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One of my happy places is Altadena Beverage. They have a curated selection of beers, spirits and snacks and will often carry a beer that I cannot find anywhere else.
And now they have their own branded pilsner made by the Fine Folks at Radiant Beer Co.
Time to get into the time machine and tab the top beers of March before we head into the April drinking session.
Honorable Mentions go to Long Beach Beer Lab for their Brewte (Brut) IPA, good to see this sub-style pop up on tap and this was a nice executed crisp, dry and pear version. Next to mention is the pilsner High 10 from Highland Park Brewery. The menu board had re-brews of past years and there were many High 10s to choose from but I really liked the West Coast Pilsner. I also quite liked the latest Short-Lived IPA from MadeWest brewed with Firestone Walker. Crisp and biting with nice fruit notes.
The March winners was the strawberry whipped Infinite Wishes from Smog City Brewing. Filled with berry notes and a slight touch of vanilla, it was luxury when paired with a bourbon barrel imperial stout.
Stone Brewing recently dropped a new pilsner.
It is a flag type of can for sure. Wonder if this one will take off sales wise.
Just to throw another number at you. Enegren Brewing is now up to # 17 in their Single Hop Pilsner Series #17. And the hop is still so new that it does not have a name. It is HBC 1134 a “new experimental hop bred in the Yakima Valley. It is an American twist on classic noble hop flavors, making this perfect for a German Style Pilsner with noble elements and flavors of floral, woody aromatic, herbal, and a hint of citrus.”
Timbo Week returns at Highland Park Brewery starting on August 4th.
And here is what the brewery has in store for Pils fans…
“Of course we’ll have fresh Timbo to kick the week off but we’ll also have some other Timbo favorites including a couple draft only variations.
We’re planning on going big this year with Timbo Service, a timbo corner, golden ticket, & even a Tim appreciation day for all the Timbo fans named Tim!”
The festivities run through August 11th.
You know summer and its high, high heat are here when the new pilsners start rolling in, here is another, this time from DTLAs Angel City…
Two words, not one for Pizza Port’s newest release, “Sun Sets is a Pilsner hopped with New Zealand hop varietals of Motueka and Nelson. This NZ-style Pilsner is also brewed with Phantasm, a grape musk from New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc grapes.”
Looking like a hoppy pilsner summer on the way.
Each year, Enegren Brewing releases a spring American Reinheitsgebot beer in collaboration with another pilsner friendly brewery, this year it is Firestone Walker.
“American Reinheitsgebot 2023 is a German Style Pilsner made with all American ingredients including malt from Admiral Maltings out of Alameda, CA and American grown HBC 1134 Hops, which are an American twist on classic Noble hops.”
Predictions tend to either clump into educated guesses or a pundit re-wording the same thing they said the year before, and the year before that.
With that latter spirit in mind, let’s trot out some antiques and I will comment…
Pilsners will really be a thing this year – This is the biggest craft beer chestnut. The thing is, most places have a really good pils or a lager on tap. Highland Park Brewery here in Los Angeles has all kinds on tap. We can stop with this prediction because it is low key already proven.
Seltzers will lose steam – This has been the pandemic question each year. I never found one that struck me as anywhere near a beer replacement and have wondered how people thought they were drinkable. I think the category will lose additional steam this year. People will continue to buy them but they are not the song of the summer anymore.
Non-Alcoholic will gain momentum – This is pretty much a gimme as predictions go. More people are entering the market chasing that sweet deal that Athletic got from Keurig / Dr. Pepper. The beers themselves are still near beer in name only but the sober curious will buy them despite flavor flaws.
Mergers and Acquisitions – The era of big deals is on pause. This year, it will be the snatching up of closed breweries by those who need more production room. Perhaps in a different part of town or state to cut down on delivery costs.
Mark your calendar, Highland Park Brewery’s Timbo Week 2022 kicks off this year on June 10th with a canned release of Timbo Pils plus more pils-y fun.
Bob Kunz and crew are busy making as much as they can since last year they whipped through the stock in three days. To make it last longer they are brewing up a batch at the teeny tiny original location too. Last time they did that was back in 2018!