Ales

Last Chance for Pliny the Younger

By all measures this year's response to the release of Russian River Brewing's Pliny the Younger was frenzied. Accounts which received the top-rated beer as early as two weeks ago were sold out in the short span of a few hours or days. If you didn't get a chance to sample the beer, the opportunity f ... More >>

What to Eat and Drink at This Weekend's Chinatown Festival

Chinese New Year officially began last Sunday, and the Year of the Snake promises change, contemplation, preparation, and perhaps most importantly, lots of good beer. That is, of course, if you're planning to spend this traditional time of reflection with a pint (or two, or three -- what the heck, i ... More >>

5 California Barley Wines to Drink Now

A blustery February day in Los Angeles requires a beverage of equal intensity and rareness. Barley wine, a beer of wine-strength marrying sweet caramel and bitter hoppy flavors, is the perfect accompaniment to brisk or stormy day. The oldest American craft barley wines, and many of the highest-rate ... More >>

El Segundo Brewing Company Bottles Available Starting Today: White Dog IPA Standard Crude

Though it's been open for less than two years, the tiny El Segundo Brewing Company has already doubled its fermentation capacity and garnered more than 150 draft accounts from Santa Barbara to San Diego. And starting with tonight's bound-to-be-epic release party, the notoriously hop-forward brewery ... More >>

Top 5 Triple IPAs of 2012: Pliny The Younger Be Damned

It seems that every year, brewers across the country align on some psychic wavelength that motivates those with adventurous spirits to expand on a new, emerging beer style. Last year, anniversary beers and specialty one-offs became double black IPAs -- roasty, hoppy, boozy guys that warm the soul wh ... More >>

FiftyFifty's Bourbon Barrel-Aged Eclipse 2012 Released In L.A. Today

It feels weird to gush about the rarity of FiftyFifty Brewing Company's bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout Eclipse series when gift boxes of Westvletren 12 landed in the United States for the first time yesterday (and at most places, sold out within an hour). Nonetheless, the annual bottle release ... More >>

San Diego Beer Week: Top 5 Events Worth The Drive South

To most Angelenos, San Diego is the kid sister of SoCal cities. But to beer lovers, San Diego is Mecca. Ten years ago, when L.A. was still trapped by endless Bud and Miller tap handles, San Diego brewers were over-hopping their suds, blowing palletes (and minds) and defining an entirely new west coa ... More >>

Stone Brewing Co.'s First Company Store Outside of San Diego Opens In Pasadena: Lines! Growlers!

A week before last Thursday's official grand opening celebration at Stone Brewing's new Company Store in Old Town Pasadena, the line to get growler fills wove through the Gold Line platform it sits on and out onto Raymond Ave. Stone employees were shocked at the response and kegs of the brewery's l ... More >>

GABF Fresh From the Floor: L.A. Brewers and Friends a Beer Slideshow

DENVER -- Eight Los Angeles Co. brewers have entered the Great American Beer Festival competition this year. Doubling from last year's professional brewer entries, Beachwood, Eagle Rock, Ladyface and Rock Bottom have re-entered, joined by newcomers San Pedro, Golden Road, Haven and LAB Brewing. The ... More >>

Q & A With Australian Brewery Mountain Goat Beer: Surfboards as Collateral The Influence of American Craft Beer

Australia doesn't just produce enviable beer commercials, as we learned last week, they produce beer equally worthy of our interest. One such brewery, Mountain Goat Beer of Melbourne, Australia, is kicking off a launch party for extended distribution at Rock & Brews in El Segundo tonight, and Congre ... More >>

5 End of Summer California Beer Releases To Buy Now

Beer is an unorthodox object to fetishize. When you see a half-dozen men dressed from business to bro, outpacing each other in a parking lot on their lunch break for a few remaining limited-release beers, how else can this phenomenon be described? Our no. 1 beer to buy is eliciting this response all ... More >>

Top 5 U.K. Beers That Should be Served at the Olympics Instead of Heineken Happy International IPA Day

The summer Olympics are well underway and with the Games, the inevitable media spotlight on the host country's culture. Between the star-studded opening ceremonies and the unprecedented Cultural Olympiad, Great Britain has done its best to take advantage of the attention the Olympics brings. Except, ... More >>

Q & A With Kerry Caldwell, Assistant Brewer at Belmont Brewing Company: Updating Classics, Bragging Rights How To Be A Lady Brewer

