Lagunitas Fusion 2 Black IPA celebrates Karl's berfday

Frequent collaborator Karl celebrates his birthday today and in case you forgot who this classy gentleman is and whether he likes cheese, below is a subtle reminder:

At The Daily Pint, I order a pint of a black IPA, a very different style that I'm considering home brewing. I've tasted a few along the way, Deschutes Hop in the Dark was the first and by far the best, but the rest have been a mixed bag. Will my 348th beer of the year be delicious and help me destroy Karl at Foosball on his berday?

Me thinks so. Poured a two finger head out of the tap and has a rich roasted aroma that's enticing. It has a medium bodied consistency, less than a Guinness. The taste is a great combination of roasted malts with a hoppy kick at the end. It's pretty malty up until the hops kick in, which I enjoy but it doesn't make the beer much of an IPA and is more along the lines of a hoppy Black Mild. Potatoe, Potatoo I suppose. The main problem in creating a black IPA, is mixing the hop bite with the bitter roasted malts, and Lagunitas solved the problem by creating a malty IPA, and I'm enjoying it.

I also enjoyed beating Karl for second time by 1 point! CLUTCH CITY. TRANSFORMERS rating.

Lips of Faith Super Cru headlines a Glenross scotch tasting

At the Daily Pint for a free Scotch tasting from Glenross and it's packed! But there's no better place to wait than a pub with Foosball and shuffleboard.

Tasting was interesting and we learned about the process of Scotch, which is similar to beer brewing in several respects. Afterward I ask for a new beer on tap from New Belgium Lips of Faith series, a Super Cru.

The Super Cru is a 10% Belgian Strong Pale Ale but the color is amber and more akin to a Belgian Abbey beer. This beer is unbalanced with an odd mix of sweetness and fruitiness that sweep through a boozy body. All this is probably a product of a Belgian and Saison yeast mix, and while I appreciate the effort, it didn't quite come together. ARMAGEDDON rating.

Guinness for strength!

We don't usually drink beers as widely distributed as Guinness on our beereveryday quest, but it's St. Patty's day, what did you expect?!

My tribute to all things Irish. Specifically fighting and drinking. A timeless photo my parents are certain to scrapbook

We arrived at The Daily Pint and met Karl K, Ned, Andrew G and his friends Jordan and Monica. Even though the group was surrounded by sweat, drunk douchebags, the night turned excellent. We quickly took over the shuffleboard table. Hall and Oates came on the jukebox and it was on like Donkey Kong. First game was epic (have to brag because it was gangster), and I threw what people like this guy (see above) are calling the "Shuffleboard Toss Heard Round The World." A game winning throw with the final puck around Ned's barrier puck to knock his 3 pointer out and mine in. It was - wait for it -

LEGENDARY. We played two more games, all electrifying games of course, and mingled with the other locals. Tiffany, Matt, Tierney and Bryce showed up and took over the table. With steely resolve and I succeeded in not breaking my 'more than one beer a day rule.' I'm still surprised and personally impressed that I've gone a whole 4 days only drinking a single beer per day. I suppose with beer it's always been one day at a time, and not the amount has simply changed.

Anywho, Happy St. Patty's Day!

One of my favorite Guinness slogans

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron is strong enough to use as anesthesia

All I can say is, this ain't the first or last time the Philly Cheese truck will save my life after a night at Daily Pint. I'm meeting Nick G and Karl here for some 12% beer from Dogfish Head.

The Palo Santo Marron is a strong dark ale *(strong is putting a little mildly, don't ya think Sam Calagione?) that's aged in Paraguayan Palo Santo wood and the outcome smells like chocolate, and tastes bitter and roasted. For a 12% beer, I can taste the alcohol but it's going down smoothly and I'm the bitterness is growing on me. I'm used to hop bitterness and not a dry, nutty bitterness. That would make this one funky but delicious beer.

Karl equates this to a better version of the Port Brewing Old Viscosity, which I've never had.
All in all, no many can make 12% taste soo good. Welcome to THE ROCK.

We'll be here next Thursday for a free scotch tasting and more beer!

Lips of Faith Eric's Ale from New Belgium reunites me with old friends

With Nick, Matt and David at the Daily Pint but I'm way more focused on the sweet, sweet Buffalo Chicken Cheese Steak sandwich from the food truck outside right now. I haven't seen Nick since before Christmas and Matt since November, which is a felony.

So the owner of the Daily Pint is a fairly infamous Brit who looks like he worked down on the wharves. He either wins you over with his dry sarcasm or you get in a pissing match with him and he throws you out of the bar. I'm in the former but I have seen the later. He's open to but doesn't advertise tasting but I know better so I ask for tasters for two Lips of Faith, Dark Heather Saison (too fruity) and Eric's Ale, which I know nothing about. One sip later my mouth twists and turns on itself. I must be a Wild Ale, my least favorite beer style for the following reason. "Damn that's sour!" I exclaim. The owner responds, "I like it. Try it again."

