Ladyface Blind Ambition Belgian Abbey is still finding its way

Karl found a steal of a deal out in Westlake Village Saturday afternoon - wine tasting - 26 wines for $15 dollars. I know right? CrazyFunTime. Tiffany joined us for the trip out to Bellavino, a really cool restaurant Bellavino Wine Bar. I ended up actually sampling 15 wines, rather than getting drunk on all 26 (look at me being all sorts of mature). But then we went to Ladyface Alehouse house down the road and kept drinking, so, yeah.

AND hopefully I'll be as awesome as this guy later in life. Hey darling, you color and I'll drink! Everybody wins, yayyyy.

Her face lit up like it was Christmas when the tasting arrived. Then it fell when she realized it wasn't for her.

This isn't my first time at the alehouse but it was my first time seeing the Blind Ambition Belgian Abbey beer, so I went for it. 

 

I like the ladyface ales, but my chief complaint for the majority of their ales are that they're "too clean." With the exception of the Chesboro DIPA, the bodies of the beer are too light for the alcohol. However, the Abbey Ale doesn't succumb to the "too clean" problem. It's very drinkable with brown sugar and caramel notes, but it lacks the complexity I expect a Belgian Abbey to embody. THE ISLAND rating.

Coronado Islander IPA ends a glorious day of imbibing in Malibu

Afternoon kicked off at the Ladyface Alehouse and Brasserie in Agoura Hills with Tamara, where we sampled four beers and some Brasserie food http://www.ladyfaceale.com/. We only had their pretzel (it was bomb), but their food menu looks great.

I love the look of the Alehouse, a lot of natural wood decor and the building's tones are all the same color of beer (green for hops, caramel, blonde, etc). We sampled their Blonde Ale, the Belgian Tripel, their Chesboro IPA, and their Blue Belly 2010 Barleywine. Tamara's favorite was the Tripel and she slyly nudged the taster closer and closer to her (and away from me, HA), so I turned my attention toward the IPA and Barleywine, which the later has an astounding 103 IBU.

What's interesting about the Ladyface, Ladyface, Ladyfaaaaaace Ales are that the bodies of their beers are not very heavy for being 9% + alcohol. In order to attain that much alcohol, you half to add a ton of fermentables like malt and sugar. If you add sugar, it creates alcohol without adding body to the beer. I loved the hop blend in the Chesboro IPA, but I found myself wanting a more substantial body. The 2010 Barleywine had time to age and acquired a heavier body than the 2011 and the flavor profile a unique earthy, tobacco taste. I really enjoyed it.

From here we traveled to Malibu Wine and sampled a tasting in the fog and then onto some old Malibu haunts, Malibu Yo and Moonshadows for some bourbon old-fashioned's.

I'm feeling nostalgic after the trip to Malibu. Since I haven't included a Kangaroo Balls picture in a long time, here you go. Pleasure's all mine

I wasn't impressed with our last Coronado, the Orange Wit, but the Islander is a solid IPA with strong caramel malts and hops. It's perfect as the 'I could drink this every day' IPA. As a bonus, it's 7.5% alcohol, so, it's more like 'get your buzz on every day' IPA. TRANSFORMERS rating.