Beer #195-241 / Day #39-44: Serious Sippin'

Saturday started with a slow recovery from our night out with GasThai, a viewing of the film "The Big Year", and a reluctant, and extremely strenuous hike in Griffith Park. After a quick lunch, including an awesome Tenaya Creek DIPA and a Mammoth Real McCoy Amber, then a longer-than-expected nap, it was showtime.  Infest was playing the Echoplex with a line-up almost too staggering to be believed:  Local lads Cave State, SD County thrashers Suspect and Impulse, South LA legends Despise You, and the untouchable Los Crudos. 

Serious ordering; not so serious beer

I rolled up early for load-in.  The room was bigger than I remembered, and the stage was higher, but I was ready for action.  The Mrs and I roamed Echo Park in search of good food & grog.  We settled on Xioa, a Vietnamese-Mexican fusion style joint, across the street from The Echo. Very tasty, reasonably priced, non-pretentious vibe. We shared a couple Vietnamese bottles, Saigon Export and Hue Beer, the latter being tastier than the former, but both were as expected, extremely simple lagers meant to refresh you & cool the heat from too much chili oil.

INFEST: a rare non-beer related moment

With plenty of time to spare, we walked down a few doors down to one of our favorite spots in LA County, El Prado.  They serve beer and wine, a couple snacks, and that's it!  Low lighting, cool '70s lookin' wood & brick decor, and a short but broad selection of mostly SoCal specialty beers. Camille and I shared The Dudes' Juicebox Blood Orange ale, and the Highwater Campfire Stout, but the real winner here was the El Segundo Mayberry IPA, a killer, classic West Coast style hopfest.  I didn't want to get tanked before playing so we hit the Echoplex, and checked out the great line-up.  Well, I don't get tanked before we play, but when we set up on stage and Domino was missing, I called him and he answered with that familiar laugh that says "I've been hitting Fireball shots and I can't remember how many."  In spite of that, we made it through the set intact, and gulped some hipster PBR tallboys while Crudos closed out the evening & absolutely killed it. Instead of partying all night, The Wife and I headed home.  I needed some beauty rest because Sunday I had a long day ahead of me, with a long drive and two more shows in San Diego.

Domino's PBR con Los Crudos. Que lastima!

On Sunday, Infest and Crudos were playing again at the Che Cafe in the La Jolla area; an afternoon show & an evening show.  I wasn't about to hit San Diego County and ignore the endless brewery options, and I also didn't have much time to explore since the first show was at 3pm, so I left a little early, and stopped first at Pizza Port Carlsbad. Part of the extensive Port Brewing family, this spot is located in Carlsbad Village which can described in no other way than quaint.  It's a "cute" beach community.  Fortunately, Port Brewing brings something cool to the area.  Excellent pizza, and outstanding beer, much of it brewed on-site. Their Attrition IPA was one of my favorite brews of 2013. Sadly it wasn't on tap today, but no matter. Every beer they brew stands on its own. In spite of the bustling throngs of thirsty patrons, the staff was all upbeat, quick, and helpful.  I enjoyed a brunch of two pepperoni slices and two flights with a total of eight beers, all world class, my favorites being the Thruster Triple IPA, Bourbon Barrel Aged Night Rider, and Claudie's IPL which is the best Imperial Pale Lager this side of The Bruery's Humulus, which is my benchmark for any of those rare IPLs out there.  In short, I can't rave about this place enough.

Pizza + Beer = Breakfast Of Champions

To improve upon a good thing, Pizza Port Carlsbad has now opened a bottle shop next door, offering a brag-worthy selection of 700+ beers to take home. Despite my lack of fridge space, I couldn't help picking up a few things, including a few cans of Pizza Port Carlsbad's own creations, which I enjoyed at home these past few evenings. Yes, they sold singles. And this made me a very happy dranker.   

