Lagunitas Brewing has dipped into cocktail culture for a Zombie inspired IPA. With notes of orange juice, fresh lime, grapefruit and allspice.
Let’s dive in….pours a very faint yellow. Not a see through yellow but not hazy. Very orange liquer aroma. Orange is the first and foremost flavor followed by a hint of lime. The spice arrives on their heels. Quite bubbly but that ABV is super underground. There is enough bitterness and carbonation to tamp down the citrus sweetness that wants to escape. I was worried this would be a bit chaotic but it says cocktail and IPA.
Back to Smog City Brewing and their 2024 edition of Infinite Wishes, a barrel-aged stout, after a lager review detour.
The 2024 pours an inky black with a nice coffee foam head that dissipates in a bubbly fashion. For such a big ABV beer, this is not thick sludge but rather a sprightly beer. The predominant note is oak. Dark and roasty and far more dry than sweet. As it warms, a little chocolate pops through the wood but curiously not much bourbon coming through on this. Just perfect though for a spring day.
Los Angeles has been on a bagel kick over the last couple years and my wife has had me driving from Highland Park to Culver City and points beyond for taste tests.
On a recent Saturday, I was on the road to Calic Bagel for another round when I noticed that there was a featured beer named K-Town Lager. I scanned and saw a few Common Space Brewery beers and deducted that they had made this beer for this bagelry. So, does this lager pair well an everything bagel?
Pours a bubbly and fairly dark yellow color. Got a nice zip to it. A burst of floral hop notes from the German Magnum hops. Followed by a full but not slick mouthfeel with a good corn taste to it without being sweet at all. One of those where the glass is empty before you know it beers.
Imagine my surprise when a delivery person knocked on the door with a box from Smog City Brewing. Inside were two wishes, both infinite.
Today, I will talk about the Strawberry Whipped variant.
Once I got through the blood red wax, I immediately got a rush of strawberry. When I got another sniff, it was like a See’s chocolate with a strawberry middle. Just super berry notes. That perfume follows into the beer but then the milk chocolate takes charge. It is straight up strawberry truffle. This is a decadent dessert beverage. Lava cake would be a great pairing because this beer despite the double digit ABV is still light and would cut the richness of the lava while the chocolate would sync from beer to cake. This is a luxury ale.
In my beer pecking order, I tend to go for collaboration beers a lot but close by in preference is an Anniversary beer. Today I will be tasting 2 IPAversary beers.
First is Burn 5, a West Coast IPA from Burnin’ Daylight in Lomita, California. B5 pours a dark orange color and the initial taste is a bit of Sweet Tart candy and dried orange peel. The aroma is light tangerine to me. Quite light in the mouthfeel though a bracing pine bitterness comes in at the end.
For their 8th, Ventura’s MadeWest Brewing went for a DIPA. Pours a yellowy orange color in the pint glass. Very strong initially but that quickly fades into a pleasing citrus melange. The bitterness does linger on the palate. Also cleverly clocks in at 8% abv.
My Trader Joe’s has a weird set of beers from one week to the next as if they blindfold pick from a book of beers. Which can work in my favor as I found this Golden Stout from Karl Strauss Brewing.
I have been seeing more Golden Stouts with coffee on beer menus which I like because it allows for crossovers with coffee roasters, in this case Bird Rock.
Pours a cream soda color in the glass. Vanilla latte notes in the aroma. Quite carbonated. The cocoa nibs are light to not there but the brans of coffee and the beans of vanilla have a nice give and take to it. There is a sharpness to the mouthfeel that is a bit too much though it does offset the sweet notes. The coffee is really puts this into positive territory.
I mentioned last year that I made a stop in Oceanside at Bagby Beer Co. but I failed to mention that I brought a few of their beers back with me and it is now time to talk about them further. And for the last time! See today’s other Babgby blog post.
Starting with the cheekily named Corn Star an American Lager brewed with corn at a big 7.8% abv. Originally a collaboration with Sun King Brewing in Indiana. Pours a vividly clear darker yellow. Crisp and sweet aroma. First sip is very sweet on the palate. The corn taste is there for sure. Silky mouthfeel to it. Tastes pretty hefty too.
wEYEssbier was a gem that stood out in my taster tray so I bought a can of the hefeweizen to have again. There was a slight spice note but this was a banana dream. Almost into cream pie territory with a mouthfeel mix of bubbly and silky together. Better version of a pastry beer to me.
It is the end of the road for 2023. 31 more days until 2024 starts smacking us around. It has been a doozy. Strikes. Indictments. Wars. Inflation. And we are probably gonna run it back again. But, before you say we are doomed, we still have great craft beer and Christmas beers!
~ e-visits to (3) breweries from Craft Beer & Brewing’s Best of 2023
~ special featured reviews of beers if I find room amongst the seasonal 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 Going Infinite by Michael Lewis
~ A Podcast & A Beer listens to NPR’s Book of the Day
~ Sports & A Beer returns with Where are all the Good QB’s?
~ 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.
I have reviewed a pilsner and an IPA as possible Thanksgiving table choices and now it is time to do a dark beer, Pan A Flores from South Norte Brewing and it has a lot. Cajeta (caramel-esque) , cinnamon, Mexican chocolate and coffee.
This is a porter and not a stout so it doesn’t bog you down. Caramel and cinnamon is there with the coffee and Mexican Chocolate making cameos I would expect that different people would get stronger hits from different flavors depending on what people are more sensitive to. This may not play well with starters or cranberry but I think it would add pizazz to the turkey and stuffing for sure.
One, it is an oft repeated trope that Thanksgiving brings out the family blowhards who claim to not know that what they just said was beyond the pale (to put it lightly). To the point where pretty much everyone wishes the meal could be enjoyed in quiet.
Second is that like the blowhard, you can’t ignore IPA because it is everywhere for both good and bad. So we have to see if there is a way to wedge a good bitter hop charge with the turkey and stuffing.
That leads us to The Art of Quiet from noted SLO brewer Liquid Gravity.
Described on their website as, “Hopped with massive doses of Somcoe and Citra this clear hop nectar explodes with papaya, citrus and pine needles. A moderate bitterness helps keep this beer highly drinkable and each sip finishes dry, crisp and refreshing.”
Pours a bubbly light yellow. Could fool a person into thinking it’s a pilsner. And the aroma doesn’t give away the game too much either. First sip does reveal a goodly sized amount of bitterness but it has a secondary fruit juice flavor. Grapefruit and papaya for my tastebuds. Damn tasty West Coaster this.
I think this could work under the right circumstances. Turkey will not be a problem if it is the mainstay simple prep. If the stuffing isn’t spiced or the potatoes are not super buttered, this beer would work. I do think it would be a discordant note for other side hustles on the table though.
