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King Harbor has a new canned offering coming, but it is not hazy or a DIPA, it is smooth sailing…
…which I take to mean, the King Harbor equivalent of a table beer (or in popular sales parlance, the 805).
Perhaps this will take-off and be seen out on the beaches of Hermosa, Manhattan and others in the South Bay.
The second time in less than a week that I have seen a new beer that is a lager with lime.
(Thank goodness limes are not being added to IPA’s yet). King Harbor Brewing has teamed with the near-ish by Select Beer Store to bring a summer brew to the South Bay.
…and (obviously) King Harbor Brewing is too. Starting today, you can buy tickets for their party in Redondo Beach where you will get the following….
-Outdoor beer garden
-Unlimited pours
-20+ beers on tap including specialty one-offs and King Swirly the 3rd
-Live tunes
-AJ’s BBQ
-The return of the D(r)unk Tank
And if you are a fan of the anniversary “king”ly editions of Swirly then you will be very happy because King Swirly the 3rd will debut.
for 2017 KS is a Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Dark Ale w/ cacao nibs, vanilla beans, cold brew coffee, and lactose.
You will also be able to partake of four Variations – The Original, Hawaiian, Hazelnut, and Double Chocolate.
Yesterday, I moseyed down to Redondo Beach to try the Endless Rant IPA, a collaboration between King Harbor Brewing and radio/podcast personality, Adam Carolla.
When I first moved to L.A. from Portland, I would listen to radio station KROQ and listen to Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel horsing around with Kevin & Bean so it is a bit hard to separate that memory from the radio voice and branding a beer. But it is comforting to see that the voice I heard in the mornings on the way to work hasn’t really changed all that much. I just had to see the bottles of “Mangria” floating through the taproom to see that testosterone humor still was being mined.
But I wasn’t at King Harbor to talk humor. I was there to try the beer and Endless Rant straddles two hop worlds. One is lighter based on the honey malt while the other delivers a stern kick of hops. It’s as if a Session IPA merged with a super dry and piney DIPA. The beer tastes and hits higher than its advertised ABV. As I commented to the other beer folk in attendance, it is certainly different from the IPA pack in that regard. It is decidedly un-fruited and more old school hoppy.
Some on intolerant Reddit or Beer Advocate forums may decry the celebrity beer angle, it is not, in and of itself a bad thing, Carolla has a taste that is different from mine in some respects but the fact that he podcasts shouldn’t bar him from working with a brewery to create a beer. He can bring attention to craft beer to a segment of people who might not be aware of it, yet. And true beer fans should not discourage people but rather encourage them. You never know, creativity can feed from one discipline (podcasting) to another (beer).
The Endless Rant is a fine beer. King Harbor is a damn fine brewery, so no surprise. But maybe, the next podcast beer is even better. Maybe a Dr. Drew – Carolla Loveline Gratzer? Or they could do a podcast about beer, wind and spirits.
You can get the beer at King Harbor in 22oz bombers or online via Carolla Drinks.
Has spring sprung? Hard to tell in Los Angeles where the sun is always in the sky. Even when it is raining. But here are three fruit tinged beers with enough alcohol heft to make them good selections for cool and windy days.
~LIGHT
Almanac/ Apricot de Brettaville 6.50% ABV
For this special release, we set out with the goal of making a beer where every ingredient and process contributed to one ambition: creating layers of apricot flavor. The natural flavors of the brett yeast create tropical and stone fruit flavors in the barrel, which we matched with a small mountain of San Joaquin Valley apricots and finish with a delicate dry hop of aromatic hops. The result is every aspect of the beer, from the yeast, to the fruit to the hops add apricot flavor and aroma – resulting in a delicious wild ale.
~MEDIUM
King Harbor/ Coconut IPA 6.70% ABV
If a tropical beach vacation could be captured in a beer, this would be it. the pineapple, mango, and citrus hop character of our flagship IPA blended with lightly toasted coconut creates a tropical party on your palate. Go ahead, drink it out of a coconut with a mini umbrealla. We won’t judge you.
