Beer #667-739 / Day #120-127: Sabroso, Sam Adams, & Sobriety

The Man... serving The Ladies.

The end of last week was close to wrapping up, and it couldn't have concluded any better than having my pal Ryan Harkins, co-owner of burger mecca GRILL EM ALL, inviting us down to hang out for the evening with him, his awesome wife Kevine, and some of their old Chicagoland pals Emily, her husband Brian, and his sister Maggie.  The invite was all I needed to show up, but Ryan further sweetened the deal by informing me they have the somewhat elusive HUMULUS IMPERIAL PALE LAGER from THE BRUERY on tap.  This is by far one of my favorite local beers.  Legend has it that The Bruery has sworn they will never produce an IPA.  Their way around it?  Create a hop-bomb lager... the very first IPL that I was ever aware of, and since then several larger brewers have stolen the IPL thunder... Sam Adams, Widmer, and a few others.  Humulus is a modern day classic.  But I digress...

While it was an unusually slow evening at Grill Em All's location in the heart of downtown Alhambra, Ryan and his business partner Matt were busy hosting a bevvy of friends and fans, not the least of which were a contingent of old school execs from Metal Blade Records.  In the meantime, my wife Camille and I made fast friends with the Windy City cohorts and engorged ourselves with the greatest, most filling, ridiculously over-the-top, decadent burgers in existence.  Their special burger with ghost peppers and birria was seriously tempting, but I knew realistically I wouldn't survive, so The Mrs and I split a Cowboy From Hell burger topped with BBQ chicken.. Ryan treated our table to every possible combination of fries, all incredible, and my favorites being the No More Mr. Nice Fries topped with chili, and the Anvil Fries topped with duck confit and duck gravy.  Everything was delicious beyond words, and the only thing missing was a stomach pump to remedy our gluttonous overindulgence. 

She has a new shirt, I'm just bad at selfies

After a few pints of Humulus and the Iron Maiden Trooper, an English bitter that was even better this time than I recall, we stumbled a block over to 38 DEGREES, a beer bar with arguably some of the best taps in LA.  They manage to wrangle some of the rarest kegs around, and know their shit.  Ryan's pal Phil Merkow, a fellow mega beer nerd, joined us as a kindred spirit in our communal love for the brau.  Camille and I  ordered a flight to share, and generously, our entire table of eight all passed around each others goblets and tasters.  I ended up trying much more than anticipated for a Thursday night, and it was all outstanding.  Now that ALPINE has recently upped their production thanks to GREEN FLASH, I was able to get their stellar NELSON IPA on tap for the first time ever.  Great peeps, great times, great beer.

After going through the motions of Friday, Saturday had finally arrived... the day I had been anticipating… the day of Sabroso Craft Beer & Taco Festival.  I had been looking forward to this day for months.  What I wasn’t looking forward to were the 90+ degree temps that SoCal had been experiencing all week.  My Wife’s MS has been bad lately, and the heat affects her adversely, so she decided to stay home rather than risk collapsing in some remote hillside park in Orange County.  I tried to find a last minute drinking buddy, but no luck.  I had to eat the extra ticket.  Rather than dwell on the loss, I focused on the positives… there was an extraordinary number of new beers waiting to be tasted, and I intended to make my way through as many as humanly possible over the course of this four-hour session.  But my Wife was going to be the designated driver.  Now what?  I had nightmarish visions of being too tipsy to leave, and a gauntlet of unavoidable DUI checkpoints. 

At the last moment, I remembered a link my overseas pal Randy Carncross posted: Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams Brewery, talked about a method he adopted to avoid getting drunk at extended beer tasting sessions:  Consuming active dry yeast.

Brilliance or idiocy?

Since reading this a few weeks back, I had been meaning to give this a shot, and today was the perfect occasion to see how effective, or how completely ridiculous, this idea would be.  The more I drove and lingered on the idea, the more I envisioned all possible bad outcomes.

What if the yeast makes me violently sick? 

What if a loaf of bread forms in my gut and I can’t poop it out?

What if the yeast blows up my stomach and I end up expanding like Veruca Salt in “Willy Wonka”?

What if this yeast story is an elaborate prank, purposely planted in the media to ensnare beer geeks into trying something absolutely absurd?

En route to the fest, I stopped at a Ralph’s supermarket in Orange.  In the baking aisle I found the intimidating packets of Fleischman’s yeast.  Koch said he mixed yeast with yogurt to make the taste more palatable.  I opted for a small container of chocolate pudding.

Yum.

