Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
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.
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!
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.
Looks like another brewery is in the planning stages for us in the City of Angels and it is taking the iconic name that has quite a history in our city, Mulholland Brewing.
Here is more information from their website, “Mulholland Brewing Company is a microbrewery and taproom opening on the westside of Los Angeles. Our mission is to promote and celebrate the culture of Los Angeles through craft beer. We’re native Angelinos bringing over 20 years of brewing experience to our business and are excited to share our products and our ideas with the communities in which we live. We strongly believe in our city’s coming renaissance and aspire to brew beer that reflects our unique climate, culture, and cuisine.”
When more information becomes available, I will pass it on.
As if the One Night Stands (and the videos that come with them) were not enough. Now Beer Belly is adding a little extra something to sweeten the deal…
“A Gift: We want to thank those of you who make it out to our One Night Stands. Like, REALLY thank you. Those of you who make it to 10 of the 12 events next year will receive a special thank you package. We don’t want to reveal the contents, or overhype what it is….but we think you’ll be pretty surprised.
How to Qualify: Come out to 10 out of 12 One Night Stands next year. We’ll set up a spot at the bar to take a picture to show that you were here. Go ahead and upload that picture to our Facebook album or email it to us at drink@beerbellyla.com”
I will be posting any and all Ohana news that I can because it is a “fresh face in beer”. So here is another beer from L.A. for you to be on the lookout for. This one might be made with Bill Walton in mind.
Tomorrow over on FoodGPS, I will talk about the busy beer season that LA hits each fall. Here is a snapshot of events that I will be writing about….
L.A. Craft Beer Crawl – 8/18
LA Beer Week – 9/20 – 9/30
BAM FEST – 10/6
GABF – 10/11 – 10/13
Normally I do not use this space to talk about Budweiser unless it is to kick them in the butt to make better beer since they have great brewers and great equipment and wads of cash to spend. But I have to today, because they have taken up one of my suggestions that I have ranted about on this blog. (OK, not because of me, I don’t think). They have actually given their brewers some leeway to make something other than the corn flavored fizzy water. I can’t vouch if it will be good. Their American Ale was a dreadful watered down amber but maybe, keep hoping, they will make something at least drinkable.
“Project 12.” Twelve Anheuser-Busch brewmasters at Budweiser’s 12 geographically dispersed breweries worked together to create their own “tribute” beers to fit the Budweiser brand’s reputation for quality and consistency. The assignment pays homage to Budweiser’s “clean and crisp” taste by using the proprietary yeast directly descended from the original Budweiser yeast culture used by Adolphus Busch in 1876 and still used by Budweiser today.
Through internal tasting and analysis, the 12 small-batch beers – each a lager using all-natural ingredients – were pared to six to take part in a summer-long, nationwide sampling effort. Consumer feedback will help Budweiser narrow the six beers to three for inclusion in a limited-edition sampler pack, available for purchase this fall.
To launch the six sampler beers, private events with brewmasters are scheduled to take place in August in all 12 A-B brewery cities: St. Louis, Mo.; Merrimack, N.H.; Baldwinsville, N.Y.; Newark, N.J.; Williamsburg, Va.; Cartersville, Ga.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Columbus, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Fort Collins, Colo.; Fairfield, Calif.; and Los Angeles, Calif.
Each small batch Budweiser is distinguished by the ZIP code where the beer is brewed. Among the six beers being sampled this summer and the brewmasters behind them:
Budweiser Small Batch 91406 (Los Angeles): A deep-amber lager with 6 percent ABV that uses four different types of hops. The beer is brewed by brewmaster Bryan Sullivan in Los Angeles and was developed in collaboration with Scott Ungermannin Fairfield and Dave Cohen in Houston.
Budweiser Small Batch 63118 (St. Louis): A deep-gold 5 percent ABV American lager that uses the same types of hops (Hallertau and Tettnang) commonly used at the St. Louis brewery during the 19th century. The beer is brewed in St. Louis by brewmaster Jim Bicklein and was developed in collaboration with Katie Rippelfrom Fort Collins.
Budweiser Small Batch 43229 (Ohio): A light-amber lager using eight different types of hops with 6 percent ABV. The beer is brewed in Columbus, Ohio, and was the brainchild of the brewery’s general manager, Kevin Lee and developed with assistant brewmasters Travis Burge and Tyler Hunter.
Budweiser Small Batch 23185 (Virginia): A light-amber all-malt bourbon cask lager aged on bourbon staves and vanilla beans and with an ABV of 5.5 percent. The beer is brewed by Daniel Westmoreland in Williamsburg and was developed in collaboration with Mike Anderson in Jacksonville and Dan Kahn in Cartersville.
Budweiser Small Batch 13027 (New York): A bright-golden lager brewed with six imported and domestic hops and with an ABV of 7 percent. The beer is brewed in Baldwinsville, N.Y., by brewmaster Nick Mills in consult with general managerSteve McCormick.
Budweiser Small Batch 80524 (Colorado): A deep-gold, filtered wheat beer with 5.2 percent ABV using lemon peel, orange peel and coriander. The beer is brewed by Katie Rippel in Fort Collins and was developed by Nick Mills in Baldwinsville,Otto Kuhn in Merrimack and Tiago Darocha in Newark.
“The key to this project was the common yeast – which is a very important and often under-appreciated contributor to the flavor and aroma of beer,” said Jane Killebrew-Galeski, director of brewing, quality and innovation for Anheuser-Busch. “We are proud of all these beers – the variety and the quality – but we want consumer feedback. So, we’re looking forward to what we hear when we sample this summer. Our objective is to allow our brewmasters to show some creativity, but the beers must fit the hallmarks the Budweiser brand is respected for, such as quality and consistency, and have a very crisp and clean taste.”
Though the range is still limited and the term “light” is used so as not to scare or offend those who have yet to discover craft beer at least there is a modest effort involved. I don’t think it will come close to matching the quality of the Sam Adams Longshot beers but this writer is very cautiously optimistic.
August is the quiet before the storm. And yet there is still plenty of beery activity here in Los Angeles before we get to L.A. Beer Week and BAM fest and the Great American Beer Festival later in the fall.
~ e-visits to three breweries in England
~ video reviews of the Sam Adams 2012 Longshot pack
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 66 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 June started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) August 11th at all three Congregation alehouse chapter is an Epic (Utah) tap take-over
2) August 12th The 4th Anniversary Festival and Outdoor Garden at Blue Palms Brewhouse
Every day brings more crafty-ness to the L.A. area. The momentum is still building here in the Southland and here is another example.
Certified Market is a Monrovia based bottle shop that has been serving their corner of the craft beer world since 2005. And I am just now hearing about it!
They have over 200 bottles to choose from so you won’t go away empty handed.