Tag: L.A. Beer Bloggers

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Bootlegged & Blindsided – Full(ish) Recap

Firestone Walker Blogger Trip
Firestone Walker + L.A. Beer Bloggers = #FW3.

There comes a point where surprise becomes the new normal. Firestone Walker has reached that point.

The now annual trip has featured tractor rides to an organic farm. Blending my own gin and this year the historic barns of the Central Coast. That may sound facetious or trite but these trips north from Los Angeles have given me so much. Not only as a beer blogger but just as a total person.

That is why I feel compelled to post multiple times across so many social media platforms. Literally, it is the only time that I post on Instagram. My least utilized app.

That is just prelude to what I learned on the 2015 trip (aka LA2FW3) which I will list out because I don’t want to leave anything out:

Sour Opal (which will be “liberated” on the 25th of this month) is yet another winner from Barrelworks. It is a close second to my all-time favorite of Bretta Weisse.

Just the fact that it was mentioned, partially in jest, that Bretta Weisse would be canned made my day.

From the Barrel might not get the love that the Invitational gets but if I had more time and seating options, it would be really close. Firestone Walker knows their way around a tentpole event.

I now know much more about acidity in sour beers. And Olalliberries.

I hate coming in last in a competition especially when the winners get cardboard Firestone Walker crowns.

I could really get used to tasting wine. There is something about the setting of Thacher Winery that just relaxes a person automatically.

BBQ and wine go really well together as do beer and cupcakes.

Beer at 10am is fantastic. Especially nitro cream Velvet Merlin.

I like Easy Jack and 805 more than Pivo Pils.

Oh, and I do not have the talent to chug a beer. Probably a good thing.

(I will go more in depth about From the Barrel later on this blog and tomorrow is a recap of the Acid Trip with Jeffers over on Food GPS)

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Pac City + 8one8 + MacLeod

The L.A. Beer Bloggers headed deep into the valley to visit two breweries. (And was given tastings from three in total!)

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One recently opened and one about to. Our first stop was Robert Cortez’s Pac City Brewing. The developing 8one8 Brewing was also in attendance.  Then we headed over to the soon to open MacLeod Ale Brewing.

You will find the summary on Food GPS today.  To whet the whistle, some photographs from the day….

Robert Cortez donning the Pac City shirt
Robert Cortez donning the Pac City shirt
The "backstage" pass
The “backstage” pass
No bagpipes were harmed to make this tap handle
No bagpipes were harmed to make this tap handle

 

The first four beers that are on the way.
The first four beers that are on the way.
Spent grain crackers and biscuits
Spent grain crackers and biscuits
Little Spree
Little Spree

 

 

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Firestone Walker + L.A. Beer Bloggers + RE:Find Distillers

What truly sets apart the trip that Firestone Walker provided the L.A. Beer Bloggers group is that it isn’t all about beer.  Yes, there is plenty of Easy Jack and Pivo Pils flowing but these guys want to showcase all that the Central Coast and Paso Robles in particular has to offer.

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Last year, the spotlight was on the bio-dynamic farming of Windrose Farms and the wines of Herman Story.  This year Andrew Murray Vineyards was showcased along with an amazing dinner and spirits extravaganza at Re:Find Distillery.

Alex and Monica Villicana are winemaker’s first.  But they wanted to find a use for grape juice that got bled off to enhance the finished wine.  What to do with what is technically called saignée.  Well, they went the distilling route.  They make vodka and gin and brandy and limoncello all from grape juice!

Now Firestone doesn’t just stop at the introduction.  I should have been hip to that after the Friday we enjoyed.  No.  We not only got to taste the vodka and gin.  We got to try our hand at blending our own gin for our own gin and tonics!  Now my first two stabs at it were over lavendered and way over Angelika Root’d.  My third attempt yielded a passable gin.  But now I know much more of what makes spirits so good and what goes into making and blending them.

But folks, that was not all.  Re:Find had been in contact with Firestone about our trip and they went even further and made us a white whiskey from a wash similar to the 805 lager recipe.  With the appropriate name of Writer’s Blanc.

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They could have stopped there.  Told us to get back on the bus and find our own food and we would have been happy.  But then out comes a five course meal from Chef Thomas Yun?

There was octopus which I tried but didn’t super enjoy but there was a glass of Opal saison to drink.  There was a lamp chop and a rib eye cap and, well… here’s the menu….

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It was an amazing melding of food, spirits and beer and people.

And we in the beer blogging community should be hailing passionate producers of cheese, lettuce, wine or whatever because they are the same as our brewers.  Artisans who are raising the bar on how we see our food.

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Firestone Walker + L.A. Beer Bloggers = Craft Beer Memories

As threatened in previous posts, Firestone Walker gave the humble L.A. Beer Bloggers the full red carpet treatment from Venice to Los Olivos to Paso Robles.

