American Craft Beer Week!!!

I did my small part by having THREE American Craft beers at the lovely Blue Palms Brewhouse.

First I had the new Lagunitas Correction Ale – quite nice a bit hoppy upfront that melts into a nice wheat type beer. Very good summer beer. Makes me wonder what the next new beer, Sumpin’ Sumpin’ is going to be like.

Then I had Ommegang’s Flanders Red – Sooo good! Sour and fruity with a great aroma. I could drink alot of this. Makes me want to drive to Cooperstown.

Lastly I had a taste of Stone’s Vanilla Bean Porter on cask. Interesting but overpowering vanilla. Lost the beer to the vanilla. Easy to drink but tastes like I am in the kitchen making cookies.

As usual the good people at Blue Palms have an excellent list of beer to try.

Los Angeles Beer Festival

A beautiful Southern California day to have beer…

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…Culver City to be exact on the Sony Studios lot.

The Los Angeles Beer Fest!!

A very smoothly run event I must say. Free parking which is a plus on the west side. Check-in was smooth and kept separate from the entry line. A very nice selection of quality brews on hand.

On the down side, a sizable portion of the crowd was ex-frat party boys. Lagunitas only brought bottles no kegs and Bud and Michelob were on hand. But to be fair, no one seemed shy about trying something new and even Anheuser had Hoegarden Wit on tap so effort was being made.

On to what I had before I had to call it quits.

The Bruery – Saison de Lente

Excellent beer that seemed a little toned down from a bottled version that I had before. Light and refreshing though.

Left Coast Brewing – Hop Juice

Not the hop bomb I was hoping for so I would have to rank this as a middle of the road IPA

Alaskan Brewing – Summer Ale

Only so, so to me. I don’t know why but I much prefer their darker beers.

Pyramid – Rollick Amber

Very nice malty taste. One of the better Ambers that I have had and one of the best that I tasted.

Angel City Brewing – Che

Also very nice. Balanced. Not too malty and not to hoppy but with a bit of spice to it.

Dale Brothers – Black Beer

Sort of bland to me. Not bad but did not compete with the others.

Skyscraper Brewing – Sancha Lager

Excellent. In the top three. Light and refreshing lager. Would make a good session beer.

Dean Brothers – IPA

Unfortunately, did not taste right. Acidic and not hoppy.

Widmer – Drifter Pale Ale

I really like this beer. Spicy and fruity and great on a summer day.

Bootleggers Brewery – Hefeweizen

Plain. No banana or cloves. Below average to me.

The Bruery – Orchard White

You can’t go wrong with their beers. Complex but not overpowering. I wish they had brought more than two beers.

Coronado Brewing – Orange

Fair. Drifter from Widmer blows it away though.

If I had more tolerance I would have had more from the large selection that Angel City had brought and I would have tried Shipyard and Deschutes and Kona but my limit was reached.

Overall, I give the event an A.