Traversing the country road out to Lake View Park out in Silverado, I reached the parking lot 15 minutes before the start of the session.  Enough time to prep my buzzkill formula.  I couldn’t help thinking this is either the dumbest thing I’ve tried, or the smartest thing I’ve tried.  Considering all of my preconceived fears about active dry yeast, I kept my initial intake small… less than one packet.  To my surprise, it wasn’t bad at all.  In fact, it tastes like Grape Nuts cereal.  Hell, I’m a beer drinker, and I love yeasty beers, so it should have occurred to me sooner this wouldn’t be a big deal.  I speedily scarfed down the concoction, then unsuccessfully asked around the parking lot if anyone needed an extra ticket.  No dice.  In fact, several other folks had extras, too.  I had to accept the fact that I was going to take a bath on the second ticket if I wanted to start tasting on time, so I semi-reluctantly ventured into the tasting area.

The location itself as well as the layout of the event couldn’t have been better.  Plenty of room to spread out.  Plenty of trees for shade.  Live music.  Masked lucha libre Mexican-style wrestling.  Even a few non-beer vendors for those who needed a break from all things brewish. 

This does NOT suck.

And most importantly, the range of breweries represented the pick of the litter of establishments from California's Lower Half.  Many old favorites, many I’ve seen but never tried, and a couple I’d never even heard of.  While I was not in the loop with any hype for the day, it was clear that the buzz was all about the newest Anaheim-based brewery BOTTLE LOGIC.  Neighboring tents catered to lines of 2-3 patrons at a time, while the Bottle Logic tent had a line that doubled back and stretched so far I didn’t even realize the end of the line was actually a line for anything.  I had perused many recent positive write ups about this establishment, but I also don’t have the patience to wait for anything… especially in a park that was teeming to the seams with countless available taps (and on a separate topic to rant about another day, “fuck, no” I’m not waiting in any freakin’ line, even if it's for Pliny The Younger!). 

As expected, this fest, like most, was heavy on the IPAs overall, although 85% PIZZA PORT ORDER IN THE PORT, EL SEGUNDO HYPERION’S STOUT WITH VANILLA BEAN, BACKSTREET SANTO MOLE CHILE STOUT, and the TAPS MOCHA STOUT, although top honors and Beer Of The Day go to BOTTLE LOGIC… once their line finally died down, their premium offerings were still available, and I was lucky enough to sample the next-to-last tasting of their off-the-charts LECHE BORRACHO MOLE STOUT AGED IN TEQUILA OAK CHIPS.  Every BOTTLE LOGIC beer was unique, and although I’m not a hob-nobber or social butterfly in general, I had to shake the hand of their President Steve Napolitano for his innovative and just effing delicious beers. 
of them were damn good.  A surprising number of stouts were available, which made me a happy man, the most memorable being the

Still does NOT suck.

This day was full of continued pleasant surprises.  All of the BLACK MARKET brews were terrific, but I’ve never had an imperial brown ale until I tried their outstanding EMBARGO IMPERIAL BROWN.  The gregarious Phil Thomas repped the excellent CLOWN SHOES SPACE CAKE IMPERIAL IPA. NOBLE ALE WORKS blew me way with their spicy PISTOLA CHILE PILSNER and their complex ROSALITA HIBISCUS PILSNER, both being wonderfully tweaked offshoots of their standard PISTOL WHIP’D PILSNER, not to mention the guys at their tent were the only dudes besides Phil who knew what my SURLY hat was. 

I enjoyed nearly everything I tried, but my runaway favorites for the day were the kick-in-the-pants chile beers... aside from the aforementioned brews, IRONFIRE BREWING HABANERO PALE, BOTTLE LOGIC BREWING ANAHEIM, CA CHILE PALE WHEAT ALE, and VALIANT BREWING HOT & KOLSCH did a fine job of kicking my posterior.  Such a wide variety of unique brewing approaches, from IPAs to Kolsch to Stouts, and I loved every single one of them.
I spent four solid hours consuming delicious tacos from HAVEN and THE KROFT, gulping tons of water, asking for half-pours and getting full pours, and pouring more than half of them out, and in the end I managed to make my way through 44 new beers for my Big Year.  For nearly all of them, I sampled them in three sips and moved on, although a couple were way too perfect to pour out, so I drank the full pour, not knowing when I’d get another chance… most notably the BOTTLE LOGIC LECHE BORRACHO and the NOBLE PISTOLA.

In every way, this does NOT suck.

