Tag: Sean suggests

Posted on

Sean Suggests for January 2025

Two out of three ain’t bad, right? The first two beers are collaborations between brewery and outside partner. They are also both in the 5% range. Then there is Sadie. An excellent outlier any day.

Paperback Brewing Crazy Clown Time Blonde – 5.1% – “Circus Liquor collaboration Blonde Ale”

Bright Spark Fika Swedish Coffee Milk Stout – 5.8% – coffee collaboration with Beacon coffee.

Beachwood Sadie Batch 11 – 12% – “This is our 11th batch of this expressive strong ale that spends a year in American bourbon & whiskey barrels—rich caramel and vanilla flavors are intertwined with delicate notes of oak and toasted oats. This adventurous beer is as spirited and delightful as the girl who inspired it.”

Posted on

Sean Suggests for November 2024

It has been a bitter November so let’s dive into some hops to console ourselves.  And let’s keep it in the Los Angeles family and within low 7% abv too.

Los Angeles Ale Works Steady Coastin’ West Coast IPA – 7% – “Crisp with notes of juicy melon, berry, sweet fruit, and fresh pineapple.”

Brown Soul Brewing Juguito Hazy IPA – 7.1% – “inspired by our very own Chef Hugo, who many have come to know affectionately, as “Juice”, this hazy IPA packs a punch”

Ambitious Ales Frodo Foggins Hazy IPA – 7.2% – “we took the base of our NZ style Pils and beefed it up into a mighty foggy one! Pillowy soft with lots of juicy character the Freestyle Hops Motueka and Kohia Motueka Hop Kief are bursting with notes of lime sherbert, starbursts and tropical fruit.”

Posted on

Sean Suggests for February 2024

As much as I enjoy a good themed beer shopping list, sometimes you just want to go around the style horn and end up with a wide variety of beers. Here are three to try…

Highland Park Brewery Bird Bier – 5.2% – “Witbier brewed with locally grown Buddha’s Hand plus Purple Sage & Pink Peppercorn foraged from The Audubon Center at Debs Park!”

Topa Topa Brewing Pava Rosa Sangria-style Kettle Sour – 6.5% – “Brewed in collaboration with Carhartt Family Wines.” 

MadeWest 8th Anniversary DIPA – 8% – “West Coast Double IPA with notes of pink grapefruit, blueberry and pine. Hopped with Nelson, Simcoe Cryo and Mosaic Incognito in the whirlpool followed by a generous dry hop of Vista, Mosaic, Ekuanot & Columbus Cryo.”

Posted on

Sean Suggests for November 2023

This month really runs the gamut. Of styles, ABV’s and ingredients. Give thanks for the wonderful diverse world of craft beer!

Stone Brewing Liberty Station Centennial Pilsner – 4.7% – “American pilsner dry hopped with Cryo Centennial hops to celebrate 100 years of the naval base at Liberty Station.  Notes of white grape, pear and mild citrus.”

Cellador Ales Subtle Peaks: in Spring Bright Nectarine – 5.9% – “A Dry-Hopped Masumoto Nectarine beer will be the first release from fruit season”

Samuel Adams Utopias 2023 – 28% – “Now released every two years, Utopias is a blend of multiple batches of the brewery’s earlier Extreme Beers which are further aged in multiple types of barrels. Utopias has always been aged in charred whiskey casks, and this year the Sam Adams brewers expanded the kinds of barrels for more complex flavors.”

“In addition to American bourbon barrels, we use imported Scotch and peated whisky barrels. The peated Scotch barrels add a wisp of smoke to the flavor, while Ruby Port and Carcavelos casks from Portugal and Cognac barrels from France bring dark fruit notes. New to Utopias 2023 are the barrels from Pineau des Charentes – a rare, fortified French aperitif wine from western France. While Utopias 2023 has European roots, it’s a distinctively American innovation.”

Posted on

Sean Suggests for April 2023

We are going to stick to SoCal but let the styles wander all over the place this month.

Ogopogo Outnumber the Downs Pilsner – 4.5% – A West Coast Pilsner brewed with Northern Pine Brewing.

Trademark Morning Drive Coffee Cream Ale – 5% – “light in body with an aromatic coffee punch.”

Societe Flashback Time IPA – 7.2% – “a virtual collision of juicy flavors and hoppy infatuation.”

Posted on

Sean Suggests for August 2022

Thanks Climate change!  Time to go a little lighter this month to compensate what we humans have done to this planet.  Let’s drink some lighter beers and also help, just a little while we are drinking.

Arts District Brewing Summer Crush – 4.3% – “Crafted on a bright and tart sour wheat base, our brewers go all out pulverizing Meyer Lemons into our own purée to double down on that acidity, and then toss in heaps of raspberry and blackberry for a mega jammy and sweet tart experience.”

Unsung Wormhole Pale Ale – 5.5% – “Hoppy west coast pale ale with strata & simcoe hops.”

VNBC Hair We Go Hazy IPA – 6% – A mixture of Cascade, Saaz, Calypso and Citra Cryo.  Proceeds from the sales will be donated to Wigs for Kids.

Posted on

Sean Suggests for December 2021

Since the focus has been squarely on holiday ales, for this final 2021 shopping list, I have decided to spin the style wheel a bit. Enjoy!

