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)
Showing posts with label bootlegger's brewery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bootlegger's brewery. Show all posts
Planning on having a little bbq tomorrow, so David and I grab Mark and Brennan to join our jaunt down to refill growler's at Bootleggers and The Bruery. I haven't been since February to either and after missing their 3rd anniversary party last weekend, I'm beyond titillated see what's on tap!
While David scopes out the Cuir for the first time, I'm pouring myself their new Provisions Series, the Bierbach. The Bierbach is an Imperial Miabock and the timing couldn't be better because I had my first maibock, a Hofbrau, exactly a week ago. I love how experimental The Bruery is, particularly how they're willing to make like Barry Bonds and 'roid up their beers. They doubled the alcohol for their Imperial Orchid Wit and here they clock in at an impressive 8.1%
And here's what The Bruery has to say about their latest and greatest:
"Meaning Beer Belly in German, Bierbauch is the Provisions Series ale for the month of May 2011, so of course we had to make a Maibock! And we're The Bruery, so of course we had to make it imperial! And why stop there when you can age it in oak barrels for a few months? The last strong beer you'll need before the heatwave of summer is upon us, this version of the traditional German lager is rich and oaky."
The oak barrels really come through in the smell and taste, in the best of ways. I'm starting to believe that for homebrewing and making high alcohol beers, using oak chips to sedate the aggressive alcohol flavors is key and the Bierbach is another excellent example. The Bierbach is a full bodied beer with a sweet bready malt with the floral notes, which are a welcome surprise. Yep, The Bruery has brewed another Provisions Series winner. THE ROCK rating.
We loaded up with more than we possibly needed, including 7 bottles of The Bruery's 3rd Anniversary 14.5% Old Ale, the Cuir. David and I each bought two to age and the rest are for friends. I plan on keeping at least one of the bottles for my 30th birthday, which is in two years (sweet Jebus did I really just say 30?).
I'm back from an evening Krav Maga class (martial arts) where I spent the last hour bear hugging people and learning how to defend against it. I need a drink and a shower badly (in that order). Karl is here to kill some zombies on Call of Duty and there's a big tasty brew in the fridge from a local brewery we love to visit (3 times and counting). The shower can wait.
Let me talk about this picture for a second: I mean, yeah, I'm sure girls find this cute and all...but really, WTF? Also, don't lions eat their young? Realize this magazine exists solely to sell statues for your garden. I want to meet the person whose flowerbed has a statue that depicts elements of a Serengeti wildlife refuge. Right now!
Anywho, this brew is quite pleasing. It's a Belgian Strong Pale ale by style but it's also very sweet and doughy. Duvel is a Belgian Strong Pale, but this falls more into the category of a North Coast Pranqster, which is the same style but a very different looking and tasting beer (also one of our favorites). It's a little cloudy and with the thick bread characteristics, it's reminiscent of a German Hefe. And thank you for the 8.5% alcohol (heyohh). I like it. It's very drinkable and fairly unique. A (high) TRANSFORMERS rating.
You can pick it up in SoCal at your local Whole Foods. Can't wait to get back to the Bootleggers brewery!
I've been waiting for this day to arrive for quite some time...No, not the Oscars you half-witted scruffy-looking nerf herder. To use my over-sized novelty champagne flute, duh.
That flute is 2.5 feet tall, it's freaking ridiculous, I love it. I'm hosting an Oscar party tonight and everyone is dressing up as if they are attending the event itself. I picked up the Knuckle Sandwich at Bootlegger's yesterday and I'm beside myself with excitement.
The brew is Bootleggers' most celebrated beer, but they only make it in limited quantities. Um, why would you do that to us? What are we, ants? It needs to be three times that! Well Derek Zoolander, what's interesting about this fellow is it's made from their leftover hops. So whatever hops are leftover after they brew all their other beers they save up until they have enough for the Knuckle Sandwich. Being a Double IPA means it requires LOTS of hops. Translation for all this - they make this in small batches and not very often. But guess what? They just released a batch this week. Being at the brewery yesterday for Nick and AJ's birthday was fortuitous.