Here is the re-cap of what happened over the three-day weekend…..

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Our intrepid group was picked up at the corner of Lincoln and Washington at the future home of what will become the southernmost outpost of the growing Firestone Walker brewing empire.  It isn’t much to look at now.  Two unused white buildings with a weed choked parking lot.  The location will need to be transformed with their typical classy design touch.

Imagining how it would look is a lot easier than imagining a 405 Freeway with movement.  What was in store for us on Friday and Saturday night was kept under wraps  After a stop to gas up and stretch our legs, we finally arrived at our destination in the wine country near Los Olivos.  From this point on, it was one pleasant surprise after another.

It was hard to pick one highlight.  The dinner was marvelous, as was scenery.  More importantly we were afforded looks into both the past and future.  The name Andrew Murray Vineyards may not mean much to beer geeks.  But he is a vintner who is also currently fermenting in what was the ORIGINAL Firestone Walker brewery.  This square building in the middle of fields, far off the beaten track was where DBA started.  We heard tales from David Walker about the balky equipment and the good ol’ days while sipping on wine.

From the future came a bottle of Bretta Rose which won’t be released to the public (in limited amounts) until the 17th.  This beer pours a lovely dark pink and has all the farmhouse funk you can handle plus so much raspberry that you will wonder how they did it.

We also were treated to two experimental beer/wine “hybrids” that had such great aromas it was hard to drink them.  These are still in the early stages but I will keep you informed if/when they come around.  Let’s just say that wine drinkers will think that beer was added to wine and beer geeks will say that wine was added to their beer.  Divisive.  But in a good way.

The next day, our bus zoomed up the 101 to ground zero.  The Paso Robles brewery.  In just a year, the place has changed in big ways.  A new building houses the canning line.  Their is a new store in the back.  An old building has been torn down and a new one is coming.  It seems that if you blink the place sprouts another building. We got to sit down with Norm Stokes in their QC division who ran us through a gauntlet of off flavors and a very eye-opening look at how even just 1 month of aging changes an IPA.  The take-away?  Drink IPA’s within a month of bottling.

Saturday night was an eye opener that I will save for another post.  Suffice to say, Opal soaked octopus was on the menu.

 

 

 

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Firestone Walker + L.A. Beer Bloggers = Craft Beer photos

Last year, Firestone Walker gave the humble L.A. Beer Bloggers group a grand tour of both their Paso Robles brewery and Barrelworks in Buellton.

I thought it was a one time thing.

I was wrong.

Last Weekend, they gave us another tour from a different angle.  Starting at their future Venice Beach site, we went to Los Olivos and then to Paso Robles to bask in all things Bear & Lion.

I will put the words to this trip into another, separate post.  First, some photos…..

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Me at the STILL growing Paso Robles headquarters. Which probably needs more than one traffic cop..
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Sitting by the fire with an experimental sour made in conjunction with Andrew Murray winery.
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Yup, 805 in cans. Maybe Easy Jack too. Their cannery is a tech wonder to see.
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Learning about off flavors and how age affects Union Jack IPA.
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Lunch with their taproom only Hammersmith IPA.

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Summit # 10 with the LA Beer Bloggers

2014 is off with a bang for the L.A. Beer Bloggers.  Last month we got a sneak peek at where Ohana Brewing will be setting up a taproom while also going a little behind the scenes of 38 Degrees and the Full Pint.

And this month, we tackle the topic of beer photography.  From the perspective of the great Bernie Wire, from a brewery owner standpoint and from a marketing rep view.  Should be interesting, plus it will be at Smog City which has a few good beers, to say the least.

If you write about beer, Instagram, Facebook or Tweet about it then come on down…..

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Ninkasi in LA

I have talked about how happy I am that one of my favorite Oregon breweries, Ninkasi is in Los Angeles now and not just in Seasonal Sampler Packs.  I love the Oatis and Vanilla Oatis and I have a Sleigh’r in the ‘fridge awaiting the true Holiday ale season (AFTER Thanksgiving).

Further proof was a recent dinner that they held for the L.A. Beer Bloggers at the Library Alehouse.  I wasn’t able to attend but the intrepid Rich Rosen was there and sent back the photographic proof……

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Here is the menu: Squash meets Ninkasi

Total Domination IPA / Tricerahops Double IPA – Vegetable Curry Served in a Roasted Delicata Squash
Believer Double Red – Spice-Rubbed Chicken Roulade with Yam Puree
Sleigh’r Dark Double Alt Ale & Vanilla Oatis Oatmeal Stout – Pumpkin Panna Cotta w/ Chocolate Ganache and Oatmeal Cookie

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curry

If you haven’t had the food at Library Alehouse, it rivals the beer list is all I am going to tell you.