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Verdugo West is no more. Don’t worry. In this case they are just changing the name. Even the branding is staying the same. The name of their IPA struck a chord and so they are now….. Trustworthy Brewing Co.
That is not the only news from the Burbank brewery. “By the end of the year Gigil Pilsner, Wax Wing Blonde Lager, Trustworthy IPA, Brass Jar Hoppy Amber and What Plane? Oatmeal Stout will be available in 4-pack 16oz cans.”
So get your Verdugo West gear now. It might be a collectors item.
For those of you who haven’t noticed, my writing on Food GPS has morphed from once a week to now every other week or so. The pieces are a little longer, the format is a bit different, a bit of a refresh for 2018.
So if you missed March entirely, here you go…
# 1 – Coolships in Los Angeles. READ
# 2 – Food Halls and Craft Beer. READ
# 3 – Highland Park Brewery in Chinatown. READ
Following on the heels of an experiment in wild yeast for the Turning One Saison, Verdugo West is now tapping into older techniques with a custom built coolship (koelschips in Belgian) for a long-term beer that we won’t be able to see until 2019 or beyond even though it was brewed on 2/13/18.
I will delve deeper into coolships and Los Angeles over on Food GPS in a week or so. But for now, some photos of the what the beer looked like on Day 1….
I think a need a bigger spreadsheet to chart the L.A. area anniversary dates. They keep coming at a rapid fire pace. Here is another to add, Verdugo West.
Part of the 2017 Burbank brewing boom, they will be hitting the one year mark with a 1st Anniversary beer and growler fill specials on January 13th.
Verdugo West has a new winter barleywine out and maybe it refers to the California Golden Bear or someone has that nickname. Either way, Bear Temper lands at a big 12% ABV. According to the brewery, “Sweet notes of caramel and toffee that’ll give you a bear hug to keep you warm through the winter.”
Limited can availability but on tap as well.
With L.A. pushing their brewery count higher, it can be hard to make return visits to check out how a brewery is progressing. Which is important, because brewing skill and recipes don’t always stand still.
With that in mind, I returned to Verdugo West to check out what was happening and lo and behold ran into brewer Chris Walowski and tasted a flight of recent beers and talked shop in Burbank.
The list was split between light and dark with the popular Gigli lager that uses that underused adjunct, rice. It pours really clear yello with a bit of a sweet aroma. Then there was Hoppy 30th a macro based beer with rice as well and then a Double IPA’s worth of hops. I hope this beer comes back for 31st at least.
On the dark side of the ledger was Kalon, a rare schwarzbier that had good roast and was solidly Germanic followed by the Q2 IPA which was a Black IPA. A style that has had a free fall out of favor. This erred too far on the roast side and could have used some extra hop push to it.
I will have to keep returning.
I posted recently about a new brewery that I knew close to zero about except for three things. That its name would be Verdugo West, that Chris Walowski, formerly of Smog City, would be the brewer and that it would be in Burbank.
Now we have more information to pass along with the biggest news being that they open next month. The brewery is part of the MCC Hospitality Group helmed by partners, Chipper Pastron and Sal Casola Jr.
Verdugo West Brewing Co. is located at 156 W. Verdugo Ave. in Burbank in the usual for breweries industrial park with a 4,500-square-foot production brewery.
The 15 barrel brewhouse will be steam-powered which is the first time I have typed that on this blog.
MCC Hospitality Group’s has a large group of properties which, include Market City Caffe in Burbank, Morels French Steakhouse & Bistro at The Grove, JuiceFarm in Pasadena, Vanishing Point Winery in Napa, as well as several restaurants and juice bars in Las Vegas. That doesn’t scream confidence builder except for the winery asset. I generally prefer my breweries to not just be another notch in a corporate belt. But I will check the beer out first.
The Verdugo West taproom (once open) will be open Wednesday and Thursday 4-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 12-10 p.m. and Sunday 12-8 p.m.
A cryptic Facebook post from Chris Walowski, formerly of a bumblebee costume at Smog City hinted at a late 2016 opening for a brewery in Burbank.
Verdugo West doesn’t pop-up in Google searches yet but as the opening draws closer, that will probably change and we will learn more about this latest addition to the brewing scene.