Pasadena’s Replicant Beer is going to be creating not one but two Oktoberfest beers this year with an assist from German brewers. I can’t wait to see the label designs and see how these two beers differ from each other.
Duplicate October
Resurgent Quintuple
Replicant Shell announced a while back a new Resurgence Series, bringing lost beers back and coming in will be a Quintuple Blonde Ale.
Which, I do believe is from the late Five Threads Brewing in Westlake Village. Looks like a big and promising start to this series.
Lucky in Belgian
My bad. I was late to posting about the Lucky Baldwin’s Belgian beer salute. But there is still time to head to Pasadena to check out what is pouring. It will probably be either an old favorite you can re-visit or a perhaps a new sour to sip.
Resurgence
When a brewery closes, the beers and recipes can sometimes just fade away. Maybe to be done in new forms as brewers take their talents to other breweries.
Replicant Shell the now very well known bottle shop / foreign snacks / gas station in Pasadena is doing their part in bringing back some lost beers with their new Resurgence Series that starts with….
I think it is a great idea and I hope it is a lengthy series and I hope that we will be able to find out the mystery beers behind the resurgence as well.
More Replicants
Replicant, the super fun contract brewery from a Shell gas station in Pasadena has another new beer on the way. But before, I show the label, do plan a visit to get the current Replicant beers. They have cool Sci-Fi art and are fan fiction beers in the best possible sense.
Coffee IPA is a cool sub-style that, at least for me, has more hits than misses, as opposed to a Black IPA.
1st Visit – Wild Parrot Brewing
Out to East Pasadena to visit Wild Parrot Brewing Company which shares a space with Rosebud Coffee.
The space is adorned with parrots making it a flying twin to Green Cheek Brewing. The brewery just recently opened and has six beers on too plus a SoCal ubiquitous Michelada.
All the beers were solid. No, WTF moments here. Usually new breweries and IPAs don’t mix well but their Pandemonium West Coast IPA was good.
On the other side of the ledger was the Porch Chill Amber which did not build on the momentum from the first two lagers. Was kinda flat and uninteresting to me.
The sour could have been more tart but had a nice lime flavor. The Coffee Stout was more a Coffee Porter but had a good coffee note to it.
The best in show was the Doug Heavy. Light enough for hot weather but Big enough for cloudy skies too.
Wet Hoptoberfest
Sage Vegan is L.A.’s connection to fresh / wet hops and this year they are having a hoppy event.
Here is the the info: “Wet Hop beers are made only once a year right around harvest time. It’s when you pluck the hops right off the bine and brew with them 24 hours later. It’s as fresh as you can get for beer and lends a grassy, bright flavor to the beers. This year we decided to celebrate all 8 amazing breweries around town that made wet hop beers with hops from our 18 acre regenerative organic farm in Fillmore, CA. Many of the breweries came out with staff and helped harvest the very ingredient they used the next day. In an age of everyone being so disconnected from their food and beverage this was truly a special experience for all of us involved.”
The event will at the Old Town Pasadena courtyard at One Colorado and $25 will get you a mini taster mug and unlimited pours of the beers.”
Driving to Pasadena
It looks like a brewery is on progress for Pasadena. Social media shows a bit of life to Driven Beer.
Automotive themed from the looks of it. Joining Upshift and All Season in search of car hop pubs and beer names. More to follow.
On the Arroyo
The low gas light pops up on your car’s dashboard, you turn into a gas station to fill up and decide to get a snack too, when what do your beer eyes see? An eclectic selection of craft beers.
Yes, you should follow Arroyo Shell on Instagram. And you should visit as well. Is it an exhaustive selection like the standard bearer for LA, Sunset Beer? No. It covers three cold cases total, most of which seem dedicated to Bottle Logic Brewing. Making this Pasadena spot, near the Del Mar stop of the Gold Line, a de facto second tap room for the Anaheim brewery.
If you visit, expect IPA but that is secondary to stouts, smoothie beers and even craft seltzer. And don’t come looking for a sampling of LA beer, no. You are going to find Great Notion, Brewery X, Barrier, Drekker and frankly a a different curated list than in most places.
You can buy singles, they have holders at the ready and the prices are better than fair. I bought a Great Notion stout for under $7. Cheaper than gas.
Add Arroyo Shell to your beer buying stops.
Featured Review – Curuba from Cerveceria del Pueblo
On Tibet the fourth and final CdP beer to be reviewed this month, and it is a tart fruited Ale, Curuba. This beer pour some a hazy IPA orange color. Tartness is at a really nice level. Nice zing but the fruit notes which are mostly berry, do not get overwhelmed. Balance is there. Getting strawberry, almost Starburst notes. Pretty close but this slides into a second place finish to the Gaviota coffee beer.
