Tag: Highland Park

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The Greyhound

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Arriving with my Mom in tow and with mere minutes to spare before the close of Happy Hour at the Greyhound, a new craft beer, wine and cocktail bar in Highland Park (near the big Highland Theater sign), I order up a Cismontane Blacks Dawn and a salad.  The total for me: $8.

Once you slap yourself for being too late to order a second round, you realize the place is loud.  Really loud.  With ebbs and flows as the pulsing music finishes one song and people don’t have to scream over the music until the next song comes back on.

The decor is nice and so is the tap list.  On the night of my visit they had a goodly number of solid choices along with a rotating duo of hoppy selections.  I would put it solidly in the B category.  It isn’t one of those lists that has a nod to craft which is what I call D, nor is it the national easy choices of a C.  I will re-visit and see if that grade is fair when another set of beers goes on tap but it is good though not as strong as Maximiliano or the Hermosillo.

I wasn’t a fan of the decibels though it didn’t bother my mom a whit.  That is what happy hour prices can do.

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Review – Maximiliano

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One thing that I should probably do more of is craft beer AND food reviews.  In an attempt to ameliorate that shortcoming.  A quick review of a recent dinner at Maximiliano in Highland Park. (Without food OR beer photos)

My wife and I split a soup, pizza and dessert during our visit while I had two Craftsman beers (since Maximiliano is the de facto tasting room for Craftsman).

We started with fresh Minestrone soup minus noodles which was really good.  I had to pick around what appeared to be cauliflower but I could have easily polished off a second bowl. And I liked the addition of squash chunks to it.

I paired it and the following pepperoni pizza with the rarely seen Cabernale.  The crazy and crazy good hybrid of red wine and beer.  It was delicious (as always) with big grape notes and a strong undercurrent of oak barrel.

As my wife described it, pizza is made or broken by the crust.  Good ingredients on top are all well and good but the crust ties it all together.  The crust on this pizza is a cross between crackery and bready.  Right in the zone for me and the pepperoni was the real deal.  Spicy but not rip roaring so. Again, I could have had more but I wanted to save room for dessert and a second beer.

Beer wise, I went with the sour blonde by the name of Cirrus.  I have only had a few of this style.  Most notably Eagle Rock’s Equinox.  And while the “cloud” was good, it needed a little more tartness or liveliness to it.  Again it had some really nice subtle barrel notes to it.

The dessert was a bit of a letdown.  We had not much experience with cannoli’s but this was too rich for our blood with hazelnut and chocolate chip.  It was like a creamy version of cookie dough stuffed into dough.  You could tell the quality, it just wasn’t what we were hankering for at the end of the night.

If I did rating with stars or forks Maximiliano would get many, for the beer and pizza alone.

 

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A Greyhound in Highland Park

It is starting to look like craft beer row in Highland Park.  The York started it out, followed by Maximiliano and the Hermosillo and now the Greyhound is joining the fun on York Blvd.

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And the kicker is that Gabe Gordon is part of the team.  Which means there might be a closer (to me, at least) spot to get some of Julian Shrago’s great Beachwood beer.

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A Woodshop in Highland Park

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If you are a fan of bottle shares, (more and more are popping up around L.A.) then you need to head to buy a ticket for the

Here is the information on the 8th Annual Woodshop Tasting

It “will take place on Saturday, October 26th, 2013 from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM as an indoor-outdoor event at The Hermosillo Club in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles..”

For $40 per person, you get “unlimited draft beer pours, lunch, specialty beer-and-food pairings during the event, 1 commemorative custom logo beer snifter, and access to the massive bottle-share that takes place throughout the day.  As always, we encourage all guests to bring a bottle or few (or more) of the best beers from your cellar to share with any and all in attendance.  We like to think of this tasting as a community-building event and the perfect occasion to sample those special bottles you’ve been saving for just the right moment.  Share with friends and make new friends in the free-flowing celebration of craft beer.”

(Personally this next bit would be worth $40)

The specialty draft beer list on tap for this event will feature around 15-20 different beers in unlimited pours, including these world premieres and highlights:

– Highland Park Brewery Stonefruit Berliner Weisse – Berliner Weisse with Peaches and Nectarines

– Hoparazzi La Tarte Raspberry – Sour Ale with Raspberries

– Noble Ale Works Fig Poppa – Brandy barrel-aged American Strong Ale with dried figs and Brett Brux

– Almanac Dogpatch Sour – Wine barrel-aged Flanders Red with Rainier cherries, wild yeast, and souring bugs

– Firestone Walker Stickee Monkee – Barrel-aged English Barley Wine, part of their Anniversary blend

– The Bruery Grey Monday – Bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout (Black Tuesday) with
hazelnuts

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#LABW5 Pick of the Night – Wednesday 9/25

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OK, this is a ticketed event and it will be a bit on the spendy side.  But just like no L.A. Beer Week is complete without Eagle Rock, it is really not complete without Craftsman.  The original trailblazer of the scene before there was a scene.  And Maximiliano is THE place to get their beer.  Plus the food is awesome.

Craftsman Beer Dinner at Maximiliano

And as a bonus you can check out The Hermosillo and see where a future L.A. brewery will be.

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Highland Park Brewery

Behind this pretty cool bar in Highland Park,

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Bob Kunz is busy creating Highland Park Brewery. In LA parlance, that means filling out forms and attending political meetings and then filling out more forms.  Bob seemed ready to go when I saw him at the Blue Palms 5th Anniversary and if the cookie crumbles in the right way, they could be brewing in the next couple months and you might be able to order a new local neighborhood beer at the Hermosillo.
So keep your finger crossed and knock on wood.

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1 Tried – Hermosillo

I finally got around to grabbing a beer at the newHermosillo in Highland Park.

It is located in the gentrifying Highland Park boulevard of York. Where you can also imbibe at Maximilliano and the York on York. It is a nice and well lit place with a large and pretty dark wood bar that takes up most of the space.

I like the outward street view stools and the old school banquette seating and most importantly, the 12 tap beer list is pretty solid with Eagle Rock, Green Flash and Port (I had the 6th anniversary DIPA) pouring. And in a cool touch the list is beamed onto the wall via the overhead projector making for a cool twist on the beer list.

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1 to Try – Kings Row Gastropub

I have not been to many of the new L.A. area craft beer locales that I have been meaning to check out. I am speaking of Kings Row Pub in Pasadena as well as Certified Market which was mentioned earlier this month….

If anyone out on the interwebs can give me a review of either place, I would heartily appreciate it! Kings Row seems to be doing a heckuva lot of events with good people like Firestone-Walker and Eagle Rock Brewery.