For a long time, I didn’t like IPAs. I lived in San Diego for 3 years while in grad school and had access to all kinds of wonderful, locally-brewed bliss. Yet I found that most of the SD IPAs were pretty hyper-hopped, to the point of being offensive. They didn’t taste the like the traditional British IPAs, which I find to be a little more mild. I’ve heard many people, for example, describe Green Flash IPAs as a “punch in the face.” And my first foray into Stone’s IPA felt the same. Ay. I couldn’t hang. Lots of people like IPAs, and IPAs are quite popular. The highly-hopped and thus usually more-alcoholic IPAs are pretty ubiquitous in SD and California, but up until recently, I stuck with my tried-and-true stouts, British-style ales, and the occasional sweet Belgian ale.

The history of IPAs, or India Pale Ales, has always fascinated me. They’re a style of Pale Ale, which ranges in color and alcohol content. I’m sorta a British lit nerd and get all excited about the fecked-up imperialist history of the India Pale Ale. We have the Brits’ insatiable appetite for thirst-quenching ale to thank for the IPA, as well as the fact that they were, well, occupying India (and other places.) They needed beer that would survive the long shipping trip around the subcontinent to India, as well as the much hotter climate. The added hops increase the alcohol content, acting as a natural preservative. The colonizers would have their beer and drink it, too, even in India. 

Ay, what is a critical-thinking, anti-colonialist academic-beerlover to do? Just like I did when I learned about the Austrian-German-Czech colonialist influence on Mexican beers: drink it, but with consciousness! Pliny the Elder, Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA , and Stone IPA are among my favorites. This week, I found a new favorite at Heroes in Fullerton.   (http://www.heroesrestaurant.com.) I have to give a big thank you to my two new beer friends, Michael and Chad, the bartenders who were very kind and generous to me at Heroes. I first had a pint of Alaskan Amber IPA, which I thought was pleasant. Then I asked Michael for a second look at their beer list, and my inadvertent tasting began! Michael has a deep appreciation for IPAs and generously poured me four samples of what he thought were much better IPAs: Anderson Valley Brewing Co.’ Hop Ottin’ IPA (Boonville, CA), Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA (Healdsburg, CA), Lagunitas IPA (Petaluma, CA), and Longhammer IPA (Red Hook). [I didn’t get to taste the Bootlegger’s IPA, which is made down the street in Fullerton, CA.] He was right. They were much better. I fell in deep like with the Hop Ottin’ IPA. I knew Anderson Valley wouldn’t disappoint, as I generally like their consistently good beers. Hop Ottin’ IPA is creamy goodness, very much like the British-style IPAs. I highly recommend that one, especially if you find yourself not a big fan of the more aggressive, spicy IPAs.

 At 38 Degrees Ale House & Grill in Alhambra (http://www.38degreesalhambra.com), owner Clay Harding has put together an impressive selection of draught and bottled brews from all over. I counted 38 (rotating) taps and 60+ bottles, as well as a seasonal beer list. I had a pint of “Life and Limb” American Strong Ale, a tasty and wonderful ‘hybrid’ beer brewed by Sierra Nevada (Chico, CA) and Dogfish Head (Milton, DE) craft breweries. If you find it, get one. Dark, brown, lovely. Brewed with maple syrup and warms you up at 10% alcohol. I also tasted the Coronado Island Islander Pale Ale IPA (Coronado/San Diego, CA), and Alesmith IPA (San Diego). The Coronado poured more towards the lighter side, a hazy golden color, and had a piney and citrusy flavor. It was okay, but I really liked the Alesmith. They’ve always been one of my favorite San Diego breweries (along with Port), and their ESB (Extra Special Bitter) is also worth looking for. The Alesmith IPA poured more of an amber color and emitted a nice floral nose. The malty sweetness of this IPA also made it a little smoother to drink, very enjoyable with my sliders. Look for the Alesmith IPA and support good, local beers while you’re at it. And while you’re at it, drink those good, local beers at good, local spots, like Heroes and 38 degrees. Certainly not the Yard House.

‘Tis the season to eat, drink, and be merry. Cheers to all and remember that life is too short to drink bad beer.

mh.

