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Oakland Block Party IPA is not a simple collaboration beer. It is huge. Count with me: Brix Factory, Cellarmaker, Ghost Town, Original Pattern and Temescal Brewing brewing “an “Oakland-style” IPA brewed with Admiral Maltings malt and dry-hopped with Mosaic, Simcoe and Riwaka”.
It is the official beer for celebrating the opening of the new Almanac Oakland taproom.
May brought a nice mix of new beers and new breweries and that is shown in the Best of for the month…
Santa Monica Brew Works Flecha Azul Margarita Sour – I have had a couple nice sours recently headlined by this SMBW that smartly combined margarita with sour in a Gose-ish way.
Trusted Gut Kristalweizen – clean and crisp but unmistakably weizen. Perfect for a summer day.
Ghost Town + North Park Ghost Park IPA – Cannot go wrong with North Park even if they are just half of the brewing team.
The big winner for the month is…..
Brouwerij West 8x8x Hazy DIPA – now this was a proper hazy. it was like drinking cream and pineapple and it had an impressive layer of murk to it.
Pizza Port / Ghost Town Forbidden Beach is certainly filled with enough hops for two breweries: Riwaka, Mosaic, Columbus, Simcoe and the yet un-named HBC 586.
There are a few breweries who have leaned into the realm of spookiness, one of which is Oakland’s Ghost Town Brewing. Time to get Wretched.
Pours a hazy light yellow color. Has the requisite softness on the palate. Getting an interesting combination of Concord grape and an earthy bitterness. Crawled out from underground as it were. There is a bit of a lemon underlaying the proceedings and I get that scratchy fuzzy mouthfeel at the end.