time for some overdue professional, homebrew, and beer scene updates!

• a couple of weekends ago the phantom carriage’s first release, muis, made an appearance at the tour of long beach’s craft beer garden.  inspired by my all-brett blonde experiment, muis is an all-brett belgian blonde with terrific mouthfeel, a smooth backing bitterness, and a great earthy tropical fruit aroma.  this batch was keg conditioned instead of being force carbonated, which results in a fine effervescence and great fluffy head.  stay tuned for mainstream release information – this beer will be on LA south bay taps soon!
• last weekend I kegged and bottled vizcaino II, the latest iteration of my golden strong wild ale.  while my other pipeline wild beers were inspired by commercial brews, vizcaino’s recipe was formulated from scratch, and my first stab at it left me a little disappointed.  however, after reworking the recipe and mash schedule based on my pipeline experience and racking the batch onto a mess of raspberry puree, I ended up with what I can only describe as an “imperial framboise” – a 10.23% (finished at 1.005) brilliant red brew with an intense yet smooth acidity that transitions seamlessly into some serious raspberry flavors.  I can’t wait until this carbs up.
• on a final note, I want to congratulate beer paper LA on the release of their first physical publication.  I stopped by their release party at beachwood BBQ long beach and was filled with pride for the ever-evolving LA beer scene (kip at bierkast has a great writeup that I completely resonate with).  it’s never been a better time to be a beer drinker in LA!  

last weekend I met up with other members of the la beer bloggers to embark on what would turn out to be an unforgettable beer expedition.

• as guests of firestone walker, we were given an all-access pass to the brewery, barrel houses, and environs in an attempt to experience what sets FW apart from other craft breweries.  after a quick trip up north on a chartered bus (made quicker by a bottle share and a steady supply of 12 oz firestone staples provided by our gracious host), we arrived not at the brewery but windrose farm, a local family farm that provides produce to FW’s restaurant.  bill and barbara, who live on and run the farm, kept everyone educated and entertained with discussions of biodynamic practices and responsible agriculture while we feasted on freshly picked greens and house-raised lamb expertly prepared by FW’s head chef and paired with an intense lineup of FW specialties ranging from bretta weiss to parabola.
• after hitching a tractor ride back to the bus, we headed over to the brewery, where matt brynildson and dustin kral gave us the VIP tour.  beers in hand, we went from the brewhouse to the lab to the roof of the facility, finally ending up in the barrel house, where dustin grabbed a thief and proceeded to pour everyone a three-barrel flight of a one-off beer aged in straight oak, bourbon, and tequila barrels.  minds already blown, we were then whisked away to herman story wines, where winemaker russell had a full spread and barrel sampling lineup at the ready.  after a few more hours of debauchery we ended the night at FW’s taproom restaurant with some great eats and a homebrew share (punctuated by some on-the-spot homebrew/food pairing suggestions by FW’s head chef).
• the next morning, having shook the cobwebs out of our heads and limbered up, we headed down to buellton to check out FW’s new barrelworks facility.  ”sour jim,” the resident master blender, gave us a tour of the growing barrel stacks and set us up with a wild beer blending session after a fantastic lunch.  after the session, GN sweet-talked jim into supplying us with some sample bags to take home some barrel bugs, and after talking shop for a while (over a full flight of FW one-offs and wild beers) jim snuck us back to the barrel room, where he started pulling nails and let us in on some of his long-term projects.  the trip finished off with a drive down the coast and yet another bottle share.
• oh, and the kicker? the whole even was hosted by david walker, the co-founder himself.  david was a generous, receptive, and intelligent host who made everyone feel at home in paso robles.  the event left me with not only a great admiration for the care, passion, and innovation FW brings to the craft brew game, but also with a profound respect for all parties involved with the beer scene in paso robles and the surrounding areas.  that sixer of DBA in my fridge never looked so good.

a couple of weeks ago AP and I headed out to colorado to see what this hyped up beer state had to offer.

• highlights in denver included freshcraft (great beers and service – hi Dan!), great divide (comfortable but remarkably small when compared to their level of distribution), cheeky monk (fantastic non-local draft selection), crooked stave (great wild beers, inspiring), bull & bush (a must-visit classic),  hops & pie (great food, good beer selection, great atmosphere), and small batch liquors (outstanding local and rarities selection, fantastic service).  to top it off, stranahan’s distillery hosted an unreal tasting tour, and their adjacent restaurant, the rackhouse pub, had great food and all the booze any hound could wish for.
• boulder was a little different – spots like twisted pine and avery (surprisingly) left me disappointed with the beers, food, and service.  luckily, upslope brewing saved the day with a great tasting room, beers, and conversation, and the local whole foods wine & spirits blew my mind with a comprehensive local selection.  nearby oskar blues in longmont came through with a fantastic draft list and some good eats as well.
• it may be a while until I head back to the rockies (GABF, anyone?), but I can definitely say I enjoyed my visit.  warm hospitality, great food, and a notable beer selection make colorado a worthwhile stop for a beer geek jonesing for a weekend trip.

last tuesday AP and I headed up to golden road to participate in their “winter situational” meetup with the LA beer bloggers.