Checking my West-Coast beer bias at the proverbial door, I went to Washington, D.C., determined to find some good East-Coast/regional beer. I admit that I didn’t do as much tasting as I wanted to. Darn ASA conference kept me wonderfully occupied for most of the time. But I did manage to sneak away from time to time to sip a lil here, taste a lil there. The hotel I was staying at was around the corner from D.C.’s toursity Chinatown district and happily across the way from Capitol City Brewing Co., which I took as a sign from the beer goddesses.

Although I was sorta limited to what a few blocks’ walking had to offer, I was very happy to come across Fadó Irish Pub (http://www.fadoirishpub.com/), where the Guinness was beatifully poured and where they served Kilkenny Irish Ale! Ordinarily serving an Irish ale in an Irish pub wouldn’t be cause for celebration. I mean, duh, right? However, this particular Irish ale hasn’t been exported to the States, so even Irish pubs here don’t have it. The bartender noticed my salivating excitement when I exclaimed in my best unintended California-valley-girl accent, ”Omigod! You have Kilkenney here! I so need a pint of that!”  In a bemused smile, she told me that they’re one of only a few pubs in DC and Boston that pour it, and they’ve only had it for a couple weeks. OMG, Fresh Kilkenny! The Irish beer goddesses and gods were smiling upon me. Watching that beatiful pint settle (it’s on nitro, like Guinness) into its lovely creamy amber hue reminded me of being in Ireland, the last place I had a pint of it. Look how purdy it is!

It tastes as good as it looks. Creamy. Soft. Slightly malty with sweet hops subtlety in the Irish style, not unlike a Smithwick’s Ale (which also brews Kilkenny.) Kilkenny is a little sweeter and creamier than a Smithwick’s though, and a little easier to drink because the nitrogen smooths out the finish. If it weren’t for the perfect pints of Guinness also to be had, I would have stuck with this beer all weekend in DC, getting my fill because it can’t be had anywhere in these parts. It looks like you can order cans of it online, but nothing’s like a fresh pour from the keg. If you’re in Boston or DC, it’s worth finding those spots that feature Kilkenny on draught.

Before I found Fadó, though, I drank at two other spots: Matchbox (also in Chinatown) and Capitol City Brewing Company. I was a happy Cali-butcha at Matchbox (http://www.matchboxdc.com/beer-list.shtml) because among their offerings was a “Rotating Rogue” handle, which guaranteed that they would be pouring at least one Oregon beer on a regular basis. Matchbox’s beer list had a nice variety of beer, all stuff that goes very well with their pizzas and burgers. I ordered a pint of Oregon and some sliders. Mmm…but I made two mistakes: 1, not writing down the name of this Rogue beer I had 2 pints of, because it was so good and I want to look for it here, and 2, drinking the Rogue before sampling the local and regional favorites. The kind waiter let me sample the Yuengling (Pottsville, PA) amber lager and the Brooklyn Brown Ale (Brooklyn, NY). Ehh. They were alright. Easy drinking, but not bursting with too much flavor or complexity. Maybe if I’d sampled those two before having the Rogue…

In general, I find east-coast beers to be a little flat and anemic compared to the west-coast heavies. I will continue to sample and appreciate them as beers, but so far, I’ve had a hard time finding an east-coast beer I can get excited about, not even one from Yuengling, ”America’s Oldest Brewery” (http://www.yuengling.com/ index.htm). Que sad because I try (and so do they!) But I wasn’t ready to give up on the local brews, so I was very happy that the grad student social hour was across the way at Capitol City Brewing Co. (http://www.capcitybrew.com/) All of their “Signature” house brews sounded good, so I ordered a sampler of the 5: Capitol Kölsch, Pale Rider Ale, Amber Waves Ale, Prohibition Porter, and their Seasonal, this time, and Oktoberfest style lager. I had high hopes for the Amber Waves Ale, but it fell pretty flat to me. The taste was there up front but seemed to lack staying power. I did like the Pale Rider Ale and Oktoberfest, but not enough to go back for more. Ay. I know, I feel bad even writing that. I really wanted to like the local and regional beers that DC had to offer. I had one last chance at a bar in Dulles airport while waiting for my flight back to L.A. I saw a local beer from Old Dominion Brewing Co. (fomerly of VA, now in DE) called Dominion Ale (http://www.olddominion.com/ales.shtml) and quickly ordered a pint. Eureka! Wooo! An exciting east-coast beer! And it’s an English-pub-style ale, to boot! I’m sad I didn’t get to the airport earlier because I only had time for one pint, but it was a fine way to conclude an awesome trip. Cheers to Old Dominion Ale.

mh.

