Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Even Los Angeles gets a bit cold in the winter. Usually don’t need jackets but we do want some warmth. And something comfortable. Enter Backwoods Brewing.
“The warm notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in this winter ale will keep you Comfy Womfy allseason long”
Let’s have another Winter IPA because, well, everybody’s doing it. Literally, Everybody’s Brewing has Imaginary Friends.
“A true winter warmer. There is just enough body and hops in this beer to take the chill offf. Crystal and Chocolate Malta give this beer a wonderful Ruby color and a medium to full mouth feel. Generous amounts of Simcoe, citra, cascade hops really bring this beer to life!”
Congratulations! You made it to month 12! Some people are into Easter eggs, some love a BBQ on the 4th while others love a costume and scares. Me, I like Christmas even in Southern California. There will be holiday beer fun all month so get ready…
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Western New York where the snow is as deep as I am tall
~ special featured reviews of Winter Seasonals
~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 Revolutionary Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens The Sunshine Place
~ New Beer Releases and Best Beers of the Month
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Off to the Midwest for our next holiday beer as Short’s Brewing brings that staple of Christmas movies, the snow globe, now let’s shake it to see what is inside.
“We saw Grinch Joe Short muttering to himself and glowering from his lair so we concocted this double Sabro hopped hazy IPA and his heart grew three sizes, so now we’re spreading the love by adding Snow Globe IPA to our winter lineup. Hop on a snowmobile sleigh and take a ride towards epic amounts of coconut, tangerine, and apricot notes blended with soft touches of cedar, mint, and cream. This IPA will make you say “whoa whoa whoa”…. You know, instead of “ho ho ho.””
Peppermint morphs into candy cane this time of year so no surprise to see it in a holiday stout from Ska Brewing in Colorado.
“A delicious Stout brewed with Animas Chocolate
Company Peppermint Bark – 55% dark chocolate layered with white chocolate and sprinkled with candy cane pieces.”
Move over hard seltzer, I bring you the next big thing in beverages. Vintersaga. “A Swedish-style festive drink, carbonated malt and hops flavored beverage”. Straight from the Ikea marketplace of primarily lingonberries. This winter seasonal does not have a good aroma. Off- putting cherry cola would be my guess. First taste is straight up cough medicine. Woo boy this is sweet. The ingredients list says natural hops flavor and natural barley malt flavors but neither is in much evidence. I think that even kids would blanch at this amount of sugar and ask for water afterwards.
The Bridgeport Big Brew series keeps picking up steam…
“Nightcap was created to mirror traditional liqueur or spirit nightcaps enjoyed in hopes of warming cold toes and noses prior to a long winter slumber. A malt driven brew, Nightcap begins with the enjoyable bitterness of Chinook hops and finishes with strong hints of vanilla. BridgePort brewers aged 33-percent of the brew in Makers Mark oak barrels for nearly a year – evidenced in the warm and spicy undertones of the brew. Because of its unusual aromatic scent, it is recommended that Nightcap be enjoyed in a tulip glass to allow for the full fragrance to escape.”