Category: Reviews

News Flash – Greenbar Distillery

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Greenbar Distillery

This past weekend, the PiC and I took a tour of Downtown LA’s Greenbar Distillery. Prior to the visit, I had known that they existed, but didn’t know how old they were (I thought it was just a couple of years, but actually they started in 2004), and also that they were responsible for a number of different brands of spirits which I had seen, but not tasted.

The tour was about an hour long, and our guides took us through the history of the company, the equipment they used (including the pictured super fancy still which had an even fancier name that I don’t remember now), and their general outlook on life. We also got to try tiny samples of what amounted to nine different spirits, plus five types of bitters. As I wasn’t taking notes, this will be mostly a visual post.

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News Flash – Mammoth Brewing Company (Update!)

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One more travel post and then I think I should be back to actual cocktails next week (next Monday to be exact). This week’s post, though, is a bit of a new feature. Almost exactly a year ago, I visited Mammoth Brewing Company in Mammoth, CA, and sampled all of their beers. And, last week, I visited again! Many of the old classics were still there, but there were a few new concoctions that I’ll discuss below. So, consider this a companion piece to the old entry.

The Originals

Golden Trout Pilsner

Golden Trout Pilsner – 5.5%

This was there last year. Still just sort of a typical pilsner. Very drinkable but I didn’t love it this time. Unlike last time, apparently.

Golden Trout Pilsner

Yosemite Pale Ale – 5.5%

This may have been there last year? There was a pale ale, but it was called “Paranoids Pale Ale.” It seems from my comments that it might be the same thing but renamed. Piney nose, strong hops but not overpowering.

Wild Sierra Session Saison

Wild Sierra Session Saison Ale – 4.5%

Either I’ve learned a lot about beer in the past year or my tastes have changed. I liked this a lot, as a basic belgian style ale. There was a hint of pine in the aftertaste (that was supposed to be the main flavor) but not a huge amount of uniqueness otherwise. Again, this is different from how I described it last time.

Double Nut Brown Porter

Double Nut Brown Porter – 5.5%

This was there last year, but in the meantime I’ve discovered an interesting distinction — we had this bottled, earlier in the week, and I liked it a lot as a smooth deep coffee and chocolate porter. However, on tap, the coffee comes out even stronger and so does the bitterness. You lose the caramel and toffee notes, and as such I really didn’t like it much. I wonder what the difference is… maybe just the batch?

Epic India Pale Ale

Epic India Pale Ale – 6.5%

This was there last year. And, I made the same comment I made this time — I don’t love the taste but it was the perfect color for beer. It’s what you picture when you think of a pint.

IPA 395

IPA 395 India Pale Ale – 8.0%

There last year, still great. Such a weird mix of flavors, but the sage tempers the bitterness and makes it very tasty.

Imperial Root Beer

Imperial Root Beer – Non-Alcoholic

Technically we had this last year, separately, but it wasn’t part of the tasting. This was incredibly sweet, and much more like a cola or even cream soda (vanilla) than root beer. As such I kind of liked it. It still smelled like root beer, but was a very different taste.

The Seasonals

XCitra Session IPA

XCitra Session IPA – 4.0%

This was new, and was also horrible. Smelled and tasted incredibly hoppy, and was weird and thin and I hated it.

Dos Osos

Dos Osos – 7.5%

We had this before. Still good, with a strong coffee nose but a nice cinnamon-y taste. A good weight and thickness while still remaining crisp.

Orange You A Peelin' Porter

Orange You A’Peeling Porter – 5.5%

This was new as well — though they had a blood orange flavored IPA last year. This had a super interesting, almost savory smell. Tastewise, there was a lot going on but it actually worked really well together. So much so that I couldn’t pull out individual flavors.

Gooseberry Sour

Gooseberry Sour – 7.0%

We had this last year, but it was still really good. Smelled like cranberry or concord grape juice, and was easy to drink despite being a sour. Like kombucha, almost, or that French fizzy lemonade. Yum.

The PiC and I agreed that those last two seasonals were our favorites, and the first seasonal was by far the worst. And, I’ll definitely come back in another year’s time to see what else is new! Stay tuned for part 3.

News Flash – Sweet Basil

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I’ve been traveling a lot recently, which leads to many more reviews and many fewer actually created cocktails. For that I apologize, and the good news is I’ll be back home for at least one weekend this month and so should have time to stock up on some new recipes. Until then, let’s talk about Vail.

We had the opportunity to visit Vail, CO, at the end of March. You may have already seen my post on Vail Brewing Company but what, you might say, about the cocktails? Well, we had a spectacular meal at Sweet Basil (which you can read more about at the PiC’s blog) which was accompanied by some equally fantastic cocktails.