In the late 1990s, Long Beach's Belmont Brewing Company was at the top of its game. With a longtime homebrewer named David Blackwell at the helm, beers from BBC -- which is the oldest operating brewpub in Southern California -- began picking up awards at local and international contests. Soon, its S ... More >>

Best Beer in America Results: Hoppy Beers Continue to Reign California Brewers Clean Up

The results are in for the tenth annual "Best Beers in America" poll from Zymurgy Magazine, craftbeer.com reports. A Colorado-based publication of the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), Zymurgy has long-asked its readers to vote for their favorite commercially available beers. This year's polli ... More >>

Haven Gastropub Brewery: Beer, KCRW/DineLA Dinner Date A Whole Pig

Since its doors opened six months ago, Haven Gastropub Brewery has been filling a much-needed niche of outstanding beer in the company of high-quality food for Pasadena diners. For the hungry there are seasonal flatbreads, pretzel and charcuterie table nibblings, greens (ruffage), swimmers, meats, ... More >>

Top 5 Belgian IPAs: More Fun With European Hops

Sorry England and Germany -- if the American craft beer revolution owes its adventurous and hoppy spirit to any country's brewing tradition, it's Belgium's. While brewers next door in Germany were stuck abiding by a beer purity law, Belgians were free to experiment with yeast, herbaceous plants an ... More >>

Session Beers: Thank You, I'll Have Another

Most of the inkspace in the craft beer world seems to be dedicated to the extreme beers: triple IPAs and barrel aged stouts and the like. And these beers are certainly impressive; they push the envelope of the norm. But at the end of the day, you probably just want a beer. A good beer, to be sure ... More >>

Beer Belly Celebrates 1st Anniversary

It feels like much longer than a year has passed since Jimmy and Yume Han opened Beer Belly, the Koreatown craft beer bar that introduced the Hite-heavy neighborhood to a volume and variety of local-brewed suds like it had never seen. But sure enough, this weekend will mark the bar's one year annive ... More >>

This Weekend: Local Brewers' Festival A Poolside Beer Party

Why go to LAX, get on a plane, and fly to Vegas for a pool party when you can drive to the Four Points by Sheraton LAX, park for free, and get your pool party on right here? Our weather's better -- and so is the beer. Saturday, May 12, from noon to 5:00 p.m., thirteen of the best local and Californ ... More >>

Strand Brewing Tap Room: Grand Opening

White Sand Double IPA Cometh: The official grand opening party for the Strand Brewing Tap Room happens this weekend, Saturday, April 14, and Sunday, April 15. Drinking hours are Saturday, noon to 8 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. This will be the world debut of White Sand, an 8.6% abv double IPA t ... More >>

Deschutes Brewery's L.A. Base Camp Week: Chainbreaker White IPA, The Abyss "Beer-lesque"

Meet Woody. He's a giant towable beer barrel-keg that doubles as an operable bar and comes complete with disco ball, sound system and his own Twitter account. Though the party-on-wheels might be a cutesy promo gimmick for Bend, Oregon's Deschutes Brewery (or the grown-up version of the Oscar Mayer W ... More >>

Weekend Baking: The Pie it Forward Cookbook A Chocolate Stout Pie Recipe

Those summer berry and fall holiday pies may get all of the seasonal baking attention, but spring really is the ideal time to Pie it Forward, isn't it? There are those rainy weekends best left to indoor dough rolling, the partly cloudy ones that aren't quite ready for berry picking outings, and thos ... More >>

Guinness and Ice Cream for St. Patrick's Day: A Recipe for Stout Float

I don't know if a stout float is an Irish dessert but it doesn't really matter, as Saint Patrick's Day celebrations aren't really Irish anyway. A beer float can be awesome, and when done right, it's the perfect creamy-sweet refresher after the traditional American-Irish, salty dinner of corned beef ... More >>

Strand Brewing Tap Room Opens

Breaking beer news. Though they will have an official "grand opening party" in late March which, of course, we will let you know about, we're letting you know now that you can already visit the newly minted Strand Brewing Tap Room. Drinking hours are Thursday and Friday 4-9 p.m., Saturday 12-8 p.m ... More >>

10 Best Beer Bars In Los Angeles

With craft beer L.A.'s current unyielding obsession, it seems crazier than a 55% ABV beer that four short years ago that we were celebrating, along with dozens of tube sock-clad homebrew club sorts, the first local bars to land coveted cask-conditioned ales on tap. My how that fedora-topped draft be ... More >>