All of this was achieved without my stomach exploding.  Did the yeast trick work?  Possibly.  I should have consumed even more yeast to really see if I could even keep the mild buzz at bay.  But being a cautious first-timer, it still seemed to help, although it could have equally been attributed to my mass agua consumption, eating well, and sampling small amounts albeit from a large number of taps.

Either way, it was a prosperous, brau-filled day, and I'm looking forward to attending the affiliated annual OC Brew Ha Ha event for the first time this September. 

In the meantime... Viva Sabroso!!

The tally continues....

Sippin' at home with The Mrs.:

667 - ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING KEEBARLIN' PALE ALE HWY 128 SESSION SERIES - Delicious session pale ale

668 - GRAND TETON BREWING SWEETGRASS AMERICAN PALE ALE - Can I get a "yum"?

Thurs nite partying at GRILL EM ALL and 38 DEGREES:

669 - THE BRUERY HUMULUS INDIA PALE LAGER - Legendary, at least in my book

670 - ROBINSONS TROOPER - On tap @ Grill Em All, I don't remember it being this good. Maybe I'm High On Fries?

671 - ALPINE BEER COMPANY NELSON IPA - The hard to find classic, now more readily available thanks to a partnership with Green Flash. First time I've had it on tap, @ 38 Degrees.

672 - BAIRD BREWING DARK SKY IMPERIAL STOUT - I see my handful of Japanese beer buddies posting about Baird, now I finally get to try it. Sweeter than most American stouts.  Different.  And different is good.

World's worst cell phone pic of cool peeps

673 - CRAFTSMAN BREWING 1903 LAGER - Easy drinkin' local. Will Craftsman ever expand? I'm seriously doubting it.

674 - THE BRUERY BOIS BOURBON BARREL AGED - Incredible old ale / barleywine. Not sure 100% what style it's considered but it's crazy heavy, complex, thick... like a decadent dessert.

675 - BIG SKY BREWING OLDE BLUEHAIR BARLEYWINE - Rich, like any barleywine worth its weight, served in a freakin' goblet! 

676 - SAINT SOMEWHERE BREWING E'TE' SANS FIN SAISON - Tasty Florida brew, thanks to Ryan for the taste.

677 - SMUTTYNOSE IMPERIAL STOUT - Goddamn solid, like all Smuttynose.  Lucky to have a few Smuttys on the east coast last month, but I didn't have this one.

678 - BOULDER BEER COMPANY SHAKE CHOCOLATE PORTER ON NITRO - Like Chocolate Quik, but on Nitro

679 - NORTH COAST BREWING COMPANY GRAND CRU - Bourbon barrel aged Belgian style golden strong ale, slightly tart, all delicious, better than I remember from last year.

Friday nite at home, the calm before the storm:

680 - FLYING DOG BREWERY WOODY CREEK BELGIAN STYLE WHITE - Basic Americanized Belgian-style white, but a winner.

681 - ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING EL STEINBER DARK LAGER - Tasty black lager in a tallboy can, I heart Anderson Valley overall

682 - LAGUNITAS CENSORED RICH COPPER ALE - Great amber, Lagunitas rules, didn't realize until this time that the censored name is actually THE KRONIK

Sabroso Saturday... 44 tastings in one afternoon session... que bueno!

683 - RITUAL BREWING HOP-O-MATIC IPA - The name says it all

Wrestlin' honky hangin' out in pink tights

684 - EL SEGUNDO BREWING HYPERION'S STOUT WITH VANILLA BEAN - Thick, rich, delicious

685 - CISMONTANE BREWING SMOKIN' SANTIAGO SCOTCH ALE - Smoked scotch ale. Had it last year and found it to be OK. Same reaction this year. I'm a huge fan of Cismontane, but this isn't my fave on their roster.

686 - CISMONTANE BREWING THE CITIZEN CALIFORNIA COMMON - Refreshing on a hot afternoon

687 - HANGAR 24 SMALL STOUT - An unexpected, but most-welcome entry from this brewery. Smooth American style with heavy roasted barley, not as dense as I like, but still flavorful

688 - HANGAR 24 BELGIAN SUMMER ALE - Crisp and mildly tart, possibly my favorite Hanger 24 output

689 - TAPS NUESTRA SENORA - medium bodied, deep amber colored Mexican style lager

690 - GREAT DIVIDE BREWING 20TH ANNIVERSARY BELGIAN-STYLE ALE - Poured by the Haven booth at Sabroso, brewed with grape juice, like a less-sweet shandy, light & fruity, paired well with Haven pork tacos.

