Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
I have been to the Short Stop over on the West Side once maybe twice. But this newly craft beer-ed, Melody Lounge from some of the same people behind Short Stop might get more visits because it is in much closer downtown LA.
24 taps that I will have to find time to scope out. Unless you have and you can tell me about it. Can you?
From your salad (in this case, kale) course….
…to the full El Segundo beer line-up…
…to dessert, you will read all about Pitfire Pizza in tomorrow’s Food GPS.
Ever since Angel City Brewery re-started back in 2012, they probably have kept getting asked the same brewery question. When are you going to be open? As beer geeks know, that always takes too long and usually not because the brewery doesn’t want to be open.
Well, we are closer to the start for Angel City. They had a sneak peek on the 4th and they will be open soon. With hours from Tuesday through Sunday. That was good news to hear but even better was that there was a new beer flowing! Vanilla Porter. And though a skosh cold for me it had a pleasant vanilla taste that was strong but not sweet and a good base porter as well.
The bar area is looking good…
.. and the rest of the massive building is slowly coming into focus.
When I see this space, so many possibilities swirl through my head. Though I will not try the slide.
It took me three years to finally make my first appearance at the L.A. Craft Beer Crawl. An ode to craft beer and downtown L.A. that is spearheaded by the Beer Chicks.
The crawl covers seven venues from 6th street stretching south to Olympic and Flower and there was a wide variety of beers including some new breweries and beers that I hadn’t encountered previously.
There were two tiers for tickets. You could get the VIP treatment and two extra hours and access to limited availability beers or you could shell out a little less cash and get your glass at 3pm. I ventured down the stairs to Casey’s Irish Pub on the stroke of 1pm and caught Rich Marcello from Strand tapping a cask with the help of the first customer in line. A wildly aromatic Citra IPA.
But my first beer of the day was from Anchor. It was Zymaster # 2 – Mark’s Mild and it was a really great way to not only open the drinking day but a really nice and zippy brown. Made me long for the # 1 which I have yet to taste.
Before leaving Casey’s (truth be told, I only got to 4 of the 7 bars) I sampled a wine barrel aged beer from Lake Elsinore’s Craft Brewing Company. And it was quite good. A nice wine kick that didn’t overpower the beer. I will be on the look out for more of their beer.
My standouts of the day also included the Black Butte 24 from Deschutes or practically anything Deschutes had because they had the Hair of the Dog collaboration Conflux # 1 there as well as their White IPA, Chainbreaker. The Sand Dune Sage from El Segundo was great and also at Cana Rum Bar was Kinetic Brewing’s Peanut Butter and Jelly Time which was really well done. Nicely balanced and not just a novelty beer.
Then I headed back to the world of air conditioning for two seminars. One led by Dave Watrous on sours which included a lovely Oud Gueze from Timmerman’s and the other on Italian beer led by Tomm Carroll which was quite exotic with a carob beer, a curry beer and a beer made with gentian which was my favorite of the group.
It was great to see so many people out enjoying craft beer and minus a few hiccups, my experience was of a well run event which is hard to do when stretched over many city blocks. Some of the volunteers didn’t have information but all were unfailingly polite and would point out people who knew more. There was water available to go or at each venue which is a necessity on hot days. My only quibble was that the seminars could have been better located with more signage pointing the way to where they were to be held and also, this is my big bugaboo, if you are having speakers, they need to be heard. So put them into quieter areas.
But the main review has to be of the beer choices available and this was well covered. Mostly local based but with fine additions and not just regular flagship beers (not that those are bad, but you need a mix). So on that metric the Beer Chicks did exemplary work.
Cheers to Roy and Gabriel from Beers in Paradise who shared the journey with me as well as to Rich and Efrain at the Strand booth. It was great to see Lee from Eagle Rock Brewing and the Hot Knives were also in attendance.
The full scoop will hit the interwebs on FoodGPS tomorrow but here are some photos from my recent visit to Angel City Brewing in downtown Los Angeles….
I slowly am visiting all of the new and (at this point, not so new) L.A. beer locales. And last Tuesday, I finally checked in at Buzz Wine and Beer in Downtown L.A.
The Beer is just inside the front door to the left and all chilled as well with many a style including what I purchased, Adnam’s Broadside and Grand Teton’s Snarling Badger Berliner Weisse as well as locals like Eagle Rock and Golden Road.
And if you are not grabbing to-go, you can also take a seat at their small beer and gaze upon the taps.
I went with the new 2012 Hoptimum from Sierra Nevada which to my palate tasted better than I remember from the past.
Good to have another addition to not only Downtown LA but to the L.A. Craft Beer scene in whole.
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….
Downtown LA is shaping up as a great beer destination. Far Bar in Little Tokyo, Public School 612 plus the yearly Craft Beer Crawl put on by the Beer Chicks.
Another addition to check out is the Buzz Wine & Beer Store on the corner of 5th Street & Spring Street.
From what they have posted on their website, they have a good mix of imports and California beers as well as a few others.
I will scout it out in the future and give a further report then.
Here is all the information you need for the crawl that is in one month:
“The beer festival so nice, we’re doing it twice! The 2nd Annual Los Angeles Craft Beer Crawl is happening again this year on Sat. August 13th. Again, we will showcase and celebrate all things craft beer in lively and vibrant historic downtown Los Angeles.
Taste as many samples of over 50 delicious craft beers across 7 different unique venues all within easy walking distance of each other (7 Grand, Golden Gopher, Las Perlas, Cana Rum Bar, Cole’s French Dip, Broadway Bar & Casey’s Irish Pub) We Beer Chicks are curating the beer and are collaborating on this event with Cedd Moses & 213 Ventures that will feature some of the top Craft and Artisanal Brewers in the country!
We are also proud to have the host of KCRW’s Good Food, renowned author and executive chef/owner of one of LA’s favorite restaurants, Angeli Caffe, Evan Kleiman involved with the Crawl this year. She’ll be curating a selection of delicious food trucks to indulge in along the crawl route.
A portion of the proceeds will go to Heal the Bay. an organization dedicated to making Southern California waters healthy, safe, and clean.
TICKETS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE ONLINE and cost $49.00. A bargain for what it includes: a 6oz tasting glass and wristband gaining access to all the venues featured in the festival, unlimited tastings of over 50 different taps in 7 different locations from 3pm-8pm. Hurry up, because tickets are going fast!”
I missed the first iteration of this event so I can’t give a thumbs up or any helpful hints. Except for making sure you use Metro. OK, another suggestion look for Noble Aleworks and Uncommon Brewers. Last thing, it is good to see resident L.A. food host Evan Kleiman involved. The craft beer scene could use her voice advocating for more breweries and better beer lists at restaurants.
I have visited the Public School 612 in downtown LA twice now. And both times, I have come away impressed.
I took different people each time to get their impressions. My wife and best beer buddy both commented on the really nice interior. Very calming. Both hip and modern at the same time.
The food has been quite good. The chicken was good and spicy for this scovill wimp and the burger with Huntsman cheese is not for the faint hearted. Bold flavors that you really need to savor and not scarf down.
Beer wise. This is a nice list. I would say you go here when people want something hearty but don’t want to sacrifice craft beer for good food. (Because of this, they have been duly added to my list of places to the right and under my cellar list and links)
The only downside is the noise level. As the evenings wear on, it can get loud. Not Bottega Louie loud but needing to shout loud.
Go early. Settle in and enjoy a great opportunity to pair food and beer.