David and Walker are drinking a different beer each day* for an entire year, 365 beers in all, starting August 5th, 2010. We're writing about our daily regime to share the experiences and delicious discoveries with our friends and mild acquaintances to inspire YOU to bring previously unknown beers to your lips. (*limit one new beer per day consumed before midnight, no catch up days allowed)
I'm at The Other Room with Karl and we're killing time until David and Nick G are able to join us to kill a growler of Iron Fist and hopefully some ice cream, which if they don't eat, will eventually turn my inner fat kid into an outie. In the meantime, I'm surprised to discover I've unfortunately covered a good portion of The Other Room's beer menu, and I'm settling down on the fairly easy to find Anchor Steam Porter.
Anchor Steam's brewing process, is called steam brewing, and during the first half of last century, it was pretty common on the West Coast, but now Anchor steam is the only company which still brews in this manner. The result, if you've ever had an Anchor Steam, is a creation similar to a fruity Sierra Nevada.
Accordingly, the Anchor Steam Porter has very dark fruit notes that are unique to the porter style. Porters are known for their roasted and toasted malts - chocolate, nutty flavor notes. The steam process has really differentiated this porter from others in the style. While unusual, I like it. It's a drinking porter and perfect for summer. TRANSFORMERS rating.
Back at the homestead, we open Iron Fist's Velvet Glove, which I've had before as the beer of the day and scooped some ice cream (Velvet Glove is pretty heavy). This beer is just phenomenal, and with ice cream it's like chocolate alcohol syrup. It's so good I had seconds of both, just to enjoy the pairing.
Nick G also brought over some Gunga Galunga, one of David's favorite beers, made with ginger and named after a Bill Murry line from Caddyshack. Could it get any better? Only by sharing it with great friends like Karl and Nick G. Freaking great guys night of drinking and non stop laughter.
Today at 6pm, the rapture is supposed to happen. Good thing I'm in the best of company! After covering Venice yesterday, we're Malibu bound for scenic beach cruising and wine tasting in the hills. Among the many things I love about Sarah and Andrea, is that they don't care about the wine flights/tasting. It's a beautiful day, why don't we just pick 3 random bottles, put our feet in the grass, our faces toward the sun and let the wine do the rest. We don't need to sample the various wines or go from place to place today. Let's just have a blast.
Apparently the U.S.S. Yacht Rock was in port, because there were also some sailors ready to party.
After dinner we hit up The Other Room for a last couple drinks before their midnight flight home. So what would be the perfect end to an LA weekend? Seeing a celebrity. Andrea and Sara got to chat up Luke Wilson and his posse for a while at the bar.
I focused my attention on some vicarious amusement and my fresh a Russian River Damnation. I toasted to the ridiculous rapture that didn't happen and dived in. The Damnation is a Belgian Strong Ale that's almost 8%. It has a typical sweet belgian malt and pours beautifully. There is a yeasty flavor profile with spicy and fruity elements - clove, apple, banana. It's a fantastic, full bodied beer. THE ROCK rating.
Such phenomenal weekend touring the city with Andrea and Sarah and it's killing me they gots to get home. But I'm feeling a Chicago trip in my future...Until next time!
Meeting two beereveryday regulars Tiff and Tierney at The Other Room and David, who was out on the Venice Pier checking out a spy satellite launch from up the coast, is joining shortly. Space Nerds Rule.
On the beer chalkboard the beer is listed simply as Pinkus Munster, which makes it sound like either a British Ale or a really good stinky cheese. Other Room was off on the name but not the quality.
This isn't your smooth pilsener like a Spatan or the Czech Urquell; it's grainy. It's like the difference between Grey Goose and Smirnoff Triple. My Houston friend Boris is Russian and he knows himself some vodka. He doesn't drink the ultra-premium vodkas because they're "too smooth," rather, he likes himself the Smirnoff because he can taste the vodka. The same analogy can be made here. This brew is well crafted, what's your personal taste? David loves this grainy-ness but I like a smooth pilsener - not like I'm not enjoying the cold freshness in my hand. TRANSFORMERS rating.
