Of course, 2/11 is the finale of the 2023/2024 NFL season….
And there are some pigskin themed beers out there to try, like the below:
I have a few picks based on the two teams in the big game, starting with the first team to advance, the Chiefs of Kansas City…
Gotta start with the obvious, Swift Cider would make an excellent first quarter drink. Since Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are Hall of Fame bound, the Heirloom Cuvée would be classy choice.
There are not a plethora of KC beers in L.A. so if you may have to get creative. Look for beers with red labels to match the uniform color (as well as the ubiquitous State Farm ads featuring Mahomes, Maauto and Coach Reid). Or load upon Red IPAs, there are more and more out there.
On to the NFC and the 49ers of San Francisco where you probably need to start and finish at 21st Amendment Brewery where you should start with the Run CMC IPA named in honor of do it all offensive threat Christian McCaffrey and then go on to the Find Your Fortune Toasted Ale. Or, find yourself a version of the California Common and toast both the team and Anchor Brewing.
Well, the big industrial marketing brewers are at it again. Spending time on advertising over ingredients.
Coors Light has had its iconic (?) Silver Bullet Train for as long as I can remember but now they are harnessing some Hollywood CGI so that lucky (?) fans can see their face in the ad during the Super Bowl. They will also get $500 and swag.
The downside is that the actual commercial during the game will be played at normal speed which means no one can see the faces. You have to go to their website or god forbid the Coors YouTube channel to see a slow motion version where you might be able to catch your face if you don’t blink.
While a few miles away at the ol’ SoFi Stadium, the Rams and Bengals were playing, I was watching and drinking beers.
Let’s do a two-minute drill of the beers…
Fancy Pantsy Rye Pale Ale from Eagle Rock
394 Pale Ale from AleSmith
Daisy Cutter Pale Ale from Half Acre
Pineapple Dunn Upside Down Wee Heavy from Stone
Snow Donut Hazy IPA from Smog City
Hello L.A. IPA from Highland Park Brewery
Had to have that last one as a Rams House nod. But overall, Eagle Rock was my winner with the too much pineapple not enough Wee Heavy from Stone was the least regarded.
Thankfully, no Brady. No Cowboys. No anti-vaxx Rodgers or Patriots. I can say, it doesn’t matter who wins Super Bowl 56, I will be happy. That leaves us the mental energy to plan great beer choices.
Home team Los Angeles Rams (who by NFL rules is the away team for this game) will face the surprising Bengals of Cincinnati.
So here is the plan for your beer buying:
Buy Local
Buy Crowlers to share or split 4-packs
Load up on low ABV beers…
but have a big TIPA or barrel-aged beer for the last part of the 4th quarter
The odds of the NFL navigating to Super Bowl # 55 were iffy at best. But Florida beckons and it is time to give you some beer ideas for the big game based on the participants, beer styles or other themes.
Even though this is not a normal Super Bowl year, you will want to keep the ABV low at least through the first half so you can concentrate on the second.
Secondly, look for deeper cuts. What cities did Mahomes and Brady go to college and see if you can find beer from those places. If that is not workable then expand out to the state.
Another fun idea would be to only have beers with 5.5% alcohol to match the Roman numerals.
Lastly save one L.A brewed beer to drink at the end to toast the Super Bowl coming to SoFi next year.
Because the Patriots are the opposite of America’s Team
Because this is L.A.
If the Los Angeles Rams come away from Sunday’s Super Bowl with a win you can celebrate at Iron Triangle Brewing because they will be pouring their lager from 2-10pm on Monday the 4th for a mere 1-Cent!
Instead of talking about the final score of yesterday’s really good game, instead let’s talk about the score of bottles and cans that were had while waiting for play to resume on the field….
Beer buddy Richard and I started with Bell’s seasonal Hopslam. Go big or go home. The smoothness of the honey really works with the hops. It’s been a while since I had this beer and it was really good.
That was followed by KSA from Fort Point. You can’t drink big hops all game long especially a game with so many interruptions (though this year, not too many flags from the officials) and KSA was a good palate cleanser.
On to the third can of the day, this one from Pizza Port, their new Surf Stop Pale Ale, which seemed more IPA, maybe session IPA.
Next came yet another can, this the first cans ever from Brewyard Beer of Glendale. They put their Blonde Common Lager, Sunday Morning into 16oz cans and it was probably the winner of the day by a field goal over the crowler of Fortunate Islands that I had picked up from the DTLA Dankness Dojo earlier in the day. This was the grapefruit version and it was brewed here in Los Angeles.
