The final California stop is in Fresno and Pine & Palm Brewing. The brewery was established in 2014 by owner Roger Noguera and lives now in a newer bigger space in North Fresno.
Here is what I would sample from a first taster tray…
Krispie Boi – “Citra Dry Hopped Lager”
Office Beer IPA – “Collaboration with 411”
Sleepy Time Barrel-Aged Barleywine – ” 2018 Release of Sleepy Time Barleywine. Aged in Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels”
3rd Anniversary Barrel-Aged Stout – ” Aged in Heaven Hill Bourbon barrels with Madagascar Vanilla beans”
Since I was going to be in downtown Long Beach, I wanted to hit up the beer places on my list. Too long on that list was the 4th Horseman from the minds of Ryan Hughes and Martin Svab.
They like their gothic horror which is similar to the past Phantom Carriage brewery but in a more B-Movie horror vibe. Marrying that to pizza and a killer tap list really works. It was a special beer weekend but they still had a great list including a Fieldwork hazy and Ten Mile Brewing.
Plus the pizza, the plain-ish Slayer Pepperoni was up there with the better beer and pizza choices like We’re Pouring or the Slice & Pint. It won best Long Beach pizza of 2019 which is no small feat for a new-ish restaurant.
Plus the strange performance art bathroom shows some whimsy so they have taken the decor to some fun / weird / disturbing levels.
Stop 2 is in Auburn for the lauded (by the recent CCBA Summit), Crooked Lane Brewing. I had their 1-2 Punch Peach / Mango IPA and quite enjoyed it. Now here are some other beers that you may like…
Crimson American Red Ale – “Our Crooked twist on the American Red Ale is delightfully malty with a hint of hops, featuring locally crafted malt from Admiral Maltings. Deliciously balanced, Crimson will be a big hit with fans of this sought-after style.”
Throttle Therapy Brut IPA – “Dubbed THE IPA of summer by our brewing staff, this crushable Brut IPA is high on hop octane with a crisp malt backbone, reminiscent of a dry hopped Pilsner.”
Roaky Mandarina IPA – “Generous additions of mandarin juice and citrus-forward hops combine in the juicy Roaky Mandarina IPA. ‘Roaky’ means Hazy, owing to the New England IPA yeast, and celebrates mandarins & hops in a uniquely refreshing beer.”
Nightfall at the Barn – “Another magically delicious beer in our series of collaborations with Drake’s Brewing Co., Nightfall at the Barn is a decadent and rich Russian Imperial Stout, with unparalleled smooth malt flavors.”
The bright corner space has the distillery off to the right, a hole-y wooden boat hanging above as well as an L-shaped patio. This is a third restaurant concept from the Navarro’s, Brenda and Luis who also have Lola’s and Social List in town.
Simon Haxton is the distillery and currently they have a pair each of vodkas and gins. Both the hibiscus tinged gin and the “regular” are quite strong. Lots of fusel burn to each that covers over some of the normal gin notes that I would have liked to have tasted. I did have a cocktail, the Yes Please and it was nice and strong though heavy with ice.
The food, in this case the Southern Fried Chicken was straight down the middle comfort food. The mashed potatoes and gravy was great and the chicken was nicely breaded while still moist too. The rest of the menu hews to that comfort side with burgers and meat based dishes.
The next spirit coming after the Breakwater Vodka and the Smoke Bay and Donna Rosa gins will be a rum which will lead to more cocktails that I think will be the focus especially during the summer and fall.
Saturday comes and I am trundling down to Long Beach from Glendale for the third time for the festival that ends the California Craft Beer Summit…
First, the line of tents for this festival was an impressive sight. It just kept going off into the distance. So, yes, there was a lot of California beer being poured
Let’s dive into my best and worst of the small percentage of beers that I could safely sample:
My Best in Show
1. Temescal Brewing Belgo Belgian Pale Ale
2. Cellarmaker Wild Gooseberry Chase IPA
3. Original Pattern Scotch Ale
The Belgo was so good, that I almost wanted to camp at the Temescal booth and have all three of their beers (I did have the Pils which was quite good). It had a big Belgian yeast character married to a Pale and touch hoppy ale. Cellarmaker had a trio of IPA’s in cans. I tried two and again almost went back for number three. Gooseberry was a crushing hit of Nelson Sauvin hops. Lastly, Original Pattern brought a freshly kegged Scotch Ale that was lovely and balanced.
The M’eh List
1. Karl Strauss / Russian River New California IPA
2. Flatland Brewing Middle of Somewhere Else Sour
When you pair anyone with Russian River, the beer should be great. This IPA would have been boring for a British IPA. No hop presence at all. The dry hopped meets apricot sour from Flatland was just butter and apricot. Pastry sour?
It started with a blindfold on for Sightless Tasting led by Dr. Toby Wexler from SensPoint Design who showed emphatically that though we are primarily (85%) a visual creature that you should still use and hone that other 15% too. We were passes three separate containers with blends inside and were asked to describe what we smelled. Grapefruit, mango, turmeric passed by, cedar passes by as did coconut and chocolate. Then, we all carefully reached in out to taste four beers. I guessed one right and was just as sure on another that I was wrong on. Probably the best seminar of the two days.