Culture shock

For my next stop, I cruised down to Solana Beach to check out Culture Brewing. When I turned down Cedros Street it was packed with douchey rich types. This whole area reeked of overpriced overindulgence, and I was expecting to be disappointed, in fact I nearly left the area immediately, but I figured I may as well give it a shot since I bothered schleping out there in the first place. Thankfully, as usual, I was wrong again! I sampled all 12 beers offered at Culture, and enjoyed them all. Their Matt Courtright Barleywine, Black IPA, and American Strong Ale were especially memorable.  Then again like a frickin' fool I asked for all 12 samplers to be poured at once. I asked for them in order of what was listed on the board, but it occurred to me after the first four that this was clearly not the case. This actually made it more fun, to challenge myself and see if I could identify which was which. I'll never know for sure but I'm confident I guessed at least 80% right.  And out of those, 92% were excellent. The area has that upscale, expensive vibe so I was expecting something overpriced yet run of the mill. Thankfully, Culture is down to earth enough to know what they're doing with the multitude of styles across the board. Several have an earthy base to them, and a few had a wheaty, sweet, almost cookie dough aftertaste.

The Hunter, Beer, Denunzio = TLF

Time to sober up, and hit the Che for the afternoon show with Crudos, Impulse, and Piglife.  Good times, good friends, good tunes, even without distortion.  After a quick one, it was time for a quick one.  I headed down a few blocks to Rock Bottom La Jolla with Denunzio, Domino, and The Hunter.  I've never expected greatness from Rock Bottom because I have preconceived notions about any establishment that's a chain.  That said, I've patronized locations in Chicago, Denver, and La Jolla and always found something I enjoyed.  Each location seems to carry a selection of the standard, flagship beers that they're probably contractually obligated to pour, but then dig a bit deeper and you'll find the unique beers brewed only at that location, and there you can find some real gems.  Naturally, I ordered the sampler, partially out of curiosity, partially out of a desire to up my Big Year numbers. The usual corral of beers was decent, as anticipated, but the Bourbon Barrel Aged Samurai Imperial Stout and Mary Jane IPA made the visit worthwhile. With a mild buzz, and some solid downtime, I was rejuvenated & ready for the second show:  Liberate, Suspect, Crudos, and Infest.  Crudos played early in order to head down to Tijuana for an additional midnight gig. The Infest set was one of my favorites, good vibes, kids hanging from the rafters, full distortion.  I felt like we nailed it.  Then again, maybe eight samplers at Rock Bottom swayed my opinion.

Despite being on-the-go the whole time, and the fact that I needed to work on Monday morning after getting home after midnite, the whole weekend was top of the line.  And since then, I've spent each weeknight keeping a fraction of the pace but still making progress on my New Beer numbers:

2/8 - Saturday's tally:
*TENAYA CREEK TANDEM DOUBLE IPA - Beer #195, so good, I can't believe they're outside of Vegas
*MAMMOTH BREWING REAL MCCOY AMBER ALE - Beer #196, this brewery is near infallible.  What I really want is a bottle of their Farmhouse Saison.

*SAIGON EXPORT - Beer #197, You're eating spicy food? You need a non-intrusive lager to cool off your taste buds.

*HUE BEER - Beer #198, see above, except this one's better than Saigon Export.

*THE DUDES'  JUICEBOX SERIES: BLOOD ORANGE - Beer #199, we decided this is a sangria beer, fruity and mildly spicy, strangely sweet, but still drinkable & satisfying

*EL SEGUNDO BREWING MAYBERRY IPA - Beer #200, wow, sooo freakin' good.

*HIGH WATER BREWING CAMPFIRE STOUT - Beer #201, liquid s'mores

*PABST BLUE RIBBON - Beer #202, total shit beer for hipsters, but still drinkable when the club puts out a plastic barrel of free tallboys

2/9 - Sunday's San Diego Country exploration:
*PIZZA PORT VERBENA BELGIAN STYLE ALE - Beer #203, Belgian style ale with lemon verbena

*PIZZA PORT THRUSTER TRIPLE IPA - Beer #204, the usual SoCal hop bomb, but one of my favorites of the day.

*PIZZA PORT STATE BEACH IPL - Beer #205, Touted as an IPL, not super hoppy, but still crisp, refreshing

*PIZZA PORT BOURBON BARREL AGED NIGHT RIDER - Beer #206, I'm a freak for anything barrel aged, this one's a Russian Imperial Stout in bourbon barrels.  The pic of David Hasselhoff on the tap helps tremendously, as well.

