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Cali Fizz from Los Angeles Ale Works pours a lovely rose color. Not super bubbly. Expected a little more carbonation. This is not a sweet seltzer which is good. Many competing flavors inside the 16oz can. Orange and grape and a discordant tea note as well. A lot going on here. Points for going bold for sure. Jello meets white wine is the best descriptor.
I rounded up three of the local versions of the Weathered Souls Black is Beautiful beers to review in one big post. Smog City, Los Angeles Ale Works and Ogopogo.
Smog City
Pours s dark brown/ black mix. Big espresso head of foam. Burnt notes big here. Lowest abv of the trio. Chicory. Coffee. A bit watery but only just barely so. Direct and simple.
Los Angeles Ale Works
Pours a dark black. Coconut strong to start. Lovely aroma. Sorta like a salted caramel. Sweet and salt. Tilted a bit much to the salt side though in the end. Does not taste 10%.
Ogopogo
Cinnamon is the dominant flavor here. Alcohol more prevalent here too. Very smooth mouthfeel. Sorta like a fall coffee drink. Minor roast notes. Minor sweetness.
SoCal and summer go together about five to six months, give or take, each year. That means lighter beers coming to the forefront. Los Angeles Ale Works is adding to your Helles choices with a non-extinction level event. I doubt it is boiled with hot rocks from either space or earth.
This damn virus has stolen St. Patrick’s Day from us and now unless you are daring with your life (I.E. Georgia or Tennessee), Cinco de Mayo will go by without the typical fanfare.
I have posted many a time about how I spend those nights safe at home away from packed bars and packed police checkpoints but I thought I would give three recommendations for tomorrow’s Cinco de Solo.
Stone Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager is a great place to start. Light and refreshing and with enough citrus to make it a fun way to start the night.
Boomtown Bad Hombre is a Mexican Lager with a spicy kick from Hallertauer hops.
Los Angeles Ale Works Dead Cowboy – labeled as a rustic red lager. This amber beer uses puffed rice.
A) Brewery cats are cool.
B) There will be a can release party with the label designer and all-around awesome Kelly Erickson on the 15th. Details HERE.
C) Oh, and it is an IPA.
Here are your lucky numbers for February….
1st Anniversary – Wingwalker in Monrovia on 2/8
3rd Anniversary – Los Angeles Ale Works in Hawthorne on 2/15
2nd Anniversary – State Brewing in Gardena on 2/22
1st Anniversary – Ambitious Ales in Long Beach on 2/29
I love seeing beers in packaging that is not usually associated with a style which is why it is cool to see that Los Angles Ale Works has put their Jazz Forever Bourbon Barrel-Aged beer in 12oz cans. The beer is described by the Hawthorne brewery as, “A smooth and choco lately blend of Imperial Stout, Barley Wine, and Roggenbock.”
Los Angeles Ale Works is getting a 2nd tap room location and it is in the “in the works” Ivy Station development that will be the new home of HBO amongst other shoppes and eateries. The location will have 24 taps, a patio to enjoy your beer on, and takeaway sales if you do not like patios. Expect last half of 2020 for this to open.
New beers do not wait at L.A. AleWorks. They have also upped their design game too utilizing some bright colors for recent can releases like these two newbies….
“Double Up Juicy DIPA is our Maltose Falcons collaboration. Big and fruit forward, you’ll find notes of orange, candied peaches and mango.”
“Mystery Dimension Single Hop IPA highlights the French hop Mistral. Piney berry notes with a touch of bitterness make this a balanced, easy drinking IPA for everyone.”
The votes have been tallied for 2019 and you can click HERE to see the winners from the Great American Beer Festival. Let’s rundown the Los Angeles medal view….
First though, let’s say upfront that only 2,295 breweries entered. California has 1,000+ breweries so this competition, though by far the biggest really only covers a percentage of beer in the US. Think of it as a snapshot in time.
Also, there are some weird categories. IPL is mixed with malt liquor. And some categories are only filled by 30 beers in total. And what makes a beer fit the “Emerging IPA” category?
On to LA, Claremont ring up gold for Station 101. Ambitious Ales bronze for their Friends-ian Central Perk coffee beer. King’s Brewing out in Rancho Cucamonga bagged two medals. Perennial favorites Beachwood and Firestone Walker each won but not as much as years past. Arrow Lodge and Ogopogo represented for Jungalo Juice and Boeman Witbier. Bluebird Brasserie won bronze for their excellent Stay Golden Belgian Ale. Gamecraft of Laguna Beach gave me another reason to finally visit with a medal in the coffee stout category.
What really made my day was Highland Park winning gold for Timbo Pils. Such a great beer. Also Evan and Brian at Green Cheek had a day with Gold for their Australian for Pale Ale and then a silver for Radiant Beauty in the ultra-competitive American IPA category. Well deserved.
What exemplifies the GABF awards are the apply moments and I leave for you with the one where Breakside Brewing of Portland was on stage, getting the glamour shot with Charlie Papazian when their name was announced as gold medal winner for another category. Brewer Ben Edmonds could not contain himself. He jumped up, bent over and was “in” the moment. That is what this whole revolution is about.