In 1810 apparently, some Bavarian king got married and wanted everyone to celebrate. The marriage’s first product was what turned out to be the first Oktoberfest celebration that became an annual thing the following year. Now I’m no German/Bavarian history scholar, so I’ll leave the details to those who are. And its heteronormative origins notwithstanding, I’m sure glad ol’ Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese because I love Oktoberfest biers.  

Beer Advocate (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/29) does a nice job of getting to the characteristics of a typical Oktoberfest, or Märzen style, beer, as well as the history of the beer itself. It was typically brewed in March and because of the altitude of Bavaria, was able to be cold-stored without spoiling through the spring and summer. The kegs were then tapped and beer a-flows from the end of September through the first week of October. These days, there are a lot of breweries that make a Märzen beer year-round, such as Gordon Biersch (Palo Alto, CA), though I’m sure there are some in Germany that follow the traditional brewing seasons and other purity laws for Oktoberfest beer. Style-wise, look  for maltier beers that pour a nice copper or caramel color and range from medium-to high-alcohol content, something like 5.0%-7.5% or so. A lot of  Märzen beers remind me of a good Vienna-stye Lager.

I drank a few Oktoberfest beers at Weiland Brewery in Downtown L.A. (Little Tokyo), but I’m sad to say I lost the flyer that listed all the beers they were featuring and my notes about each one. Yes, I nerded out that night (even while the Dodger game was on!) but now I have nothing to show for it. All the Oktoberfest beers they featured were in bottles, and I did have the Spaten Oktoberfest and the Paulaner Oktoberfest, pretty well-known and widely circulating beers.    

I had to go to Vinatero in Uptown Whittier to get my favorite of all Oktoberfest beers. They had Hacker-Pschorr Märzen Original Oktoberfest on tap, and it was lovely. Sweet, caramel flavors, fresh malt, slight herbal hop with lots of depth and character, and listed at 5.8% alcohol. It’s a nice beer, much like the Spaten Doppelbock, another one of my darker German bier faves.

When I was down in La Jolla recently, I stopped at the Karl Strauss and drank a couple happy hour pints of their Oktoberfest offering. The Karl Strauss Oktoberfest was pretty good on tap.  (http://karlstrauss.com/PAGES/Brews/OurBeer/OKT.html) It’s one of their seasonal brews, and I like that it’s made in San Diego. It pours a lighter caramel and was medium-bodied. Slightly sweet and easy to drink, it’s on the lower end of alcohol content at 5%. It’s also in bottles. It’s lighter than the Samuel Adams Oktoberfest which I find is a little bit closer to the kinds I like, a little heavier, maltier, and a deeper amber color. ( http://www.samueladams.com/world_of_beer.aspx?jump=styles) Heck, go get a 6-pack of both and have yourself a little blind taste-test to see which one you like better. Either way, you’ll feel alright

On a non-Oktoberfest note, I’m slowly becoming a fan of Stone Brew’s porters. Last night, I had a pint of their Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans. This is the ying to the Thirsty Bear Golden Vanilla Ale’s yang. It’s so smooth, like creamy vanilla coffee. But colder and without the cream and more alcoholic. I had mine at  Setá in Uptown Whittier, CA. If you come across a place that serves the Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans, you’re a lucky gal/guy. Get yourself a pint before the keg runs dry on that one.

So although October is coming to an end, you can find many places that still serve or carry Oktoberfest beers, either in bottles or on tap. If you get one in a bottle, may I suggest you pour it in a glass and savor the color and aromas. Enjoy it ’cause it only comes around once a year. Mmmm…Oktoberfest!

Raising my stein,

mel.

I’m drinking some good beers these days…of all things, a Raspberry Brown from Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka, CA. Also a German Doppelbock from Weihenstephaner, a nice 7.4% Oktober-appropriate beer. I also had the Stone Smoked Porter. Damn, that was good. I normally hesistate with most Stone beers, mainly because most of what circulates–the Stone IPA, the Pale Ale, and the famous Arrogant Bastard–are all total hop-head beers. If you like lots of aggressive hops, Stone is your brewery. I usually don’t like porters, but the Stone Smoked Porter is the second one I’ve really really liked (along with Maui Brewing Co.’ CoCoNut Porter, the one that tastes like if Almond Joy was a beer…)

I’m in the process of collecting a good three or four beers for an Oktoberfest flight…’tis the season for such an endeavor, and when I’ve tracked down the ones I wanna drink–which may or may not include Paulaner’s Oktoberfest Märzen–I will write diligent notes and post them here. Suggestions for which ones I should try? Lemme know!

