Coming up next week, on Monday, November 17th, another awesome beer dinner at Rustic Canyon, hosted by Beer Chick Christina Perozzi.
Beer Dinner at Rustic Canyon Wine Bar, in Santa Monica
Hit the jump for a look at what’s on the menu, with my comments on the beers:
I’ve been screwing around with the site a little bit recently. Upgrading to the latest version of WordPress and trying out a new template.
What do you think about the new look? The white background is kind of weird, right? Should I switch it back to the black / gray of the old site?
21st Amendment, a great brewpub and restaurant in San Francisco, recently announced they are expanding production. They are joining the ranks of craft brew superstars Oskar Blues and Surly Brewing by putting great craft beer into cans. Normally only available at the pub, 21st Amendment is now receiving wider distribution, available throughout California at BevMo, and soon making their way into supermarkets in the Bay Area, Sacramento, Tahoe, and Alaska (what, no LA love?).
Their two beers are Brew Free Or Die IPA, and Hell or High Watermelon Wheat, both of which are quite tasty.
Right now on their website, there’s a note up that congratulates President Elect Barack Obama with a tasty little slice of double entendre:
Find out more about 21st Amendment at 21st-amendment.com
Wish I was down in San Diego for O’brien’s Wet Hop Festival, which is going on right now as I type.
From Tom Nickel:
I am expecting 24 different wet hop beers from San Diego, Northern California and Oregon. We should have 22 different draft beers, 4 casks and even one bottled beer. The line up will include beers from Pizza Port Carlsbad and Solana Beach, Ballast Point, Port Brewing, Stone, 21st Amendment, Anderson Valley, Beach Chalet, Bear Republic, Black Diamond, Blue Frog, Butte Creek, Lagunitas, Moonlight, Sierra Nevada, Triple Rock, Deschutes and Full Sail.
The fun starts tonight with two very rare and special festival pre-party casks from Sierra Nevada – Harvest Ale and ESP. This year’s Harvest is great and I can’t wait to try it on cask. The ESP is one of my favorite Sierra beers. It is the bottled version of the Pale Ale, which is a little stronger and more hoppy, with wet hops added in the conditioning tank. These are the only casks of these beers in southern California, so don’t miss them tonight, Thursday, 10/23 at 5 pm. We also have a few wet hopped ales on tap right now including Port Brewing High Tide, Sierra Nevada Harvest and Full Sail Lupulin. More will be added tonight as well.
I bet Beer Molly from My Beer Pix will be there, holding down the photo blog front. If anyone makes it down there, let me know how it goes.
JUST ANNOUNCED
This Saturday, September 13th, Verdugo Bar is hosting their 1st annual Oktoberfest. In addition to their usual biergarten, they will also be converting their parking lot for the afternoon to make way for all the festivities.
Come on out to Glassell Park for beer, brats, music, and even a few competitions like stein holding, boot racing, beer pong, and more. Tickets are 20 dollars at the door, and that covers you for 3 beers. Food and more beer will be available for purchase. Most German beers don’t go too high on the alcohol content, so there will be room for 4, 5, 6- as long as you’re not boot racing!
Pre-sale tickets are available for $15 dollars. Call the bar at 323-257-3408 with your credit card handy to pay.
Dirndls and leidenhosen are strongly encouraged (by me).
Visit the Verdugo Bar website for more details.
12 years in business and no signs of slowing down. Just three years ago they moved into their new building, and already, they are outgrowing it.
Along with a lolcatted picture of their current location, their newsletter also had this to say:
Do you know of a friend’s second cousin with a father-in-law who knows a guy who has a building really close to our brewery that he hasn’t put on the market, but might consider selling to us in exchange for a lifetime’s supply of Stone?*
It’s not quite official, but the Blue Palms Brewhouse opened its doors for business last Friday night. Word of a new craft beer bar in the heart of Hollywood has been spreading like wildfire over the last few months, and the rumor mill had been working overtime.
Founders (!) in LA? Proximus (!!) and Russian River on tap? A firkin of Firestone’s Parabola (!!!) for the opening?
The official opening is this Saturday the 16th, so you will have to check it out then, because I can not confirm or deny anything that might have been mentioned. All I know is that owner Brian Lenzo is a huge beer fanatic, and he definitely has some tricks up his sleeve.
Beer geeks were out in full force for the soft opening, and there were plenty of big beers to be had. Hair of the Dog Fred was on tap, probably for the first time in Los Angeles (west of Stuffed Sandwich, that is). Other heavy hitters included St. Bernardus Abt 12 and Ola Dubh 30, which first reared it’s delicious head at Verdugo Bar a few months ago.
photo credit: flickr user lesbal123
Contributing to the opening day excitement, there were several new beers that made their LA debut at Blue Palms. I was excited to see the Black Sour from Craftsman, a new beer that I hadn’t heard of. Mark Jilg and Head Brewer Todd Peterson were in attendance, but I didn’t get a chance to ask them about this new creation. It’s definitely not a puckeringly sour beer, but like all Craftsman beers, it’s worth your money. Continue reading