As confetti rained on the Eagles, the final beer was opened from Yo-Ho Sorry Umami IPA made with bonito flakes. It wasn’t super savory. Was actually more like a saison and though not an IPA it was quite good.
P.S. Thanks to the Metro Expo line for getting me to the party and back in one piece!
Haven’t nailed down a venue or beer choice for the Big Game?
Well, the Goat Group of bars has many options for you. Check out the following….
Der Wolfskopf in Pasadena
1/2 off first beer if in patriots or falcons jersey
Happy hour pricing for tots and pretzels = $3 tots/$3 pretzels
Surly Goat in West Hollywood
$51 open bar for duration of game (optional)
kickoff 3:30pm Doors open 1pm.
Superbowl squares for sale $10 and $20
and tons of Prizes
The Phoenix on La Cienaga
Extended happy hour
$5 draft special from kickoff until last play
Comfortable, spacious seating, wall-to-wall game visibility, and tasty bar bites.
Surly Goat in Encino
‘Merica special- Shot of bourbon and a Pilsner for $10
Little Bear – downtown (arts district)
Dew & Brew $10 Shot and beer (Tullamore Irish Whiskey and pint of Bavik Pilsner) *Will have food special but it is TBD at this time
Now that Herr Gropenfuhrer has been installed as POTUS and the contractors at the White House are getting stiffed on invoices, it is the time to drink up, for the end of the world is nigh. So keep checking in to see what to drink and where to go in L.A. in February.
~e-visits to three breweries from around the world like the Hong Kong Beer Company and Microbrewery Le Castor + 1 more. ~ special featured reviews of Beer Duos. ~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events ~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark ~ A Book & A Beer reads Dark Matter from Blake Crouch. ~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Here are two events to get your February started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) February 4th – Melvin Brewing from Washington State invades Beachwood Brewing in Long Beach
2) February 5th – Super Bowl Sunday at Surly Goat West Hollywood
Once again, Budweiser has taken the Super Bowl stage to bash craft beer…..
I understand that people loathe the righteous anger spilled over a stupid beer ad. I do. But if I have to scroll past post after post of David Bowie remembrances on Facebook and Donald Trump rants on Twitter because, that’s your jam, well, now you are paying the price for interwebs freedom of speech.
I also understand that this ad was the craft beer fans potty break time. The “Not” ad, as I call it, wasn’t for us. Bud knows craft beer people ain’t coming back. They have lost us. Who they are trying to keep and who are they trying to gain is what’s important and again where I think they have failed.
The ad is aggressive support for their consumer base. From the thumping bass music to the simple ideas, it is like the friend who has your back and is willing to fight for you. But that friend is wicked confused. I could go slide by slide and pick apart what works, “Not” Sippy and what doesn’t “Not” Small but I am more concerned about the internal marketing communication at SABInBevMiller.
Last year they basically pissed over their purchase of Elysian and their pumpkin peach beer and in 2016, they have doubled down on that tactic. The weird anti-fruit cup slide in the ad is in direct contrast to their Shock Top ad in the same Super Bowl. And they have added a swipe at imported beer which is odd for a Brazilian/Belgian company that does import a tiny bit of beer.
Why air an ad that fights your other brands?
A) It gives fodder to the group that hates you because you are giving them ammunition to hurt you with.
B) It confuses your customers that like both Bud and Shock Top (whether they know they are one in the same company)
C) it demoralizes the employees of Shock Top and the Imports (which would be a great band name) because they are now deemed as “Not” Bud.
Maybe the company is just too big to talk amongst themselves though I believe that the marketing and advertising side must be fenced off from the production side on purpose and that lack of communication leads, inevitably, to mixed messages. At the very least, Bud Light, Bud Regular and Shock Top should stay out of each other’s way. In a perfect world all three would work in concert to promote all of Budweiser.
This is all armchair quarterbacking but Budweiser needs to keep their advertising and marketing simple. Especially in a venue like the Super Bowl. Attack ads aren’t in the spirit of the context. People want funny, they want celebrities and/or they want poignant.
Here is a great example from a brand (Star Wars/Duracell) that took the love of the old movies, the hatred of the stupid prequels and the anticipation of the new Force Awakens and made a fun ad filled with childhood wonder….
Or you could really make an impact like Honda did by teaming up with Uber to provide free rides home. That is how you do it Budweiser. Oh and stay away from monkey-dog-baby hybrids. That shit scared me.