Til then,

mel.

Killian’s Red or Amber Bock? Both are considered the same type of beer-a red/amber lager. I happen to like a lot of amber/red beers, particularly of the Irish variety. But in the U.S., it turns out, “amber” or “red” beer are more about slick martketing techniques than actually denoting a distinct style of beer. One beer site (http://www.sallybernstein.com/beverages/beer/red_beer.htm) describes that the attributes that make a beer ‘amber’ or ‘red’ in hues have more to do with the malts used in the brewing process. Many a Scottish ale  or Vienna-style lager are naturally amber/red due to the particular malt and other roasted grains that comprise it. Amber beers are usually ales, but if they’re lagers, like the Killian’s or Amber Bock, it’s because the Big Beer Machine made them into lagers so that they appeal to the thirsty Bud- and Coors-swilling masses: Coors makes Killians and Bud/Michelob makes Amber Bock. (Nothing against Amber Bock. It’s like Sam Adams. I kinda like it. Amber Bock is the best beer they serve at Dodger Stadium, and I owe many a delightfully-buzzed top-deck Doyer game experience to my large Amber Bocks…) But I digress.

USAmerican style amber/red ales tend to range from light-bodied  (not to be confused with color) to heavy-medium in body and mouthfeel, which is why I like ambers as good transitional beers. They’re great for when you’re weaning yourself from all that cold light lager you pounded over the summer and want to move into the heavier, darker beers that generally arrive with fall and winter, my favorite beer seasons. Ambers beers are good autumn beers and much better to enjoy while watching football than Coors and Miller Lite (contrary to the NFL sponsors’ beliefs.) Hey, I’m slowly-but-surely coming out of my “I like NFL/College football” closet, and this season, I’m celebrating my coming-out by taking flight…a beer flight…an amber beer flight! (Real quick: flights of beer or wine are just multiple tastings, anywhere from 3-8 tastes, so as to get a sense of breadth/depth/range of flavor and style with whatever you’re tasting.)

My out-and-proud flight consisted of these 4 beers (in recommended tasting order)–Alaskan Amber (Alasking Brewing Co.), Redemption Red Ale (Reaper Ale, El Monte, CA), Albion Amber Ale (Marin Brewing Co.), and American Amber Ale (Rogue Brewing Co., Newport, OR). The Alaskan Amber is a quality beer and is pretty easily found in supermarkets and liquor stores. It’s probably the most easy to find out of the four here, so I wanted to start with that (plus, my parents went to Alaska this summer and I heard the beer there is really good). Alaskan amber pours a clear light copper with rust-colored hues. It’s on the lighter side of medium-bodied, but is easy to drink, clean, and no aftertaste. If you like Sam Adams, you’ll like Alaskan Amber.

Next was Redepmtion Red Ale from El Monte, güey. I enjoyed this one and was even happier that I was supporting a very local brewery in the mean time. This red ale is smooth-tasting with subtle toasty almond flavors that come through with every sip. It has a nice reddish/caramel hue, a little cloudy pointing to unfiltered beer goodness. It’s medium-bodied but easy to drink because it’s so flavorful. Check out the full line at www.reaperale.com.

Third beer was the Albion Amber Ale made up in Marin County. Mmmm…my cousin was tasting these beers with me, and we both agreed this one was special. This one pours with a bit more clarity, though more toastier and browner in color. It has a longer finish than the Reaper; my cousin described it as a “tart apple finish that melts away in your mouth.” It’s true! The flavor is a little drier than the previous two beers and definitely has more bitter hops flavor. I like to think of this as a hybrid beer, or what would happen if a California Pale Ale (say, like a light version of Sierra Nevada) had a baby with a British pub bitter ale. “We’ll name it…Albion!” I’m not surprised that this is one of Marin Brewing Co.’s most decorated, award-winning beers. Go getcha one!

