Dogfish Head Comes to California

Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 by Dave

To celebrate the return of Dogfish Head to the California market, founder and President Sam Calagione will be pouring 90 Minute IPA, Midas Touch, and the new Palo Santo Marron, a unfiltered 12% malty brown ale aged in wood from the Paraguayan holy tree, Palo Santo.

This event is tonight, April 14th from 6pm to 10pm, at Tony P’s Dockside Grill in Marina Del Rey.

In order to age this new beer, DFH constructed a ginormous 10,000 gallon tank, and if you’ve got an extra 10 minutes, you should check out this video that gives some cool back story. The beer uses several varietes of Warrior hops, as well as Glacier and Palisade. A couple types of malts as well, including some chocolate malt, and tying it all together with a yeast strain used for Scottish ales.

Definitely looking forward to trying this one, as well as the whole new influx of DFH that should be hitting all the best LA beer stores soon!

Real Ale in LA: Firestone Firkin Friday at the Daily Pint

Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2008 by Dave

Tomorrow! Friday the 11th of April!

Sometime between 6 and 7 o’clock, the Daily Pint in Santa Monica is tapping a firkin of unfiltered Firestone Double Barrel Ale.

That’s right, Real Ale in Santa Monica. A rep from Firestone is bringing by a temporary beer engine for this single keg, and once it kicks, it’s gone.

If there is enough enthusiasm from the beer community, maybe we can convince Phil to put in a permanent beer engine? Bring your friends, and be sure to explain to them what they are getting into. Some people have not yet been exposed to the joys of warm, flat beer.

See you at the Pint.

Verdugo Bar Officially Open

Posted on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 by Dave

Time to add another amazing beer bar to your drinking repertoir.

After many months of building code snafus and limited business hours, Verdugo Bar is officially opening tonight.

God bless ‘em for their sense of humor, they’ve got Delirium Tremens and St. Bernardus Abt 12 on tap right next to Miller High Life. Click on the picture above to get an idea of their bottle selection (available to take home!), but keep in mind their selection has probably changed since this picture was taken a couple months ago.

Ryan, the resident beer geek, loves to rotate special beers through as they become available. I spoke with him yesterday and he mentioned they were working on getting a keg of Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve 30, which is aged in oak barrels previously used for maturing 30-year-old single malt Scotch.

I’ll believe that when I see it!

Verdugo Bar
3408 Verdugo Rd
Glassell Park, CA 90065
323-257-3408

Open Tuesday thru Sunday, 8pm til 2am.

New York Times: Long on Beer, Short on Pretense
Urban Daddy LA: Brew the Right Thing

Hot Knives Reveal Project Beer Cave

Posted on Monday, April 7, 2008 by Dave

[Via Hot Knives]

Beer Beer Beer

Posted on Sunday, April 6, 2008 by Dave

So yesterday, I was thinking about how much I love Eggs Benedict, and wondering why I have never tried to enjoy it in the comfort of my own home. Then it hit me: I have no idea how to poach an egg. I consulted Google and the first thing that caught my eye was the eggs-cellent How to Poach an Egg guide by Rob Manuel. (Side note: I am indebted to Rob for his research and eggs-periments. I too value results over choices. 2 minute boil in saran wrap takes the prize. Thanks Rob!)

After screwing around on his site for a good 30 minutes, I found this little gem he made last year. It’s a great song and an even more impressive stop-motion video starring a whole family of anthropomorphised pint glasses. You’ll be singing along by the end of the video!

Also, head over to William Brand’s Beer Newsletter for a great video of a bar in Belgium made entirely out of beer crates.

The Session: Introducing the Thirsty Hopster

Posted on Friday, April 4, 2008 by Dave

When I first met Jessica, I had no idea that I had just met every beer geek’s dream girl. Smart, beautiful, and a virtual walking beer encyclopedia.

It was July 17th, 2007, and I was on the tail end of my Great Northwest Beer Adventure. After a month of busing, thumbing, and train-ing all the way up to Vancouver, I was on the last leg of my trip, staying in San Francisco’s Presidio with my buddy Spencer.

That afternoon, we had visited Magnolia where we thoroughly enjoyed the Blue Boy Bitter, the Lazy Boy IPA, the Prescription Pale, and their cask wheat beer (well, maybe we didn’t enjoy the cask wheat beer that much). It was still pretty early in the afternoon, and we had several more bars to hit, so we hopped on the bus and made our way down to the Toronado, a world renowned beer bar I had not yet visited.

It goes without saying that Toronado was everything I expected and more. The lovely Jennifer (aka Princess) recommended the Brother David’s Double, followed by some Old Foghorn on draft. As you can imagine, by this point we were on our way to getting absolutely snockered.

(By the way, thanks to Stonch for hosting this month’s Session!).

It was time to journey on, so we left Toronado to find our next bar. We made it all of about 10 feet before we decided we needed to take a hot dog break at the sausage shop next door, and it was there while waiting for my weiner I met Jessica.

“Did you guys just come from Toronado? I love that place. Proximity to Toronado was an important factor when I was looking for an apartment.”

Love at first sight?

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