Abbey Ale is a great Dubbel ale brewed by Ommegang Brewery out of Cooperstown, New York. Lots of dark fruit, raisins and spices come through at the beginning and then ultimately mix and conclude in a deep sweet aftertaste. One sip of this complex beer and you’ll know why these monks are dancing.
I LOVE this guy!!!
This beer is a simple but good summer time lager by Frankenmuth Brewery in Michigan. I was drawn to the nice and very clean can design and I think it reflects the beer’s mellow taste with a slight hint of lemon. Nuthin’ fancy here but it fits my summer mindset. They say it was inspired by Michigan summers but it seemed to wrap up my summer in Boston quite well. And with that said, I shall now brace myself for pumpkin beer season…!
OMG - how fun is this?!?!?!
White House Honey Ale
Yes, you read that right. The White House made beer using honey from the first ever bee hive on the South Lawn. I was fascinated when I read about a New York Times reporter who went about trying to re-create it. Check out Eric Asimov’s story here.
I loved watching the White House chefs attempts at making beer after President Obama bought a home-brewing kit last year. Even though I’m not a big beer fan - too many years living in Germany while I was growing up, it made me want to try and make beer at home. In case it also makes you feel the same way, here is the White House recipe for Honey Ale. Brew away!
I’m not sure how many more German, or in this case Belgian, beer halls Los Angeles can sustain but I’m sure we’re about to find out! :)
Downtown’s New Belgian Beer Hall
Current condition of the EU: medium to shaky. Current condition of beer coming from the EU’s founding member: strong as ever.
Also: newly plentiful Downtown.
Welcome to Little Bear, a vast Belgian hall of obscure beers and grilled cheese stuffed with bacon, now open on Industrial Street.
You’ll recognize this as the former home of Royal Clayton’s—exposed pipes, a front wall of windows, a preference for artsy European loft-dwellers—but it’s lighter. Brighter. And much, much beer-ier. (It’s brought to you by the guys behind the Oinkster and that hallowed beer cavern the Surly Goat.)
So yeah, come here with a bunch of friends, take over the communal table in the middle of the place and get to work on the list of rare brews from all over. Try the Bruery’s Wanderer (it’s an extremely sour ale) and some good rare stuff from Russian River. Save room for some Belgian Owl—the only Belgian whiskey available stateside.
In these environs, you’ll probably be hanging around long enough to get hungry. So you should know they’re serving Belgian classics here: Belgian fries, waterzooi (it’s chicken stew) and chocolate waffles. Oh, and plenty of grilled cheese, filled with everything from bacon to brisket to apples—may not be Belgian, but hey.
It’s grilled and there’s cheese.
Another awesome find for you lovers of the brew here in Los Angeles… :) 8th Street Bottle Shop: Tap the Bottle. Twist the Cap. 8th St Bottle Shop’s exactly what it sounds like: an old-timey, apothecary-esque, bottles-only beer shop w/ 100+ selections carefully curated by the lauded brew-obsessed duo The Beer Chicks, uniquely located within the Golden Gopher, which has a to-go liquor license that dates back to 1903, but won’t date before that, as dudes who’re over 111 are mad creepy. Beers’re almost all small batch/rare, with unusual selections on the shelf now including the dirty-sounding, ultra-hoppy Mikkeller/Brewdog I Hardcore You; the malty-and-oaty Drake’s Brewing Expedition ale, and Telegraph Brewing Co’s Obscura Arborea, which is a sour brown ale done “Flanders-style” and if you don’t know what that is, you don’t know diddily…iddily, iddily. Once they’re running full tilt, they’re planning on having artisanal snacks, as well as occasional specialty keggers, a beer club membership that’ll give a heads up when they get ultra-rare bottles, and a night they call “meet the brewer”, so get psyched to meet Greg Vaughn!!! Or less spectacularly, BJ Surhoff. The whole thing starts going down tomorrow as part of the Downtown Craft Beer Crawl, which offers unlimited tastings of over 60 beers at 7 downtown bars, as well as pairings with food from some of the cities best trucks, most of which only feel like they’ve been around since 1903.
