Tag: Highland Park Brewery

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Mixed Culture and Pils


One of the side benefits of Firestone Walker bringing brewers to Los Angeles for their Pils & Love Fest is that those same brewers are in town and bring more beer with them.

Case in point: Highland Park – Chinatown will have two special events that might have you riding the Gold Line two evenings in a row….

Thursday July 26th is a Mixed Culture tap takeover with our friends visiting from out of state as well as some California locals.

Friday July 27th is our Lager tap takeover with Burial Beer featuring the same group of rad breweries from the night before.

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Lagers Only – Part 2

In two days time, you can sip on a plethora of lagers AND hear the story behind them at Lager Your Head.

The event will be held at Barbara’s at the Brewery and on hand will be Bob Kunz of Highland Park Brewing, Mark Jilg from Craftsman, Brian Thorson from Chapman Crafted and Tyler King from the new Brewery Rex.

Get your tickets HERE!

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HPB in Chinatown

If you have seen the brewery tucked into the Hermosillo that outputs the fantastic beer from Bob Kunz at Highland Park Brewery, both beer lovers and claustrophobics will be heartened to hear that the time drawing closer for when the brewery will break ground on their 2nd location in Chinatown.
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A location that will be very close to the Gold Line on Spring Street in the iconic LA neighborhood will house the new brewing facility, bar + and outdoor patio.

Once the ground is broken, it will probably be around 9 months before the new location opens making it a prime candidate for most anticipated of 2017.

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#LABW8 – Cellarmaker & Highland Park Brewery

Day 2 of #LABW8 is a friendly takeover of Highland Park by Cellarmaker from the Bay Area.
First up is Trading Burritos….
Brett IPA. Cloudy orange juice look. Has a sticky taste to the back. Hops are really juicy. The Brett isn’t big barnyard which is good. Guava aroma? Tropical fruit for sure.
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..then Baby Blammo
A Donut Friend collaboration. Stout with Angry Samoas from the next door donut house. Barrel aroma. Bit of smoke note to it. As it warms more chocolate starts revealing itself. It is probably too rich to even pair with donuts.
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This event got busy just like last year. With the bright and oppresively hot light streaming in it was hard to read the beer list to the point where I wish the beers were better listed. Which are collars and which are Cellarmaker.

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Another Return to HPB

It seems that every time I visit Highland Park Brewery that there are at least 4 to 5 new beers on tap. My latest visit was no different. After re-acquainting myself with my favorite Fill Pils, I got down to to business tasting the new arrivals.
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Hola LA
Cilantro and ancho. Good pepper kick but not overpowering the hops. The cilantro is a nice counterpoint. Heat grows but isn’t a barn burner. Little bit of red pepper skin notes

Cat Delivery DIPA
Big juicy.  Not citrus. More earthy. Grassy notes. Firmly in the DIPA category.

Gloom
Belgian Dark String with figs. Sweet.  Almost dopplebocky to me. Cinnamon notes. Reminds me of Christmas.

Partly Cloudy unfiltered IPA
Really like this. Orange creme taste. Looks pretty in a pint glass. Some chamomile notes.
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Review – HPB & Cellarmaker

The event that I was looking forward to the most was the collaboration + tap take-over between Cellarmaker Brewing and L.A.’s own Highland Park Brewery.
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With the focus being on the Brett IPA that they created together with the awesome name of Sharing Sandwiches. And though that beer was fine, it suffered from the where is the IPA syndrome that I have found in this sub-style. The Brett just takes over and leaves it’s indelible mark.

But the other three beers from San Francisco were all really good in different ways. Mocha & Cigarettes didn’t have much in the way of smoke that I could detect but what I did taste was a lovely milk chocolate porter. Really smooth with a touch of vanilla.

Mo’ Passion boasting Mosaic, Southern Passion and Zeus hops was also a really good hop offering. Bright and fruity on the nose with a bitterness that shined.

My favorite though was the Typo Pills. Probably not for purists of pilsners because this had a hop hit to it that brought out some Sweet Tart notes to me. But I really liked that combo. It was crisp and delightful.

Those beers alone would have justified the packed house.

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Review – Lazy Susan from Highland Park

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I finally cracked open the bottle of the low ABV but seriously puckery bottle of Lazy Susan from Highland Park Brewery and it is a damn fine sour.  It starts off super tart with a touch of a wine barrel character. As you can see from the photo it pours a lovely orange yellow color and looks great against the slightly surreal label artwork. There is a touch of sweet tart along with a wheat and grain taste in the back. The sour aroma comes off in waves and their is a big initial pucker to it. The peach and nectarine are there but muted behind the sour.

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Oregon Collaboration Review # 1 – Pfriem & HPB

Hood River to Highland Park.  That is quite the distance for a collaboration but when the brewers at each have known each other for a long, long time then the miles don’t matter.

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And now we have the pFriem Spaceship Pale Ale that is dosed with the German Huell Melon hops. Bob Kunz at Highland Park brewed with Josh of pFriem for this hoppy addition to the HPB family.

The pFriem Spaceship has an orange oil essence aroma while the taste toggles between cereal and orange (skin and essence). Overall this light orange/yellow beer is probably more in the hoppy XPA realm than pale ale. I just wish I had a pFriem pale to do a side by side comparison.

Beacause I am greedy.

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#LABW6 – But this is at the SAME time – Thursday the 25th

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Your daily “alternate” L.A. Beer Week event source is right here. Do you know how in the World Cup, there is the so-called, “Group of Death”.  The group with the four toughest teams in the tournament.  Well, that is what the 25th is for L.A. Beer Week.  Way too many good things to choose from. So, today, you get two suggestions for where to go!

First up is a special Ballast Point night at Plan Check on Fairfax.  They have great food and you will get to try not only BP beers but their spirits and cocktails made with those spirits.

Or you could get tart and try two new sours from Highland Park Brewery.  One with peaches and one with nectarines! Then see what else the Hermosillo has on tap!