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In the Tap Lines for May 2022

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Moving into May with another month of fun beer news and maybe even longer visits to breweries and even maybier festivals but for sure, this…

~ e-visits to (3) breweries in NBA playoff team cities
~ special featured reviews of Abnormal beers
~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 The Kaiju Preservation Society
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to Dishing on Julia
~ Great Beer names and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.

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Modern Times is halving their West Coast footprint as they seek a less perilous financial footing.

Portland, Oakland, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles will be closed. Not coincidentally, those are the furthest away from HQ and in the case of Los Angeles and maybe the others as well, the smallest outposts.

The San Diego brewery bolted out of the gate when they opened and followed that with ambitious plans but the last two to three years have brought lots of challenges and a new leadership team which did not like what they saw and hit the re-trench button.

Hopefully, Modern Times can navigate back with a leaner company.

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SoFi Super

Thankfully, no Brady. No Cowboys. No anti-vaxx Rodgers or Patriots. I can say, it doesn’t matter who wins Super Bowl 56, I will be happy. That leaves us the mental energy to plan great beer choices.

Home team Los Angeles Rams (who by NFL rules is the away team for this game) will face the surprising Bengals of Cincinnati.

So here is the plan for your beer buying:

Buy Local

Buy Crowlers to share or split 4-packs

Load up on low ABV beers…

but have a big TIPA or barrel-aged beer for the last part of the 4th quarter

Have plenty of water.

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Featured Beer Review – LA – In the Fronds Tropical IPA from Los Angeles Ale Works

I really like the plant shop vibe from this Los Angeles Ale Works can label. The shimmery silver and the greens are popping. Plus the name is spot on for a tropically tinged beer.

This beer is bursting with pineapple. I cracked the can and it was rushing with that distinctive aroma. That pineapple follows through into the taste but interestingly there is a significant hop bite here. Very West Coast IPA in temperament. It is a super light yellow color though. Contradictions aplenty but it is a really fine IPA.

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Featured Beer Review – LA – A Sense of Urgency from Liberation Brewing

The next L.A. beer to review is technically Long Beach, but I am gonna sneak it in because it is not only in a bottle (what’s that?) but also a Biere de Garde from Liberation Brewing.

After wrestling the cork out without hurting myself, I get a beer with a slightly toasted aroma, almost Quad like in taste and texture with a mineral finish to it. The label art and name are part of the reason that I bought it. Floating and on fire, very 2021-22. It pours with a luxuriant head to it that leaves some nice lacing on the bowl of the glass. There are some Belgian esters with a touch of fruit to them here.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. A different style is great to break up the hop monopoly.

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Featured Beer Review – LA – Strategic Partnership IIPA from Ogopogo (and friends)

Ogopogo gathered a flock of brewers for their IIPA, Strategic Partnership…

Here are my tasting notes…

Right off the bat, fruit punch, concord grape and bubbly as well. Light for the style at 8.5% I kept waiting for a hit of alcohol or some form of heaviness but it never came. There was a little hop speedbump but the big fruit notes zoom you past it in a jiff. The label does make me note what “lupomax Citra” brings to the table as well. Two thumbs up here and if you are looking for fruit without the haze, this is for you.

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Flora Brewing

More beer podcasts for y’all to listen to…

Here is the 411, “The Brewing After Hours Podcast is hosted by Homebrewer and Digital Creator Sarah Flora, also known as Flora Brewing on Instagram and YouTube where she dives into the technical aspects of brewing beer at her home in Los Angeles. Brewing After Hours is going to take a different look at the history and stories behind beer as well as feature conversations with industry professionals and homebrewers.”