Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
The second Portland stop is right on the…
This Montavilla area brewer and blender focuses on (4) styles: IPA’s, funky farmhouse, mixed-culture and bourbon forward stouts.
Here is what I would put in my taster tray:
Triticale Mass, dry-hopped farmhouse ale
Jens Bailed grisette
Brut Punch tart and refreshing IPA DDH w/Comet, Idaho 7, Simcoe and Sabro hops
Casimir The Great, imperial stout aged in whiskey barrels
On to the 4th and final of the beers in this variety pack from Firestone Walker.
Union Jack pours a golden orange sunset color. Lovely fluffy white head (probably due to my vigorous pour). Citrus aromas pop initially. This is a very standard West-Coast IPA. Pine notes star. A generous alcohol kick on the back end. Hops stick to the palate.
Of the four in the pack, I would pick the Union Jack. Both Easy and Grenadier were both on the watery side and the 13th Luponic Distortion wasn’t one of my faves of the series.
It is good to see the HopSaint logo on a can. South Bay Bubble IPA, is yet another El Segundo collaboration. For all those who live in their own bubble. There will be a release party at the El Segundo taproom on Thursday, October 17th.
The CCBA goodie bag had a canned treat tucked inside. A 30 Years Strong IPA. Once the Summit was finished, I decided to crack this open while looking over my photos and prom material from the 3-Day event.
Bit of a missed opportunity with the label. Doesn’t say 30 years or CCBA to me. Just a generic cityscape. I imagine what Brouwerij West or Highland Park could have done.
The muddy haze of lemonade ice tea is evident. The beer has a bright citric acid aroma. Getting orange and lemon mix. Tiny touch of creamy character. Hop bitterness is there but tilted more to silky as it sticks on the top of the mouth. There is a rough alcoholic burst at the beginning as well.
Might be a Firestone Walker record, (3) posts in less than two weeks but whereas the first two were posts that I am hyped for, this one, I am a bit confused by…
Both hazy and crisp? Is it a Hazy IPL? And then combining the haze craze with the low cal craze? Personally, I would do Single Hop Pils versions. Pivo is well loved and branching that out could be a winner.
LA Beer Hop has been ferrying beer fans all over the Southland and now they have a Juicy DIPA named in their honor, Hop on the Bus is brewed by Los Angeles Ale Works to celebrate the Beer Hop’s 7th year in operation. The beer uses Norwegian Kveik yeast and Idaho 7 hops and a new experimental hop called HBC 472.
There are only a few beers in the super tall format but I noticed my fridge had a couple and thought it would be interesting to review the first sip and last sip of these beers. First up is Modern Times with their new Double Dry Hopped version of their Booming Rollers IPA.
1st Sip
Creamy. Vanilla. Grassy. Tea like. Lupulin cone dust.
Last Sip
Orange creamsicle. Woodsy.
Brouwerij West has been quietly notching some impressive collaboration partners like Great Notion most recently and now a new (closer) brewery in Pizza Port. Hotel Zebra is filled with Idaho 7, Comet, Simcoe and Citra to meld that dank San Diego Pizza Port profile to the softer and hazier Brouwerij West.
Looks like Relentless is fitting into their Eagle Rock environs. They have teamed up with fellow Colorado Blvd. business, The Oinkster to create an IPA’d version of their Oinksterade citrus drink. Combining Citra, Loral, Calypso and Cryo Simcoe to mimic the orange lemonade goodness. They also added orange and lemon zest to add a little more zing.
Look for the highlights in this press release. I will explain at the end why I have highlighted them…
“
“California brewery icons Russian River Brewing Company and Karl Strauss Brewing Company proudly introduce their collaboration beer, New California IPA. This modern India Pale Ale is the first collaboration between these storied institutions of California craft beer.
This beer focuses on each critical stage of hop addition: bittering, flavor, aroma, and dry-hopping. The star of this India Pale Ale is a rather new cultivar: the Pahto hop. It is a high-alpha hop that lends a palatable bitterness throughout the beer, while an all-star lineup of Strata, Ekuanot, Amarillo, and Idaho 7 hops deliver wildly diverse layers of flavors, from bright citrus to tropical fruit to resinous pine.
New California IPA will be available on draft and in 16oz can 4-packs beginning on August 1st (which is not-so-coincidentally IPA Day!)”
It is crazy to think that these two long-standing breweries hadn’t collaborated before. By this point it seems all breweries have collaborated with each other. Point two. Pahto hop? Where did that come from? Gonna have to look that up. Lastly, Russian River in cans, even if not done in Santa Rosa is a sign of change.