David welcomes our guests at the door
It's a phenomenal beer. For being 10.5% alcohol and a Double IPA, this beer is as smooth and balanced as a Formula 1 Racer. It has a sweet malt mouthful followed by rounded citrus and piney hops. It's a Mike Tyson Knockout. BAD BOYS rating.
Seriously Bale, stop stealing my look or I will find you and lock you out of the Oscars...again
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So I drank out of my Scepter/Shrek's Champagne Flute all night. It was kinda awesome. Although I didn't win the Oscar pool (damn you Rucker!) the party was a fantastic success and I (at least) had an amazing time. In order to capture the party and its beautiful guests, everyone posed for a picture using it as a prop. The results are glorious. Check out the fanfare below:
The Hosts. We also doubled as Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin's stand-ins last year
Don't throw Nic a fastball
Jessica is the Belle of the Ball. Oscar Queen anyone?
Settle down Brad, your jeans are getting acid washed
The glass gets in the way every time Melissa. Mother Rucker!
Kym teaches a course on drinking daintily out of absurd glasses. Her secret? Channeling Dame Helen Mirren
Watch out for AJ, this kitty's got claws
That glass isn't your teddy bear Tierney.
Heyyy! Is Tiffany holding the glass or is the glass holding her?
Ellen knows where the good shit is
Tamara drinks like a boss
What is she doing? Hey Rachel Lohan, don't steal my crystal glassware.
Glen was an extra in MILK three years ago and he's hasn't broken character since. Suck it Colin Firth.
Jerren's a glass half-full kind of guy, but this is pushing it
The day has finally come that Nick G can make it to The Bruery. This man is one of the biggest fans of this heavenly beer and now, he pilgrimages to his Mecca. What's the occasion? He and AJ share a birthday and to celebrate, we're doing a brewery tour. We're joining several of Nick's coworkers as well as Karl who is coming up from Temucla after wine tasting, if he's still vertical. On the way up, we listen to a birthday mix I made for Nick and AJ and in case you were wondering, Oingo Boingo was definitely on it. The video is one of Danny Elfman's finest moments -
The timing of this trip is excellent, because according to The Bruery newsletter, they're releasing their fifth and latest Provisions Series batch today (Provisions is a limited one time only release) AND Bootleggers Brewery is releasing their greatest creation ever, the very limited release Knuckle Sandwich DIPA. Victory is ours!
Best Friends and Beard Brothers - at least that's what it says on our eharmony profile
Going brewery tasting is fun for the obvious reasons, but this trip doubles the fun for me because all the people except for Nick know nothing about The Breury or Bootleggers, so I'm allowed to ramble on and wave my hands uncontrollably while explaining everything I know about their beer. Imagine if you gave a 10 year old kid Redbull and a plate of cookies and that's how excited I am. Finally, someone clubs me over the head like a baby seal and my I shift my focus to the beer of the day, the Cornballer.
Bruery has some pretty great names for their specialty brews (Gunga Galunga, a Caddy Shack reference, being the best) and this one brings back fond memories of infomercials from Arrested Development (unfortunately the above is the best I can find)
And let me tell you how much I enjoyed it...eeeeeeee not so much -
Eat sink, cornballer (I didn't flush it, but God I wanted to)
I love The Bruery. I have been there four times. I own two growlers. I have several of their beers saved under my bed. I even own a shirt and will probably buy a hat next trip. Yay merchandising. I'll probably name my second born son Mischief after their finest brew, but this beer makes me cringe.
The Cornballer is their attempt at a malt liquor and it's 50% of it is made out of corn and the other 50% made out of 6 Row Malt (2 Row Malt is typically used to make beer). It smells like citrus hops mixed with a mildew sock. It tastes similar, with a dash of sourness. There's just something rotten about it. Everyone except for Karl agrees with me. Karl likes this, but he's also high on mescaline and wine. I love so much about brewery, but not this. This was hard as a horse to put down. I never thought I would bestow the worst rating to a Bruery beer, but stranger things have happened. PEARL HARBOR rating Thanks goodness they still have the Cuadruple on tap, because I'm gonna need a 'forget me now' after this one.
