In one of my homework assignments over on FoodGPS, I implored people to sample some Smog City beers. Well, lo and behold, now you have a chance….

“To celebrate the culmination of American Craft Beer Week, Smog City Brewery and The Tripel are teaming up for a night of big brews and fantastic food. The evening kicks off with a cocktail beer hour, followed by a special four-course tasting menu created by Brooke Williamson and Nick Roberts. Each course will be paired with a limited edition Smog City beer, all on draft. This special evening on May 21st begins at 6:30 p.m., and seating is extremely limited! For those unable to make the ticketed event, The Tripel will offer the special menu à la carte along with the limited selection of Smog City beers from 9pm to close.
Selection of Hors Oeuvres” The cost is $65.00

Little Bo Pils

Hot and Sour Cockle Soup with Saison Runnings,
Sweetened Egg Omelette, and Wood Ear Mushrooms
L.A. Saison

Black Bread with Rabbit Pâté and Pickled Icicle Radish
Sabre-Toothed Squirrel

Beet Pasta with Wild Boar Ragout and Porcini Mushroom
Oaked Penumbra Stout

House Made Box of Candies
Groundwork Coffee Porter

Here is your teaser to what you will be reading in the Brew & You column tomorrow on FoodGPS….
DioNicEss has reached the # 10. And to go along with that momentous landmark, there is a special beer made specifically for the event by Julian at Beachwood Brewing in Long Beach. And I was lucky enough to see and taste System of a Stout before it was finished….

And here it is…. …before the aging with coffee and Armenian brandy are added to the mix.

And guests at the event will walk away with this custom growler…. To ensure that you try this beer (Oh and have a spectacular and extreme aged menu crafted at Beachwood BBQ), you will need to buy tickets HERE or grab a rare glass that will escape the brewery at select southland locations.

This will be a night of great beers and great food and I know this because I have been to a couple of these events and Gev keeps topping himself and because I really enjoy Julian’s beers. That + Beachwood food is all the reason you need to snap up one of the remaining tickets.

Last month, I picked up a box of spring seasonal’s from Pyramid Brewing.

This month, I took my $20 to Sunset Beer Co. and picked up Solidarity, the beer from Eagle Rock that really made their name in the beginning.

Then I picked up a Dupont beer by the name of Posca Rustica that I had seen in many mouth watering e-mails from Vanberg & Dewulf who brings them to the U.S. I am curious about it because part of the description said “odiferous”.

Here is your handy May craft beer shopping guide. Just click the link below to see three great choices from light to dark.
May 2012 suggestions

I saw this article over on the Brewbound site and nearly leaped for joy.

And what could make me do that? THIS. “The White Labs Tasting Room, featuring beers created on site, is open! The lineup of experimental beers change regularly and feature brews created with different yeasts and different brewing and fermentation techniques. The custom built tasting room features 35 taps.”

I checked out a tap list and it had 7 different IPA’s with yeast’s ranging from Australian to San Diego Super to Irish. What a great way to see the effect of yeast in a beer.

This tasting room sounds like a beer education you don’t want to miss.

Stone is not one to let an anniversary go by un-celebrated and the 10th year of Ruination is getting a special rendition of the popular BIG IPA.

A special label and amped up ABV along with what I assume will be plenty of hops will mark the occasion. I will be putting it on my to get list.

You may well be wondering why a Wall Street Journal article by a theatre critic is on this blog. It is for one of the highlighted words in the piece above (to see it better, double click the image).

That word is advocate and it is not used enough, despite having an entire website and magazine with that name.

Those of us insulated in the world of craft beer sometimes forget that despite phenomenal growth and an explosion of breweries and styles, that our world is still under 6% of the national market.

I firmly believe that we need more advocates for what Terry Teachout sagely saw in Ratatouille, “the discovery and defense of the new.” We can and should criticize bad beers or marketing ploys but the first and last thoughts before we hit enter on a blog post or Facebook update is that we are advocates first. If you give more bad reviews than good. If you have more cons than pros about the last beer event you attended. Well, then I don’t think you are in the right mind set or at the right bar.

You need to find the better brewery and become it’s champion. Make friends with your beer merchants and get better recommendations, let them know that customers care about what is being offered in the craft beer aisle. Don’t just slag a beer for the sake of more blog comments.

Don’t drag down the underdog. You give the underdog the rousing halftime speech. Be the advocate not the mud slinger. We will have enough of that this year to last for a long while.

It is that special time of the year where we celebrate craft beer even more than we usually do. American Craft Beer Week!

So, get out there and show the craft brewers that you appreciate that they offer you so many great choices in beer!

Here is a snapshot of where I will be headed.

Monday, Maximilliano for pizza and Craftsman beer flight

Tuesday, I will be at Tony’s Darts Away for a Firestone-Walker night. Maybe snag some more Wookey Jack.

Wednesday, On to Beer Belly to taste Fruet from the Bruery for the first time.

Saturday, the Farmer’s Market themed event at Blue Palms. Followed by Eagle Rock for their annual Session Fest. Low ABVs with big flavors.

Off to Victoria, Canada we go to hear about Moon Under Water Brewpub.
They recently passed the 1 year mark! They are named after a bit of prose from George Orwell of Animal Farm and 1984 fame so you can guess that they are English is style with a wide array of session beers like…..
Blue Moon Bitter
“This award winning beer is made with Canadian two-row barley, 5 specialty malts and Northwest hops.

In April of 2011 this beer placed first out of 17 BC breweries in a CAMRA Vancouver Session Beer Cask Festival.”

Tranquility IPA
“This beer is made with Canadian two-row barley,4 specialty malts and 4 varieties of hops.

This is a Canadian-style India Pale Ale; dry-hopped,crisp, and clean.”

Two 5 Left is a new Double IPA from El Segundo Brewing. Release date and anniversary is on 5/20. And you will notice that this label has a LAX motif in the middle as opposed to the more bucolic house and dog normally seen. A nod to the large airport to the north of the brewery.

Below is the information you will need to know to get your first taste of this anniversary brew and others on 1st anniversary day….