4 Double Black IPAs That Debuted in 2011: Or, Crossing Over to the (Very) Dark Side

In the last twelve months, the craft beer world has welcomed new flavors from a slew of emerging styles including the rye saison (Avery's Eighteen), the wheat IPA (El Segundo Brewing's Picket Fence) and the seasonal imperial pumpkin ale (Flying Dog's The Fear). But no new style was more exciting for ... More >>

Top 5 Pumpkin Beers: Drink Up, Pumpkin Kings

B. MesirowKern River's Pumpkin Ale and a whole pumpkin​ Is there any vegetable more versatile than the pumpkin? They can be turned into delicious pies, magical carriages, whimsical lanterns, terrifying (or hilarious) helmets and, best of all, beer. Pumpkin beers come in a variety of styles, f ... More >>

Top 5 Beers from L.A. Beer Week 2011

Far Bar2011 L.A. Beer Week ​ L.A. Beer Week was a 14-day nonstop party that required four days of recovery. But what a blast. Dozens of events at beer bars across Los Angeles were packed with beer fans, new and old alike. After some reflection, we made our picks for the five best beers we tast ... More >>

The Phenomenal Finish to 2011 L.A. Beer Week: Kern River Brewing Company at Far Bar L.A.B.W. Closing Festival at Union Station

Cambria GriffithOfficial 2011 L.A. Beer Week Souvenir Glass​ The spectacular closing weekend of the 2011 L.A. Beer Week features Far Bar hosting gold-medal winning Kern River Brewing Saturday, followed by the L.A. Beer Week Closing Festival featuring over 70 brewers at historic Union Station o ... More >>

Interactive Sausage Rare Beer at The Yard

jamesjustinSausages await consumption ​ If you've been to Hot Doug's in Chicago, then you already know the adage. "There are no two finer words in the English language than 'encased meats', my friend." True. And if there's anything in this world that could possibly trump a fresh, handmade saus ... More >>

The Top 5 IPAs in the World

Here is the Cliffs Notes version of the three sweetest letters in craft brewing: IPA. The Brits, loving themselves some pale ale, would load up a big, slow ship full of the country's favorite liquid, and send it off to that not-so-tiny colony known as India. Problem was, the beer would go bad by ... More >>

Two Local Brewers Win Big at the Great American Beer Festival

Jason E. KaplanThe crowds converge on GABF​ Over a dozen L.A.-area craft brewers traveled to Denver last week to compete in the 30th annual Great American Beer Festival -- arguably the oldest and most prestigious national beer competition outside of Europe. This year, 526 breweries submitted 3 ... More >>

Meg Gill's Top 5 L.A.-area Beers

Tyler KempMeg Gill skates into L.A.'s craft beer scene​ Last week, we shared a list of six essential West Coast beers hand-picked by Greg Koch, the CEO and Co-Founder of Southern California's largest craft brewery: Stone Brewing Company in Escondido. This week, we've done something similar wit ... More >>

More L.A. Craft Beer News: Enegren Brewing Company

Steven ArmstrongJoe Nascenzi and Matt Enegren at Enegren Brewing Co. ​ As often happens in life, collegiate eccentricities lead to post-baccalaureate vocations. For one Harvard dropout, late-night computer programming led to multi-billion dollar "facebooking." And for three Loyola Marymount gr ... More >>

LA Craft Beer Crawl 2011 [Photo Gallery]

Guzzle & NoshDanielle pours a beer float at Cana as parto of the 2011 LA Craft Beer Crawl.​Congratulations if you made it to all seven bars at Saturday's LA Craft Beer Crawl. Either you have an iron will or an iron stomach. The crowds were thick and the beers, from populist IPAs to obscurist a ... More >>

Top 10 California Pale Ales

Jake OgleThe Classic American Pale Ale​ American Pale Ales, arguably the most popular beer style for craft brewers, tend to range between 5-6 % alcohol by volume (abv). That makes them what some beer geeks call "sessionable," meaning you can enjoy quite a few of them in a single sitting witho ... More >>

Beachwood BBQ and Brewing Opens in Long Beach

Southern BBQ and Craft Beer at Beachwood​ Beachwood BBQ of Seal Beach, rated as one of the Top 5 Beer Bars in America by Beer Advocate magazine, is opening a second location on the Promenade in downtown Long Beach on Tuesday, July 5. Beachwood BBQ and Brewing is easily one of the most anticip ... More >>

