Absolution Brewing Company

Slowly but surely, I have been visiting the new breweries of SoCal.  And now it is Absolution Brewing in the spotlight.

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As per craft usual the brewery sits in a big warehous-y space. Nice wooden bar with a dark wood on top and the base made out of barrel staves. Big chalkboard cpvered walkin with large wooden tap handles but only four of the beers on tap when I visited.   Lots of kegs sit in a row like soliders. Since their soft opening in the first weekend of March they have had big crowds which makes the pew sitting seem like a bad choice. It forces you to stand at the bar with your taster tray. And that is what I ordered….
Sinner Stout – Which is light with a good roast taste.  Their porter has more ABV to it.  Could use a little more backbone.
Possessed porter – a little on the root beer-ish tip to me. Too light to me. They use it as a base for other experiments but still needs more oomph.
Fallen Angel – This was a citrusy soapy creamsicle of a beer.  Not much hop bite to it.  More XPA than IPA to my palate
Cardinal Sin – Another so so offering. Not much to it. Not bad.  But nothing jumps out at me.

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I will have to visit when more of the line are unveiled to see if the others are better representations of the brewer and also to see how they grow.  They are currently behind the other Torrance breweries and I would suggest them before Absolution. (for now)

Three Weavers

Three Weavers Brewing Company has been busy and will be getting busier as it prepares to open sometime this year.

They (Lynne and Alexandra) have participated in three collaborations: “Two with Golden Road Brewing, one exclusively for the United Kingdom in a series that brings the best craft beers from America and the second, a Stateside version called Cross the Pond. The third collaboration (The Messenger) was with Noble Ale Works to celebrate their anniversary earlier this month.”

And on March 6th (That’s TODAY!), Three Weavers’ Kickstarter campaign launches.

If you haven’t tried their collaborations yet, they will be at the Glendale Tap on March 6th and tentatively at Cinco (Playa del Rey) March 7th to celebrate kicking off the Campaign.

PS – I am now waiting to try the beers and will report back in a PSS.

PSS – I tried both and I really dug the Messenger.  Had a nice bitterness backed by what I can only describe as lemonade notes.  The Cross the Pond tastes very much part of the Golden Road family but is a welcome addition to the Session IPA trend,  if you can find either, I suggest you try it.

What Time is it?

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Timeless Pints fermented and opened before I even knew about it.  Which I consider a good thing.  It means the craft scene is growing and hard to control.

Started by  homebrewer Chris Sparacio in Lakewood, Timeless Pints now joins Beachwood BBQ and Brewing in the Long Beach area.

More specifically a Lakewood industrial park near the Long Beach Airport. And the names have been crafted like the beers “A Swarm and a Hatter” blonde , The Bear Reader oatmeal stout and the IPA with the moniker of The Expeditious Guest.

The brewery’s taproom is open Thursday through Sunday.  Check their website for more up to date times.

MacLeod Ale Brewing Company

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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.

 

A Brewery in Pacoima?

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Lately, I have been harping on how big a craft beer market that L.A. is, well the corollary to that there are some really underserved markets as well. One pocket in particular could use a brewery and thanks to the efforts of Robert Cortez, Pacoima could be the home of a new brewery.

Pacoima Brewery, (aka Pac City) after three years of looking has finally found a home. An “As Is” home which is being cleaned up and permitted so it can hold a three barrel system with six fermenters plus a cold box and cold room.
Cortez has a Belgian bent to his beers filtered through his Latino heritage. Past home brewed creations that may make their way into production include a caramel IPA, a Mexican Rye Lager with sweet corn added and some Belgian beers with Apricots and strawberries.

Thanks to advice from a who’s who of L.A. brewing like Drew Beechum, Aaron from Bootlegger’s along with the app age of home brewing tools like BeerSmith, he is well on the way to adding to the brew scene in Los Angeles.

My phone died before I could get to all my questions so I will be following up too in the coming months as well and YOU can follow the progress, HERE, on their FaceBook page.

Dry River Brewing

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1st – Check out this Kickstarter video

2nd Find their beer before anyone else at these events:
JULY 5    Grand Performances – Nina Simone
JULY 13  NELA Art Gallery Night
JULY 14  Permaculture Networking at The Shed

If everyone pitches in, we could be having their beers by the end of the year!

Brewing in the Works in Santa Monica

Los Angeles is a tough town to navigate if you want to build a brewery from scratch.  And to try to do it on the Westside would seem close to crazy considering the cost of a large amount of space would cost.

But according to the L.A. Eater, “someone” is trying to start one up in Santa Monica.  That would be big news and a large step forward for a brewery to open there.

When/If more news develops, you will here it here.

Mulholland Brewing

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.

mbc-longHere 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.

Saint Archer Brewery

San Diego has (yet another) brewery to frequent! I know new San Diego breweries was my theme in January but I have a feeling that it could be my theme every month.
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Here is their mission: “Saint Archer Brewing Company was founded on a unique strain of creative talent: World-class brewers. Artists and musicians. Surfers, skateboarders, and snowboarders…. All coming together with passion and commitment to express our collective true love — handcrafted beer. Saint Archer’s been a long time in the tank and we hope you taste our appreciation and gratitude in every sip.”

They have a starting line-up that includes a blonde a pale and the de rigeur IPA. You can probably now spend a full month drinking in San Diego and not get your hands onto every brewery’s beers. Amazing!

FoodGPS Teaser – Pacific Plate

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Tomorrow on FoodGPS for my weekly Brew and You column I head to Monrovia to tour another brewery in the works. Pacific Plate is in the midst of starting their production brewery and tasting room.
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Tomorrow’s post talks about some of their activity but I want to highlight the beers that they have posted on their Facebook page because I want you to be ask for them once they start up in May.

Mango IPA
“A tropical take on an American-style IPA, this mildly hopped, medium bodied ale is brewed with whole cone Simcoe hops and flavored with Mango. The tropical notes in both the hops and Mango compliment the bitter yet mild finish.”

Widowmaker IPA (L&O Collaboration)
“A liquid tribute to the power of the hop, this American-style India Pale Ale is light in body and color but features a pallet assaulting combination of Chinook, Centennial, Columbus, Amarillo, and Cascade hops. Boiled for 90 minutes to extract the full potential of bittering alpha acids, this IPA well exceeds the taste threshold of bitterness at a whopping 120 IBUs. This beer can be mixed with fresh orange juice for a tasty and refreshing citrus beer cocktail. IPA originated in the Burton on Trent region of Britain in the 19th century. British beer makers were looking for a way to preserve beer that was being transported to British soldiers in India. They discovered that by adding more hops, which acted as a natural preservative, the beer would survive the lengthy and treacherous voyage.”

Trappist Dubbel
“This Belgian style ale is a rich malty beer with some spicy/phenolic and mild alcoholic characteristics. It does not have as much fruitiness or alcohol as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale but some dark fruit aromas and flavors are present. There is a mild hop bitterness with no lingering hop flavor. Look out for dark metallic caramel flavor from the dark candi sugar that is added directly to the boil. Dubbels are traditional monastic beers that have been brewed in Belgian Monasteries for thousands of years. This beer emulates the original Trappist Dubbels still produced today at the Westvlteren, Westmalle, and Chimay monasteries.”
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The Pacific Plate guys have a load of interesting beer ideas fermenting as they proceed to adding their equipment, so keep your eyes out and make plans to visit Monrovia this summer.