Tag: DTLA United

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July United


The next iteration of the DTLA Brewers United Festival, # 4.0, is scheduled for Sunday, July 22nd from 4-8pm at the Triangle parking lot outside of Angel City Brewery in the Arts District.

Three items of note to help you decide to buy a ticket:
1. Each brewery will also showcase a themed fruit beer as well, perfect for the summer weather.
2. 100% of the proceeds benefit the Keep A Breast Foundation, a nonprofit breast cancer organization.
3. Highland Park – Chinatown has been added to the mix

Your list of breweries is this: Participating breweries include Angel City Brewery, Arts District Brewing Co, Boomtown Brewery, Dry River Brewing, Highland Park Brewery, Indie Brewing Company, Iron Triangle Brewing, and Mumford Brewing.

Here are you ticket details, General admission tickets are $45 and include unlimited tastings and commemorative glassware. Designated driver tickets are also available for $15. Guests must be 21+ to attend. RSVP and purchase tickets HERE.

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Wild Ojai

Another stark reminder of the devastating fire to the north of Los Angeles is yesterday’s release of Ojai Wild.

The beer is a collaboration of all the DTLA Brewers United that used wild yeast captured in Ojai, during the group’s annual brewery camping trip for Extreme Beer Festival.

Alas, the area that the yeast was plucked from was destroyed by the fire, which makes this almost a historical record of the flora and fauna of the region.

Look for it at the Dry River taproom.

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Recap – DTLA United 2018

I made a late decision to attend the DTLA United event last Sunday and I am glad I did because my two favorite beers were from a DTLA brewery that has been hit or miss in the past,

that brewery being Boomtown. But their brand new Ignorant NE DIPA has excellent label art and is really good (though I am still partial to Mic Czech). I also tried their Little Shady Dark Lager and it was top notch too. The malt really got to shine.

Sour wise both the Mumford Something Borrowed Sour IPA and the Dry River F1 were excellent. My second and third favorites whose beers I now expect to be good or the very least unique.

The only down beer of the few I tasted was from Arts District, my now perennial back of the pack of the DTLA group. I had Nigel, which the placard said was hazy but Untappd claims is a Mild. The beer I had was neither. Maybe by that point the heat had gotten to me. Despite the rain earlier in the week, this event seems to always be bathed in penetrating sun. The good idea to have special barleywine tappings is great on paper but I could not bring myself to taste even one over 10% bruiser.

The event has expanded it’s footprint to include the mini Street between the Triangle and Angel City which allowed for elbow room and a bit more seating but misting stations or pop-up tents were sorely in need to keep the sun at bay. I certainly would have stayed longer with a tent to shade me.

The format of this event works for me though I think it might also work to sell flights in a separate area. One from each brewery and the barleywine for say $15 because with each brewery bringing only two beers, it is a quick festival with only 7 breweries pouring, that is 14 beers in small doses minus any you may have already imbibed before.

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Photos from the 2nd DTLA United Fest

Yesterday, I was back in DTLA (seem to be there more and more frequently) for the 2nd DTLA United Festival.

Here are some photos and notes on the event….
Above is the Saazberry from Angel City.  I tried that and Funky Wit and the Saaz with it’s pretty color and interplay of hop and fruit was the clear winner.

Speaking of winner, my favorite on the day was the Mumford So Hot Right Now pilsner, which reminded me of Pivo Pils.  It had a great hop hit that didn’t detract a note from the light pils.

Keeping it cool, I went for the Arts District lager, Daily Affirmation.  A little too grainy for me and not super refreshing.  I chased it with Indie Brewing’s Eastside Pale which quenched the thirst the hot sun was creating.

Then the Mercury Rising was rising, so I tasted the new Summer Ale from Boomtown with that name.  It was good but I sorta wished they had brung Mic Czech instead.

I finished up the day with two “United” beers done especially for the fest.  Arts District and Mumford did hoppy iterations. Again the Mumford grabbed my attention. A hybrid East/West IPA with much haze it added a lovely juice note with a hoppy swagger.

The scuttlebutt is that this event will become twice a year with the DTLA Bus Hops becoming a once a year LABW item instead of quarterly. If so, I would certainly pick the spring, winter event over the heated summer one.

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DTLA United – Year 2

In what has to be the smallest footprint of a beer festival, last year’s DTLA United Fest, occupied a teeny triangle sliver of space in the Arts District.

The fest is back for year 2. In the same small spot.

If you are available from 4-8 PM on Sunday, July 16th and are quick on the ticket buying draw, for only $45 you will get unlimited tastings featuring limited edition and specialty beers from the 7 DTLA Breweries (and other local libations and food).

