My favorite month is here. Mostly ’cause it is my birthday month and I use all 28 or 29 days that I get to the point of exhausting everyone else. For this blog, I will do my best to exhaust you with beer news.
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Oregon
~ special featured reviews
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads Our Share of Night
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to An Arm and a Leg
~ Sports & A Beer returns with How to Fix the Blazers
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
I usually do not venture into the comments in social media because my opinion of humanity is already low enough as it is but when I saw noted home brewing authority Denny Conn posted this in the middle of this month….
….I delved into what people had to say and boy was it an eye opening. There is a lot of bruised feelings and ill will to how the Brewers Association (BA) is handling the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) and not just from rank and file homebrewers but from influential beer people whom I know from their writing and speaking. There is also a lot of low opinions of the marquee festival as well.
It is dispiriting to say the least because the BA and AHA really need each other in the way that a Major League Baseball team needs the minor leagues. And GABF needs to get its mojo back as well.
But despite the low ebb, the tide can turn. I would strongly suggest that the AHA be given autonomy on how it runs events so that the leadership of that group can brainstorm how to make HomeBrewCon and other gatherings more attractive to members. Folding a sliver of the event into GABF seems a small gesture at best. Perhaps smaller regional events are the way to go. But the AHA members should be charting the way not dictated at by Denver.
As for GABF, I have been twice (ages ago) and, yes, it is not for the faint of crowds or cup drop culture. But it is also a fantastic way to sample beers that you otherwise would have to take a year off of work and travel the country to taste. Again, maybe regional events would be a solution with a smaller, focused affair in Denver for those that win judging regionally. Sort of a March Madness model.
First off, there needs to be some fence mending and that means people getting together to talk about craft beer and how pros and amateurs can work in concert.
Well, if you read any of my Portland beer posts in the last week, then you know that this post is all about Duality Brewing in Portland.
And it wasn’t that they smashed a West Coast IPA or Bourbon barrel stout out of the park. No, they put Bergamot tea and Satsuma tangerine into a wheat beer and both featured ingredients shined like a laser, Then they took a Saison through a gauntlet of barrel aging, pine needle filtering and blending in cider and it was really excellent. Get thee to Duality!
I will say that a couple other beers deserve honorable mention. Radiant Beer Co.’s 3rd anniversary TIPA – All the Things We’ve Done was top notch and Santa Monica Brew Works Low and Slow Helles in partnership with Bludso’s BBQ was the perfect brisket accompaniment.
Another trip around the sun for this here beer blogger. Time to celebrate with an extra day and some extra special beers along with the usual posts such as….
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Washington State in honor of George’s birthday that he shares with me
~ special featured review my chosen birthday beer
~Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer Black AF History by Michael Harriot
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to True Detective – Night Country
~ Sports & A Beer returns with What are sports now anyway?
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Time to re-cap the best of Birthday Month. Hope your birthday is in February because it is just empirically the best of the months to be born in.
We start with a San Fernando Valley version of a NE IPA from Shadow Grove Brewing called Hexed. They have a woodsy Fantasy theme to their taproom and beer names and this was the best of week one.
Moving on were favorites from two special events. One a certain sportsball game and a second from a beachside beer festival. First is DTLA HiDef Brewing and their barrel-aged barleywine Bass Clef and second was Bow & Arrow’s Denim Tux Blue Corn Pilsner.
The winner of the month though was drunk two days before March, a British Pub Ale from the combined forces of Urban Roots and Berryessa Brewing. So Many Promises a beer based on, what?, Golden Promise malt? It is one of the few beers that cries out for more. At 4.2%, you can drink a few cans. Fantastic stuff, simple but better than most beers with multiple ingredients.
This month, heading into lighter beers. Even the over 7% choice is guava-fied putting it into more refreshing territory. To either ease out of big barrel-aged beers or into beer after a month off.
Birthday week and month is now over and it was an easy pick for best of the month, Eagle Rock Brewery and their nitro pour of Umi Kumā Lua, their anniversary IPA.
The IPA in standard form has nutmeg in the recipe but that is amped a notch with the nitro pour that has fresh ground nutmeg over a super creamy top plus umbrella to get the full effect. The hop and that cream layer with that spice really work as a whole. No nitro cans but the non-nitro version is also quite good with notes of pear and pine.
Pour Some Space in Your Face as this month choices hail from Ecliptic Brewing of Portland. Two locations in the Rose City to serve you. Mississippi Ave. and their still kinda new Moon Room. Plus we get drops here in L.A. too.
EclipticCapella Porter 5.2% – “Capella Porter is named after a bright star in the constellation Auriga. Sweet dark malt aromas are followed by a nice medium body. Flavors of chocolate and caramel meld with just a touch of roast. A collection of American hops (Nugget, Chinook, Centennial and Cascade) brighten this lively porter.”
EclipticPyxis Pilsner 5.5% – “Noble hops complement this balanced pilsner. Finishing crisp & refreshing, Pyxis is our spin on this classic German-style lager.”
EclipticPhaser IPA 6.5% – “Juicy and unfiltered, Phaser Hazy IPA stuns with a lively array of fruity hop notes. Phaser features Citra, Azacca, Mosaic and El Dorado hops.”
Considering that Utopias and de Garde was drunk this month, the pickings for best we’re still pretty slim. I really liked aspects of the Samuel Adams old beer and the Strata hop wild ale but both were pretty one sided affairs.
Oddly enough, where I found balance was in the big beers of Shadow Puppet. Both of their triple IPA’s found the sweet spot of hops, alcohol and texture. Rational Exuberance and Efficiency TIPA’s are my February best choices. The 12 ounces cans from the Livermore brewery reminded me of the beer El Segundo big IPA’s. Strong and hoppy in equal measure.
On to the top three IPA’s of 2021, Strata Aerobic from Highland Park Brewery drops out and The Coachman from Societe drops to third as Quintette from Indie Brewing grabs the number 2 slot just behind Visions from Offshoot Beer Co. Quintette an anniversary IPA from the DTLA brewery packed a punch but was also light on its feet. I finished the can and immediately wished that I had another.
Two reds and an oak for this month. It highlights that even in these heady beer times it can be hard to find just three red ales to fill out the scorecard.
LIGHT
SLO Brew Reggae Red – 5.6% – “This one-of-a-kind ale was born at our brewpub amidst influential musical acts of California’s 90’s reggae movement. A harmony of seven different malts, three types of hops, and a dash of hemp seeds makes Reggae Red a crowd pleaser.”
MEDIUM
Common Space Double Red – 7.5% – “Our Double Red brings the rich caramel flavors you expect, without the heavy, stickiness that weighs down some reds. Double Red has a huge charge of Cryo-hops to brighten and lift the caramel flavors up, and create a beer that is hoppy, malty, bold, and delicious.”
BIGGEST
Faction Oakes Imperial Stout on Nitro – 8.5%- “Our Russian Imperial Stout with oak chips. Shake the can and pour straight to activate the Nitro!”
