Oktoberfest

Long Beach Beer Lab 4th Anniversary Photos

These photos were taken Sunday afternoon at Long Beach Beer Lab, where they celebrated their fourth anniversary and Oktoberfest. The festivities included live music by The Bodleys, face painting by Liza May, one liter steins of their Oktoberfest beer, and soft pretzels from Long Beach Bread Lab.

I ran into Long Beach Beer Lab founder/Chief Investigating Scientist Levi Fried shortly after I arrived and had to comment on how much growth there had been since my last visit; Levi responded that they had been busy the last two years. I knew it had not been two years since my last visit, but admittedly my last couple of visits had been for to-go purchases so I had not seen just how much they have grown. Continue reading

Founders Brewing Releases Oktoberfest to Raise Awareness for ArtPrize

oktoberfest 2020

Oktoberfest – Founders Brewing Co.

Founders Brewing Co. has announced that they will launch Oktoberfest, a Märzen style lager brewed using imported German malts and hops. Oktoberfest presents a gorgeous copper hue with a rich, malty and slightly sweet backbone. Founders’ Oktoberfest is similar to a traditional Reinheitsgebot style, brewed in accordance to a 1487 German law that limits the ingredients to water, barley and hops. Debuting this August, Oktoberfest is the seventh release Founders has brewed to raise awareness for ArtPrize, an open international art competition in the brewery’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“Brewing traditional German-style beers, especially malt-forward lagers, isn’t something we’re especially accustomed to,” said Brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki. “I’ve really begun to enjoy drinking Märzens over the past few years and decided to get serious about a recipe. Oktoberfest is brewed with malt and hops imported from Germany for a rich, malty character that still manages to stay light on the palate. Whether you’re celebrating Art Prize or Oktoberfest, this is the beer to do it with!”

Oktoberfest (6%) will have a retail price of $9.99/6-pack. It will be available as of August in 12-oz cans and on draft in the Grand Rapids and Detroit taprooms, and across the brewery’s distribution network, except Utah. Please note that prices will vary by market. Previous releases for ArtPrize include Green Zebra, Pale Joe, Spectra Trifecta, Mosaic Promise, Inspired Artist Black IPA and Trigo. Continue reading

LA Beer Week comes to a close

Sunday, day 11 of LA Beer Week (LABW5) and congratulations to those of you that survived. While I did not attend the event at Union Station a week ago, I cannot imagine trying to do it at the end of an 11 day week. I started the day by heading over to King Harbor Brewing Company where I got the opportunity to meet their head brewer as he christened the location by brewing a small batch saison. A little later in the day I was informed that Smog City Brewing was hosting a panel, School of BJ’s Brewer Panel Discussion featuring Jonathan Porter of Smog City, Tyler King of The Bruery, David Griffiths of Ladyface Alehouse & Brasserie, Evan Price of Noble Ale Works and Owen Williams of Ritual Brewing Company. It turns out that the common denominator between the five of them is that they all brewed at BJ’s; who would have guessed? We decided to begin by going to Monkish Brewing to try their LABW5 entry, End of Summer, a Belgian Honey Ale. We then headed around the corner to Smog City.

As it turned out the event was not really supposed to be public as Beer Paper LA was using the opportunity to interview the brewers for an upcoming issue and they were concerned I would scoop them; so I bailed. You should be able to read about it and see any photos in their upcoming issue.

It really was a fun week and I had a great time. I would like to extend special thanks to The Brewery at Abigaile, Naja’s Place, Rock & Brews PCH, Monkish Brewing Company, Strand Brewing Company, San Pedro Brewing Company, Alpine Village and El Segundo Brewing Company for their hospitality and generosity over the past week. It was truly appreciated. Cheers! Continue reading

Beer, beer and more beer for day 10 of LA Beer Week

It may have been day 10 of LA Beer Week (LABW5) but the list of available events to attend gave no indication that we were wrapping things up as far as “beer week” was concerned. I could not help but think back to an article I read while researching American Craft beer Week; at one point it was actually American Craft Beer Month! I can understand why they decided to cut back to a week, but I had to wonder how long an LA Beer Month would last. Luckily, there were lots of great events in my own backyard, so I kept it local.

I started Saturday off at Smog City Brewing in Torrance and their Rarest of the Rare and event that pulled in beer geeks from all over the LA and Orange Counties. Their owner, Porter, has a reputation for “hoarding” beers and he brought out a good number of them Saturday. There were barrel aged, sours, and collaboratives; there were 19 or 20 different brews in total. As I knew I had a long day ahead of me, I stuck to taking photos knowing I would return later.

A little later I headed over to El Segundo Brewing Company (ESBC) for their Hop Tanker DIPA Release Party. To celebrate LABW5 and the addition of Hop Tanker to their tap list, they brought out many of the different beers head brewer Rob Croxall has produced over the years. As expected, they had a great turnout so they opened up the entire brewery, utilizing taps in the front and rear as well as a separate filling station for growlers. Making special on cask appearances were Melon Collie, White Dog on Ogen heirloom melons; Blue Cubed, Blue House IPA with Sugar Cube heirloom melons; and Blue House IPA on peaches. Continue reading

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