1st Visit – Western Station

After driving by it many, many, many times, I finally made a point of stopping at Western Station a mostly wine (but also beer) bar in Eagle Rock.

It is a small and dim but not dark space with a group setting in front but mostly bar seating. The beer and wine lists are chalked up in frames on one side. There is also a side wall with bottles of wine and a couple coolers with a small but nicely curated choice of beers. Any place that has Duvel bottles is a step ahead of the game.

The small draft list had Highland Park, There Does Not Exist and a pair of Craftsman beers and since I had not had the famous for Los Angeles 1903 Lager in quite some time, I went with that.

File Western Station under where you want to go when you have bi-curious beverage groups. Wine fans will find something and beer fans will too.

Liqua-what?

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Figueroa Mountain has added a new special series of beers to their super rapidly growing brewing empire that ranges from Santa Barbara to practically everywhere it seems.  It is called Liquamentum and it literally means concoction but what it means for the consumer is more beer and wine blends since their Buellton HQ has some wineries around it.  They will also be doing some additional barrel aging as well.  The first two are in the pipeline already…..

Double Down Davy Brown (ABV 10.7%):

Davy Brown Ale has been one of our best-sellers and award-winners for some years now. More than that, it’s one of our favorite beers. One of our favorite beers to brew, to drink and to share with family and friends. We love this beer so much that we did what any appreciative brewery would do: double-mashed it and bourbon-barrel-aged it. This double-strength version of our beloved brown ale has all the qualities of the standard, plus the sherry/red fruit overtones of aging and a subtle undertone of American bourbon.

Hell’s Half Acre (ABV 11.4%):

Sitting below McKinley Peak, the tallest mountain in the Los Padres range, exists a craggy valley of boulders and rock outcroppings. Hell’s Half Acre, as it is called, is certainly one of the roughest and most textural features in Santa Barbara county. For its namesake, we brewed the most layered, complicated and textural beer to date: a massive, complex barrel-aged Barleywine. After a battle of epic proportions to fit the most malt we have ever put into our mash tun, testing the limits of our yeast’s strength and aging for 18 months in locally-sourced pinot noir barrels, we give you Hell’s Half Acre Barleywine. A viscous, vinous, ominous brew: sherry, oak, toffee and caramel on the nose with massive body and flavors of spun sugar, red fruit, granola, treacle and chocolate.

Buzz Wine & Beer Store

Downtown LA is shaping up as a great beer destination. Far Bar in Little Tokyo, Public School 612 plus the yearly Craft Beer Crawl put on by the Beer Chicks.

Another addition to check out is the Buzz Wine & Beer Store on the corner of 5th Street & Spring Street.

From what they have posted on their website, they have a good mix of imports and California beers as well as a few others.

I will scout it out in the future and give a further report then.