Angel City Brewing: Eureka Wit

As you all know, I go to the local Bevmo on a regular basis in search of great beer to try. However,  often my trips there lead me to the same brewers. In search of other great brewers,  I reached out to a few different breweries. A few of them responded to my emails and a few didn’t. The few that didn’t probably should have because they would be getting free publicity, but good on the ones that did. They get an extra shout out!!

One of the breweries that I reached out to was Angel City Brewery, which is located in Los Angeles, CA.  This brewery was founded in 1997.  As most breweries do, they started out as a small brewery. However, since then they have been rapidly expanding. Included in that expansion they happen to acquire  Alchemy and Science, which is a craftbeer partnership or collaboration.  They now brew and distribute more beer than they ever have.   Because of their expansion, in 2010 they moved to a new facility in the Los Angeles Arts District. That is where they currently reside.For this and other information go to www.angelcitybrewery.com

Now lets get down to the nitty gritty of this beer!!!

The Eureka Wit is consider to be a Belgian White Ale. If you are familiar with belgian beers and wittbiers you have an idea what ingredients are in them. However, each has its own unique twist on it. This one is no different. The unique twist that I noticed was the addition of Nelson Sauvin Hops. I have not noticed very many beers that have this style of hops.  What does this type of hop do for the beer? Well, what the Nelson Sauvin Hop is, is a hop that was developed in New Zealand and is actually named after grapes. That’s right Grapes!!, which is not something you normally associate with beer. However, its adds a wonderful aroma and taste to this beer.  It will give the beer an aroma of fruits which also will be noticed when this beer hits your palette. It is also a bittering hop, but nothing that is going to make your beer difficult to drink. It’s actually a very smooth bitter.

Nelson Sauvin Hops is not the only thing this beer is brewed with. This beer also contains a variety of malts such as Europils, flaked oats, and the wheat you expect in a wit. Also common to the wit’s or belgian style beers are the coriander and orange peel.

I know you guys are inching to try this beer so lets go ahead and pour this beer into your favorite glass. When you first pour this beer into your favorite glass you will notice that it pours to a hazy pale golden/yellow color.  Take the glass to your nose and inhale deeply. When you do this you will notice a variety of different aroma’s but the orange peel will definitely be more noticeable than the others. But that is definitely not the only aroma’s that you will notice. You will notice a variety of different fruits, which are created by the hops in this beer.  Depending on your senses you may smell the grapes, grapefruit, or even passion fruit. No matter what you sense I have no doubt it will be delightful.

I know you can’t wait any longer so go ahead and take that first sip. When you take that first sip your palette will be overwhelmed just like your nostrils were when smelling the beer for the first time. For me when I first took the sip of this beer, I was surprised. Due to the aroma of orange peel, I thought there would be a big presence of orange peel in the beer. However, its not overwhelming, its a hint which is perfect because you get the full effect of the other fruit flavors that are created by the hops. At the end of the beer you are left with a slight bitter and coriander. In my opinion the coriander is the lasting taste.

When thinking about choosing a beer to go with your meal, you need to take this one into consideration. This beer goes very well with a variety of different cheeses such as Pepper Jack or Feta. It also will go very well with a variety of meats and fish.  I would recommend drinking this beer chilled, I would say that 50 degrees Fahrenheit would be an ideal temperature to drink this beer.

This beer  is a great beer with its own distinct additions to it. Those unique additions are what make this beer a one of a kind and a must have. If you haven’t tried this beer, you should go out and get one ASAP!!!

 

 

Anchor Steam Beer

Beer has been one of America’s favorite beverages for a very long time, and the beer that is made in this country is some of the best in the world.  So it is only fitting that I talk about one that hails from here in California and is a beer that has great history to it.

The next beer that I’m going to review is Anchor Steam Beer that is brewed in San Francisco, California. I say this beer has history because this beer has been around since 1896. This beer became a favorite during the time of the gold rush. People came to the west coast looking to become wealthy by finding gold, however, not everyone did. For those who did not find any gold at all, there was Anchor Steam Beer.

Not only does it have history because it was around during the time of the gold rush, but it has history because of the way it was brewed during this time. It is thought to be that this beer got its name from the way it us brewed.
This beer is brewed in shallow open fermentation tubs or tanks. When it got it’s start this process took place on the rooftops of San Francisco. The beer would ferment on the rooftops and during the cool nights, the steam could be seen rising from those tanks, which is where the steam portion if the name is thought to come from.

When it comes to this beer it is brewed with a couple different types of malts and hops. The malts that are is this beer are two row and caramel malts. The malts in this beer give this beer its dark amber color. They also give this beer the sweetness that it has. The malts are very noticeable in taste and in smell.When combined with the hops you will get a bit of bitterness but nothing that is unbearable. The hops will also give the beer a bit of a floral aroma and floral taste that goes really well with the sweetness of the malts. This is a one of a kind beer that pairs well with BBQ and cheeses. I hope that you all try this beer.

Napa Smith: Amber Ale

Its that time once again where I dive into another beer review after not having post anything in a while. The beer that I have recently tried is one that will please a lot of people. This one is the Amber Ale by Napa Smith Brewing.

I happen to find this beer to be one of the best Amber Ales that I have ever tried. This is a very complex beer that have a variety of taste and aromas. The complexity comes the variety of hops and malts that this beer is brewed with. This beer is brewed with six different malts which is pretty unique in itself, I have tried beers that are brewed with multiple malts however not many that have this many. Anyway, the malts within this beer are 2 Row, Munich, Honey, Red, Amber, ESB . The malts in this beer are noticeable right from the beginning. As soon as you pour the beer into the glass of your choice you can smell the sweetness of malts. The malts will give this beer a variety of notes through out the beer which include toffee, caramel.

With each sip also also comes a low level of bitterness. The bitterness comes from the variety of hops that are in the beer. Those hops are of Centennial, Sterling and Mt Hood varieties. These hops will also give the beer a little bit if a floral aroma. However, the bitterness of this beer is very mild, the sweetness of the malts will hide most if the bitterness of this beer.

This beer would make a great beer for the summer months. I say that because the summer months are for barbecuing and this beer goes really well with any BBQ. This beer also goes really well with dry aged cheese. You can find this beer in a lot of different places. I happened to stumble upon it at the local Bevmo.