• the event was at chloe’s, a private club adjacent to the main brewpub.  they had homebrewers/authors drew beechum and john palmer speaking, complimentary drafts pouring, and great food offerings.  I definitely have to hand it to golden road for embracing the blogosphere and throwing an impressive event to foster community and connectivity amongst both brewers and writers.  bierkast’s review can be found HERE, and I uploaded some pics from the event HERE.

in other news, the first batch of phantom carriage beer was pumped out last weekend.

• 14bbl of wort inspired by banning were racked into two 7bbl fermentors, and will be shortly transferred to barrels for the long haul.  as usual, more details are forthcoming, but there are some awesome projects in the works!

well, the cat is finally out of the bag.

• last sunday AP and I attended the 11th dionicess dinner at beachwood long beach.  the theme was zombie apocalypse survival, which included off-the-wall courses such as octopus, snails, heart, and brains paired with unique beers from top-notch local breweries.
• one highlight of the dionicess event was the introduction of a new socal brewing project – the phantom carriage.  this introduction was exciting to me and AP because, if all goes well, I’m going to be brewing with the phantom carriage.
• specifically, I will be in charge of “alternative fermentations,” and will focus on wild ales similar to my current pipeline lineup that are fermented both in stainless and oak.  more details will be divulged once they are finalized, but things should get interesting in the near future.  stay tuned!

last weekend AP and I headed to lomita to stock up on some persimmons.

• a few weeks back our friend JB mentioned that she had a sizable fuyu persimmon tree in her backyard and that this year’s yield was more than she could handle.  what an understatement – behind her house was the largest persimmon tree I had ever seen, loaded to the hilt with ripe fruit.  AP and I spent a couple hours up in the leaves, relieving the sagging branches of their pesticide-free bounty while JB’s dogs darted around, investigating our growing piles of fruit.
• I then spent a few more hours destemming, washing, and organizing the fuyus.  after all was said and done, we ended up with close to one hundred pounds of fruit, and barely made a dent in the tree.  prepping that volume of fruit is no joke for one person – so far I’ve only managed to cut, vacuum seal, and freeze half of our haul, and am not looking forward to finishing the other half.  it will all be worth it in the future though – how does one hundred pounds of persimmons in a barrel of lambic sound?  not that it hasn’t been done before, of course…

on another note, last week kip from bierkast headed over to overcarbed HQ to check out my setup.

• over the course of a few hours we toured my fermentation room/beer cellar and checked out my homebrew rig, while sampling some of my current lineup.  I tossed some of my neighbor’s fresh caught chucklehead on the grill while we talked shop, covering a variety of topics from lambic brewing to sourcing local ingredients.  his well-written writeup can be found HERE.

last weekend I kept rolling with the funk and put together an all-brett blonde split three ways.

• I based my grain bill on various recipes for sanctification, but kept to a 60 minute boil and mashed at 151F (in hindsight, I could have kicked it up to around 154 or 155F, since all-brett beers tend to finish a little thin).  my starting gravity was 1.055 and I kept the IBUs to around 27.
• after cooling the wort to the mid-70s, I divided it up into three fermentors (two 5gal and on 2.5gal), aerated, and pitched a different isolated brett strain into each fermentor.  a vial of WLP653 went into five gallons, my ramped-up starter of WLP644 went into another five, and a vial of WLP650 was pitched into the smaller 2.5 gal better bottle.
• the 644 took off vigorously within hours, while the slightly underpitched WLP650 took a day or so to get going.  I had read that the 653 was a notoriously slow starter, which rang true – it took three days to see visible activity, but by that time the airlock was churning and there was a healthy krausen.

after hosing down my brewstand, ML and I headed for beachwood BBQ long beach to meet up with the LACBB crew for our monthly summit.

• julian shrago (brewer), gabe gordon (owner), and daniel drennon (writer) all spoke at the event, although I arrived late and was admittedly distracted by a killer brisket sandwich and tasty house IPA.  kip’s article over at bierkast summarizes the event nicely (and includes a pretty unflattering profile shot of me at the bar).  not a bad way to spend a sunday!

last weekend I weighed out and bagged this year’s hop harvest.

• I ended up with 2.5 oz. of vojvodina, 2 oz. of cascade, and a paltry 0.5 oz of chinook.  my goal next year is to mulch with compost, maintain a regular fertilization schedule, and let all runners have at it up the vine.  hopefully that will increase yields, especially with my in-ground rhizomes.