Last but not least was the Rogue American Amber Ale from Oregon. This was the most full-bodied, complex, and stronger of the ambers we tasted. It pours an opaque copper with a medium head and strong nose. It’s the spiciest of the beer in the sense that it’s very hops-forward (compared to the Marin Albion), giving way to malty and caramel tones. This also reminded me of a strong Pale Ale-meets-malty-Irish-red-ale. If you like Stone beers, you’d like anything from Rogue, including this all-American Amber Ale. See? Perfect to hoist as you watch those all-American military jets fly over the stadium (your tax dollars hard at work!) as your favorite team is about to kick off.

[Go Cal Bears and Go Indianapolis Colts!]

cheers n beers.

mh.

I knew it! And the good folks at TheBeerinMe.com confirmed my suspicions. They write: “…indeed Hopfen und Malz is a marketing name used by Gordon Biersch. So that is who brews the Costco beers (they brew Trader Joe’s also).” Of course, they knew this way back in Dec. 2008…the other day, when I laughed at my cousin for having Kirkland Signature beer (i.e., from Costco) in his fridge, and then when he gave me the German Style Lager, Pale Ale, and Amber Ale to take home to try, I stopped laughing and was like ‘Dude. This totally reminds me of the beer that Trader Joe’s sells under their label.’ The taste was good quality and even the labeling/descriptions of the beer were similar. So now that we know it’s all brewed by the same company, Gordon Biersch (of Palo Alto, CA.) I knew it. I need to hit up my friends with Costco memberships now…good beer at a good price for your next backyard BBQ party.

I also finally went to the Stuffed Sandwich in San Gabriel for the first time. You can’t drink beer unless you buy something to eat, but there are plenty of good sandwiches and other eats, so that part is easy. The hard part is picking out the beer you want. They have it all! I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say they have well over 400 beers on their list, and that doesn’t include the monthly-draught picks. Every month, they rotate their taps and feature either 9 beers from 1 brewery, or they go with a different theme every month. I met Marlene, who explained that Oktober is always German beers, November is the month of strong ales, December is winter/seasonal brews. Next month will be all Stone Brewery ales on tap, and so forth. I wanted to try something I’ve never had before, so when I told her I liked the British style ales, she pulled out a dusty old bottle of Thunder Storm English wheat ale, bottle conditioned, and very tasty. For those of you who like the wheaty Belgians or German brews, this English weat ale is a nice variation. It pours almost a blonde unfiltered yellow with a good head and while it’s easily comparable to its Belgian or German brethren, this English wheat is unmistakably hopped with the British variety so the finish reminds you that you’re still drinking anEnglish ale, mate. I will look for Thunder Storm again at my favorite beer-nerd joints.

Okay. Back to the dissertation…Meantime, gonna pop open a Shiner Black Bohemian Lager to help with my, uh, writing process.

mh.

I’ve never been to Maui, but if I ever make it there, I’m gonna make a beeline for the Maui Brewing Co. (www.MauiBrewingCo.com). When I was hanging out with my favorite beer nerds in Uptown Whittier (quick aside: that would be Whittier, California. Of course. Not Alaska. I recently found out there was actually a Whittier, Alaska…but alas, I digress…) So anyway, hangin out with my fellow beer geeks, there was significant buzz goin around about this one beer that apparently tasted like a beautiful roasted coconut that, well, got you buzzed. Turned out it was Maui Brewing Co.’s CoCoNut Porter.  The CoCoNut Porter is one of their 3 canned offerings that can be found here on the mainland. Over there on the island, they offer several more at their brewpub that I really wish came in cans out here. But for now, one can be very happy with the CoCoNut Porter. I poured it in my brand new pint glass my dad got me from the Denali Brewing Co. in Talkeetna, Alaska (woo! thanks, dad!) It pours a rich, chocolatey brown with a thin head that sticks around for most of the time. But for once, I can say, ‘who cares about the head?’ This beer is about the flavor. It’s beautiful, like if Almond-Joy was a beer. You gotta slow down for this one, though, but it’s worth sippin’ and taking in the layers of aromas and flavors. I taste coffee, roasted chocolate, and of course the hand-roasted coconut. Smooth with a toasty but tasty finish, the CoCoNut Porter is worth lookin for. I found my 4-pack at Vinatero in Uptown Whittier (CA!), though I’m sure you’d have a good chance of finding the fine offerings from Maui Brew Co. at any finer liquor store, or at least the ones owned/run by self-professed beer-geeks. I’ve seen it at BevMo. I would try the Liquorette in Walnut if you’re in the far 626 or 951, and Ramirez Liquor on Soto St. and Whittier Blvd. if you’re in/near East Los. I have yet to see it on tap, but when I find it, I’m gonna be so happy! This is a damn good beer. Not sure it tastes “Like Hot Chicks on the Beach,” as the tiny-bit-sexist tag line on the can claims. (Uh…I really don’t know what a hot chick on the beach would taste like…I’m up for a blind taste-test…*gasp!* Bad Mel! No naughty thoughts on the beer blog.) Back to the beer…it’s good. Go taste some.