*PIZZA PORT SHARKBITE RED ALE  - Beer #207, a hoppy red ale

*PIZZA PORT CLAUDIE'S IPL - Beer #208, now THAT'S the IPL I was hoping for.

*PIZZA PORT PONTO'S SESSION IPA - Beer #209, great, one of the few excellent session IPAs I've run across, along with Angel City All Day Session IPA and Drakes Alpha Session IPA.

*PIZZA PORT DEATH STAR AMERICAN STYLE STOUT - Beer #210

*CULTURE BREWING AMERICAN STRONG ALE - Beer #211, amazing right out of the gate

*CULTURE BREWING AMBER - Beer #212

*CULTURE BREWING NEW STYLE TRIPLE IPA - Beer #213, Great! Yes, I'm one of those boring hopheads.

*CULTURE BREWING DUNKELWEIZEN - Beer #214, damn good. I feel like visiting Bavaria after this one.

*CULTURE BREWING BLACK IPA - Beer #215, one of their best offerings.

*CULTURE BREWING  BLONDE - Beer #216, pretty light, not much going on. Then again, that IS the stereotypical "blonde" so maybe these brewers are even more brilliant than I thought.

*CULTURE BREWING  IPA - Beer #217, Yum!

*CULTURE BREWING NITRO MILK STOUT - Beer #218, Double yum!

*CULTURE BREWING MATT COURTRIGHT BARLEYWINE - Beer #219, another one of their best.

*CULTURE BREWING  IMPERIAL STOUT  - Beer #220, honestly I don't remember.  Could I still feel my taste buds at this point?

*CULTURE BREWING BLACK LAGER - Beer #221, purty good.

*CULTURE BREWING AMERICAN BROWN - Beer #222

*ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY KOLSCH - Beer #223, eh.

*ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY BELGIAN STYLE WHITE ALE - Beer #224, good barley and orange in this one

*ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY IPA - Beer #225, decent

*ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY RAGTOP RED ALE - Beer #226, erp.

*ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY MOONLIGHT PORTER - Beer #227, now you're talkin'

*ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY LONGBOARD BROWN - Beer #228, meh.

*ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY BOURBON BARREL AGED SAMURAI IMPERIAL STOUT - Beer #229, OK this is what I was waiting for all along, very sweet, still a good 'um.

*ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY MARY JANE IPA - Beer #230, better than their standard IPA, hop forward, I'd order this again.

2/10 - Starting off the week right at home:

*PRETTY THINGS AMERICAN DARLING PALE LAGER - Beer #231, good one, should have saved it for a sunny weekend afternoon by the pool

*SIERRA NEVADA FLIPSIDE RED IPA - Beer #232, been holding a few of these since last Fall, I don't remember it being THIS good, but it is!

2/11 - Tues band practice nite:

*NEW BELGIUM BREWING SPRING BLONDE - Beer #233, what you'd expect in a blonde, not much substance.
*STONE BREWING PALE ALE - Beer #234, @ The Snug. Didn't realize this was still unclaimed in my Big Year.

*STONE BREWING ARROGANT BASTARD - Beer #235, same as above.  Another tap I didn't realize hadn't been claimed yet. I had the Oaked version recently, but not the "classic" one til now.

*ALESMITH BREWING EXTRA PALE ALE - Beer #236, another brewer that is incapable of creating a bad beer.

2/12 - Wed nite home with The Fam:

*CISCO BREWERS INDIE PALE ALE - Beer #237, awesome, and very different from West Coast style. This reminds me of a limerick: "There once as a beer from Nantucket..."

*PIZZA PORT SWAMI'S IPA - Beer #238, a superior IPA

*BOULEVARD BREWING LONG STRANGE TRIPEL - Beer #239, I love this one.. thanks Larry McQuaide!

2/13 - Thurs nite home with The Fam:

*PIZZA PORT CHRONIC ALE - Beer #240, a brown ale which I mistakenly was expecting to be an IPA. Derrrr...

*AVERY BREWING OUT OF BOUNDS STOUT  - Beer #241, Avery is king of stouts, and there's no doubt.

