Tag: January

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In the Tap Lines for January 2018

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Welcome to 2018! For L.A. Beer fans, it will be a busy first month to the year with many anniversaries and events already on the calendar, anchored by the L.A. Beer and Food Festival. But we will duck outside for this month’s A Book & A Beer and to Durham, North Carolina to visit some breweries from our computers.

~ e-visits to three breweries from Durham, North Carolina perhaps Barrel Culture Brewing and Blending, Clouds Brewing, Fullsteam Brewery or Ponysaurus Brewing Co.
~ special featured reviews of beers bought during one visit to Sunset Beer.
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads The River Why
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

Here are two events to get your January started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) January 4th – Boomtown Brewery Tap Take Over at Harajuku Taproom
2) January 13th – Transplants Brewing 2nd Anniversary

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In the Tap Lines for January 2016

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A new year. A new start. Time to resolve to be a better and more varied beer drinker in 2016. Hopefully, this blog will help you achieve that.

~ e-visits to three breweries from the pages of All About Beer magazine including Smartmouth Brewing Co., Saltwater Brewery and Black Mesa Brewing Co.
~ special featured reviews of IPA’s from Green Flash.
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer returns!
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 107 covers the topic, “Let’s Be Friends”

Here are two events to get your January started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) January 12th  – Founders Brewing Comes to LA at Far Bar
2) January 23rd  – Transplants Brewing opening

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In the Tap Lines for January 2015

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A new year of new beer possibilities lies in front of us. What beer will wow us? What beers will disgust us? I literally had not heard of the beers that made my personal Top 10 at this time last year. Will that happen again? The slate is clean and ready for the adventure ahead.

~ e-visits to three breweries from The Land of Enchantment, New Mexico.
~ special reviews of FIVE home brewed beers that I received for Christmas
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ Beer-centric podcast reviews
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 95 will converge bloggers onto a single topic, this month it is What Beer Book Still Needs to be Written?

Here are two events to get your January started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) January 16th Brew Wings at King Harbor Brewing
2) January 25th Eagle Rock Brewing 5th Anniversary

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Sean Suggests for January 2014

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Welcome to 2014 of the craft beer calendar!  Have you had a mind altering, world bending beer in the first two weeks?  I certainly hope so and if not, I will suggest three that might do the trick.  All were recently seen at the large Arroyo Parkway, Whole Foods which has a wonderful selection to choose from.

~LIGHT

San Gabriel/ Hefeweizen 5.0% ABV

An Italian take on the classic German style and at a very affordable price for beer shipped in from the “boot”.

~MEDIUM

New Belgium/ Rewind IPA 7.0% ABV

“An homage to our roots and craft-brewing heyday of the early ’90s, Maris Otter and Special B malts give a big, sweet background to a palate of Horizon, Willamette and Galena hop varieties.”

~DARK

The Bruery / Shegöat 8.7% ABV

“Shegöat is a brand new beer to our lineup, based on one of Patrick’s original, multiple award winning homebrew recipes. Based primarily on the traditional weizenbock style of Germany, brewed with both malted barley and wheat, the beer is rich in the flavors of bananas, cloves and caramel with a notes of cake spice hovering in the background. Just like the banana bread that großmutter used to make.”

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The Firkin for January 2013

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We start off 2013 with a thorny question. The Beer Festival idiots. I was spurred to write about this after reading a blog post on the Heretic Brewing website, which you can read HERE

The above post can’t really be argued with. There are many festivals (including the grand-daddy of them, GABF) that have a major component of people who just want to get hammered. Blotto. Whatever you want to call it. There is one beer fest in the L.A. area that I will not attend again because that percentage is so high and the beer knowledge so low that I fear that people will start keeling over from alcohol poisoning.

Now, I do not know if that is OK from the standpoint of the event organizer or not. But I do know that it is an atmosphere not conducive to learning about beer and it sure as hell doesn’t make it any fun at all for the brewer or brewery staff who man the booth and have to put up with it.

The only way to stop that behavior is to charge more for tickets ($45 at least, $90 for GABF) and to have a cap of 10 beer tickets max. I know that this means that I will pay more and get less but I will gain a lot of elbow room and I will feel safer getting home because the drunkards will be elsewhere. And hopefully, if the cost is higher then some of that extra money can go to reimburse the brewers (who usually don’t get paid) or send more to the charity that usually is part and parcel to a festival. Throw in a couple rare beers or a food ticket and if the breweries are good then the people (who love “tasting” beer) will flood through the doors.

And I think that there will be side benefits as well. Brewers will probably start to return to their place inside the booth and the grumpy beer snob folk who only want their beer served by the person who brewed it and absolutely no one else will be sated. Two sets of people happier right there! Smaller crowds mean less parking and security and bathroom needs as well. It means the lines will be smaller and the decibel volume will be less so you can talk without screaming.

It’s paradoxical but I would go to many more events if I knew that I didn’t have to put up with the louts and asshats who should stay home drinking bathtub gin instead of being out in public.

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In the Tap Lines for January 2013

Now that the Mayan death apocalypse (and New Year’s Eve) has passed and beer is still being brewed, it is time to jump into 2013 with both feet for another great year with our favorite beverage. Here is what is on tap here at the Beer Search Party for January.

~ e-visits to the newest breweries in the San Diego area
~ video reviews tackles two randomly selected ‘fridge beers plus more reviews minus videos
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 71 will converge bloggers onto a single topic
~ plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries

Here are two events to get your November started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) January 5th – Sierra Nevada Tap Take-over at Blue Palms
2) January 29th – L.A. Craft Beer Blogger meeting at Chloes at the Pub at Golden Road

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In the Tap Lines for January 2012


Happy New Year!! Let’s ring it in with beer! And with blog posts about beer!

~ e-visits to three North Carolina breweries
~ video reviews of three California brewed beers
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 59 will converge bloggers onto a single topic
~ plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries

Here are two events to get your January started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) January 9th at Steingarten LA – Bootlegger’s Brewery Night
2) January 19th at the Surly Goat – Ballast Point Tiki Night

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In the Tap Lines for January 2011

A New Year to celebrate all the craft beer goodness that is available! And since the holidays mean curling up at home (be it adopted or hometown), I decided to start off 2011 where I currently call home, Southern California.

Here is what is planned this month for all of you readers/drinkers.

~ e-visits to four breweries of California
~ video reviews of three beers from my local, Eagle Rock Brewing
~ suggested beers of the Golden State to buy this month (maybe all brown ales in honor of our new governor)
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my opinion on the craft beer world
~ my 2011 Beer challenge will be unveiled
~ plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries

And if you haven’t noticed, some minor site changes have taken place…..
~ The 50 Beers / 50 States Challenge has it’s own dedicated page
~ There is a page dedicated to the great Eagle Rock Brewery
~ My best of lists and monthly suggestions have been combined into one page
~ The beer links listing has been both added to and subtracted from so as not to overload (even though there are some really great sites missing)