691 - TAP IT BREWING I PI A BELGIAN IPA - They use the "pi" symbol on their tap, brewed with Belgian yeast but it's not discernible because this is one crunchy-as-hell hop attack, excellent but nothing Belgian about it.

692 - TUSTIN BREWING RED HILL RED - This Red Hill Red is red. Some mild hops. Would definitely order this again.

693 - TUSTIN BREWING JACKSON'S IMPERIAL IPA - Excellent hop crunch

694 - BOTTLE LOGIC / TUSTIN COLLABORATION AGED OAK CHIP IPA - Walked up to the Tustin tent right when they were tapping this keg... Mildly woody, all good, lucky I got to try this rarity, one of the few Sabroso pours where I drank the whole thing

Black Market. They'll put you to shame.

695 - BELCHING BEAVER EASY BEAVER SESSION IPA - Jumping in on the Session IPA craze of 2014, and coming in strong

696 - BEACH CITY BREWERY SWEET CRUDE STOUT - Tastes like a liquid cookie, brewery grand opening is next weekend in Huntington Beach, glad I got to check em out early

697 - BEACH CITY BREWERY PCH PALE ALE - Solid pale, looking forward to checking out more from this new brewery

698 - TAPS MOCHA STOUT - Total mocha bomb, but a thick, oily stout... just how I like em

699 - BOOTLEGGER'S BREWERY CHANGO LAGER - Crisp, clean, grapefruity goodness

700 - LEFT COAST BREWING DEL MAR ST. LAGER - Dortmunder style export lager.... not sure what that means, but I like pretending that I do. Clean, simple, OK but I'd go for Bootleggers first

701 - LEFT COAST BREWING TRESTLES IPA - It's an IPA

702 - CLOWN SHOES SPACE CAKE IMPERIAL IPA - Everybody does an IPA, yet true to form, Clown Shoes rises above mediocrity... caramelly malts and strong hops

703 - VALIANT BREWING HOT & KOLSCH - Masterful, spicy kolsch infused with chiles, one of my favorites of the day

704 - FIRESTONE WALKER EASY JACK SESSION IPA - Session IPA with mild crunch, wouldn't expect less from the Masters

705 - SAINT ARCHER BREWING WHITE ALE - Yeast, major citrus, perfect hot day beer

706 - NOBLE ALE WORKS PISTOLA CHILE PILSNER - Their Pistol Whip'd Pilsner infused with serrano chiles, my new favorite! Plus the Noble guys were the only ones who knew what my Surly hat was... bonus points!

Ironfire: Killed it!

707 - NOBLE ALE WORKS ROSALITA HIBISCUS PILSNER - Pistol Whip'd Pilsner infused with hibiscus, pink in color, looks like a rose wine. I'm sure the Brewbies would support this one!

708 - PIZZA PORT (SAN CLEMENTE) ORDER IN THE PORT STOUT - Commanding imperial stout... excellent as expected. I love all Pizza Port beers, but this is their best stout, hands down.

709 - I & I BREWING HIBISCUS XPA - Not bad, not particularly distinct, curious what else they have that might be more impressive

710 - PIZZA PORT (SAN CLEMENTE) EL CAMINO IPA - Crunchy crunchy crunchy IPA, like healthy cereal... in a good way

711 - IRONFIRE BREWING HABANERO PALE - Another great chile beer at Sabroso, nice kick, slow burn on the finish, but still easily drinkable, so good!

712 - BLACK MARKET BREWING 1945 SOUR WHEAT ALE - Not too sour, puckery with a hint of sweetness... an aperitif beer?

713 - TAP IT BREWING SNAFU DOUBLE IPA - 11.1% ABV, thick like an imperial but totally drinkable, not overwhelming, just right

714 - BLACK MARKET BREWING EMBARGO IMPERIAL BROWN - Best brown I've ever tasted. Have I ever had an imperial brown? Is this the world's best kept secret? So rich it could be a nutty stout.

715 - BOTTLE LOGIC BREWING LECHE BORRACHO STOUT - Best beer of the day @ Sabroso, Leche Mole with tequila oak chips, freakin' unique, can't be compared to anything I've ever had. Innovative!

716 - BACKSTREET BREWERY SANTO MOLE CHILE STOUT - Imperial coffee stout with habanero, major chocolate, an unexpected favorite, super sweet with a major kick.

717 - BACKSTREET BREWERY TOMAHAWK DOUBLE IPA - Eh.

718 - J.T. SCHMID'S HEFEWEIZEN - I thought this would be a cheezy brewer like BJ's, but this hefe is a treat, I'd order this anyday.

Food photos are dumb. So here's one.