Haha um, okay, I don't shine to taking orders regarding liquor but this one is apparently non-negotiable. I taste again and suddenly my mouth isn't exploding. Rather, the shock of the first sour punch wore off and the second sip allows my tongue to get a little more acquainted with this wild man sour. With each subsequent sip I grew in appreciation.

Also, let the record show this might be the only time I will ever pair a Sour Wild Ale with a spicy buffalo chicken sandwich. Raaaaandom.

It's been a long time since I took a big gamble on a beer and chose an out-of-the box style, and even rarer that I was talked into drinking. Looking back, I realize I was in bit of a beer rut by only trying styles that I was familiar with. I'm glad this hard ass owner doesn't take no guff. He threw my naivety back at me. Life isn't always IPA's and Belgian's, it's also a little sour. That's really cheesy and I hate myself right now. 

Eric's Ale pours color of dark golden hue. It's a smooth sour ale with mild fruity notes (especially peach) and a hint of sweetness. This beer grew on me and pairing it with Buffalo Chicken wasn't the best, but it worked out. On the night before our halfway point, thank you Daily Pint Owner for broadening my perspective and reminding me why I started this experience. THE ROCK rating.



As I mentioned, tomorrow is our halfway point for the year. Matt provided a quote tonight his Father passed down which resonated with me and the beer every day experience; "Half of life is just showing up." We've been doing this legit, by the rules, for 6 months. As Matt pointed out, how often do people announce they will do something and never follow through? I will start and finish an experience that I will look back proudly at and with an untold number of experiences that would never have happened without this.

On a lighter note, the next major milestone will be in two months, as my daily relationship with beer ironically surpasses any female relationship I've had (current record for a relationship is 8 months - I'm more of a sprinter than a long distance). When I started this, I quickly realized that when I finished this, my longest relationship wouldn't be with a girlfriend but with beer. HA

So yeah, beer has been and will hopefully continue to do good things for me.

Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA at The Daily Pint

Having drinks with fellow assistant Christina at The Daily Pint and and picked out the San Francisco based Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA.

The hoppy smell hits me like a punch in the jaw - it's intense! Jebus they must have dry hopped a ton of acidic hops. However, the taste is considerably more mild and the hops are dialed down and it finishes dry. It's a good, grassy taste and the bitterness is mild (especially when compared to the smell). The drinkability is high. Party! TRANSFORMERS rating, see it and drink it.

Speaking of party, the Philly Cheese Steak food truck is outside the Pint every Thursday and it is a LIFESAVER.

LaLa and the Story of the Delicious Stone 10.10.10. Vertical Epic

We celebrated Lindsey's triumphant return to LA (for the weekend) at The Daily Pint, which also gave me the chance to ketchup with Nick G whom I haven't seen in 5 weeks and taste a really great limited quantity beer, the Stone Vertical Epic 10.10.10. Why so Vertically Epic you ask?

This is a legitimately awesome concept. Each year starting 01.01.2001 until 12.12.2012, the Stone Brewery makes a unique brew each with its own "twist & turn" in the plotline. Each batch is released one year, one month and one day from the previous year's edition. The bottle-conditioned ales are specifically designed to be aged until sometime after December 12th, 2012 to create an Epic 'Vertical' tasting of all the years at once, or it can be enjoyed singularly each year like we did Thursday on tap at the Pint. http://www.stonebrew.com/epic/





It's reel good. A Belgian style Strong Ale with lots of smooth milky malts and a tinge of sweetness. There was a mystery ingredient besides the malt and sweet Belgian yeast but we couldn't identify. My investigation lead me to discover that Stone added a juice blend of Muscat, Gewurztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc. Look at that. I just got grape'd and never saw it coming. Touche Stoney, touche.


Speaking of (film) reel, we also hung out for a bit with Dileep Rao and his friend from New Jersey. Dileep is the Middle Eastern fellow in Avatar and Inception. He was pretty amused at seeing his cartoon self in the South Park parody which aired the night before. The irony in this is that Nick and I who both work in the entertainment industry didn't recognize him, but David and another friend immediately ID'd him. Pfff, whatever. Nerds.

LA BEER WEEK! Pliny the Elder from Russian River

David built this up, but I knew relatively nothing about it. We arrived at The Daily Pint to experience it.

This is a hops combination I've never tasted. Robust as it enters, it explodes with a rare hops experience. It's spicy, fiery, alive. I feel like the three Wise Men visited and left three Magi gifts in my mouth when I drink this. Does that make my tongue baby Jesus? I'm not going to dignify myself with a response.

