I flipped a coin (which is about all I have used coins for in a year) and we will start with Overall Best for January before diving into the IPA portion of the schedule.
It was a two beer race. A wildly divergent two beer race. Brewyard’s Barrel-Aged Catz Pajamas Belgian Quad married a style that is not out there a lot with a really mellow bourbon flavor. It was a pleasant Friday night drink that could have paired with steak or a chocolate dessert. But the winner was TaHoBa (tangerine-honey-basil) from Los Angeles Ale Works. A recipe I first tasted many years ago as a home brew. A surprisingly hefty ABV beer that weaves the three main ingredients together very well. The basil note is just right.
IPA time. Remember, I am covering just regular ol’ West Coast and Hazies. Obvious doubles or triples or QIPAs ( sorry El Segundo). It also means many of the Stone DIPAs are set aside. I had West Coasties from All Season Brewing, Stone, El Segundo, Lucky Luke and Wayfinder and Hazies from Mumford, Mumford and Tarantula Hill, Stone and Aslin.
Here are my current top three:
3. Highland Park Strata Aerobics – a new favorite hop and HPB got my hopes real high and this beer met most of the hype but still felt a little muted.
2. Societe The Coachman – Yes, it is labeled a session IPA but it is just damn good and filled with more flavor than many non session.
1. Offshoot Beer Co. Visions DDH Hazy – A full review is coming next month but to summarize, Visions is a Hazies hazy.
2021 is here, finally, to save us from 2020. These early months are going to be tough though. Congress helped out (for once) and gave breweries permanent tax breaks and maybe the finally released second stimulus will break the negative economic cycle.