On another note, happy birthday Nick and AJ! I've known them both for over 9 years and they're my two favorite people and I wish them the best birthday and in the year to come!
I bought a Loakal Red and a Cuadruple to add to my cellar/bed collection. Nick G went certifiably awesome and bought a CASE of Bruery beer, a baker's dozen to be exact. On a side note, he will soon be the proud owner of a shotgun. Who has two thumbs and can't wait to combine both? THIS GUY
After crepes at the Farmers Market, I wished the parents well after a successful weekend and charged over to Charlie and Patti's for their house warming/Super Bowl party.
Charlie's advice to new home owners: Don't throw a Super Bowl party right after you move in. HA, I can imagine...
The Bootleggers Hopinator Hefe is version 2.0 of their 'Old World Hefeweizen' recipe. They took their standard hefeweizen, added vanilla beans and ran it through a 'hop rocket.' This is my first encounter with the device and I only just read about it last week. It's literally a 'hop infuser' and why do I 'keep having to' use freaking 'air quotes' to indicate 'specific words?' Goddammit.
Anyway, looking at the picture above, imagine running newly made beer through a hose into one side and out the other and thus, literally infusing hops into the beer. It's an interesting concept whose specific purpose I don't fully understand, but heyyyy more hops!
Unfortunately the Bootleggers growler went flat, but that isn't stopping me from drinking three cups of it. I like hops and vanilla beans a great deal, so adding them to their already solid hefeweizen produces a tasty treat. Because the vanilla and hops are added post-brewing, the flavors aren't as well rounded and come off stronger than you want, but this simply makes the Hopinator Hefe more of a novelty or specialty beer. TRANSFORMES rating.
I'm rooting for outstanding play by Aaron Rodgers and a defeat for Ben Rapistberger, although as an athlete I would like to acknowledge how good he is - however, his lumberjack beard doesn't help his reputation as a nefarious scallywag. Also, I just devoured lamb balls and the best beef sliders I've ever had - including Kogi beef sliders. Next, more Bruery beer of the Loakal Red and Mischief type. No matter who wins, it looks to be an excellent day.
After diving into some apocalyptic french toast at 26 Beach for breakfast, the parents and I spent the morning along the Santa Monica pier and promenade and visited the farmers market. We tasted a couple types of honey, which was really interesting, and ended up buying a 1lb of sage honey for our next Belgian IPA home brew. Also, check out this bizzaro Romanesco Cauliflower that we came across:
When I ran down the list of activities to do in the afternoon, I included brewery tasting as one of the events and my parents loved the idea which I didn't expect. To quote my inspirational father, "I can't drink all day any more but I can drink half the day." Hahaha, those are the words of a champion! Now I know where I got my lust for beer from. So I DD'd my parents down to The Bruery in Placentia. We arrived half an hour after they opened and at 4:30pm, we were already late to the party as the place was packed.
Cuadruple rocked my socks off
Here we are and I am stoked to be here for numerous reasons, but particularily because I know The Bruery Provisions store released their latest limited run specialty beer the Cuadruple last night. The Cuadruple is a Belgian Quadruple, a type of high gravity and high alcoholic dark malty ale whose family includes Rochefort 10, St. Bernardus Abt. 12 and the Allagash Four - all of which I've never tasted. So the Cuadruple marks my first taste of this beer style. What makes this tasting even more unique for me, is that they substituted candi sugar for Dark Agave Syrup.
The Cuadruple clocks in at an intense 10% alcohol but the dark ale is exceptionally mellow and extremely delicious thanks to the agave, which also imparts a neat mild citrus flavor. I LOVE THIS. It's incredibly unique and smooth. If Borat was here, he'd say "Niiiiiiiiice!!!" If Wile Coyote was here, drinking this would inspire him to stop chasing the Road Runner and ponder what life would be like without ACME anvils crushing his face. The Cuadruple s is what the Most Interesting Man in the world drinks when he's not having Dos Equis.
