I have a problem.
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This was me for a solid decade. I’ve just quit last year. Still have a bunch of bottles. Ancient parabolas n stuff.
Who wants to host a bottle share?
Current favorite in LA is Dry River but HPB at Hermosillo is all time favorite
I’m probably the only one who doesn’t like IPA’s . It’s been trendy for so long like those wanna be rappers and dance groups . It so easy to cover up those brewing faults with all those hops . You asked for it . Lol
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So by your logic, if one likes IPAs, then one likes faulty beers? Like all other types of beers, there’s a lot of swill out there, but I have a hard time believing Russian River was creating IPAs to cover up their poor brewing issues.
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Not at all . Just saying it has become a trend . For such a long time . Russian River brewing is great . Pliny the Elder , say no more . Just tired of all these same old ipa’s .
That’s too bad. The trend is only in your head. I was drinking sierra nevadas and harpoons in 1996. You just don’t like bitter and that’s ok. But as a beer snob I am obligated to say that your taste buds are wrong. A fresh, NZ hopped beer is a lovely thing.
The trend for last 5 years has been Haze (NE Style IPAs) and that’s now starting to die down. You don’t have to like them though but you may prefer the juiciness of hazy ipas… West coast IPAs are starting to come back but i wouldn’t say there’s any particular trend for hoppy beers.
Of course there’s plenty of average beer out there. FTC is here to cut through the BS.
Modern Times stuff is ace. Go grab a haze at the Dojo
I’m going to agree and disagree with you. I know a lot of people who hate IPAs. Just with anything else that is trendy there are great and bad representations of IPA, fried chicken, Neopolitan style pizza, ramen, etc… Not everybody is going to be as good as Howlin Rays, Fuoco, Monkish or Tsujita. The other thing with IPAsis that freshness matters. The taste of an IPA change the longer they are sitting on the shelf and not in temperature controlled environment. Not for the better.
I’d be hard pressed to find anybody who does not like a well brewed hazy IPA from Monkish or Electric. I’ve converted my wife and co-worker who didn’t even know beer like this existed. They absolutely despised IPAs until trying a pint.
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Oh man, my last beer geek night was the BCBS night at Surly Goat. They brought the heat again and for some reason the bartender gave me a big flight of their dankness for free. As sticky sweet that beer is, the variants are super fun, especially when you get the verticals. I’m on record as saying that this was the one big beer take-over that didn’t ruin a brand . Can’t believe it’s a shelf bitch now though… we used to hunt like crazy.
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Going down to the Horus Hootenanny Saturday in Oceanside. Amazing list of breweries.
Other Half, EQ, Great Notion, J Wakefield, Casa Agria, Horus, 3 Chiefs, Aslin, Bissell Brothers, Foam, Trillium, Weldwerks, the list goes on.
Oh damn. Other half is dope and Trillium… man i’m so pissed, i used to work right across the street and actually used to hang out in the space they took over after I left Boston. They do great stuff . We always try and stop by Agria when up north. Have fun!
Damn I didn’t realize we had so many beer nerds around here - awesome.
I had to stop collecting beers because my buying outstripped my drinking by leaps and bounds, and I’ve still got a cellar full of stuff that’s mostly sitting around getting worse (after a fair amount of exploration, I don’t think home-cellaring improves big stouts for my palate).
I’ve been a little down on Highland Park’s last few hazy releases (and have preferred their West Coasts and hoppy pilsners), but the one from a couple weeks ago, Ultra Cloud, was really awesome. Hope that carries over to this next one - DDH Losing Control, coming out today.
Beer is food.
Big stouts soften over time. Often times for the worst. A lot of the bold characteristics from essential oils etc gets lost. Haven’t been to HPB in a while now 
We finally have some craft beer in the area here, Yanow’s new gastro brewery called 6th and La Brea and the beer is very good tho not great as all the rest of his brews. Still, super happy to have something other than surly goat (which has been home since opening) here.
Trillium is good but I think they produce too much volume which has impacted their quality recently.
I’ve heard some really good things about Agria but never had. Excited about this one.
I’ve cellared about 9 stouts none longer than 2 years so I’ll be interested in seeing how they hold up. I had a 2013 Bruery Black Tuesday a few months ago. It was truly awful. Lost all of its flavor and complexity. Tasted like nothing.
I’ve only been lucky enough try Trillium maybe twice.
Casa Agria’s fruited sours are great! Usually they’re not strong on the funk but loads of brightness and freshness. Great visit.
I probably have a Black Tuesday that I’ve been dreading opening myself. So far my Fifty Fifty Eclipse stuff held up as well as the Mother of All Storms, maybe all time favorite BA Barleywine (after Abacus)
my woman has an issue with strangers visiting the crib lol… someone would have to provide a venue.
haha I hear that
we need to find a place that doesn’t charge for corkage that also has food
Hermosillo maybe the move.
I went to a bottle share at Beer Belly in Ktown a million years ago that was pretty fun.
As far as stouts - @js76wisco I’ve had much the same experience. People always said aging ‘smooths the edges, takes the heat off, lets the flavors mix better’ so I started a cellar, but when I popped a couple of old bottles they were mostly just blander and more raisiny/oxidized.
Belgian lambics and gueuzes, on the other hand, I’ve had great luck aging.
Yeah, it’s now really easy to get bottles of BCBS out here. When I lived in Chicago it was a fight to get just one and this past Black Friday I strolled into Total Wine and picked up 6.