Tag: review

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Featured Review – Avocado Ale from Angel City

It takes guts to use an ingredient that is in high demand and short supply and is thus expensive but Angel City has come back with multiple versions of their yearly Avocado Ale. Here is my review of the basic 16oz canned version…

Maybe this is the beer equivalent of avocado toast?  Pours a medium yellow color. Lots of grain character.  Neither the taste of avocado or honey comes through but the consistency of both is there.  This is very silky and almost oily. No cilantro or lime at all.  That could use to be amped up.  In, the end, this is a pleasant beer to have alongside something with wilder flavors as a counterpoint.

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Featured Review – Chief Peak from Topa Topa

The second 12oz can from Ventura County’s Topa Topa is Chief Peak. Which their website describes as “the piney hops are first to arrive. The tropical tones of passion fruit, orange, and gooseberry aren’t far behind.”

Here is what I found… CP pours a dark orange color.  Get a bit of candied orange. Aroma is pine and grapefruit. Rind note is the leader.  Sticky on the roof of the mouth. Woody notes as well. 

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Sparkly Hoppy

Since I take a couple days off from alcohol and caffeine each week, I have needed a replacement drink. I have settled in on Trader Joe’s sparkling water. (grapefruit being a favorite) But I have dabbled in other sparklers so when I saw the Lagunitas Hop Water, I decided to give it a try. The drink pours a strange off white, ever so slightly green in color. Initial aroma is that of pear. Taste starts with citrus hops but quickly heads to sodaville. Has the sparkling water fizz to it. Tangerine at the end for me. Edging towards candy.  If you tend to the soda side of sparkling water with a note of hops, then you will like this.

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LABW11 Review – Echo Echo Echo from Smog City

This new sour from Smog City uses second run peaches with a touch of lavender. Pours a yellow/orange color. Peach skin lightly hits the nose.  The taste is quite gentle with a peach flesh and close to pie spice mix but the sour really amps the total package up. The lavender is hitting from a different angle.  As it warms, it takes on a lemonade quality. One of JP’s recent favorites and I can see why. 

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Review – Unity 2019

When I went to Sunset Beer to pick-up a 4-pack of the 2019 Unity, I saw an empty cooler where the beers should have been lined up. I turned to the helpful staff who pointed me where I needed to go in the store and off I went with my prize.

Truth be told, I was kinda hoping for something more strange this year. Maybe some fruit or herb that is local to the Claremont area where Claremont Craft Ales is located could have been added.

But the fact that the cans were in short supply must mean a level of popularity that the style still draws and economics does factor into the equation when selecting a beer style.

And yet, this beer, fine as it is, seemed like something down the middle. It is a bigger beer, north of 8% but other than that it was a DIPA. It lacked a certain spark in the aroma, flavor profile or bitterness. Park this beer amidst three or four other West Coast Old-School DIPA’s and I could not have picked it out or said, that it had an ingredient that screamed L.A.

I know that a Unity beer will evolve. It can’t always be strange beers and it does need to be of the moment. The moment now seems simple and businesslike

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Featured Review – El Chingon IPA from Four Corners Brewing

I received a pair of media sample beers from Four Corners out of Texas so I started with their canned IPA.

Pours a clear orange color. Aroma is old school pine / grassy. Getting orange jello touch of sweet tart in the taste.  This is very West Coast.  Big malt presence balances out the action. To me this is pretty darn close to a red IPA which I would like to see more of.

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Review – Komorebi from Three Weavers and Coedo

I hit up two beer spots to find and purchase this beer from Three Weavers collabing with Coedo, Komorebi.

Tart & Tropical pours a pretty orange pink color. Aroma pops as soon as the can opened. Super tropical. Almost tiki drink tropical. This is barely tart but the hops add in to make a good combo. Neither are duking it out. More mellow vibes from each. I would equate this with a popsicle as weird as that sounds. 

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Featured Review – Zero to Sexy from Figueroa Mountain

Our final featured Fig Mtn beer is their Golden Coffee ale, Zero to Sexy.

Pours a bright and beautiful garnet color.  Big fluffy head. Lovely lacing on the side of the glass. Coffee and cream aroma hits the nose first. Almost has an ice cream quality to it. The coffee is the leading flavor component. Milk chocolate note is there in the back which supplies not a mocha but that milky tone. Lovely dessert beer.  Good use of both their chocolate and coffee suppliers…

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Featured Review – Mosaic Pale from Figueroa Mountain

Our second canned beer from FigMtn is their Mosaic Pale.

Pours a dark orange. Initial biscuity malt strikes me. Orange rind aroma. Orange and pine bitterness. Medium hoppy for this drinker. As it warms the pine needle taste takes the center stage. Tastes fuller than 5.5%. Almost like a Red IPA which is one of my favorite sub-styles because of the heightened interplay of malts and hops.