The AleSmith collabs keep coming, this time Other Half is the other half with Hop Cypher, “a new DDH West Coast-style IPA” This beer might be just a skosh easier to snare than the recent Monkish collaborations with the New York brewery.
A2
OtherSmith or AleHalf?
Sometimes the older brother gets the cooler younger brother to work together.
AleSmith has snagged a collaboration with New York’s Other Half Brewing for their latest IPA…
I am sure how they deal with hops together will not be a puzzle.
Fermenting Alumni
Imagine being a grad of the Oregon State Fermentation Sciences and getting the opportunity return to campus as a pro brewer to have a beer made with Block 15 Brewing.
Meet Alumni Club, what will be an annual collaborative beer release that highlights graduates of Oregon State University Fermentation Science Department.
Each year a new style and a new partner will be chosen.
Review- All Together / Frogtown via Other Half
I have seen some All Together cans hitting the market but I went with the one that would deliver to me. Mostly because I wanted to test how it worked. So without ado, how did Frogtown Brewing do with the Other Half recipe…
.. this is quite the strange beer. The initial aroma was a weird mix of menthol and mint. I thought, at first, that something was amiss. But as the beer warmed up, the gentle palate brushing bitterness kicked in and some fruit punch notes started to come into play. I am going to let my other can sit a bit and see if time is needed for the flavors to come together.
All Together
Other Half Brewing Co is taking a page from the Resilience handbook with their new All Together, worldwide beer collaboration. It was “created to raise funds & awareness for the industry we love so much. Regardless of location or circumstances, when one member of the hospitality industry struggles, the rest of the group (including brewers, servers, bartenders, bussers, dishwashers, GMs, buyers, chefs & owners) steps in to help and lend a hand”
More info, “How does the project work? #AllTogetherBeer invites any brewer, from any corner of the planet, to participate by providing the tools needed to make the beer at the lowest possible cost, including an open-source recipe, artwork, and name. In exchange, the collective asks that a portion of the proceeds go to supporting hospitality professionals in each brewery’s own community. The rest should be donated to keeping the brewery in business to weather this storm.”
Go to the website to find out if there will be togetherness near you. I know that Long Beach Beer Lab and Bodega did a version.
AirBnB vs Can Release
I thought this was an Onion headline at first…
…nope. It apparently happened. A line of Other Half fans apparently got heckled and White Claw’d by a gun-toting person from a nearby AirBnB.
Here is my breakdown. If you are standing in line for special anniversary beers then you will be heckled and you have enough money to laugh it off. If you are staying across the street from a brewery, just laugh and enjoy whatever candy flavor of the Claw you have. No need to go back inside and get yo’ gun because there is only one way that ends. You in a jail cell.
Faith in humanity just lost a few points.
A Book & A Beer – Miss Subways by David Duchovny
Yes, it is that David Duchovny of X-Files and Californication. And Miss Subways is his third book but the first that I have read.
The book follows Emer, a teacher in New York City whose romantic life is complicated not only by the usual pressures of life but by the existence of Gods of long ago erase her boyfriend Con, from her life, only for them to re-connect. It is a rom-com mixed with Neil Gaiman lite and chock-filled with contemporary asides.
Overall, I like quite a few of the ideas in the book. Quotes in the subway cars amidst the ads and people on phones is well done. Duchovny has selected telling quotes without being too obvious. I like the school characters as well. From the principal Sidney to her friend Izzy and even the three troublesome students have single but cool dimensions to them. New York is given a lived in and local character as well which adds a nice dimension.
The boyfriend with the weird Gaelic name seems a bit wimpy to me, especially in comparison to Emer. She could do a lot better, is something I uttered out loud on a couple of occasions. And that shortcoming sort of cuts the book’s knees out from under it. Con doesn’t have to be perfect but he seems weak even for someone who has proverbially sold his love.
Now if this blog came to you from New York and not Los Angeles, the beer choosing would be a lot easier. Most New York beer doesn’t really make it out to us but considering the romantic nature of the book, I really do need to pick an Other Half beer, so I will go for Short, Dark and Handsome, their Stout.
In wider release, since their is plenty of Irish in this book, Guinness would be a good choice. Or you could go light and go for Harp instead since that musical instrument has more romance behind it.
More local, head to Ogopogo Brewing in San Gabriel and pick up their stout, Ashrays. Those are mythical water creatures and the book deals heavily in myths but as the kicker, they are sometimes called the water lovers or water ghosts.
Hazy Weather in LBC
Monkish Brewing is selling hoppy cans by the bushel load and on the 14th you can compare them to New York beer darlings, Other Half and see who has this hazy IPA thing done the coldest. Then compare those to the Shrago Beachwood IPA’s that are straight up West Coast.