…I look forward to the malty options available in the fall (and even summer), so this upcoming offering will be right up my downtown LA alley…
Plus I love the Angel City logos. Very LA and very clever at the same time.
Draft to Try, Bottle to Buy
Usually my Twitter feed is a snapshot of what craft beer I am drinking currently. See Twit # 1.
But now, I will also be adding the following.
On Friday – a tweet with a draft beer on tap in the Los Angeles area to try
and on Monday – a tweet of a bottle to buy from one of our fine bottle shops.
Two more reasons to follow me on Twitter.
Dry River Brewing UPDATE
It looks like for all you Dry River backers and craft beer fans that happenings are afoot! Here is the latest Kickstarter update from the (hopefully) soon to come brewery!
“We’ve been busy-busy-busy since our last update, pursuing locations, working with lawyers and accountants, preparing to raise money for the build-out, all the fun parts of opening a brewery… And we’ve hit a major milestone and we wanted you to be the first ones to hear – we hired our brew-master!
Naga Reshi comes to us from Wynwood Brewing in Miami, but he’s been brewing professionally all over the world since 2007. Brazil, Holland, you name it – he’s probably brewed there. And he brings tons of Green brewing cred to the table. He designed, built, managed and sold a production brewery in Brazil that ran entirely off of solar power! Plus his recipes are super creative and he’s awesome at using local ingredients, like he did with his barrel-aged jungle-fruit Lambic series in Brazil…
We have a proposal in on a great space, right on the river, so we hope we’ll have a positive update there soon as well.
Video Review – Angel City Eureka Wit
The second and final video review for October is the Eureka Wit from Angel City Brewing here in Los Angeles. A great style that is a bit overlooked by today’s hop heads. Let’s see how the bottled version compares to my remembrance of the tap version…..
MacLeod Ale Brewing Company
Considering how many British actors are starring in major Hollywood movies, it is amazing that they haven’t clamored for some beer to remind them of home. The old school stuff from cask.
Well, that dry spell will come to an end (and hopefully earlier rather than later) this year with the introduction of MacLeod Ales. Based in Van Nuys they project themselves as “the valley’s other production brewery”.
Their brewing plans are to “replicate and celebrate the traditional brewing methods of the British Isles.”
When they start up, an empty spot in our craft beer eco-system will be filled and hopefully it will make our bars more open to cask spots in their taplines instead of 5,000 IPA’s and it may encourage more cask beers from our current and future brewers.
Who knows, maybe in 5 years L.A. will have a major cask beer festival. For now we will have to rely on MacLeod for draft, cask and bottle.
Melody Lounge
I have been to the Short Stop over on the West Side once maybe twice. But this newly craft beer-ed, Melody Lounge from some of the same people behind Short Stop might get more visits because it is in much closer downtown LA.
24 taps that I will have to find time to scope out. Unless you have and you can tell me about it. Can you?
Trumer in LA
Trumer Pils is one of my favorite beers. Clean and simple and refreshing. I understand it is not extreme and so the beer snobs eschew it but I have been cognizant to look for it whenever I was beer shopping and now I might be able to get it on a more regular basiss because, ” the award-winning pilsner brewed in Berkeley, Calif. is now available to craft beer enthusiasts in Southern California – from Monterey to San Diego – making Trumer available throughout the entire state of California. Trumer can be found at Vons, Total Wine, BevMo! and select Costco locations. Trumer is available in 6- and 12-pack bottles and will be available on draught at select restaurants and bars.”
And I have seen it at City Tavern and at the Verdugo.
Village Tavern
Atwater Village (and home of the recently held Beer-Wine and Food Fest) is becoming my go-to beer destination and not only because it is so close to me in Glendale.
First was 55 Degrees Wine and Beer and their excellent bottle selection. Bill’s Liquor across the way has a nicely curated bottle list too. Then Link n Hops opened up taps and now the Village Tavern….
Check out the story here. Mexican food and craft beer. A great combo. I just hope they have a Vienna Lager on tap.
In the Tap Lines for May 2013
If April is when the beer events kick up a notch then May in Los Angeles is when it goes up all the way to 11 and in between the new beers and beer reviews and brewery tours (the sit in your chair kind), I will endeavor to keep you updated on what is happening in the Southland. To that end I have updated the LA Craft Beer Resources page. More links but easier to find what you are in the mood for beer-wise. I also updated my personal favorite page as well. So check out what I like and compare to what You like.
~ e-visits to the newest breweries in the State of Washington. (Justice, West Seattle and Urban Family)
~ video reviews tackles two beers from Mikkeller (one a single hop and one a single yeast) plus more beer reviews minus the videos
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 75 will converge bloggers onto a single topic
~ plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries
Here are two events to get your May started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) May 4th Dogfish Head Tap take-over at Blue Palms
2) May 18 Smog City tap-room Grand Opening!
Atwater Village Festival
Beer and Wine (and food trucks) will be taking over Atwater Village on Sunday, April 28th with the first Atwater Village Festival.
“This will be the first event of it’s kind to be held in Atwater Village, and is expected to draw over 1,000 attendees from all over the area. With the cooperation of over a dozen local breweries, a variety of local vendors, and live entertainment (including a special performance by The Black Eyed Peas DJ)”
On the craft beer front is Lagunitas, Eagle Rock, Triple Voodoo, Golden Road, New Belgium and my new favorites from Paso Robles, Firestone-Walker among others.
$30 gets you in. So grab your tickets soon.