Tag: Der Wolfskopf

Posted on

Avery at the Wolfskopf

In recent months, the Goat Group has lured the 21st Amendment founders to town for storytelling and not resting on their laurels, they welcomed Adam Avery from his namesake Colorado brewery, Avery to Der Wolfskopf in Pasadena.
img_7495
It seemed mostly as a Meet and Greet for area reps and people in the business as opposed to an event for fans. So I stuck with tasting the different beers that were on offer as a quick re-introduction to their new offerings.

on tap:
El Gose – heavy on lime peel. Drying finish. Wine notes. Salt powers through at the end.
The Kaiser – super malty. A bit harsh. slight touch of chocolate. Cold spritz to it.

Neither rang the bell for me. Wouldn’t drink much of either.

from the bottle:
2015 PumpKYn – Still pretty hot. Rough drinker.
Raspberry sour – quite good balanced fruit taste. Not super sour.

The Raspberry Sour was the best of the bunch by far.
img_7493

Posted on

On the 21st Amendment Bandwagon in L.A.

I finally fell into bed at 1:30 am.

That was what happens when you travel from one Goat Group bar to another with Ryan Sweeney and the co-founders of 21st Amendment Brewery of San Leandro & San Francisco.

As with Greg Koch of Stone Brewing, Shaun O’Sullivan and Nicco Freccia have Westside LA roots and this pub crawl was a chance for the duo to tell stories of their early days.

The tour started at the Valley Surly Goat in Encino before hitting Pasadena for stops at The Blind Donkey and Der Wolfskopf (where I joined the group) before the end of the line at The Verdugo Bar. In between there were cans of Toaster Pastry and Down to Earth Session IPA, I learned the backstory about each plus details on a new IPA in the pipeline, Blah-Blah-Blah. I even asked if they would be joining the fruit IPA bandwagon and got a resounding no.

I also heard about a cool and immersive beer dinner that they are planning that involves a speakeasy, being “arrested”, a boat trip to Alcatraz and dinner from the Alcatraz cookbook as interpreted by modern chefs. With 21A beers, of course.

This bus trip proved the point that beer people are cool and learning even just a few tidbits of what is behind the beer can add to the pleasure when you drink one.
IMG_6704

Posted on

Der Wolfskopf – Photos

I wrote about Der Wolfskopf a couple days ago over on Food GPS but I thought I would add some photos here to give you a visual idea for the bar with the Germanic curated tap list.

The hazy and honey tasting Grevensteiner Landbier.
The hazy and honey tasting Grevensteiner Landbier.
The main taps with Veltins off camera to the left and the Weihenstephan special tap to the right.
The main taps with Veltins off camera to the left and the Weihenstephan special tap to the right.
Page 1 of the tap list.
Page 1 of the tap list.
Flying the flags.
Flying the flags.
Posted on

In the Tap Lines for September 2015

header_attractions
The drought continues as we in L.A. await the Godzilla El Nino.  But we are keeping cool with a bevy of events this month.

~ e-visits to three breweries just north of Beervana in Vancouver, Washington
~ special reviews of beers of Oktoberfest like Sierra Nevada and Left Hand.
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ Beer-centric podcast review, Good Beer Hunting
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 103 will converge bloggers onto a single topic, this month The Hard Stuff

Here are two events to get your August started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) September 1st – Angel City premieres their Jameson barrel aged beer.
2) Late September – Der Wolfskopf will be hosting Oktoberfest at their German themed Pasadena location.