719 - RITUAL BREWING MONK'S LUNCH BELGIAN GOLDEN - Belgian single / blonde - low ABV, estery, mildly floral, a goodie.

720 - OLD ORANGE BREWING STREET FAIR SUMMER ALE - No.

721 - IRONFIRE BREWING THE DEVIL WITHIN DIPA - Really damn potent, what a DIPA!

722 - MISSION BREWERY ZYTHOS IPA - Rye IPA, I'm a sucker for anything rye

723 - MISSION BREWERY ARMADA COLLABORATION SAISON - Farmhousey goodness

724 - BOTTLE LOGIC BREWING RECURSION IPA - I'm burnt out on IPAs but Bottle Logic gave me renewed hope. This one is superior.

725 - BOTTLE LOGIC BREWING ANAHEIM, CA - Pale wheat chile beer, an unexpected but welcome surprise, top of the line!

726 - J.T. SCHMID'S ANAHEIM IPA - Eh!

Bottle Logic will always be better than you

Enjoying brews at home with my Wife, Sat nite thru Wed nite:

727 - LAGUNITAS BREWING CAPPUCCINO STOUT - Finally get to share one with The Wife after tasting 44 straight @ Sabroso

728 - THE LOST ABBEY RED BARN ALE SAISON - Saisony, taste that faint hint of tart farmhouse wildness

729 - OMMEGANG HOP HOUSE BELGIAN PALE ALE - S'OK, least favorite Ommegang output

730 - ALASKAN BREWING FREERIDE APA - S'OK, least favorite Alaskan output

731 - DRAKE'S BREWING AMBER - Really really good, roasty, malty, caramelly

732 - UINTA BREWING ANNIVERSARY BARLEYWINE - A good 'un

733 - BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON BEER WORKS THE RAVEN SPECIAL LAGER - I've said it before... always prepared to write this off as a novelty brewer, but I truly enjoy EVERY beer I've had from Baltimore-Washington Beer Works.

Action photo of bottles on a table

734 - DRAKE'S BREWING HEFEWEIZEN - Drake's is pretty much flawless. Accept it.

735 - BIG SKY BREWING IPA - Good, solid hop crunch

736 - CLOWN SHOES CLEMENTINE WHITE ALE - Belgiany goodness, heavy on the orange

737 - BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON BEER WORKS PENDULUM PILSNER - Band practice beer, enjoyed during the first TO THE POINT rehearsal in nearly a year, trying not to hurt myself yelling like a madman. Nice beer... wheaty, barleyey

738 - MAUI BREWING MANA WHEAT - What you'd expect from a wheat beer... went quite well with our oniony salsa tonite.

739 - PORT BREWING OLD VISCOSITY ALE - Old Reliable stout.

Beer #179-194 / Day #37-38: Confessions Of A Male Beer Model

Are they trying to say I'm easy?

Last Friday started out wonderfully beery when The Mrs sent me a link to the tap takeover page for our favorite beer locale in Koreatown, Beer Belly.  We visited them for the first time maybe three years ago. At the time they weren't too busy & we hung out with the owner & his wife.  She was taking some photos to use for promotion on their website. They asked if we were OK with being photographed & included on their site. Naturally, we obliged. I checked their site a few times afterwards and never saw any pics of us from that day.  Dang!
Jump ahead several years, and there we are. I say "we" because my wife is the blurry one behind the text. But it's mostly me, a few years back, cheersing the owner.  Toasty.  Pleased.  And with a much shorter beard.
Wow, how cool. 

Full of octopus and proud of it

Then it occurs to me.  There's a pic of my face with the phrase "One Night Stand 2014" next to it.  Of course, it's Beer Belly's euphemism for monthly tap takeovers. But just the wording itself is the perfect analogy of my Big Year... being a complete beer whore for the duration of the year. Sippin' anything within arms reach, but refusing to go back for more. Like a goddamn tramp. My pal Sean Casey said it's a very '70s pic.  I'm just missing gold chains and a wider collared shirt.  Loose, drunk, and on the prowl for ladies to satisfy.  I've never been mistaken for a gigolo. Not once.  But for this one and only time, I enjoy the double entendre.
Cheers to Beer Belly!