 

Beer # 116-129 / Day 20-23: The Yoosh

After such a crazed weekend, I was expecting to take it easy this week.  Wrong.  "Slow and steady wins the race" is the old adage.  I've been doing exactly that.  Randy Carncross is already about 80 beers ahead of me from what I can tell, but no matter.  I'm enjoying the journey.  And as the Big Year progresses, I'm convinced it will become increasingly more difficult to rack up such huge numbers in one fell swoop.

Enjoying hops with my link.

Nothing too exciting this week. Just making my way through a collection of 12oz singles.  I've been sticking with mostly run-of-the-mill beers during the week.  I tend to keep "special" beers for special occasions.  The problem is my beer fridge, which is a regular sized fridge, is at full capacity with beers I'm saving.  I need to come up with a special occasion very quickly in order to make room for more.  Aside from the crazy bottle selection at home, I also visited Link N Hops in Atwater Village earlier this week, adjacent to the nice beer & wine bottle shop 55 Degree.  Link N Hops has been a favorite for the Wife & I since they opened, and they offer some great exotic meat sausages, as well as the full gamut of taps. I went for an excellent wild boar link, and some unique selections: The BALLAST POINT HABANERO SCULPIN - Beer #116, spicy, delicious, with a slight burn that doesn't linger, and it's not overpowering at all; The NEW BELGIUM / CIGAR CITY COLLABORATION CHILE BEER - Beer #117, not awesome in spite of the fact that Cigar City is one of my favorite brewers in the country; And lastly, the FIGUEROA MOUNTAIN 3rd ANNIVERSARY IMPERIAL OATMEAL STOUT - Beer #118, tasty but not mind-blowing.  That evening at home, I went for some standbys:  STONE LEVITATION ALE - Beer #119 and JOSEPH JAMES RED FOX RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT - Beer #120, the latter of which really excites me... it's the first beer I can recall enjoying from Nevada, just outside of Vegas, in Henderson.  Only recently have I been hearing great things about this brewery, and this stout lives up to the word on the street.  Oily, dark, inky, delicious, and crazy affordable at $8 for a four-pack.  Can't wait to try the other Joseph James brews.

I also have the usual Tuesday evening INFEST practice, which as of late means a visit to The Snug, which means even more beer. Although I'm about 2 weeks away from exhausting all of my options at this sleepy Burbank hangout which hasn't rotated its taps since I started going there.  I went for their best selection this week with the CHIMAY ROUGE - Beer #121, followed by some of their lesser taps, the BASS PALE ALE - Beer #122 and the STELLA ARTOIS - Beer #123, both of which are palatable at best.

I rounded out the week with several everyday-but-tasty singles at home:
SHIPYARD MONKEY FIST IPA - Beer #124: I've avoided this one because it seemed like a novelty beer. Not incredibly memorable, but decent, and worth drinking if it's the best option available.
GOOSE ISLAND MATILDA - Beer #125: These days their distribution is ridiculous, thanks to new parent company Anheuser Busch.  Thankfully they haven't compromised the quality of their product.
NEWCASTLE WEREWOLF - Beer #126:  A seasonal red ale I've hoarded since my Wife's uncle brought it over during the holidays.  So much better than the standard Newcastle brown ale.
FIGUEROA MOUNTAIN HURRICANE DECK DIPA - Beer #127:  A gift from my pal Matty B., by far the best brew in the Fig Mtn roster.
SIERRA NEVADA BEER CAMP #95 IMPERIAL RED ALE - Beer #128:  Another one I've been hoarding since last year, just so I can enjoy it this year.  One of the better offerings from the largest indie brewer, and somewhat limited.
SIERRA NEVADA NARWHAL IMPERIAL STOUT - Beer #129:  A seasonal release, and so glad I grabbed a 2013 before they disappear.  My favorite Sierra Nevada brew, hands down.  A superior imperial stout, but not sold at beer nerd prices.

Now my kid can enjoy "beer" with me.  Stay classy, America.

