

This month I pick out another grab bag of beers going from light(ish) to heavy. We start with Boulevard which is now distributing in L.A., then head to Redlands for a winter beer from Hangar 24 before getting a Widmer special release with a southwestern twist.

In the Tap Lines for December 2012

Every December here on this very blog, I highlight a holiday/Christmas/winter warmer every day up until Christmas. Some of these beers aren’t available here in Los Angeles but your holiday travel plans may take you near one of them that you can taste.

~ e-visits to three breweries from the Austin, Texas area
~ video reviews tackles two new beers from The Bruery
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 70 will converge bloggers onto a single topic
~ plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries

Here are two events to get your November started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) December 1st – Mohawk Bend features Oregon’s Ninkasi Brewing all month
2) December 6th – Beachwood BBQ in Seal Beach will be hosting a Firestone-Walker 16th Anniversary event

December at Far Bar

Deschutes Reserve Series 2012 Pouring Monday, December 10th 6pm
“We will be pouring all three of Deschutes 2012 Reserve Series releases for this event: Black Butte XXIV, The Abyss and The Dissident (bottles). BB XXIV and The Abyss will be on draught while we will have very limited amount of The Dissident pours from the bottle. The Dissident we’ll only be offered on a flight of all three, while the other two will be available by flight or individual pour. We’ll have other Deschutes beers available on draught as well. So come out and join us for a very rare chance to taste this amazing line of beers all at once.”

Fifty / Fifty Eclipse Release Party Thursday, December 13th (Time TBD)
“We are very proud to announce that we will be hosting the LA area release party for the Fifty/ Fifty Eclipse series. The Eclipse Series has become one of the most elite and sought after Barrel-aged lines in the industry over the last four years. Every year the multiple time award winning brewery from Truckee, CA sources out some of the finest used oak bourbon and rye whiskey barrels then take their award-winning Totality Stout and age separate lots in each brand unique barrel for six monthsWe will have* Elijah Craig 12 year * Evan Williams Single * Rittenhouse Rye * Old Fitzgerald Bourbon * Bernheim Wheat Whiskey will all be pouring from the bottles as well as a couple of the treatments on draught (we’ll announce once we know which we’ll be receiving). We will also be pairing each treatment we receive with the corresponding whiskey from which the barrel it was aged.”

In the Tap lines for December 2011


December is all about the holiday ales. I started highlighting individual seasonal offerings right after Thanksgiving. So we all could celebrate each holiday in it’s proper time. It will end with a review of Anchor Christmas on Christmas.

Also, again thanks to Charissa Santos, for the above logo. If you like the look of it, check out her site HERE. She does branding, print and web design and she is easy to work with and she really made me take a hard look at where I am going and what my design does to help me get there.

~ e-visits to three beer-y spots that might catch Santa’s eye
~ video reviews of three wintertime beers including Anchor’s holiday offering on Christmas Day
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 58 will converge bloggers onto a single topic
~ plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries

Here are two events to get your December started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) December 3th ColLAboration Holiday Pop-Up Beer Garden
2) December 10th – Jingle Bell Jubilee at Blue Palms

Sean suggests for December

When I look for winter warmers, I look to places that have some serious cold weather. The places where some warmth is needed. So my three suggestions today are from England. You will notice that these don’t need high ABV’s to warm a person up on a snowy day.

Click
December 2010 Beers
for the pdf that you can print-out and take to the craft beer store.

In the Tap Lines for December 2010

We have reached the last month of the year. I hope all of you readers/drinkers had a great craft beer year!

Here is what I have planned for you this month:

~the final installment of the 50 Beers – 50 States challenge
~3 beers to try this month
~a crap ton of Holiday Seasonal ales to sample
~quick tours of 4 breweries from around the country
~the firkin will be opened and my opinions will flow
~video reviews of the Holiday seasonals

and MUCH MORE!