Lagunitas Lucky 13 Altbier really hops to it

At Steingarten LA for a work drinks and my coworker Tiffany is here as well. She's starting her new foodie blog, http://eatyourheartoutla.com/. Check it out!

I saw on Steingarten's website that they hosted the Lagunitas brewery last night and so I'm pretty stoked to take advantage of their leftovers, which should be plentiful.

I really want the malty W.T.F., but that was a beer of the day earlier this summer. Nerds! So I pick out a style I've only tasted a few times, an Altbier, Lucky 13 ALT. I'm expecting nothing but hoppiness with a Lagunitas.

This 8.9% alcohol doesn't fit the altbier style conditions in the slightest, but I'm not complaining, especially since the alcohol is well hidden. Damn Lagunitas, I expected it to be hoppy but why you gots to make it SO HOPPY? I feel like a T-Shirt Cannon launched a wad of hops at my face while I was looking the other way - SMACK. Hidden past the overwhelming bitterness is a malt, sweet with caramel and light brown sugar. As the carbonation flattens, the piney bitterness becomes less pronounced and the brew becomes rather crisp and refreshing. Like those PSA's, "It Gets Better." This has more in common with a hoppy American Strong Ale than an Altbier, but it turned out pretty nice. ARMAGEDDON rating.

Achel Trappist Extra gets it on with some spicy snausage

There's a new sausage place in town and it's not in West Hollywood (heyohhh). Steingarten LA opened on the Westside near the Fox Lot on Pico Steingarten LA facebook menu.

They have great looking burgers but that isn't what we came for. Snausages. I had the wild boar with blueberries, David the Alligator and Pork and Karl the Spicy Lamb. They had our first two beer choices out on draft (it's their 2nd night, come on!). Busch league Steingarten. But Karl spotted an Abbey beer he'd never found. It's Belgian's smallest abbey and it's still brewed by actual monks. Cool right? Even better, they mark up the beer bottle prices here 2-3 times the store price but not this friar. The Achel Trappist Extra retails for $18 and sells here for $24.

Achel Extra pours a rich dark malt and has a very sweet caramel body with chocolate notes. I can taste the alcohol and it's super sweet, maybe too sweet for some people, but my sweet tooth doesn't mind. He likes it. It's a fantastic beer. I don't know where you could buy this except for Steingarten, so come check it out. BAD BOYS rating.

Regarding the food and beer pairing; my boar and berry sausage was very good but very spicy, and it contrasted nicely with the sweet Achel. 

David's gator sausage was also excellent. Karl's spicy lamb wasn't as spicy either of ours and it was fairly disappointing. Next time I'm there, I'm gonna have the Bugs Bunny (wabbit).