Wanna break out your Zombie costume or are you more of a Governor? Either way, Ninkasi will be crawling through cities in LA for their Dawn of the Red ale.
Check out the details, HERE.
CC and CAH
Today, I will be talking craft beer events in Los Angeles in my posts. So break out your Calendar app and start typing.
On Thursday, the second to last day of January you can sample from a Cigar City Collab Flight Night at the Congregation Ale House in Pasadena
Being such Cigar City fanatics we had to find a way to have an event! Five beer flight includes: NNB Cigar City Ale, De Proef Tropical Tripel, Coronado Last Spike and all Widmer Collabs. CC beer starts flown’ at 7PM.
Food GPS Teaser – Where to go in Pasadena
Tomorrow in my weekly Food GPS post, I will highlight ten beer-y spots in Pasadena that as a beer lover, you should have visited or should be planning on visiting.
But I wanted to highlight a few other places that are Pasadena adjacent that you should also keep in mind….
in Highland Park
Maximiliano and the Hermosillo
in Monrovia
Pacific Plate Brewing and Certified Market
in Alhambra
38 Degrees and Grill ’em All
Mostly Up
Last Saturday, I got to taste along with a hundred others, 8 examples of coffee beers at the Pasadena outpost of Intelligentsia Coffee.
The event was titled Uppers & Downers and was brought here via the the beer website Good Beer Hunting. We started and ended with Stimulus from our own Eagle Rock, in two different versions. Regular and fully leaded with a shot of Intelligentsia espresso! Both were my favorites of the night. Primarily, because both were coffee forward in comparison to most of the other offerings which were more coffee accented.
In between, beers from Goose Island, Angel City, Stone, Firestone Walker, Port all made with varying degrees of coffee were poured as the brewers or brewery reps extolled the process of adding coffee to different styles of beers.
But the most anticipated by the crowd was Dark Lord from Three Floyds.
Multiple vintages of the famed beer were in bottles, randomly my beer companion Richard got 2008 and 2010 which we shared and disagreed over which year was best. I preferred the older because it had an additional “jammy” note that added to the wallop of sugar whereas the 2012 required a dental visit, it was that sugary. Gotta say that this beer is quite over rated in my book. I would go with Zombie Dust or Robert the Bruce or (name a 3 Floyd beer) before Dark Lord.
My anticipated beer was from Solemn Oath in Naperville. I had my first beer from them on my Chicago trip and enjoyed it. Less than a week later, I was having their None More Than Black, black IPA and talking to the brewer while enjoying it. It took home my second favorite of the night award. Of which there is no plaque.
The event had a nice showing and the venue worked as coffee practically hung in the air. Mitch Steele from Stone and David Walker from FW talked with me for a bit, if I can be allowed to name drop. Plus the assembled brewers regaled the crowd with their take on mixing coffee and beer. The beer was fairly easy to get with minimal waiting which is a good sign for a new event in a space not primarily used for beer service.
Food GPS Teaser – Haven x2
Since the Food GPS post about the Haven Collective is broken up into two parts about the brewery and the semi-new Provisions Market. So is this teaser post, photo edition.
part 1
- Beer Selection – Pa
part 2
Blind Donkey + Beachwood
On Saturday, 5/25 at 2pm Beachwood BBQ & Brewing will Tower Takeover The Blind Donkey.
It will be the “very first tap takeover” for the Pasadena joint and Owner Gabe Gordon, Head Brewer Julian Shrago & Creative Manager Jarred Ekstrom will be in attendance with the following on tap:
Foam Top – American Cream Ale – 5.5%ABV (GOLD Award 2012 World Beer Cup – Blonde or Golden Ale)
Hef Leppard – Bavarian Style Hefeweizen – 5.1% ABV
El Verano Saison – Belgian Style Saison – 6.7% (Bronze Medal at 2012 Great American Beer Festival® French/Belgian Saison)
Street 3, Block 2 – American Pale Ale – 5.5% ABV – 70 IBUs
Hops of Brixton – English Special Bitter – 6.1% ABV
Knuckle Head Red – American Red Ale – 5.7% ABV (Bronze Award at 2012 San Diego International Beer Competition)
The Falcon – West Coast India Pale Ale – 7.1% ABV – 99 IBUs
Full Malted Jacket – Wee Heavy Scotch Ale – 9.2% ABV
Still Life – Smoked Double Oat Stout – 8.8% ABV – 69 IBUs
Beyond a Reasonable Stout – American Imperial Stout – 10% ABV – 85 IBUs
Who’s Brewing at Haven
I guess February 9th is Haven Day as two big announcements come from the OC and Pasadena outlets.
