after a few weeks of ho-hum beer activity, the year really kicked into gear with a trio of events.

• last thursday was barrel night at naja’s place.  AP, ML, and I joined ML and a long line of imbibers at the start of the night off but demand trickled off after an hour or two, leaving a full lineup of tasty rarities at our fingertips.  pours of smog city’s BA OE barleywine, lost abbey’s cuvee de tomme (delicious, unlike the last bottle of ’11 I had that tasted like a loaded diaper), deschutes’ ’09 abyss, firestone’s 15, russian river’s ’10 consecration, sierra nevada’s 2×4 and BA bigfoot, new belgium’s ’11 la folie, and the bruery’s sour in the rye (which tasted very similar to my sour rye saison) all made appearances and contributed to next morning’s fog.
• on friday, AP and I met up with the MLs at redondo beach’s newest spot, select beer store.  located right next to riviera (a great seafood joint), SBS had a strong selection, good prices, and friendly service (thanks largely in part to the great attention given by david, who helped out out when we were over at beachwood’s sourfest).  I enjoyed a pour of lost abbey’s red barn as well as a bottle of sierra nevada’s ruthless rye, and will definitely be back to see what new beers and draft selections they can come up with.
• that saturday, AP and I pulled off a hat trick by hosting the third strong beer session.  in the same spirit of the first two sessions, we focused on flights, with an ’07-’10 brown shugga flight, an ’08, ’09, and ’11 doggie claws flight, an ’07, ’09, ’10, and ’11 old stock flight, and a pannepot series that included ’07 pannepot, ’07 pannepeut, ’08 pannepot reserva, and ’05 pannepot grand reserva.  we also knocked out ’09 vintages of mirror mirror, stone 13th, and hairy eyeball and a bomber of ’11 knuckle sandwich, all accompanied by some killer charcuterie, pastitio, and devil’s food cake.  I feel a little sick after writing all this…

last weekend was full of brew related accomplishments and surprises.

• on thursday night I finished up the keezer collar, and AP and I lugged the thing down to the basement, where I fitted the taps and ran the beer lines.
• after wiring up the ranco temperature controller with some help online, I ran the temp probe and the gas lines and fired everything up.
• the thing works like a charm, and it’s great to have so much fridge space for storing kegs and other bulky items.  I can even lager in my brew bucket if I want to, but I will probably lager in kegs the old kegerator.
• on friday DH drove down and we skipped over to naja’s for an afternoon brew.  I got to try a taster of ‘dark side imperial stout’ or something like that from sierra nevada, but ended up with an ’08 alaskan barleywine, which was nice and malty but still relatively drinkable.  we finished up in style with a bottle of fantome saison, which had a great fruity aroma and finish.
• I am always amazed at the number of homebrewers that roll by naja’s for a pour – they are always friendly and can talk beer all night long.  friday was no exception – we ran into bob, a member of pacific gravity with a sick all-grain gravity system and a vast brew knowledge.  hopefully we’ll meet up again bob, maybe at a pacific gravity meeting!
• friday night the smoker was fired up, and by saturday afternoon 20 lbs of pulled pork was ready to rock, in addition to 3 beer can chickens and a couple dozen smoked brats.  that along with a the kegs of alt and kolsch kept friends and family busy for hours.
• both kegs were a hit and got kicked before the sun went down.  they were very drinkable and great session beers, but my only complaint was the clarity (both had a little haze from only being lagered for a week or so).  unfortunately, no pictures were taken (again) due to entertaining duties.  next time, I swear…
• just when I thought my beer weekend was coming to a close, I got a call sunday from james of san pedro brew co. he had tried my brews on saturday and wanted to know if I was interested in swinging by the brewery this week to check out a brew session.  I jumped at the chance and told him I would be by monday.
• monday morning I met up with jason, the award-winning brewer at san pedro brew co.  he had already started mashing an experimental amber ale and patiently explained the entire process on their 5 bbl. system.  he let me help out with the mash, explained their lauter and sparge process, and let me participate with some hop additions.  I was flipping switches, pulling levers, and loving every minute of it.
• when it came time to empty the mash tun, he must have though I was an idiot since I practically begged him to do it.  he let me stick around for the entirety of the boil all the way to racking the wort into their conical and let me help out with the crush and line sanitation for the next day’s brew.  it was an awesome experience, and I was like a kid in a candy store, ogling all the equipment and trying out jason’s killer brews.  thanks again jason, and good luck with your latest comp results!

naja’s place just had their second annual IPA festival, and it was pretty epic.

• I was impressed not only by the beer selection, but also by the organization of the event and the friendliness of everyone involved.
• AP and I rolled up early (4:15ish) to find a line to the door about 15 people long.  I think we hit the wait apex, however, since the line dissolved in about five minutes (thank god) and never reappeared from what I could see.
• in general, the whole LA beer scene feels pretty relaxed when compared to the capacity crowd events happening in SF these days.  case in point – my buddy ML stopped by a few hours into the event and was still able to snag a pour of coveted pliny the younger.  in fact, I don’t think any keg kicked before I left at around 7.
• this keg longevity was facilitated by the fact that festival glasses held only a few ounces.  this turned out to be a great idea, as it allowed for tastings of a wide variety of beers, instead of getting burned out on a full pour of some 10% hop bomb.
• between AP, AP, ML, and myself, we managed to try a pretty wide variety of beers: avery’s maharaja ’08, ballast point’s tongue buckler and dry-hopped sculpin cask, bootlegger’s knuckle sandwich, firestone walker’s double jack, flying dog’s double dog and raging bitch, marin’s brass knuckle, russian river’s pliny the younger, tustin’s death by hops, and strand brewing’s double dry hopped 24th st. pale.  phew!
• standouts for me were the cask sculpin, which had a great aroma and finish, even after half a dozen pours; and marin’s brass knuckle, which had a unique finish that I can only compare to instant iced tea.  weird, but good.  bootlegger’s knuckle sandwich was pretty intense, with a strong malt back that was refreshingly different.
• yeah, younger was good too, and was well-balanced, but I expected a little less alcohol heat on the finish.  maybe a fresher sample would have enough hop aroma to tackle that.
• overall, this was one of the best beer events I have been to.  I don’t think I waited longer than a minute to get any of my pours, there was plenty of water available, and the bathroom line was nonexistent.  we got a table with zero effort, and had pretzels and other snacks on constant refill.  I felt like I had won the beer lottery.