–mh.

Hey y’all. this is mel. it’s been awhile. i know. so does raqui. anyway, i figured in the midst of dissertation-writing, i can still kinda keep up with this beer blogging stuff as a side-project, a sort of hobby. i like beer. no, i love beer. it helps me write. it lubricates the wheels of my brain. and beer is my hobby. it’s what makes my dissertation-writing process a lot less painful. anyway, my homegurl, Mg., told me, ‘dude. you can still write about a beer a week…” and she’s right.

So I decided to start by opening up a beer that’s been in my fridge for months. I got it at the Liquorette in West Covina back in February, a 2006 Anchor Brewing Co. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Ale. So those of you who are fans and regular drinkers of Anchor Steam know that every year, they brew a Christmas ale and release a limited amounts of it, and the SF bay area, rightfully so, benefits from proximity of distribution. I think they make one of the best seasonal ales around. Anchor’s Xmas brew recipe differs every year, so no one “Merry Christmas” brew from Anchor will taste the same from the previous year’s, the next year’s, and so forth. Anchor’s Xmas ales are the reason why I love winter brews all year long.

I tried. I really did try to enjoy the so-called “summer brews” that most breweries trot out around now. Light, blonde, beach- and pool-friendly, with exotic-sounding names like “Corona Extra Light,” “Pete’s Wicked Summer Brew,” and “Hawai’ian Surfboard Wipeout Wave-a-licious  XXXtreme Triple IPA, Man.” Ugh. Pass! I do enjoy the occasional Primo and Pacifico, but they’re no reason to build a whole season around. I am happily enjoying a dark, spicy, heavier 2006 version of Anchor’s Merry Christmas brew, and it’s the best thing I’ve drank all summer. It deserves to live in a glass, so when you pour it into one, it’s a beautiful dark, molasses-y brown with an auburn tinge…a thin head but one that sticks around til the end. Every sip is a mouthful of joy, from the piney, burnt-caramel-y nose down to the just-sweet-enough brown sugar finish. MMMmmmm…forget summer, man. I can’t wait til November. Is it December yet?

