A usual collaboration is two breweries. Some go to a trio. But rare are the quadlaborations. But Lucky Luke, Telco, Wolf Creek and Brewery Draconum are celebrating their neck of the L.A. woods with a new Cold IPA, Four Corners.
Corners
In the Tap Lines for April 2018
I hope you are on the lookout for Fool’s today. Lot’s of social media hijinks will be afoot. Maybe even some Russian ones. So break out an RIS and find the funniest April Fool / Easter memes.
~ e-visits to three breweries from flyover country.
~ special featured reviews of new canned beers.
~ 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 Legacy of Spies from John Le Carre
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world.
Here are two events to get your April started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) April 2nd – Bluebird Brasserie Grand Opening
2) April 7th – Wolf Creek’s 21st Birthday
No Ashes – Just a Barrel
BBQ and craft beer both have passionate adherents and divergent styles and preparation methods. And for both, all it takes is to step a foot into a brewery or a BBQ restaurant and then another and you realize that wealth of differences.
All hokey preamble to a quick night spent at Barrel & Ashes in Studio City near the CBS lot. There is a great smokey smell inside the small place that has a nice big window onto busy all-the-time Ventura Boulevard.
I was there to sample the unique collaboration of Wolf Creek Brewing putting their Timber Wolf Red Ale into a Buffalo Trace whiskey barrel. Used but not in the normal way of being, this particular barrel had been dispensing whiskey at the restaurant. B&A is one of the rare six spots in Los Angeles that gets an actual barrel that held whiskey. (Along with an allotment of bottles too)They are allowed to taste and pick what whiskey they like from a selection to be their “house” drink. Sometimes they go oaky. Sometimes mineral.
Due to the laws of beer and distribution, layered with spirits regulation. B&A couldn’t just ask a brewery to fill it and pay for the beer. Nope, had to find a brewery who A) self-distributed, B) that they liked and had a relationship with. Enter Wolf Creek, who has been hit or miss for me in the past but they have thought outside the box and added a red ale to the barrel.
The resulting beer pours a muddy red/brown color. Big whiskey aroma and taste to it. Vanilla and wood are the dominant notes. 7.3% is the final ABV and there is a light mouthfeel to it while some sweetness sneaks in at the tail end.
The beer menu has a good mix of craft beers to choose from and beers to please your cranky non-craft, just here for BBQ friends. It is one of the rare spots that has regular taps. Not all are rotating. And if you need an excuse to visit then on September 10th, B&A will be hosting a Sixpoint. Night. Meet members of the NY based brewery team and try their beers.