IPA Beer Fight: Ladyface Ale Companie vs. Bootlegger's Brewery

B. MesirowBootlegger's Rustic Rye IPA​ Much has been made lately of L.A.'s beer revolution, from hilarious and awesome drunken rants by Greg of Stone to posts on this very blog and well beyond. However, the true measuring stick must be the beer itself, and what better stick than the West Coas ... More >>

Top 10 American Craft Beers for Summer

Daniel DrennonOmmegang Hennepin​ Traffic. Air pollution. Earthquakes. So why, at your local sports bar, are seemingly half the patrons transplants from New York, Boston and Chicago pulling for their hometown teams and lamenting "how great it is back home?" Four words. Bikinis. Board shor ... More >>

National Homebrew Competition L.A.-Area Finalists

JgarbeeHomebrews At Pacific Gravity's Annual Party​If you've heard a lot of homebrewer buzz at your neighborhood pub the past few weeks, it's likely because the National Homebrewers Conference (NHC) is being held in San Diego this year. Hoards of home brewers will be descending upon Southern C ... More >>

America's Oldest Brewpub Comes to Hollywood Where To Drink Yourself Silly

Blue Palms Brewhouse​ Berkeley's legendary Triple Rock Brewery and Alehouse, the oldest original brewpub in the United States and one of the best, comes to the Blue Palms Brewhouse in Hollywood all day this Friday. You will be able to meet Rodger Davis, head brewer at Triple Rock, and also Br ... More >>

Hop Heaven Comes to LA: Naja's Place 3rd Anniversary IPA Festival

Martin SvabNaja's crowd​ Hops will prevail at the best India Pale Ale (IPA) festival that will happen all year in the Southland. Naja's Place 3rd Anniversary IPA Festival begins Thursday, April 21. If Father's Office is the granddaddy of all L.A. beer bars, Naja's Place is the godfather. In ... More >>

More Adventures in Beer: Bootlegger's Brewery 3rd Anniversary Celebration

Tod MesirowThe taproom at Bootlegger's Brewery​ Our fair city has long been regarded by outsiders as something of a craft beer wasteland, a rocky patch full of Bud-Miller-Coors between the fertile hop fields of San Diego and the Bay. Standing within the county's limits, though, it is clear th ... More >>

The Cocktail Issue: Golden State's Beer Float A Recipe

Anne FishbeinGolden State's beer float​This past week's cover story was the cocktail issue, or L.A.'s Best Cocktails, in which Jonathan Gold considers, as you can probably infer from the title, the best cocktails in Los Angeles. To celebrate the happy event, we're giving you a cocktail a day h ... More >>

[Updated] The Pursuit of Hoppiness: Pliny the Younger (IPA Beer) Day is Here

koadmunkee​Update: We told you you'd have to keep monitoring the tap list yourselves, but we caved and decided to give you a hand. Here's the list of confirmed Pliny the Younger appearances as it stands right now: Verdugo Bar, Wednesday, February 16 at 6 p.m.; Hops and Barley (in Temecula), S ... More >>

Best Black And Tan: Eagle Rock Brewery's Stimularity, A Caffeinated Twist

J. GarbeeMaking A Black And Tan At Eagle Rock Brewery​In the beer world, a bartender's prowess is arguably determined by his/her mastery of the black and tan, a pale ale topped with a stout or other dark beer. It's harder than it looks -- just ask Eagle Rock Brewery co-owner Ting Su (her husba ... More >>

How To Pretend It's Fall In L.A.: 5 Local Beer Folks On Their Favorite Seasonal Beers

J. Garbee​ The 'tis the season buzz around the beer world this time of year is all about dark and malty cold weather brews -- Hibernation ales, Santa's Butt Porters and an infinite number of chocolate stouts. That fall beer thing can be hard to wrap your head around in L.A. when the sunshine s ... More >>

Milkshake Madness at BLD with Pastry Chef Mariah Swan 2 Recipes for Spiked Milkshakes

Mariah Swan, pastry chef at both of Neal Fraser's restaurants, BLD and Grace, had an epiphany last year. Why not take a childhood favorite, milkshakes, and make it more grown up by adding alcohol? Thus Milkshake Madness was born at BLD, held the last Sunday of every month. Swan transforms classic ... More >>

Ask Mr. Gold