At The Other Room with Tara, Ellie and David and meeting up with Joey who's a big hop head. Ellie and Tara are pretty stoked to be part of the beereveryday tasting experience (first timers!) and I'm looking forward to trying the well regarded Green Flash West Coast IPA. Win, Win...will there be another Win with the IPA?
Get this:
"Hops used include Simcoe for a unique fruitiness and grapefruit zest, Columbus for strong hop pungency, Centennial for pine and citrus notes and Cascade for floral aroma."
That's crazy time to the 10th degree. I don't know what the IBU's are but they have to be astronomic; the first three hops mentioned are THE strongest hops available. I used only four ounces total split between of Simcoe, Centennial and Cascade for my Belgian IPA, and that was over 80 IBU's. Your average IPA has between between 50 and 70 IBU.
Tara and Ellie aren't fans in the slightest. This beer is overwhelmingly bitter and an aftertaste that doesn't fade away. They had both tried my Belgian Red IPA earlier and like it much more. Victory is mine!
For me, this is a hop heads beer. The bitterness is truly overwhelming. As I drink my palate is carpet bombed by hops but oddly enough, the beer becomes easier to drink. I'm impressed and immensely appreciate their bitter boldness, but it's not something I want to drink for pleasure. TRANSFORMERS rating - but consider yourself warned.
The day has come! Hoorayyy! Belgian Red, my first real experimental beer, is ready to drink. This was me when I woke up. David was Paul Pierce, the guy just running around after sinking a game winning shot:
So here is the Belgian Red Recipe. I have to say, it pours beautifully. Many home brews don't have great carbonation, but look at how much head it pours with! Awesomeness.
David says that you could have told him that this was the Belgian IPA we brewed and he would believe it. The IBU's are only at 50, opposed to the 80+ we have in our Belgian, but it's still quite hoppy. David also said, and I have to quote him because I'm proud, that the beer's "good quality exhibits my experience." Happy to report I'm getting better and not worse with age. Score.
Tell you what, it's different than I expected but I'm still very happy with it and it tastes delicious. The color pours beautifully but the flavor doesn't scream red ale, rather, the beer exhibits some light caramel flavors and the sweetness of a Belgian strong ale. There is considerably less caramel flavor than a Belgian Dubbel but there's definitely considerably more caramel than a Belgian Golden. I was hoping for a more "red" flavor profile, but this was the first recipe and I'll add more caramel notes next time. Otherwise, I'm VERY excited to share this with people in the coming weeks. It's tasty.
After sampling, we went onto "sample" more beer with Christine who is up from Newport and with Sara. It's time for a little Sunday Funday.
We checked out a bier garden on the Venice boardwalk. It's been a while since I've strolled the chaos that is Venice beach and I forgot how entertaining it is - that and how many dogs there are int he world. David brought Kamari (under the table in the picture above) and we settled in for a pitcher of Erdinger Dunkel, German puffed pasta and mozzarella sticks ordered by yours truly (not very German of me).
Sunday Funday continued with Sangria at Primitivo Wine Bistro. Guess what else is on Abbott Kenney? The Other Room. The beer of the day is now 3 out of 4 days from this bar. Starting to run out of options...Psych! Their menu is Laaarge.
Even though I know nothing about apricots (I have no idea what they smell or look like), I welcome any beer that can incorporate unusual elements in to make a balanced brew. Sam Caligione is the king of this, so I'm very excited to taste this.
I'm trusting Christine and Sara to help me out with the aroma. They say the Aprihop smells like a bag of dried apricots and weed. HA, silly girls - that's Dogfish Heads signature HOPS. But to be fair, hops are a distant cousin of the green cheeva that is so prevalent in this area. I blame it on the hippies. The fruit in this beer is very well balanced with the hops. I'm not a fan of fruit beers but I love this because the fruit and hops are so subtle. It's simply a well made beer. THE ROCK rating.
David announced that his next beer will be an Imperial Red, like Drake's Denoggenizer. I'm going to use my tax refund money like Ninkasi (the Sumerian goddess of fermentation) would want me too and invest in equipment to brew my first partial-mash beer. Time to step up home brewing a notch and get serious about this!