In case you're not familiar with the world of fashion, that hand belongs to the famous Karl K, featured prominently in the 2001 "Beautiful Watches" catalog from Tiffany's. He's still got it!

Did Russian River steal this hops combination from Willy Wonka? I think Mr. Slugworth is working for them. Having this beer on tap is a rarity and treat. Thank you Daily Pint and LA Beer Week for making the Magi rain excellence on my tongue. BAD BOYS rating.

Russian River's Pliny the Elder sings "Moon River"

I'll start out with the man this beer quite elegantly represents - Frank Sinatra. So smooth and pleasant, yet undeniably potent and commanding. This is a beer to drink with someone you have just met and want to impress.
Not much else needs to be said about this. I'm at the Daily Pint, again. Karl and Walker are here, we're all loving it and I'm going to recommend that anyone and everyone find this, drink it, and use it as one of the five beers or so that you use to rate all others. All IPAs (I think this is an Imperial Pale Ale) should aspire to this.
Amazing. Thanks Daily Pint. The picture is Karl.

Green Flash Double Stout could probably hit a Randy Johnson fastball

At the Daily Pint, again. This time with Nick G, waiting for Beth to meet us and head to a work party. Zachtoberfest? We will see.

Almost made the mistake of getting Le Freak, which they were out of, but realized that we already had that back in August. Will need to be more aware of the beer list going forward, close call.

The Double Stout is good, Nick also approves. Good toasty malt and the typical chocolate/coffee thing happening. Alcohol seems a bit higher than usual, there's a residual bite from the alcohol that sticks around after the dankness wears off. This can be Kirby Puckett. While this beer might not ever show up in a hall of fame, it's worthy of some sort of appreciation. Miss you Kirby Puckett, you were the man.

UPDATE: Zacktoberfest was cool.

Ballast Point Week: Day 5 (Bonus!) Big Eye IPA w/Ginger, cask conditioned

Almost didn't make it, rode bike to a party, tried to find a liquor store, decided to charge and rode all the way to Daily Pint. It's beer week! And they're featuring Ballast Point. What a coincidence.

I wanted Victory at Sea, amazing name for a beer. They were out so I went for the IPA with a Ginger twist. Ginger and hops go together remarkably well, wow. It's sweet and bitter, and since the carbonation isn't very high they both give you their honest, unmasked character. Wow, this is seriously good. Just when I'm about to think, this is too sweet, the bitter pops in and saves it.

This beer can be Tina Fey. A custom crafted, rare bit of excellence. I don't think this would have the mass appeal of Tina, but it's just as effective of a sweet and bitter balance. The same way Tina will self-mockingly discuss her flaws, this beer would probably tell you, "yeah, I know. Ginger is kinda weird," and I love it.

Stone Ruination Double IPA with Amarillo Hops, Cask Conditioned

Like a tsunami, the smell of Axe body spray in a gym locker room and large women at R Kelly concerts, this beer is overwhelming. David and I went out to the Daily Pint Saturday night with Aaron B, Nick G and his special ladyfriend / ball-and-chain, depending on the moon's phase.

My Mouth Exploded

Marry me Margaret Thatcher! This was an apocalyptic beer. The cask conditioning is evident in smell and taste, as it heightens the already pronounced hops. Seriously, it's Southbound and down, all aboard for the train to HOPSVILLE. And by Hopsville I mean a swimming hole brimming with hopst. Smell and taste are bitter like a lemon, lemon, lemon and it lingers like the Russian Front in World War II. Confederate Calvary General Stonewall Jackson supposedly ate lemons whole for health and vitality. He'd enjoy this beer, that crazy bastard. If you haven't figured out, this hopstacular wasn't very balanced. It's outrageous. If this beer was an art piece, it'd be in the experimental section of the Tate Modern in London.

Stone, you have my respect for pushing the limits. However, this is a specialty beer and only for those bold, bold drinkers who like to have their head explode once in a blue moon. For me, once in a lifetime is enough. TRANSFORMERS 2 rating.

**Special shout out to Aaron B, who rallied to join us after a full day of Wizardry. This man rolls deep:

He is no longer Gandolf the Gray. The transformation is complete; he is now Gandolf the White.

Wilderness Survival Lesson: Stone Ruination double IPA with Amarillo hops, cask conditioned.

Whoa, probably freaked Walker out with this. Since it's cask conditioned there's almost no carbonation. Cask conditioning with Amarillo hops make this much different from the OG Ruination. This beer is crazy time and there's some characteristic that tastes like food, but I can't figure out what. This is really going to annoy me, not IDing the food taste properly. With Nick G, Beth and Aaron B at the Daily Pint, a great place for beer. This will probably be a long night.

This bear is Bear Grylls. Raw, specially trained (in casks) and double dank. Party.