~DARK
Allagash/ Evora 9.00% ABV
“Evora is a golden hued beer, brewed with a 2-Row and Maris Otter malt blend. It was hopped with Northern Brewer, Mt Hood and Sorachi Ace hops. The primary fermentation used a classic Belgian yeast strain. The beer was then aged for 16 months in Portuguese Brandy barrels with Brettanomyces. The finished beer exhibits notes of honey and stone fruit in the aroma. Citrus and oak dominate the flavor giving way to hints of bread crust. Evora is medium bodied with a fruity, dry finish.”
Straight from the silver crowler purchased at the pier location of King Harbor comes this golden ale with spruce tips.
This is one of the yellowest beers that I have seen. Crystal clear. When first opened, the earthy pine notes are significant. As it warms, those tree notes fade off a bit but the beer retains a strong back end flavor of spruce tree. At 6.1%, the beer might be a skosh strong for a simple golden ale but the white bread toast notes bring it back into lighter territory.
I finally made it to the second location of King Harbor Brewing Co. and it only took six months or so! Yeah, thank goodness for New Years’s resolutions. I finally made it down and was treated to a glorious list of choices…
Being an uber-fan of Swirly, I had to try the Imperialized version and it did not disappoint at all. Loads of chocolate and vanilla with a stronger base to it. I also tried the Lloyd Christmas which came through on the cherry and spice but I don’t know how a full glass would go over. I was most intrigued by the Aspen, CA hoppy blonde with spruce tips, so I got a crowler to go and headed home.
I like quite a few of King Harbor’s beers but this one has a leg up because it is kinda/sorta the base for their vanilla accented Swirly which I hope is a bottle contender soon.
There is a nice amount of lacing from one of the lightest brown ales that I have seen. It comes in at 4.7%. The aroma is similar to the smell of coffee being ground. The coffee flavor is quite strong and really lingers but there is a good amount of chocolate too to force a balance plus a touch of char as well. Abel Brown seems a heavier beer than it is. It has a certain nitro creaminess to it even when coming from a bottle. A point of beer reference would be the Milk Stout from Left Hand. They both have a similar flavor profile to me.
Just a really great beer.
Finally. You could start many of my posts with that. Like this one. Finally, I visited King Harbor brewing in Redondo Beach.
Despite being landlocked, this nautically themed tasting room (even our server had anchor earrings), is a nice and open space to try the current offerings from this few months old brewery. Their beer line-up is growing as they do but as of this writing, you could get a full flight of 5 tasters with two being variants of a regular beer. We started with the Quest which is a rotating pale ale featuring a single hop. This day brought El Dorado but Hallertauer Blanch and Hull Melon are in the future and would be highly recommended way to sample these new hops on the market. I enjoyed the beer more than I think I like the hop which finishes a little too dry for me.
Next was a pineapple version of that same beer and though I was trepidatious about it considering how sweet pineapple can be, this really worked and was my favorite of the group. Maybe the use of actual pineapple and not juice was the trick. But the hops and the fruit really worked well together. At this point, I was hoping that the positive streak would continue and though I enjoyed their take on the saison with lemon verbena, it lacked a more pronounced Belgian kick that I have come to expect. Solid though and again the ingredients were there but not overpowering which indicates a light and balanced hand at the brewing controls which bodes well.
Then it was onto the darker pair of beers. Abels Brown is a java bomb and a good one at that. Almost too heavy but then you look at the ABV and it is really low. In fact, none of the beers were over 5.5%. We also tried the vanilla version of Abel which was a little sweet but still worked.
All in all, for such a young brewery, King Harbor seems ahead of other breweries in their age bracket that still seem to be finding their footing. I would heartily suggest adding it to a Torrance tour for comparison and I believe you will agree.