Later Friday nite, we hit Honda-Ya in Little Tokyo with our friends Jim Gascon & Lily Thai, known from here on out as the celebrity couple GasThai.  This Japanese standby has been around for a while on the 3rd Floor of the shabby, dated, and mildly-depressing Little Tokyo Galleria Market. GasThai are regulars to this downtown LA spot, but it was our first time.  Seriously, one of the best dinners in recent memory, despite the lengthy wait.  Not an incredible beer selection, but a truly incredible food selection... raw wasabi octopus, deep fried octopus balls, skewers of beef tongue, pork belly, chicken heart... insanely, ridiculously delicious.  We'll definitely be back, as often as possible.
Even better, the restaurant was only one block away from Angel City Brewery.  This brewery is an enigma.  Since I moved to LA in 2001, I've been aware of Angel City, and I've randomly run across their beers in downtown restaurants & bars, but only in recent years did they open their doors, and only in the past year did they finally start bottling a handful of their brews.  Their tasting room is based out of a funky, industrial warehouse space downtown, the exact room that Jim Gascon's mom ironically worked out of, only a few years ago.  It's a large space, beer only, yet still comfortable and inviting.  I bought us a couple flights so we could sample everything.  Of course, flights are the best way to rack up numbers on one's Big Year, and Ms. Thai is just now starting hers.  No better place to kick it off.  Great beer across the board, friendly service, and they even pour a rare session IPA, their All Night IPA. Delicious & comparable to the other rare session IPAs I know & love, like Drake's Alpha.

Cuteness and beer, my two favorite things

After finishing pints of our favorites from the flights (mine was the All Night IPA, theirs was the Schwarzbier), we stumbled down to 3rd St, aka Hipster Central.  There's a semi-hip, but still down to earth bar / restaurant down the block from the eternally crowded Wurstkuche... we wrapped up our evening of over-indulgence at Americano. We were overly full from dinner, but the wafting of food smelled incredible.  Their tap & bottle list is very impressive.  Not crazy extensive, but just enough to cover all bases, and "exclusive" enough to please any serious beer nerd.  We all ordered something different & passed our braus around for tasting, like the faux-hipsters we claim not to be, but actually are. We drank, laughed, drank, and laughed even harder at the fact that our server graduated high school in 2008 and could easily have been our kid.
Downtown LA is The Shit.  But we decided to wrap it up, head home for rest & prepare for the coming manic weekend.

The tally from Thurs 2/6. Opening some bottles at home:
*RIO GRANDE DESERT PILSNER - Beer #179, picked this up in Reno. Great label, OK pilsner. 
*BOULDER BEER COMPANY HAZED AND INFUSED - Beer #180, mild pale ale, simple.

*IRON FIST VELVET GLOVE IMPERIAL STOUT - Beer #181, liked but didn't love this big boy.

The tally from Fri 2/7 downtown:

*SAPPORO DRAFT BEER - Beer #182, does its job. Average brew, non-intrusive, easy drinking and a decent companion to Japanese food.

*ANGEL CITY BREWERY EUREKA! WIT - Beer #183, yum

*ANGEL CITY BREWERY ANGELENO IPA - Beer #184, total yum

*ANGEL CITY BREWERY GOLD LINE PILSNER - Beer #185, refreshing, straight forward

*ANGEL CITY BREWERY WHITE NITE- Beer #186, the biggest surprise of the evening, a "golden stout". Looks like a witbier, tastes like a box of cocoa nibs

*ANGEL CITY BREWERY SCHWARZBIER - Beer #187, the first choice of my other three companions 
*ANGEL CITY BREWERY BERLINER WEISSE - Beer #188, oddest sour I've tried, but not too acidic or punishing

*ANGEL CITY BREWERY ALL NIGHT IPA - Beer #189, my personal favorite on the Angel City roster, awesome session IPA

*BROUWERIJ WEST SAISON EXTRA - Beer #190, great one from a West Coast brouwerij that doesn't disappoint.

*ABITA BREWING HOP GATOR - Beer #191, hoppy pale, not bad

*TRUMER PILS - Beer #192, I'm not the biggest pilsner fan, but after hundreds of years, this Euro implant to Berkeley is a tried & true favorite

*BLACK MARKET BREWING BAVARIAN STYLE HEFEWEIZEN - Beer #193, light, tasty, good for a summer's day by the pool

*ALESMITH BREWING GRAND CRU - Beer #194, a darker Belgian style treat with yeast obtained from a Trappist monastery.  All I know is I want to trap this in my stomach as often as possible.

Beer #49-79 / Day 11&12: Hittin' My Numbers

And so the weekend begins.