Judging by the crowd and amount of questions afterward, the Kviek (ca-Veek) seminar from Omega Yeast was an attraction. We learned the origin of the yeast, how a blogger just went from Norwegian Farmhouse to Farmhouse to collect the strains that made up this truly home brew yeast which is still being dissected to find its properties. Apparently, it is a cross of a wild yeast and a commercial one. Much of the science flew past me at light speed but speed is one of the attributes of the yeast as it does it’s job very fast.
From there it was back to the Expo to do circuits of the beer and the food with a mid-afternoon stop for a talk on cannabis led by Lori Ajax, the chief of the California Bureau of Cannabis Control. She talked about the process in which marijuana can be state legal to sell. If you have a love of filling out forms and constant oversight, then you would be well suited to either or all of the cultivating, distributing or retail channels.
With that the second day was done. Next up, the Festival.
The day started with a “Pioneer” presentation, a look back at 1989 when the precursor group to the CCBA started. It was a slick presentation with a drawer- full of anecdotes about what it was like in the early days. John Martin of Drakes, Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada, Chris Cramer of Karl Strauss and Tom McCormick of the CCBA were interviewed by another legend in Vinnie Cilurzo. There were secret payoffs, equipment sales from jail and lenient inspectors involved.
Next up was the “numbers” presentation. Bart Watson, the statistics maven for the Brewers Association showed the industry numbers and the contradictory story that they were telling us. The sky isn’t falling. It’s just that the competition is more than it has ever been and that taking a peek into how the post millennial generation is buying might just be a smart thing to do. He also touched on seltzer (including the entrance of Bud Light seltzer) and how closings are still incredibly low for such a mature market. As always, Watson was engaging and funny and made me wish my economics teachers were this much fun.
The expo hall was open by now but I wanted to take in another seminar and one labeled Beer Trends struck my fancy. It ended up being a discussion of four beer styles with a California example poured of Pilsner, kolsch, saison and a sour. It was good info but currently none of those beers are trending unless you count Italian pilsners.
Then it was time to taste some beers and see all the gadgets and gaskets on the trade floor. There were also tap talks and chef demos which got swallowed up in the general hall noise. That leads to a pro tip. Sit up front. That way you hear what is being said and you are first for samples. The best section, for me, was another food and beer pairing area. Time slots of a couple hours allowed for people to wander up when hungry to get a Pale ale with tacos, or Oud Bruin with ice cream. Quick and delicious.
Here are some of their IPA choices with the last two scheduled to be on tap at the CCBA Fest.
Long Drift IPA – ” Get a fresh bite of peach fuzz out of this one as the Mosaic comes forward through the aroma and enhances its juicy palate. The Citra provides a refreshing citrus-forward, west coast signature. Don’t miss the Simcoe bittering addition that gives a hint of berry!”
Pelican Bay IPA – ” This beer is a showcase for Simcoe and Amarillo hops used throughout the brewing process. The combination delivers a clean light tropical profile with plenty of bitterness for a nice finish. The Pelican Bay malt bill is a little lighter than the Long Drift IPA.”
Turbot Charge Double Red IPA – ” Bite into the dense layered hops in this Red Double IPA. Clocking in at 95 IBUs of well-integrated hops and a solid malt backbone!”
The festival after the Summit activities has a lot of breweries, consider this your primer on which booths you should target during the fest….
I have compiled 20 beers to try (plus a duo from the White Labs booth) not in any particular order that caught my beer eye.
Blaker Brewing – Vanilla Bean Milk Stout
Burgeon Beer Co. – Clever Kiwi Nelson Hopped Pilsner
Cellador – Clockworks Rustic Saison with Orange Zest and Cardomom
Cellarmaker – Christopher Riwakan Pale Ale
Device – Rice Crispy Boi Rice Lager
Dionysus – Rest in Funk 1 – Black Currants
Faction / Anchorage – Diverge IPA
GameCraft – A-wa-wa-wa-wa! Italian Pilsner
JackRabbit – Czechmate Pilsner
Karl Strauss / Russian River New California IPA
Moksa – Hop Collage NE IPA
New Glory – Ubahdank IPA
Poseidon Brewing – Ironclad Irish-Style Red Ale
Rare Barrel – Blurred T Tart Saison aged in oak barrels with Tempranillo grapes
Seaward Brewing – Sea Plus Dry Hopped Pilsner
Skyland Ale Works – Saison Sans Gluten
Temescal Brewing – Pils
Ten Mile – Jamaican Monk Belgian Tripel aged in Jamaican Rum Barrels
Wave Maiden – Comber Damiana Herbal Ale
Yolo Brewing – The Riceman Cometh Rice lager
and then White Labs has (2) NE IPA’s with one big difference, the yeast.