With David, Karl, Tiff and Tierney gathered at The Other Room after work, I feel like it's going to be a big night. Tiffany is drinking Chimay for the first time (big step! Chimay is many peoples' 'gateway' or 'enlightenment beer), Karl is being bold with the Oaked Arrogant Bastard and David and I are going big with a Double Stout (8.8% alcohol). Green Flash is well known for their IPA's, but I know nothing about the rest of their game.
This stout is liquid dessert! A heavy chocolate aroma and flavor profile. It's dank, very rich but nicely balanced.
Midway through the pint, the chocolate is a little overwhelming but it's still enjoyable. This would be AMAZING as a beer float. Amazing. THE ROCK rating.
While I've been typing this out, the conversation has turned to bulldykes for some reason. Time to wrap this post up and focus on what's important....
POST SCRIPT - After The Other Room, Karl had a hankering to buy some Pranqster at Whole Foods and eat it with a burger at their bar. Unfortunately, Whole Foods thwarted our plans by revealing a brand new rule that forbids customers from buying a bottle of beer and bringing it to their bar (which only has 4 beers on tap). Karl is ingenious and he grabbed a bottle and 5 seafood chowder cups. Before long we were drinking the delicious golden nectar in my car in the parking lot, like we were back in high school. Actually, I never drank in high school so I suppose the experience is long overdue (we also paid a neighborhood street urchin to keep a lookout for the Fuzz, obvi). Soon after we were diving into enchiladas and $2 Dos Equis at La Cabana. And just like Keyser Soze, my one drink-a-night streak was gone. The streak lasted 10 days. It's far longer than I would've given myself though, HA. Baby steps Walker, baby steps.
Just came from the Alibi Room where coworker Tiff and I dived into Kogi Sliders and the flaming hot Chicken Quesadilla. That stuff is sooo good, I'd place it up there with In-And-Out as essential California food that visitors must try. From Alibi Room to we moved onto The Other Room and we're holed up here with Allison and Sophie and starting to cause a raucous, which is fine by me. Tiffany knew she had to go big or go home so she went big with the Russian River Damnation. I'm going with the SoCal Port Brewing Wipeout IPA, which would've paired well with the spicy kogi we just inhaled.
Port Brewing hails from Saint Diego and the Wipeout is a finely tuned IPA. It is a persuasive ale with biting hops and you won't leave disappointed if you enjoy hopst. I drank two in a row and my palate isn't overwhelmed from the bitterness and I'm still loving the hops. Solid TRANSFORMERS rating bordering on The Rock.
For David's berfday we saw Aziz Ansari standup downtown at The Orpheum and HE WAS HILARIOUS. Duh. Afterwards we headed to The Other Room and took over their one and only 'room' in the back and filled it with friends. Happy Birthday David, tonight was a blast.
Tonight's beer is the Maredsous #8. Maredsous is one of the original 6 Trappist (Abbey Breweries) and they also brew the golden god, Duvel. The #8 is a dubbel belgian and it's super, super smooth. I need to get back to partying, so the long and short is, TRY IT. Your tongue won't be disappointed. THE ROCK rating.
Joined Christi M who was in town from NYC for the night at The Other Room with a bunch of great friends I haven't seen in a while. David ordered us a conceited shit-head aged with oak chips.
My beer grew arms.
This is the Cadillac of beers. It's big and bold and a little funky. The Oaked-ness of the beer is a double-edged sword however. It brings a HEAVY earthy/charcoal tone that smooths out the beer nicely, but it also lingers. A couple sips and the aftertaste will be stuck with you. It wasn't bad, just different and for me was an acquired taste.
As a kid I didn't add lettuce to my burger because it 'tainted' the meat and cheese's core deliciousness. Weird but true. it's more or less how I feel about this but I'd like to have a regular Arrogant Bastard soon to compare. TRANSFORMERS rating
Thank you, The Other Room, for saving Pumpkin Ale Week with this tap. You continue to piss excellence with your selection of sweet beer, here's to you:
One week, we will spend every night at The Other Room and drink every beer. But you know who the real winner is? America. Because beer lovers are patriots.
Rich and and full bodied, this a little column A and a little column B; some pumpkin and some ale, neither overpowering but both complimenting the other with high fives as they hit my tongue. Welcome to THE ROCK.