“Haven Brewing has announced the addition of Head Brewer Brian Thorson to its team, based at Haven Gastropub +Brewery in Pasadena. Thorson, who has produced many acclaimed beers at noted Northern California craft breweries, Drake’s and Trumer Pils, will now oversee all production of Haven Brewing’s small-batch, house-crafted beers. Thorson will help define Haven Brewing’s core brand by working to create base beers as a reference point for all future brews. He will be focusing on a range of styles, with emphasis on sessionable beers.
“Haven Brewing’s unique set-up within a full-service restaurant really opens the door to so many ideas and possibilities,” commented Thorson, who resides in Arcadia with his family. “For the majority of my career, I’ve been punching out beers at production facilities, now I’ll be able to better see how beers go with the foods they are served with. I’m already inspired to try different things.”
Thorson has been involved in producing many noted craft beers still available and praised today. Over his five-year stint at Drake’s Brewing, he was responsible for creating Hopocalypse in 2008, an Imperial IPA (9.3% ABV, 100+ IBUs). Thorson created it to, in his words, “blow off some steam” after the monotony of running the bottling line and toiling with all the brewing and cellar operations wore thin.
“You’ve got to have those ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ brews every once in a while to keep the blood pumping and also keep you from going insane,” Thorson explained. “All of the barrel work kept me on my toes, but also allowed for a lot of creative flexibility. I was lucky enough to have a number of different projects going on, so I got to see a range of different beer scenarios at any given time.”
“We are optimistic about Haven Brewing’s future with Brian at the helm. We have the utmost respect for Brian’s accomplishments and contributions to the world of craft beer – outside of Hopocalypse, he was responsible for the revamping of Drake’s Aroma Coma summer seasonal IPA in 2011,” commented Wil Dee, Partner at Haven Brewing. “What makes a brewer like Brian so valuable is his passion for the craft, supported by his tremendous industry experience in dealing with crisis situations, like the hop contract changes a few years ago, and being able to be flexible and remain focused.”
Haven Brewing currently has 12 house-produced beers in its catalog, led by the very first beer released in March 2012, “Hello World,” an American Pale Ale (6.3% ABV).”
First Golden Road snags a new head from points north and now Haven is raiding that tradition too.
FoodGPS Teaser – Stout
Tomorrow on FoodGPS, I re-visit Stout. It is a burgers & craft beer spot that started in Hollywood and has an outpost in Studio City with two more locations in Pasadena and Santa Monica coming soon.
So, if you haven’t been to Stout in awhile, read my post and check out Stout’s pairing beer with food tips and consider making a visit to the Studio City outdoor patio and watch the traffic flow on Ventura Boulevard while you enjoy your lunch or dinner.
FoodGPS Teaser – Not Beer Centric
Tomorrow on my weekly FoodGPS post about beer in Los Angeles, I venture to two spots where beer is not the center of the universe.
First is the latest venture from Ryan Sweeney and Brandon Bradford, Blind Donkey. It is primarily whiskey with over 60 bottles of American craft whiskey and Scotch. On the side they also serves draft beer, 10 taps, akin to the great selections you see at Little Bear or Surly Goat. (see the trend)
Second is the Colorado Wine Company. They also run the popular and well stocked Sunset Beer Co. but their first venture has just moved and has added six taps of beer to their fun wine flights.
You will learn more plus a classic holiday ale for the beer of the week. Oh, and some craft beer homework too.
Event Review – Stone Store in Pasadena
My L.A. Beer Week kicked off in Pasadena at the brand spanking new Stone outpost. An event so popular that they extended the event by a couple of hours to accommodate all the folks who wanted to get a first look at the arrogance.
Upon entering the Del Mar station of the Gold Line. (Yes, it is literally steps away from the train), I got my customary “bracelet” and a ticket for (4) beers and food. Now I could have saved some of the boxes for a growler fill or a tasting flight at a later date but I wanted to try the special beers that had come up from Escondido.
I started off with Ruination dry hopped with Motueka hops. This version tasted softer to me. Which is a good thing. I did not need to have my palate “ruined” one beer in. It still had a hearty kick of bitterness, don’t get me wrong, but a little more fruit notes rose to my attention.
Faithful readers of this blog will know that I prefer the lighter side of beers and I generally disdain the cult of the imperial stout but the beer that I was looking forward to the most was a big beer. Suitable for Cave Aging was created in honor of Danny Williams who passed away this year. He was one of the quirky legends of the craft beer world and I don’t know what his style preferences were but this beer was quite nice. Strong but not overpowering bourbon notes. A little sweetness. Overall a good after dinner sipper.
The other beer of note was an espresso bean version of Sublimely Self-Righteous. That coffeehouse aroma was in evidence but it faded into the beer which was more malt driven than coffee or chocolate. But it went really well with the beer cookies that were offered.
One day down and 10 to go!