LIGHT

Wren House – Lone Mountain Scotch Ale – “A taste of tradition awaits you in the next pour of our latest, Euro-style ale. You’ll be greeted with a beautiful hue of dark, ruby red. The aroma coming off of this Scotch ale is lovely too, mild toffee with subtle notes of cocoa. The mouthfeel is delightfully malty and roasty with a semi-dry finish.”

MEDIUM

Arrow Lodge – Wild in the Streets – “Cold IPA with Citra, CTZ and Centennial.

BIGGEST

Mumford Brewing – Super Merry – “Holiday Triple IPA with Nelson, Mosaic and Citra hops.”

Posted on

Sean Suggests for November 2016

header_beer_shopping_list
For my November suggestions, let’s make some pointed jabs at the Tangerine Terror and his deplorables with names of beers on shelves now.

~LIGHT
Beachwood/ Independent IPA 7.10% ABV
“Without independence, there can be no invention. Cheers to unrestrained creative forces that move us upward and onward! Dry Hopped with El Dorado, Comet, and HBC 344. “

~MEDIUM
Black Market/ Charlatan IPA 9.5% ABV
“When you think of a lager, do light, malty, non-adventurous beer thoughts come to mind? That’s where the subterfuge begins and perception ends, with Charlatan. Charlatan is not your standard malty, or light, lager. It packs a wallop of serious hop punch and a treacherous 9.5% ABV to boot. This Double India Pale Lager combines the clean, refreshing base of pilsner malt and lager yeast, with some seriously piney, spicy, and resinous hops. Massive quantities of Eureka, and experimental hops give Charlatan everything you would want in an IPA, but in a lager.”

~DARK
Sierra Nevada/ Ginger Bigfoot 12.6% ABV
“This is a special version of our barrel-aged Bigfoot Barleywine Ale with fresh ginger added into the barrels. The resulting kick of ginger mellows Bigfoot’s ferocious hop bite and adds a new level of brightness of complexity. this beer gestures notes burnt sugar, orange zest, vanilla, and candied ginger. “

Posted on

Sean Suggests for July 2016

header_beer_shopping_list
Running the gamut of styles this month as we head into the back half of 2016. Going from cherries to Wussies and then Imperialists for those with a political bent.

~LIGHT
Bell’s/ Poolside 5.0% ABV
“A refreshing Belgian-inspired Wheat Ale, Poolside is fermented with Montmorency cherry juice made from cherries grown near Traverse City in northern Michigan. It adds a subtle tartness and bright counterpoint to clove and other fruit aromas that result from the Belgian specialty yeast strain used to ferment this beer”

~MEDIUM
Stone/ Who You Callin’ Wussie Pilsner 5.8% ABV
“For far too long the tyrannical industrialized beer overlords have disgraced and cheapened the noble heritage of the pilsner with their relentless multi-generational downward drive to commercialized homogenization. Over decades, this once vaulted style has been slowly and methodically gutted, bringing forth a soulless and anemic result, all the while spending billions in advertising to convince the unwitting public that their fizzy yellow end result was beer. Well, I will not have it. We are striking back for true craft by stealing the pilsner back from their evil clutches, and restoring it to its almighty glory. They do it cheaply. We do it right. Choose vapidity, or choose righteousness…but whatever you do, choose wisely.”

~DARK
Eagle Rock/ Imperialist 10.0% ABV
“For many years American Light Lager dominated the global beer market, and the industrial brewers who made it worked hard to ensure a long reign of their beer king. Well, times have changed and the old king is dead. No more imperious agendas limiting your choices. You, my friend are the absolute ruler of this new, diverse landscape. Long live the new King!”

Posted on

Sean Suggests for March 2016

header_beer_shopping_list
Has spring sprung? Hard to tell in Los Angeles where the sun is always in the sky. Even when it is raining. But here are three fruit tinged beers with enough alcohol heft to make them good selections for cool and windy days.

~LIGHT
Almanac/ Apricot de Brettaville 6.50% ABV
For this special release, we set out with the goal of making a beer where every ingredient and process contributed to one ambition: creating layers of apricot flavor. The natural flavors of the brett yeast create tropical and stone fruit flavors in the barrel, which we matched with a small mountain of San Joaquin Valley apricots and finish with a delicate dry hop of aromatic hops. The result is every aspect of the beer, from the yeast, to the fruit to the hops add apricot flavor and aroma – resulting in a delicious wild ale.

~MEDIUM
King Harbor/ Coconut IPA 6.70% ABV
If a tropical beach vacation could be captured in a beer, this would be it. the pineapple, mango, and citrus hop character of our flagship IPA blended with lightly toasted coconut creates a tropical party on your palate. Go ahead, drink it out of a coconut with a mini umbrealla. We won’t judge you.

~DARK
Allagash/ Evora 9.00% ABV
“Evora is a golden hued beer, brewed with a 2-Row and Maris Otter malt blend. It was hopped with Northern Brewer, Mt Hood and Sorachi Ace hops. The primary fermentation used a classic Belgian yeast strain. The beer was then aged for 16 months in Portuguese Brandy barrels with Brettanomyces. The finished beer exhibits notes of honey and stone fruit in the aroma. Citrus and oak dominate the flavor giving way to hints of bread crust. Evora is medium bodied with a fruity, dry finish.”