I also received some good news from the pacific brewer’s cup, a local homebrew competition hosted by three homebrew clubs.

• I was stoked to hear that my turbid mash lambic took second place in the cat. 17 sour ale category under straight (unblended) lambic.  a bunch of homebrewer buddies also cleaned house, which helped to cement an overall competition club win by my homebrew club, pacific gravity.  great job everybody!

I’ve also been busy participating in some festivities for LA beer week, which is going on all this week and weekend (check it out if you’re local!).

• I kicked off beer week in style by heading over to the monthly pacific gravity meeting, and helped out during the weekend by pouring some of my homebrew (white and light house saison) over at monkish during a bus tour of four local breweries.

I also finally got around to taking a decent shot of my fermentation room for those who are curious (see below).  big things are in the works, so stay tuned for updates!

last weekend I headed over to sunset beer co. in echo park for the second LA craft beer bloggers summit.

• a while back, kip barnes of bierkast blogging and LA aleworks fame took it upon himself to unite and network local LA area beer bloggers (similar to what jay brooks has done up north with the BABB).  I missed the first summit, but heard about the impressive turnout and was interested in checking out the next gathering.
• sunset beer co. turned out to be an ideal venue for the meetup, with plenty of space and a great selection both on tap and in the coolers.  the staff were very friendly and accommodating despite the fact that they were likely nursing hangovers from their anniversary party the night before.  as for the LA craft beer bloggers, everyone at the meeting was both passionate and knowledgeable about the beer scene and was a pleasure to talk to.  check out more info at the LACBB facebook page.
• the main event of the summit was a talk held by dieter foerstner, head brewer of angel city brewery in downtown LA.  he briefed everyone on the status of the brewery (distributing imminently, opening their doors in a few months) and went through some details on a hoppy wheat and IPA that were being passed around.  dieter definitely knows his way around a mash tun and I was pleasantly surprised by his wheat beer, which had great balance and exhibited a unique blend of complementary malt flavors and hop aromas.  during a later conversation, I was flattered to find out that he was a fan of my bottles of white and house saison that I brought to the meetup.  angel city is getting a lot of great press and I’m excited to see where they go from here.

after heading back home from the summit I finally got around to harvesting this year’s hop crop from my backyard.

• although this year’s chinook yield was paltry compared to previous years’,  my vojvodinas and cascades put out enough cones to easily support a 12 gal. batch, despite an irregular fertilizing schedule.  I’m currently drying the hops and am excited to see how the late-hopped vjovodinas turn out in my latest saison (last year’s cascades and chinooks contributed a nice smooth bitterness to my imperial stout).

last week AP and I hopped in the truck and headed north to carmel for JVG’s wedding.

• a close to seven hour drive got us into town late, so after sleeping in we headed out to explore the area.  our first stop (after an early lunch) was acme coffee roasting, which really blew my mind.  I usually don’t stray from beer writing on this blog, but as a long-time amateur coffee roaster/espresso geek I was really stunned by the passion and care exuded by the owner and the resulting extremely high quality of their hand-pumped espresso and other coffees.  I spent a good ten minutes nursing a killer double shot and watching their monster drum roaster crank out a fresh batch of beans.  this place was the highlight of my visit and is definitely on my short list of places to visit if you are anywhere nearby.
• our next stop after our morning wake-up call was post no bills in nearby sand city, where a thorough bottle selection compensated for a middle-of-the-road tap list.  after finishing a round with the local lagunitas rep we headed to bottoms up homebrew, where very friendly service accompanied bags of fresh locally grown cascade hops.  bottles n bins rounded out the afternoon with an impressive beer selection (probably the best in the area).
• the next day AP and I cleaned ourselves up and headed out to a spectacular wedding, replete with great people, food, and beer of both the homebrewed and commercial varieties.  specifically, AH and NM brought along kegs of belgian single, bohemian pils, and berliner weiss to pour out of AH’s custom jockey box, which accompanied kegs of lagunitas’ IPA and anderson valley’s boont amber behind the bar.  I also brought along a keg of my imperial stout to which I had added ECY’s brett blend many months back, which was initially massively overcarbed but worth the effort it took to degas (review to come).
• after a weekend of great times with great friends, AP and I headed south, taking the scenic route.  highway 1 added several hours to our trip but also provided unique destinations like a remote hermitage where we picked up some monk-made “holy granola” and an under-construction bar and beer garden with a surprisingly comprehensive tap list.  when we finally made it back (with an extra 850 miles on the odometer) we were beat from the trip but happy to have been able to take part in such a momentous occasion.  congrats again VG!