Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
A lot of the letter E and accent marks from Angel City Brewery with their new release, Trois Années Cuvée, which is available in both 500ml bottles and on draft at their DTLA location.
Would be a suitably elegant way to close out L.A. Beer Week.
LA Beer Week is going full blast, so it is time to review the Unity beer for 2023. Labeled as “a community-made hoppy Helles Lager”.
It pours a dark orange color. Lemon and tea notes on the nose. Dare I say, it tastes more like Session IPA or a Cold Pale Ale? Don’t get me wrong, it tastes great. The base for this beer is very light but the hops are well in proportion so everything stays bright.
Time to make my humble suggestions as to which L.A. Beer Week events merit your attention this year. Here are my top 5 picks…
June 11th – Drag Brunch at Frogtown Brewery
“Join Frogtown Brewing for their first ever Drag Brunch! We will have 4 performers, a booth with raffle from Nova Community Arts, a limited edition Beer Slushee and some brunch items from Heritage Kitchen LA! This event is free and open to the public.”
June 14th – Beer Side Talks
“Ambitious Ales joins Beachwood Brewing for an educational panel speaking event to discuss the impact of breweries collaborating, how it brings together community, learning experiences, and more. Coinciding with the event, the two breweries are both releasing a West Coast IPA, Neighborhood Pals. The event ticket includes a 10 oz pour of each of the collaboration beers. Help us celebrate LA Beer Week and independently-owned craft breweries strengthening the craft beer industry.”
June 16th – Hawthorne Block Party
“BBQ, Beer Releases, Bands/DJ’s, Games and Food. 2pm-12am at both L.A. Ale Works and Common Space Brewing.”
June 17th – Clean and Crispy
At Long Beach Beer Lab, “Over 20 curated breweries! Exclusive taster glass + unlimited samples. Marketplace, food vendors and more.”
June 18th – King of the Kolsch
Arts District Brewing hosts your favorite beer style from Cologne, Germany with many different Kolsch variations from LA breweries.
You can see the full event guide HERE
Fun L.A Beer Week fact is that each year Guild members choose a brewery to host the annual LA Brewers Guild Unity Brew. This year, the chosen brewery is Eagle Rock.
Second deeper dive fun fact is that Eagle Rock did the first five Unity beers before the role started to rotate around. More details on the beer style, as well as where and when you can drink it coming.
And remember that LA Beer Week is June 10th-June 18th this year.
June is shaping up as a busy beer month, following the Firestone Walker Invitational on the first weekend of June is the opening salvo for L.A. Beer Week on weekend #2.
LABW23 starts at Shoreline Park in Long Beach, a beautiful spot to sample the independent L.A. beer scene in 2023.
Arts District Brewing is known for their beer judging and on Sunday the 26th they will open their patio to Mexican-Style Lagers brewed right here in L.A.
24 (yes, you read that number correctly) of the L.A. County Brewers Guild will have lagers at the ready AND A dollar from all pints & half pints goes back to the guild.
Winners will be announced and you can agree or disagree after that. What you will agree on, is that the beers were good.
Time to give the verdict on the 2022 Unity beer, an IPA from Highland Park Brewery.
The label has a Muppet feel to it which is cool with the logos on the left but not so much with the reaching hands from the word Unity.
The beer pours a dark orange and right off the bat loads of Concord grape here. A lemon note backs that up. Medium to low bitterness level to me. This review is from first day of release so it was at freshness peak. It is light and refreshing and as it warms up more tropical flavors appear.
When I went to Sunset Beer to pick-up a 4-pack of the 2019 Unity, I saw an empty cooler where the beers should have been lined up. I turned to the helpful staff who pointed me where I needed to go in the store and off I went with my prize.
Truth be told, I was kinda hoping for something more strange this year. Maybe some fruit or herb that is local to the Claremont area where Claremont Craft Ales is located could have been added.
But the fact that the cans were in short supply must mean a level of popularity that the style still draws and economics does factor into the equation when selecting a beer style.
And yet, this beer, fine as it is, seemed like something down the middle. It is a bigger beer, north of 8% but other than that it was a DIPA. It lacked a certain spark in the aroma, flavor profile or bitterness. Park this beer amidst three or four other West Coast Old-School DIPA’s and I could not have picked it out or said, that it had an ingredient that screamed L.A.
I know that a Unity beer will evolve. It can’t always be strange beers and it does need to be of the moment. The moment now seems simple and businesslike
June is a busy beer month for me. Firestone Walker and a trip to Paso Robles at the beginning and then the LA Beer Week takes over in the 3rd Week. Expect lots of coverage of both.
~ e-visits to three breweries from England like Affinity Brew Co., Boxcar, Anspach and Hobday
~ special featured reviews of Paso Robles beverages
~ 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 Becoming Dr. Seuss by Brian Jay Jones
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Here are two events to get your June started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) June 1st – King Harbor Brewing 5th Anniversary
2) June 11th – Beer – Cheese – Chocolate at Eagle Rock Brewery Public House
The Grand Announcement has been made! XI is coming to brighten up the June Gloom. Here are the details….
“
The 11th Annual L.A. Beer Week is here! Join us for our big Kickoff Festival on Saturday, June 15th at the Los Angeles Center Studios in the heart of Downtown L.A.! We are bringing the heat this summer with an awesome festival featuring 90 independent craft breweries, live music, great local food, games, and more. Produced by the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild, #LABW11 will feature the largest number of Los Angeles County-based craft breweries — more than any other festival in town! We’ll also have some very special guest breweries! Join us and support your local brewers and the nonprofit organization that strives to foster craft beer culture in L.A. County. Admission includes a keepsake glass and unlimited tastes of over 250 beers from 90 breweries. This is surely a not-to-miss summer festival!
VIP Tickets include a premium keepsake glass, early entry at 12pm, and a VIP lounge area. Participating Breweries & Vendors to be announced soon!
EARLY BIRD PRICES April 15- May 15th
General Admission: $45
VIP Admission: $65
Designated Driver: $25
Regular pricing kicks in on May 16th:
General Admission: $50
VIP Admission: $70
(*2018 & 2019 Enthusiast members receive 20% off up to 4 tickets – use your member number on your Enthusiast ID)
**Day of ticket sales are NOT guaranteed. Should we have any tickets available on June 15th at the door, prices will be $55 General Admission, $75 VIP, and $25 Designated Driver**”