hello gente,

i know it’s been awhile. it seems as if we were on an unintentional hiatus. but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been drinking beer and doing our research on things beer-related. now, our own Raqui has been up and down Califas, and back-n-forth across the southwest doing things Butchlalis- and art- related. So props to her for continuing to spread the good Butcha word across the land. I have been busy in my, uh, more “career/academic” pursuits, and have been doing the kind of writing that I hope will give me the job that, in about 10 years from now, will make possible the bar I want to open up some day. Beer, books, butchas, babes, boobies, you name it…I will have it at Mel’s Beer Place. Meantime, I got some major funding, thanks for the Ford Foundation, and am committed to writing my dissertation for the next year or so. I do wanna graduate at some point.  The good news is that beer helps me in the writing process. So I will be drinking and doing the occasional reporting on the most fabulous and worthy beers to cross my palate. I am in the midst of researching a few things, but I want to give a shoutout first to Magnolia Brewery in SF. (www.magnoliapub.com) I had the time of my life there, beautiful memories made, and I will make it a must-beer destination whenever I’m in the Bahia. They have amazing site-brewed beers, specializing in British and Scottish style bitters, ambers, reds, and other special rarities I’ve never tasted anywhere else. The servers were generous in their pours and I was basically allowed to sample anything on their menu with no extra charge.  The guys have been brewin’ underground for over 10 years, they told me, and those beer guys know what they’re doing. Although I didn’t get to meet ‘those beer guys,’ otherwise known as Magnolia brewers Dave McLean (Brewmaster) and Ben Spencer (Head Brewer), I want to meet them next time. Their beer is my new personal standard and I would be proud to someday make beer that is this good. I was especially impressed with their cask ales (caske ales will be the subject of a future blog entry. they’re my favorite.) Any brewpub that offers a cask-pulled ale, let alone 3 or 4, knows what they’re doing with their beer. Magnolia offered other specialties, including Weekpaug Gruit, a non-beer beer. Here’s one of the best stories I’ve heard about beer. Our server tells us that the GRUIT beer actually derives from a style of beer brewed in England in the 1700s that did not include hops. There was a period of about 10 years when beer in England was brewed without hops because the puritanical kingdom thought that hops made people too crazy.  We now know hops to be the heart of beer (without grapes, can’t make wine, so without hops, can’t make beer…so we think…). Hops give us the bitter flavor and–the higher the hops, the higher the alcohol content of a beer (think IPAs)–hops is the cousin of CANNABIS (do your homework), so, yeah, I guess it makes sense that a bunch of puritanical uptight englishmen back in the day were afeared of hops in beer. So for awhile, during this period, breweries had to remove the hops from their beer recipes and substituted roots and other fermentable stuff that still produced a comparable alcohol content. Which makes sense, because when I first sipped this tiny bit o’heaven, I was like “this tastes like root beer!” Gruit, brewed with no hops but other root-like ingredients, has flavors of prune, Dr Pepper/Coke, dry but sweet, like candy beer. I think my sister and her friends would appreciate it. They’ve been known to spike their Diet Dr Peppers with rum. I say, drink a pint of Gruit! (But, to be fair, gruit is not available at your local 7-Eleven…) Anyway, this Weekpaug Gruit was so good and if you come across  a place that makes a Gruit as good as Magnolia, I say try youself a pint. Mmmm!

The other place I wanna give a shout-out to is right here in SoCal, a place called BoHo Gastropub. They deserve their own entry, which I will get to, but I do want to say that their beer list is among the best I’ve seen in LA, thanks to the same guy (Ryan Sweeney) who designed Verdugo Bar’s beer list. It’s worth a stop for sure. More to come…

meantime, keep drinkin your good beer and thanks for reading the butchas’ beer thoughts.

I have to hand it to my homie Raqui for helping make UC Irvine cool in the eyes of beer fans. Damn, what a brew list! I’m all excited about the nitrogen working now on that Irish stout and I’m actually inclined to head down there soon to try it out. I have downed many a beer at Pappy’s Pub at UC Berkeley and The Pub at UC San Diego, so it’s nice to know that UC Irvine isn’t so, well, dry.

Yes, my 35th beerthday was certainly not dry. It was all about beer! I enjoyed Taps in Brea and Belmont Brewing Co. in the LBC. I have to say that the beer is a’ight at BBC (their guest beers are better than their own house beers, I think, with the lone exception of their strawberry blonde beer, which is worth buying in growlers), but Taps is way better and, in my eyes, still a standard to emulate when it’s time for me to open my own beer place. But I digress…

My birthday also meant that I was ready to crack open that homebrew I started back in January. My “Mel’s Birthday Brew” was an amber ale, and it was the first time I experimented a little. I added brown sugar during the fermentation process, and while I don’t know what it would have tasted like had I not done that, or if it even made a difference, I’m kinda glad I did because this beer had a pretty rich flavor and I get to say, “maybe it’s the brown sugar?” I wish I had the capacity to brew more than 2 1/2 gallons because this is a beer I’m actually pretty proud of. It was way yummy and it looked so purdy in its nice pilsner glass. Checkitout:

It poured really nicely and had a great head on it. Toasty and smooth and like all bottle-conditioned beer, is unfiltered and so has a little bit of yeasty sediment on the bottom. But that’s okay! It’s supposed to be there. (It’s like next time you get a Hoegaarden beer, look closely and you’ll notice there are pouring instructions to pour about 3/4 of the bottle in a glass, swirl the bottle around a bit to get the yeast and then pour the rest of the beer in the glass. For sure, the best way to enjoy the full flavor of a bottle-conditioned beer.)

So the next step is to upgrade my equipment and start following some of the cool beer recipes I’ve been finding. I have clever names picked out for beers I haven’t even made yet, kinda like when people pick out baby names for kids they’re probably not gonna have for like 10 years. That’s me. Put on this earth to make books and beer. Certainly not babies!