The best part? 100% of the proceeds will benefit Keep A Breast.

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DTLA Invades Mikkeller DTLA


Mikkeller Bar in DTLA has already been collaborative with Arts District Brewing and now they are congregating all the DTLA beer makers under their Olympic Boulevard roof tomorrow night for taps filled with “exclusive & limited run beers, as well as local favorites…”

beers from the following:
MUMFORD BREWING
ARTS DISTRICT BREWING CO
DRY RIVER BREWING
BOOMTOWN BREWERY
ARSENAL URBAN ALES
INDIE BREWING CO
IRON TRIANGLE BREWERY
ANGEL CITY BREWERY
KARL STRAUSS BREWING

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Photos – DTLA United Festival

I fought my way through the Ciclavia to Angel City for the first (of what may become annual) DTLA United Festivals.
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Here are a few photos and my quick thoughts on the event…..
DTLA Fest
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I knew that this was a small festival but it was literally just the corner lot where the Farmer’s Market normally congregates in the Arts District. There were no lines to get in. Only 150 tickets were sold. Plenty of elbow room and you could talk with the brewers for minutes on end without interruption.
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Onto the beers that struck my fancy. Cowboy Curtis from Arts District (the silver medal winner from GABF) was a finely balanced hit of smoke and chocolate. By far the best beer on the day and that I have had from ADBC. Second for me was Llorona from Dry River. Described as a dark sour which it was in flavor if not color. Indie Brewing had a lacto version of the 7th Street Saison that was wonderfully dry and quite earthy.

The two beers from Mumford Brewing, well, I was expecting more. The Pantsuit Saison was a bit rough and abrasive and the DTLA IPA was not to the heights that past hop offerings from them have been.
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Not only was their craft beer flowing, there were two emissaries from the land of spirits. Greenbar Distilling and the Spirit Guild were pouring as well. Spirit Guild makes their Vapid Vodka and Astral Pacific Gin from Clementine oranges which added a citric tint to both. Greenbar was pouring their foray into hops with their hop liquer.
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Because the fest was so tiny, there wasn’t much to take issue with. There was a good variety of beer, there were special pours throughout the afternoon. Water was readily available, as were restrooms. Everyone was in a great mood and you could almost (if you were ambitious) try everything that was being tapped before hopping onto public transport.

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#LABW8 – DTLA United

Last night was the night for Downtown LA beer to shine. L.A. Beer Hop was shuttling from Boomtown in the North East to Iron Triangle in the South and each brewery in between.
DTLA United
I did not stop at each and everyone but I did get a few pints and here is the report from the LABW8 evening….
lady roja
Thank God for ½ pours and tasters. A long night stretched ahead starting at Boomtown where Dry River was the guest and where I started my beer ordering with their Cigana Brett IPA. It had a strong does of bitterness which was cut by heavy horse blanket notes. This was old school Brett. Then I moved on to the the other beer on offer, Lady Roja. The first of two red/pink beers that I would have on the evening. It had a lot of pie spice notes and heavy hibiscus but neither was too overbearing.

Then it was over to the Boomtown side of the room to try their Aliso – Belgian Strong Dark. This beer was right on point for me. Nice hit of Candi sugar, bit of bitterness, and it had good strength to it. Probably my favorite of the night. Then it was on the bus to….
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Iron Triangle where I picked up a pair of new hoppy samplers starting with the Sluice Gate IPA. Nice. Probably a notch above the vast swath of IPA’s that are just fine. It had good body and aroma and I paired it with the Jawbone Black IPA. Which to me was not so hoppy. More on the dark malt side of the equation. There was a lurking grapefruit flavor in the back but that didn’t match well with the malt to me. I also had a few sips of the Socially Awkward Berliner. There is an initial burst but then the tart fades too quickly. Left with wheat notes.

Then the next stop was….
strawgose
…Angel City to try the premier of their Strawberry Gose. First off, strawberries are hard to add to beer. This is probably one of the better attempts at utilizing the berry. Now is it a gose? No. But there was a huge aroma and it was very tart and very cloudy pink. It worked for me.

Overall, this was a great way to get people to enjoy the beers at the breweries. There was a couple of things to add for next year. The buses stopped at 10pm and Mumford closed up shop around that time. Each of the LA Beer Hop buses should have had that fact displayed to help people plan. My group was left without a bus at Iron Triangle and had to get back to the center of action via alternate methods. Had we known the closing times, we could have planned our time more effectively. My second thought was that information about the breweries in DTLA could have been on the bus to pass out to. If the goal of the night is to get people to try new breweries, then a little bit of info might be a good sales pitch.

I just wish there had been more time to sneak in one more brewery before the clock struck last call.