This is for all you crazy Angeleno lovers of the brew… :)
Nibble Bit Tabby - Drinking Beer in a Remote Frontier of Downtown LA
Let’s be honest: Most of Downtown’s “hidden” drinking establishments are dead simple to find.
Not Nibble Bit Tabby, Brian Lethcoe’s year-old brewery, which now has a tasting room open on Saturday nights. Located far away from gentrified Downtown, the brewery is in the strip-club- and industry-heavy southeastern corner of the neighborhood, just a few blocks shy of the Vernon city line. Tucked into an alley, Lethcoe’s tasting room is a no-frills affair: Beers are served in plastic cups, poured from foamy pitchers pulled from a keg. The building has been zoned for manufacturing alcohol since the 1930s, but don’t expect any vintage steampunk décor to echo the building’s history. Nibble Bit Tabby celebrates its place in L.A. brewing history by simply making good beer. First-time visitors are charged $10 for a six-month tasting room membership, and after your two complimentary pours, beers cost $4. What’ll you be drinking? That’s up to Lethcoe, who regularly cycles through four or five different styles. Uncle Ernie’s Irish Red is the brewery’s flagship beer, a pleasantly malt-sweet brew that finishes with a tart cherry note. Nibble Bit Tabby also makes fruity, caramel-accented Extra Special Bitter. Just don’t show up looking for a super hoppy IPA–Lethcoe is a strident anti-hop head. Nibble Bit Tabby Brewery, 2001 S. Santa Fe Ave., Unit E, Downtown; 213-244-9626
Ok, like I don’t need this product because I’m a parent now and NEVER drink but just in case you do…. :)
Snap Fusion - hangover remedy!
Candy.
Delicious in many forms. Handy for bribing the IT guy. A fine name for a dinner companion.
Also: the perfect tonic after a long night of illicit carousing.
We can explain…
Introducing Snap Infusion, a new candy-based remedy for your roughest mornings, available now.
Yes, we’re talking about a hangover-curing candy. Here’s how it’ll go down: you’ll wake up… eventually. The light: it burns. Your head: also burns. You need a few things—like water, large sunglasses… and pants. Any pants at all. Oh, and B vitamins and electrolytes.
You need to get yourself to the nearest greasy spoon for a recovery breakfast. First, collect yourself. Then, look to the only thing that can restore order: a jelly bean. Or maybe some gum. You see, the husband-and-wife team who created this stuff thought it’d be a good idea to make it in a bunch of forms, including gummies, caramels and tarts. (Note: they also envision you using it to climb a mountain.)
By the time your omelet arrives, you should be feeling at least slightly better. And because we know you’re concerned about taste at moments like these: well, they’re stunningly reminiscent of Flintstones vitamins.
In a good way.
OMG OMG OMG - I’m about to geek out and show you how weird I am. I grew up in Germany and I’m always looking for the things I loved from there. This new place in LA not only has a menu full of great German food but they also have SPAGHETTIEIS - seriously one of the best inventions on the face of the planet! I can’t explain it, it just has to be experienced. I really hope it’s good or I’m going to be seriously bummed.
Life is full of difficult decisions.
Like, maybe you should spend your Friday surrounded by German sausages, beer and blonde women who casually spout phrases like “auf Wiedersehen.” On the other hand, you really want to just hang out with your dog.
These are the things that keep you up at night.
Allow us to help you get some rest—and some beer. Introducing Wirtshaus, a new sausage and beer hall that will also serve pretzels to your pup, officially debuting Friday on La Brea.
Now, you could be forgiven if a stroll down La Brea didn’t used to remind you of your last trip to Berlin. (The less said about the missing lederhosen, the better.) But as of this weekend, that all changes when you grab a table on the patio here with your friends of the two- and four-legged variety.
The owners are actual Germans, and their collective mission in life is to get you sausage, schnitzel, potato pancakes and about 30 German (okay, and Austrian) beers, most on tap. For dessert: Spaghettieis, which is ice cream that looks like spaghetti. Because nothing cools you down like German ice cream pasta.
And yes, assuming you’re outside, your dog is welcome to order a pretzel of his own from the separate menu specifically for dogs.
Well, you’ll probably have to order for him.
Wirtshaus
345 N La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-931-9291
