Hopped

Let’s go back to where it all began… @eaglerockbrewery brewed the very first batch of Unity back in 2010 and 13 years later they are back at it again. The industry’s changed, the beers have changed, and the people have changed, but one thing’s stayed the same - LA’s got a city’s worth of love for craft beer. Eagle Rock’s owners Jeremy Raub and Ting Su reminisce on the history of Unity and the luminous present and future of the post-pandemic LA Beer Scene. Look out for this beer at the LA Independent Beer Festival on Saturday June 10th in Long Beach along with dozens of others from participating local craft breweries. Tix are still available in our bio! ___________________ 🎥 by @labeercats

We’re finally getting to taste one of the coolest industry experiences we’ve ever been a part of. Shortly after this year’s Firestone Walker Invitational, we were invited back to Paso for the yearly anniversary blend, an iconic project for an iconic brewery. Each summer, local winemakers, industry professionals, and friends of @fw_brewmaster are brought to the Paso location to take part in arguably the most diplomatic, involving barrel blending program that we know of. And every once in a while, they let the media in too 😉 So @labeercats hit the road and took that trip to Paso to sit down with Matt Brynildson and company and get an exclusive look at the process. We won’t go into all the details again (you can check out our OG post for that!) but to summarize; after multiple rounds of meticulously blending through various Firestone Walker Barrel Beers, and one short voting process later, a blend was selected to be scaled up to production size. And now, we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor after a generous shipment from @firestonewalker . Like previous years, Anniversary Ale XXVII is a methodical behemoth of an undertaking in a tiny 12oz package. At 12.5%, this is a thoughtful sipper that immediately releases aromas of gingersnaps, toffee, bakers chocolate, and fine, fine bourbon. Delving a few sips further, it’s clear that barleywine character rises above other notes, though doesn’t pilfer ever present characters of dark chocolate and espresso, nor the luscious (presumably stout-derived) texture and mouthfeel. Could we have waited to open this for at least a few days upon receipt? Sure. But that’s why we have more than one bottle 🍻 Thanks again to Firestone for providing an incredibly unique experience - and the even more rewarding followthrough! And of course, there’s a picture of a cat with beer. Enjoy.

Take comfort… the creatures are here 🍻 The Grand Opening of @creaturecomfortsdtla is today at their beautiful new space in the Fashion District. Housed in a former indoor market, Creature Comforts brought the spirit of their iconic Athens, Georgia taproom with a combination of reclaimed elements and rustic modernity. A fascinating two-story 15bbl system was one of the highlights during our media tour yesterday (as was a DDH version of their flagship Tropicália). Co-founders Chris Herron and Adam Beauchamp walked us through the excitement of this long-awaited project and the fruition of bringing a beloved East Coast brand to the West. Happy Grand Opening, creatures!

@ocbeerblog wasn’t firkin’ around! We had a blast at Firkenstein this past weekend, celebrating the resurrection of one of the best cask beer festivals around. Of course many of our SoCal friends also brought kegs and cans of their finest libations, but there were firkins and pins aplenty. Being able to try some new offerings as well as cask-conditioned fan favorites from some of our favorite spots showed just how different the real ale effect can be. Congrats to Mr. Nagel and Anaheim for bringing the frightfully cool tradition back, and just in time for spooky suds szn 🎃

Denver was a vibe 🍻 This video goes out to the most 2010-era Arcade Fire we’ve ever heard in one city. Thank you for your hospitality @greatamericanbeerfestival and @brewersassoc - that was one heck of a weekend.

California cleaned up 🍻 Yesterday started off with the annual #gabf awards ceremony hosted by @brewersassoc and we were pleased (and not too surprised) that our incredibly spoiled SoCal brewery landscape brought home enough hardware to party with until next year! And a special shoutout to our friends at @liquidgravitybrewingco for their highly coveted brewery of the year award 🏅 Scroll over for all our award-winning friends throughout, LA, OC, Ventura, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. And a few more highlights from yesterday. Thanks to everyone who followed along with our coverage at the @greatamericanbeerfestival . Look out for some more Denver brewery-hopping highlights today 🍻

Yesterday was PACKED! From a media brunch hosted by @samueladamsbeer and @dogfishhead to @pints4prostates Rare Beer Fest to @3floydsbrewing and @yakimachief ’s Alpha King awards (congrats @brewery_x ), we had enough amazing beer for the rest of the year. But then it was time for Session 2 🍻 Make sure to follow along on Hopped for even more #gabf coverage!

Session One was unbelievable fun 🍻 We watched the bagpipers usher in the night, said hi to some SoCal friends, and tried marvelous beers from across the country. Hard to capture the energy in just a few photos, but hey - that’s what the next few sessions are for, huh? Stay tuned as #gabf ’23 coverage continues!

The festival has begun 🍻 Follow along in our feed and stories as @labeercats and @cambriafg drink their way through Denver and cover the #greatamericanbeerfestival

One question… Will It Blend? That’s the question we drove to Paso to answer, thanks to an invitation from our friends at @firestonewalker . One insanely unique and intimate experience later we can answer definitively: not only will it blend, but there’s a far more diplomatic and crowd-sourced process behind it than most would expect. Take a quick behind-the-scenes look at what the day entailed as we begin the long wait to try this batch next year!

A Paso trip twice in one month?! Well when you get an opportunity like this, it’s a no-brainer. @firestonewalker invited us to take part in the absolutely singular experience of their annual anniversary blend session yesterday. It was an incredibly insightful inside look into the diplomatic approach Matt and company take into creating their blend every year with a bevy of local winemakers, industry friends, and of course, a member of the media! We separated into groups and each had the same six base beers, ranging from classics like Velvet Merkin and DDBA to some newer releases as well. Using some napkin math, each table created several blends, scaling up by either bbl’s or percentages to emulate a recipe. After that, FW recreated the blends and distributed them (five total!) to each individual to take votes on their top three. The blend with the most votes ultimately becomes the blend choice for the following year! After deciding the winning blend, we all ventured over to the taproom for a celebratory feast (and some Pivos). Thanks to Firestone for letting us be part of this unique look into an institution of a beer. Look out for a video counterpart to this behind-the-scenes experience next week 🍻

New podcast alert talking LA beer history, LA beer week, and beer trends and styles with the prolific @tomm.carroll , live from the recent LA Independent kickoff fest! 🍻 ➡️ Link in bio or listen on your favorite streaming platform 🎧 Keep your eyes peeled for eps 3 and 4 coming soon in this four-part live series! 🍺🎉