I should probably visit Smog City more, I get caught up in trying to catch up with the new, but then every time I head to Torrance, I find a great beer on Del Amo. This year’s Anniversary was no exception.
I started with the two specially brewed beers. 420 Juice Juice and Saison Juice. The former used cannabis terpenes to create flavor and it was big. Sugared grapefruit hits the nose and came on strong in the taste. The latter was a beer / wine hybrid that I wished was stronger in the wine component. It was a solid Saison but lacked the depth that other Smog beers of the style have had in the past.
The next pair of tasters were also new from the Smog City cellar. Quixote’s Quotes quoted a mix of cedar and orange but neither really broke through the tartness. Peaches n Booze was like an overboard peach tea with a touch of bourbon.
I also sampled three of the cocktails since the team at Smog put a lot of work into them. All three that I sampled were fine as creative cocktails, but none really had the beer at the forefront. With the exception of the Bourbon OE which had a really nice boozy strong balance going on and the slightly burnt orange peel added zest as well.
As usual, this was a well run event. Great food choices with Mexican, BBQ and donuts to be had. Fast and friendly service and the weather was perfect cloudy to start but then warming up without getting hot. It should tell you something that this is one of the rare anniversary parties that I attend with regularity.