Los Angeles Beer Week 2014

L.A. Beer Week Returns This Fall With A Focus On Our City's Best Breweries!

  

For the sixth year, the annual L.A. Beer Week returns to our great City of Angels from September 20 to 28. And the new organizers of this 10-day brew fest are aiming to make our L.A. breweries a primary focus.

The festival will be headed by the Los Angeles Brewers Guild (LABG) Events Chairman and El Segundo Brewing Co. partner, Thomas Kelly. He told the L.A. Times that he has plans to "shift focus onto Los Angeles breweries during L.A. Beer Week." (And indeed, L.A.'s craft beer scene has grown since the fest first launched, with pours from Golden Road Brewing and Eagle Rock Brewery.)

This event will kickstart on Sept. 20th and will be moving from last year's Union Station in Chinatown. Folks can expect to get some pours from 20 of our local breweries and others from San Diego and Orange County. There will also be a California Brewers Guild event on Sept. 25 at Mohawk Bend repping some of the statewide brewmasters' libations.

Ticket prices and the events schedules have not been announced yet, but visit the L.A. Beer Week website, the LABG Facebook page for updates or follow L.A. Beer Week on Twitter.

Last year, the fest held a brewers karaoke championship, a musical beer crawl and special boozy-themed meals, among a bevy of other events, so we're looking forward to seeing what they have in store this year.

Tokio Drift (5/10)

 

This imperial stout is brewed with copious amounts of specialty malts, jasmine and cranberries. After fermentation this dry-hop stout is mixed with a load of BrewDog's favorite hops before carefully ageing the beer on French toasted oak chips. Sitting at a staggering ABV of 18.2% this stout will truly knock you back after each sip!

I highly recommend ending your night with this brew rather than starting. Tokio is thick, dark as night and is an absolute all-out barrage on the senses. Booze, booze, coffee, chocolate, malt, dark fruits, black licorice and more booze reeks from the glass in both nose and in taste. It’s thick, syrupy and gives a nice little alcohol burn on the back end.

If you're into having your taste buds crushed and your teeth screaming "whyyyyy!?" then give this guy a try. But in my opinion one was more than enough, as I couldn't even stand another pour, let alone finish my glass. Rated as a 99% on RateBeer.com and 87% on BeerAdvocate.com however, I only give this guy a 5/10.

The Stupidity of Hops 9/10

 I'm definitely a huge fan of Lagunitas and out of their whole batch (that I've tried so far) Hop Stoopid is my favorite.

 

The aroma is full of pine and grapefruit along with a splash of pineapple juice. A sweet, grainy malt shows up in the flavor but is overwhelmed by a citric bitterness. The finish is a prolong, refreshing piney bitterness. I've never had the pleasure of trying this brew on tap, but the flavor follows suit perfectly. There is a massive, almost numbing resinous hoppiness, but it has just enough toffee and buttery malts to make it very, very drinkable

 

In my opinion this is a smooth double IPA. My overall rating is 9/10 and as always suggestions and feedback is always welcome. For more reviews on this damn good brew check out BeerAdvocate.

Welcome

First off, thank you and every guest you've invited along to view my journey of my intake on the beautiful world of craft brews. Just a year ago today I was addicted to domestic beers such as Bud Light, Coors and other crappy choices but now it's craft beer over crap beer!This blog will be updated quite frequently with brews and my reviews as well delicious food posts.
 

This blog and I are based out of Los Angeles, CA. I'd be happy to hear your suggestions of brews as well as any positive feedback and opinions from all visitors as well, so please leave comments below.
I'll be posting and enjoying everything from belgiums, stouts and IPA's and more. I'm also a foodie, so expect some mouth-watering food posts as well.

Sit back, relax and cheers to the greatness of craft brews and great food.