Further proof that my Wife does love me, evidenced by her indefatigable support and companionship this past weekend, as the Big Year In Beer launched into overdrive, logging 27 different brews in one day.  We were both in the mood for our usual, weekend, mid-day lunch at one of the endless, new beer spots in SoCal.  It was a beautiful afternoon, worthy of sitting outside (unlike in the other 90% of the country), so Camille suggested the Laurel Tavern in Studio City.  We headed out that way, down Ventura Blvd, when my eagle-eyed spouse spotted STOUT.  One quick, and highly illegal U-Turn later, we were on their patio, splitting a mouth-watering burger, and enjoying their excellent tap & bottle list.  Our server Kasey was super cool, and offered to bring me several tastes when I couldn't decide.
I tried the ANDERSON VALLEY THE KIMMIE, THE YINK, AND THE HOLY GOSE - Beer #49, a mildly fruity, mildly sour and acidic gose with sea salt.  Tasty, but a taste was just enough. Happy to try it, but a full glass would have been too much.
Next, I tasted the LOGSDON FARMHOUSE ALES SEIZOEN BRETTA - Beer #50.  Logsdon saisons are infallible in my experience.  This one was excellent.  Light, perfumy, complex, slightly wild.
We also tasted the DOGFISH HEAD SAH'TEA - Beer #51, listed as an Ancient Ale, this is their take on a traditional Finnish sahti, and I'll admit I've never known a damn thing about sahtis until now.  It was like many of the spiced ales out there, but much better. Clovey, yeasty, and super good.
Camille went for the SMOG CITY HOPTONIC IPA - Beer #52. I had a sip.  And then a few more. So refreshing, a real powerhouse of an IPA. Some serious hop funk. Delicious. If I wasn't on a quest to drink so many different beers, I'd make this one of my regular house beers, no question.

I chose the FLYING DOG SIMCOE SINGLE HOP IMPERIAL IPA- Beer #53.  Deep, rich, hoppy, and round. A winner, although I'd go for the Hoptonic as my first choice.
We love this place.  Funny thing is out of about 40 choices they only had two stouts on the list.

Yes, we have arrived.

I was focused on trying to hit a beer tasting at Vendome Wine & Spirits in Toluca Lake.  We cruised over there, and not surprisingly there was not one available seat, and no one was in any hurry to leave.  I was intent on trying this tasting, so to pass the time, we decided to head up into North Hollywood to The Federal.  Half a block from our destination, once again my Wife's beer radar was operating with maximum reception as she pointed out THE DISTRICT PUB, another new spot I've never seen.  Yet another speedy U-Turn, and we were saddled up to the backroom bar, where a gregarious gentleman, who insisted his name was Fox, treated us to some decent sized tasters before we even looked at the list. He poured us a couple classic Belgian brews:  BRASSERIE DUPONT AVEC LES BONS VOEUX - Beer #54, and BRASSERIE D'ACHOUFFE LA CHOUFFE - Beer #55.  Camille decided on a sampler flight, which I horned in on as well.  Their paddle consisted of:
*STIEGL PILS - Beer #56, a solid and easily accessible Austrian pilsner.
*WEIHENSTEPHANER HEFEWEISSBIER - Beer #57, a legendary hefeweizen from one of the world's oldest breweries.

Gettin' flighty.

*BEAR REPUBLIC RACER 5 IPA - Beer #58, I've mostly dismissed this beer in the past, given how easily accessible and "common" the Racer 5 is... big mistake on my part, this is a damn good IPA that I've avoided for no good reason other than I'm trying to be a snob.

*EPIC BREWING 825 STATE STOUT - Beer #59, a bit more fluid (i.e. more watery, less inky) than I prefer in a stout, but still pretty tasty, and Wifey really liked it, so that made it even better.

I went for a pint of the MONKISH CRUX - Beer #60, listed as a "single ale with elderflower". I don't know what the hell an elderflower is, but this akin to a Belgian pale ale, light and crisp.  I'm never disappointed by this Torrance brewery.  I'm overdue for a pilgrimage there.
Knowing full well we still intended on muscling our way into the Vendome beer tasting, we cut ourselves off early, although we could have easily spent the entire afternoon at the District Pub.  Apparently they had only been open for five days, so I'm happy we were one of the first to try it before the word gets out about how this is the new beer spot in NoHo. 

Well, maybe only two sheets.

Second time was a charm at VENDOME, and we easily found two seats at the tasting area.  Thanks to the incredible tasting menu selected by Harley, the house Cicerone (the beer equivalent of a wine Sommelier), we were in heaven.  The theme of this tasting was "malty ales". We were in for waaaay more than we could have ever imagined, quality-wise and quantity-wise.  The list was progressively more incredible with each pour.  While the entire flight was excellent, they truly saved the best for last.  I was ready to make love to the North Coast Old Stock by the time we reached it.  But that's what this whole nerdy ass beer adventure of mine is all about... true love of the craft, and a sensory experience that transcends all expectations. As for the tasting list:
*BROCKHOUSE BRYGGERI DRAUPNIR - Beer #61, slightly sweet with honey and pine flavors.

