Hair of the Dog Dave | Los Angeles Beer Blog

(This month’s theme: Local breweries. For the full Session roundup, go to Gastronomic Fight Club)

After much hype, and a lot of patience on my part, I was pleasantly surprised to see Craftsman Triple White Sage on tap at Father’s Office last night. I have been a fan of Craftsman ever since I turned 21 and started going there. Before my coming of legal age, I had never heard of Craftsman, probably because they don’t bottle it (a revelation I came across a couple of weeks ago).

Craftsman is, without a doubt, LA’s claim to craft beer fame. Mark Jilg has been brewing in Pasadena since 1995, but has kept the production scale small to maintain quality. According to his interview with LAist last month, Mark (and his 2 full time employees) produce about 2400 half-barrel kegs in a year. They make, sell, and distribute it themselves, oftentimes filling kegs and delivering their beer within 24 hours of receiving the order. Distribution-wise, they are mostly in LA, but can be found in San Diego and Santa Barbara.

The Heavenly Hefeweizen was their first beer I ever tried, and this was back when FO still offered beer by the pitcher. They stopped doing pitchers though, something about how pouring that much beer back and forth over-agitates the beer, and by the time you get to the end of the pitcher, the beer’s not the same. Sounds logical enough, I’ll take their word for it. Even so, wouldn’t it be awesome to still be able to order a pitcher of Great White?

While we’re on the subject of Father’s Office, be sure to check out Food and Wine’s interview with Sang Yoon (via Appellation Beer).

Craftsman can be found all over town; Father’s, the Otheroom, Weiland, Library Bar, The Village Idiot, Third Stop. Susan of Immaeatchu had a glass of Triple White Sage last year at Lucques on Melrose. (Photo credit: Immaeatchu: Saturday Lunch at Lucques)

I didn’t take any notes on this beer, so the review will be a bit skimpy. Sometimes you just want to drink a beer and not have to analyze it. It also gives me reason to go back for more.

First off, I must disclose I’ve always loved the smell of sage. Smell is the sense that is most linked to memory, right? So for me, as I’m raising the glass towards my lips, I immediately think of hiking in the Santa Monica mountains, camping trips, and my incense and sage burning phase in middle school. It’s always nice when a beer “brings you back.”

Have you ever had a Pyramid Apricot Weizen? You know how ridiculously apricotty it smells? Well, Triple White Sage is just as fragrant, sage-wise, but without being overpowering or artificial. It’s crisp, and surprisingly mellow for a beer that’s 9%. The sweet and light tastes of sage mask the high alcohol content quite nicely. Read some of the glowing reviews on BeerAdvocate for more on how amazing this beer is.

This is a very special beer that I recommend to anyone. Father’s is charging $7.50 per glass, and sometimes it’s hard to justify paying that much, but in this case, it’s worth every penny.

• Appearance: 2.5/3
• Aroma: 11/12
• Palate: 4/5
• Flavor: 19/20
• Overall: 9.5/10

Rating: 4.6

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