It is profoundly distinctive and difficult to describe. The Dark Agave Syrup imports a very special and rich caramel flavor that must be tasted. It's cool like a wet cloth to a hot forehead. I'm buying a bottle for David and sufficed to say, I to purchased another to store under my bed for a rainy day or a more so a special occasion, like the second coming of Christ. This is really a phenomenal beer. Obviously, this deserves a BAD BOYS rating.
And the parents had a blast!
My Dad liked all the beers but his favorite was the Rugbrod. My mom's pick was the Orchard White, which is made with lavender. We leave The Bruery after some Ahi Tuna Chips and head to Bootleggers. My favorite quote along the way was my dad saying, "Somebody should drive us home and it shouldn't be me." HA.
Dad likes Rye ales, so I hook him up with a half pint of the Rustic Rye IPA and my mom with the Old World Hefeweizen. I was surprised to find that Bootleggers added around 7 new beers styles since we were here a couple weeks ago. I bought a Hopinator Hefe growler for the Super Bowl tomorrow and the Gingered Ale looks promising.
On the way home Dad regales me with stories of his younger days, which I thoroughly enjoy and hope to hear more of. Later, David joined us for dinner at Rustic Canyon where I had the best pork chop of my life. Now that's how I want to spend a day with my parents!
After work, I headed to Surly Goat with my coworker Tiffany for some beer drinking and Foosball whooping. I had one of their kolsch happy hour beers, then made it a Russian River night by following up with a Pliny the Elder and then a Blind Pig IPA. Afterwords, I splurged on fast food and came home to find David excited to see me. Or maybe he was just scaring me with his smile. You be the judge.
The Palomino is an interesting pale ale, sweet and hoppy that has a piney flavor without any citrus and fruity notes. But it's crisp and different and I like it. I bought this at our Bootleggers Brewery trip before Christmas but you can now purchase four different Bootleggers beer at Whole Foods, or tag along on our next brewery trip! TRANSFORMERS rating.
Today was an epic trip to two brewery's just north of Anaheim, our favorite The Bruery to refill our growlers and Bootleggers, who we sampled at the LA Beer Fest and decided their needed to be, ahem, further investigation / heavy drinking. Being the professionals that we are, we accomplished both (*pats on back).
Our usual foursome of David, Karl and Laura piled in the car with two others, the expatriate Pete G and my coworker Tiffany. Arriving in the rain, we set about conquering our 5 glass sampler - which was only $3.50! A bargain price for sure.
Bootleggers has grown tremendously over the last year and after tasting it's easy to see why. They have a superb hefeweizen, a decent golden ale, a strong contender in their unique Rustic Rye IPA, and the Chipotle Coffee Ale was heavy but delish. Their blue ribbon beer is a Double IPA (DIPA), the Knuckle Sandwich (which I inexplicably continued to reference as a Monkey's Punch), and it is simply fantastic.
The Winter Ale, a Chocolate Mint Porter, was our beer of the day. 4th on my sampling list, I couldn't wait to reach it and was not disappointed. I love sweets, so tasting a beer that was exactly like Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream ='s deliciousness. It's well rounded and not too heavy. This is a novelty beer and not an 'let's crack another one open' brew, but the great craftsmanship makes the Chocolate Mint Porter an excellent limited release seasonal beer. I wouldn't drink this all the time, but for a night or two over the holidays, this would really hit the spot. TRANSFORMERS rating.
The Bruery was excellent as always and packed. The tasting room is open from 4pm - 10pm on Friday's and Saturdays, giving it a totally different vibe than our 3pm Sunday afternoon tasting. Sunday afternoon, 10 people total. Saturday night, there 40 people all partying because they have Saturday night fever and the only prescription is more Bruery Beer. Karl ingeniously filled up a growler (5+beers) for $15 dollars and we poured our own cheap Mischief beer and sang a cappella karaoke. It was awesome, can't wait for the next trip in January!