*BROCKHOUSE BRYGGERI ESRUM KLOSTER - Beer #62, like the previous one but more caramel and spice. Camille and I agreed both of the Brockhouses had a slight hint of cough syrup as well.

Do not disturb the nerd.

*GRAND TETON BREWING  DOUBLE VISION DOPPLEBOCK - Beer #63, a favorite of the tasting, rich and malty, and the tasting notes mentioned it was brewed "in strict adherence to the Reinheitsgebot", which are the German "purity laws" for brewing beer.  In spite of it being a centuries-old tradition, tell me with a straight face that doesn't sound Hitler-esque!

*THE BRUERY SHEGOAT - Beer #64, tastes surprisingly like a subtle banana bread with caramel.

*DOGFISH HEAD THEOBROMA - Beer #65, a really damn good cocoa & chili beer, great heat but well balanced. I love this one. Perhaps second only to all of the unique chili brews coming out of Vista's Aztec Brewery.

*BROUWERIJ DE BRABANDERE PETRUS WINTER #9 - Beer #66, a Belgian strong ale that's thick, mildly bitter, but finishes clean.

*BROUWERIJ DILEWYNS VICARIS WINTER ALE - Beer #67, a Belgian strong ale with a hint of a licorice, anise quality

*HALEN BREWERIES MARIENRODE QUADRUPLE 12 - Beer #68, another strong favorite, bad ass and easy to remember when you think of Van Halen.

*MODERN TIMES BLACK HOUSE - Beer #69, my first brew from this San Diego outfit, a bit too overwhelming on the coffee, I couldn't really taste anything else happening. Interestingly, it's distributed in cans.

*BALLAST POINT INDRA KUNINDRA - Beer #70, I had this last year & didn't love it.  This time I truly enjoyed it.  A real curry & coconut bomb. Indian food in a glass. I wouldn't want a full pint, but a taster is excellent, and just the right amount.

*BLACK MARKET BREWING INVASION IMPERIAL RED ALE - Beer #71, Wow, the biggest surprise of the tasting. I've mistakenly disregarded Black Market as a novelty brewery. Boy, am I stupid. This imperial red is exceptional!

Love is...

*CLOWN SHOES CRUNKLE SAM BARLEYWINE - Beer #72, another favorite, super dense, super delicious.  Is it me or are American barleywines improving by leaps and bounds in recent years?

*NOBLE ALE WORKS GONE TO PLAID - Beer #73, their take on a Scottish wee heavy, good but difficult to distinguish between such powerful barleywines.

*ALASKAN BREWING ALASKAN PILOT SERIES BARLEYWINE 2013 - Beer #74, yet another big favorite, holy Christ, what a superior, rich brew this is, leaps and bounds above the other Alaskan ales I've tried.

*NORTH COAST BREWING OLD STOCK CELLAR RESERVE BRANDY BARREL (2011) - Beer #75, the crown jewel of this tasting, un-freaking-believably delicious. If you splurge on one more expensive beer this year, this is the one!

Action shot of Emery's

Needless to say, after a 27-beer Saturday, our limits had been pushed, so Sunday I decided to show some restraint, if you could call it that.  We invited some old friends over, Katie & Jon Emery and Melissa Gearhart, sat on the back patio, grilled and chilled while the boys played Xbox inside.  I uncapped a few singles throughout the course of the day:
*ABBEY BEVERAGE COMPANY MONKS' ALE - Beer #76, slightly misleading as it's neither brewed by monks, nor brewed at an abbey.  It's from New Mexico.  But it's still a darn tasty Belgian style pale ale.
*MAREDSOUS BRUNE - Beer #77, a classic knockout Belgian brew, dark, complex, and addictive.
*LAGUNITAS MAXIMUS - Beer #78, a more powerful IPA from this NorCal brewery that seemingly cannot brew a bad beer.

Action shot of beer on a counter top.

*RUHSTALLER 1881 - Beer #79, categorized as a red or amber ale, depending on what you read, but it's smooth like a Creamsicle... I refuse to use the term "mouthfeel", but this is one of those rare instances when it would apply.

If it's not obvious, drying out after such a soggy weekend was no easy task. Next weekend I'm headed to Baltimore for some hardcore beering, so I need to rest up and prepare for some serious action.