In spite of the sleepy week, there have been a few oddball beer-related items brought to my attention.
#1: My friend Lily Thai forwarded me info on a new Jelly Belly flavor called Draft Beer.  Wow.  When there's a jellybean that tastes like beer, you know craft beer has "jumped the shark".  Let's all hang it up now, shall we?
#2: My buddy Steve Enders told me about his trip to Portland. Of course, this is already a major beer hub, but nowadays you can fill a growler at the gas station!  This is a state which doesn't allow you to pump your own gas, and yet you can fill up a 64oz jug of beer while they're filling your tank?
I say "WTF" only because I'm jealous.

Incredible action shot of beer sitting on my kitchen counter!

Beers # 586 & 587 (or "Rye Not?")

There are many elixirs I'll drink by default, because I love that particular style so much.  For instance, I'll drink any bourbon.  So will my wife.  And I'm a sucker for any beer that's labeled as "bourbon barrel aged"... definitely a predominant trend in beer circles, especially the past couple years. But hell, most of the time they're amazing, trendy or not.  I've seen some press about how 2013 is the Year Of The Sour for American craft brewers.  While it's true they're noticeably on the rise, I think sours will peak more next year.  I think the true trend of 2013 is barrel aged anything.  There are more barrel aged brews than I can ever remember, not only on specialty shelves, but available in larger retailers like BevMo and Cost Plus. And I'm not seeing the Bruery or Avery sours stocked on those shelves yet.

But that's my long-winded way of noting a style I can never turn down:  I'm a sucker for anything rye. This is where The Mrs. and I part ways.  She likes the sweetness of most straight Kentucky bourbons, and tends to shy away from the dry, Midwestern barnyard taste of rye.  I love it, and I'll buy any rye beer. Or any rye for that matter.
Epic Brewing doesn't live up to their name 100% of the time (I say ixnay on that Sage Saison of theirs), but they're pretty reliable overall, and thankfully they came through this time.
Rio's Rompin Rye is a winner.  Strong rye presence, not overbearing, freakin' tasty.  And even better when it's about halfway between fridge temp and room temp.
And yes, in the photo that's a plastic lizard in a bowl of water.  Only my 9 year old can explain.


After finishing off the Epic rye beer, completely at random I grabbed something else new out of my trusty beer fridge, and by absolute chance it was yet another rye beer.  My planets must be aligned.  I cracked open the New Belgium / Elysian Collaboration - Trip XVI Seattle Farmhouse Rye Ale next.  I'm a huge fan of Seattle-based Elysian.  New Belgium... well.... I heard their tap room is excellent. But I've never been there. I've only had their bottled beers which have been OK.  Then again, New Belgium is so huge, it's hard to tell if the bottles I didn't love were stored in a huge supermarket distribution warehouse for 6 months prior to my opening them.  In any case, when I purchased this collaboration brew, I was pretty excited (I know, sad but true, these things excite me), especially about the Elysian part of it.  And the rye part of it.  Untappd has this listed as a "Saison / Farmhouse Ale" which doesn't remotely describe what I'm tasting. In fact, I'm not sure what I'm tasting from this bottle.  It has hints of rye, hints of hops, but nothing predominant nor distinguishing.  I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it either.  Admittedly, when the last of it got to room temperature, I got more rye flavor.  Overall, Epic won this round of rye brewing.

SUGGESTED PAIRINGS
If there's one thing I can't stand (OK, there's A LOT of things I can't stand, but I'll get into those eventually), it's self-righteous, foodie bloggers who give "Suggested Pairings" for food and beverages.  No one wants to read that drivel.  And by "no one", I mean Me.  That aside, from now on I'm going to give my own Suggested Pairings for some of the beers I sample.  But to be more practical, I'll be pairing BEER and MUSIC. 
Here we go...

My Suggested Pairing:   
Epic Brewing Rio's Rompin Rye
and  
Poison Idea vinyl re-issues on TKO/Southern Lord
There's no better pairing than beer and punk rock, and both of these make me extremely happy.  These Poison Idea LPs have excellent gatefold packaging, liner notes, and the tunes are unstoppable.  You get all the songs from the standard releases, plus demos, live shows, and early comp tracks.  I especially dig the tracks I never even knew existed, like the 1981 demo. What an ass-kicker!  Highest recommendation.  R.I.P. Pig Champion.  Cheers!