ok, so this weekend in review is more like a week in review since AP and I met up with CB, JVG, AF, DH, and JC at la trappe on tuesday.

• although their prices made la trappe more of a special occasion destination during these recession days, their beer list was thorough (as always) and I had to resist getting some fries and mussels.
• I couldn’t resist the drie fonteinen geuze though – what an amazing, complex beverage.  picked up another bottle of it at bottle barn recently for under $15 – I can’t think of a better beer at that price point.
• later that week I dropped by CB’s to sample some of his latest brews and see how my steam/common was doing.
• CB said it had cleared up, and after a quick pour I was happy to confirm.  what can I say, it is damn tasty.
• the weekend led AP and I down to LA, where we rolled over to naja’s with AP for some fish tacos, great beers (hop 15, pliny, old chub, etc.), friendly staff, and fantastic weather.
• and on a side note, I learned a thing or two this weekend, compliments of the mad fermentationist (luckily, one of the ‘things’ was not the belgium/belgian issue).

last weekend, while conducting some business down in LA, I managed to squeeze in a trip to (surprise!) naja’s place for a couple of brews with OA, SA, and friends.

• while waiting at the side bar for everyone to arrive, I was poured a taster of little buddha, a sour ale from deschutes.
• to say that this beer was intense would definitely be an understatement.  it had a strong vinegary aroma and an extremely dry, sour finish with a hint of fruit sweetness.
• I liked where this beer was going, but was also glad that there were no more than a couple ounces in my glass – a full pour of this would do some damage.
• after starting off with a sour as wild as little buddha, I had no other option but to grab a bottle of consecration for the table as a follow-up.
• in my opinion, consecration is a great “eye-opener” beer for those new to sour ales.  it’s balance and drinkability makes it very approachable to the newcomer, and it doesn’t hurt to start someone out with one of the greatest sours california has to offer.  that oaky, fruity tartness really gets me.
• everyone at the table gave it a pour, and by the end of the session I think they all left a little more curious about where the boundaries of beer really lie.

last weekend AP and I were lucky enough to roll by naja’s place for the second weekend in a row.

• we met up with DP to enjoy a few brews on a beautiful day.
• since I had a few cans of oskar blues’ dale’s pale ale earlier in the weekend (hoppy with a sessionable maltiness – check out this interesting story about the brew), I decided to roll with oskar blues and ordered up an old chub first (on draft!).  it had a balanced malty sweetness that was not cloying, and has a substantial, satisfying mouthfeel.
• I also ordered up an east/west combo – a glass of shipyard’s XXXX IPA (maine) followed by green flash’s west coast IPA (carlsbad, CA).  what can I say, I’m partial to the home team.
• the afternoon came to a celebratory close with a bottle of russian river’s temptation.  tart, funky, and complex with great carbonation and a crisp drinkability, this is one of my favorites.  I grabbed a couple more glasses and passed around some samples to help change some people’s perceptions about how far beer can go (especially in CA!).
• in fact, I was sipping on this brew while I watched the dodgers on TV spraying each other with nothing other than budweiser tall cans after their sweep.  yikes.
• AP and DP both thoroughly enjoyed dogfish head’s punkin ale, my favorite example of the style.  it has subtle spicing that meshes well with brown ale characteristics and doesn’t overwhelm the beer.
• remember to check out naja’s for LA beer week, it should be epic!

if you don’t know, now you know.

• naja’s place in redondo beach is my favorite bar on the planet, and is one of the most overlooked spots to grab a brew in california.
• it’s located right on the water, and has 88 beers on tap (tap list doesn’t look current), a great bottle selection, good food and live music.
• best of all, the staff is always friendly, laid back, and knowledgeable about their brews.
• AP and I went there multiple times over the weekend, and over the course of our visits we sampled numerous brews.  one of my favorites was sculpin IPA from ballast point.  it had an intense, fresh hop aroma and was surprisingly sessionable.
• I also got a chance to try  sierra nevada’s estate harvest ale, a good APA with a great story behind it.
• next in line was port brewing’s old viscosity – a blended strong ale that tastes like a smooth, strong imperial stout.
• I also managed to grab an old blarney barleywine from moylan’s – it was malty and smooth, a good example of the style.
• I even managed a taster of the bruery’s autumn maple, but I don’t think I could finish a whole glass of the stuff – toss me a punkin ale instead.
• AP was feeling the spirit of the season and stuck with spaten’s oktoberfest.
• note: LA beer week is coming up in a couple weeks, and naja’s is going all out for it.  martin was talling me about a stone brewing night, a new belgium specialty night, a belgian import night, and other events.
• thanks again to martin, darren, and the rest of the crew over at naja’s!  we’ll be back soon!