The Bar Towel

My first offering from Fixed Gear, which opened last weekend. Their Pilsner.....and I’m pleasantly surprised. Nice and crisp, grassy undertones, some crackery goodness and a pronounced bitterness. It’s incredibly drinkable, and actually reminds me a bit of Jever

Bourbon Barrel Dragon's Milk from New Holland. Amazingly, there are over thirty variations of this beer. Highly carbonated, quickly fading head. Very pronounced vanilla. A little hot, but quite tasty. Might pick up a couple more and sit them. In the cold (sober) light of the next day, I would amend this. A little thin and overly hot. Definitely needs to sit. I've had this before and recall something different.

Lean On A Square from Wild Card Brewing in Trenton. Farmhouse Ale with Citra dry hopping. I've had nine different beers here over the last month and IMO this is the best. Could tell the brewer was happy when I talked to him about it. Quite a nice Saison.

Having some Czechvar! Definitely has an easy palate, soft bready round Pilsner from the real Czech Budweiser brewery. 45 cents off. This beer really demands a good schnitzel and some potato salad with it (I wish.)

Also a Side Launch Mountain Lager. A Dortmunder in style, this one and Godspeed Otsukaresama are among RB top world examples (Otsu is currently #6!) The Mountain is a very easy-going version. Has some nice cookie in the malt, light florals. Nice.

Let's compare New England Pale Ales!

Beyond The Pale - Yummy!

Collective Arts - Life In The Clouds

I have to say the Yummy! wins today, by just a little bit. Both are fantastic.

St. Mary Axe India Pagan Ale

Very good. I've said before that I prefer the more bitter interpretations to the fruity and citrus ones, and this one hit the spot when I got home today.

Beyond The Pale - Yummy! 473ml $4.00

Left Field - Prospect Single Hop IPA 355 mL $3.75

Both are tremendous. The 25 cents more is a good deal though.

Rounding out our trip to San Diego and Los Angeles:

At The Surly Goat:
Kern River River Buddy (draft)

At Verdugo Bar:
Deschutes Fantasy Football League India Pale Lager (draft)
Rogue Farms 10 Hop IPA (draft)

At Beer Belly:
Boulevard American Kölsch (draft)
Highland Park Good Green (draft)

At OUE Skyspace LA:
Indie IPA Del Rey (draft)

At Stout Burgers & Beers:
Boomtown Mic Czech (draft)
Lost Abbey Citrus Sin (draft)
Avery White Rascal (draft)
Track 7 Hop Addict (sample)

At Modern Times Dankness Dojo:
Modern Times & Creature Comforts Dos Doses (draft)

At Mikkeller DTLA:
Mikkeller Hop On And Drink'in Berliner (draft)
Hill Farmstead Florence (draft)
Mumford Brewing DTLA IPA (draft)

At Wurstküche Restaurant:
Veltins Grevensteiner Naturtrübes Landbier (draft)
St. Bernardus Baksteen Winkel (draft)

Once again, San Diego's beer scene, while very impressive, was edged out slightly by the quality, diversity, and depth of great beer offerings and establishments found in LA (and we focused on the top-rated bars/breweries/stores in both cities). That is not what I expected to find. To some extent it is not surprising - LA is a city of 13 million vs. San Diego's 3 million - but our experience didn't quite align with the consensus that SD is a world class beer city while LA is "just there." At a minimum, the Los Angeles beer scene is holding its own relative to the better known and more revered scene in SD. My two cents, anyway.

Right now, I am having a tasty Amsterdam Autumn Harvest Ale.
Recently, I had Bellwoods and Other Half MylarShark. Very impressive. With more hop flavour then the stellar Runes beer, they should make this one a regular.

Sawdust City Fruits of Eden

There is what I will describe as a perfume like flavour in this. It reminds me of when I first had Mill St. Tankhouse Ale around 2007, a beer that I swear has been changed since then.


Market Kodiak

A 9% abv IIPA that I've had for awhile. Very good, but no mistaking it is high alcohol.

What were your thoughts on the LA Mikeller location as far as prices? I was blown away by how expensive the beer was at the San Francisco location a few years ago. One of their standard IPAs was almost $12 US for a 10 oz pour. Everything on tap was crazy expensive. It had to be one of the most over priced beer bars I've been in.

Fortunately Thirsty Bear and 21st Amendment are a short walk away. Excellent beers at far more reasonable prices.

Barncat Honey Bell. I’m honestly not usually a fan of honey in my beer, but this was a stunner. Sour and funky, perfectly balanced and lots of citrus. These guys may be the kings of the IPA, but every sour I’ve had had also been top notch. This may be the best of all their sours I’ve tried.

At Milos' Craft Beer Emporium:
Wellington Way Hey Hey (draft)
Block Three & 2 Crows Miles End (draft)

At Tall Boys Craft Beer House:
Broad Reach Nor’Easter IPA (can)

At Birreria Volo:
Oxbow Moon Rocks (sample)
Rouge River Nelson Sauvin IPA (draft)
Other Half Jarrylo & Mosiac (sample)

Over the week at home:
Anderson Craft Ales Autumn
Creemore Springs Whole-Hopped Lager
Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin IPA
The Lost Abbey Red Poppy Ale
AleSmith Hall Of Fame: Imperial San Diego Pale Ale .394

Tapsucker wrote: What were your thoughts on the LA Mikeller location as far as prices? I was blown away by how expensive the beer was at the San Francisco location a few years ago. One of their standard IPAs was almost $12 US for a 10 oz pour.

It was certainly the most expensive bar that we frequented in LA, but worth it in our books due to the quality of everything. For example, we ended up having one of the best meals of our trip there. The beer selection, meanwhile, was unparalleled. I didn't see any IPAs selling for $12 a pop, however there were a couple of beers in the double digits. IIRC everything I had was in the $7-9 range for 250 to 500ml pours. Pricey, for sure, but when I'm able to quaff a top-rated Hill Farmstead beer on tap, you won't hear me complaining.

cratez wrote:Pricey, for sure, but when I'm able to quaff a top-rated Hill Farmstead beer on tap, you won't hear me complaining.

No those are 'beer tourism' prices you just have to budget for. Especially that kind of stuff!

I was at Stone City Ales yesterday - a 16oz 'not-a-pint' glass of house-made Pale or IPA or Helles can be $7.50-8.00 plus tax plus tip, so the extended 'real' price of a pint there can be in the 12-14 dollar range, all-in. (Saison and Gose were 12oz for $7-9 pre-tax/tip.)

Their $5-6.50 / 500ml bottle prices for 'regular' bottlings are of course pre-tax. Can order online.

I really enjoy this place - would love if I could be there more often - but it does feel pricey. My Kingston cousin agrees with some local sentiment about SCA's stance on 16oz 'pint' servings, feels the pricing is more in line for true 20oz pints.

Always happy to stop by SCA when I'm there though. It's in the budget.

Reddit

Sipping on Barncats Vanilla Late Milk Stout. Excellent beer. Pronounced vanilla flavour with a great coffee backbone. The signature creamy Barncat mouthfeel. I went in for a DIPA but left with this instead