Re-Fig-Ured Manhattan

Re-Fig-Ured Manhattan – George Dickel Whisky, Amaro Spiced Fig Jam, Orange Zest

This was a very tasty drink. I’ve had a fig Old Fashioned before, and to be honest it wasn’t great. However, this blended the elements together in a much better way (no clot of jam at the bottom of the glass) and was refreshingly sweet and flavorful. It was just bitter enough, just sweet enough, had just enough alcohol bite.

Beso del Diablo

Beso Del Diablo – Habañero Silver Tequila, Cointreau, Lime, Blood Orange Puree, Licor 43

This was the star of the meal (so much so that, after the PiC ordered one as her first drink, I ordered one as my second). It was a great margarita-esque drink, but with a few important differences. For one, Licor 43 is mostly vanilla flavored, and so that plus the blood orange gave good body to the drink, but not enough to be a creamsicle. And, more importantly perhaps, the tequila was insanely spicy. This forced you to sip and savor this drink, more so than you might have otherwise. And, like any good spicy salsa, the habañeros actually lent a fair bit of their flavor to the mix, too, resulting in a perfect accompaniment to an amazing meal.

In sum, if you’re ever in Vail, please check this place out. If I’m ever back, I will definitely go again, if only to sit at the bar and drink a few more cocktails.

News Flash – Vail Brewing Company

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The Board of Majesty

In honor of National Beer Day today, I give you our latest trip to a brewery — this time in Vail, Colorado. We sat down at the aptly named Vail Brewing Company for a couple hours last week, and were loathe to leave, and not just because there was a snowstorm brewing outside. It was their second birthday, and they had great live music, a charming atmosphere and, above all, some interesting and tasty beers. Here they are, in no particular order.

Brown, English, Stout

(From left to right)

Down River Brown – 5.5% ABV – 22 IBU – 40 SRM

This was super drinkable, and had a nice malty flavor with almost no hops (though a higher IBU than I would have expected). Not a huge amount of flavor overall? But it was nice to sip. I liked this more than the PiC.

Us and Them English Ale – 6.0% ABV – 40 IBU – 14 SRM

This was also very nice. Caramel notes, with more hops but still sweet. I generally like ESBs so I’m biased, though the PiC actually liked this more than me. A little dryer than usual, perhaps? The hoppy bitterness lingers longer than I would like, but it’s overall very nice.

Brother From Another Udder Stout – 5.9% ABV – 29 IBU – 40 SRM

This had a very strong coffee smell, but no taste of it — thankfully. Really nice and thick, with a silky texture. The PiC described it as smoky and burnt, which I agree with. We asked the bartender, and it’s an oat chocolate vanilla milk stout. Many adjectives, but it at least made the name make sense.

Warmer, Blonde, Raspberry

(From left to right)

Hut Trip Winter Warmer – 5.7% ABV – 18 IBU – 27 SRM

This was number one on both of our lists. It had a really interesting smell, of chocolate and cinnamon, but really didn’t taste that way at all. It was a Very nice. Interesting smell, chocolate and cinnamon. It was made with vanilla black tea, herbal chai, and cinnamon, and you could taste the chai especially. Colorwise, it was dark for a warmer, but I think that’s because of the tea?

Hot Mess Blonde – 5.5% ABV – 22 IBU – 4.5 SRM

Like the raspberry blonde (below) without the raspberry. It was a little sweeter and rounder, and also a bit wheatier which doesn’t really make sense. It was much better without the fruit, and it was our third choice overall. There was a touch too much hops, perhaps, but that’s me being a wimp about bitterness.

Pink Vail! Raspberry Blonde – 5.4% ABV – 4 SRM

This was good! But still number six for us. It wasn’t super fruity, and had some nice hoppy notes. Very easy drinking, with a twist. The PiC wished there was a little more raspberry, but I was okay with it — almost just an aftertaste.

 

American Light Beers – Special Report

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3-Light-Beer-Shootout

Over the Memorial Day weekend, we decided to add an additional element to our Monday celebration. We took five American light beers, and did a blind shootout with 5 friends and family members to see if we could tell the difference, and to see if we liked any of them. [Spoiler alert: no and no.] The blind shootout is an idea we stole from the guys over at the Totally Beverages and Sometimes Hot Sauce podcast (GFY). Go check it out if you haven’t heard of them. If you’re a fan of this blog, you’ll probably enjoy that as well.

The shootout was much harder to implement than I had expected. We had to match up each beer with a label on the bottom (a different number of dots for each one) and label 7 cups with the same label on their bottoms. Then we poured each beer in to the appropriate cups, and swapped each row around with others until we had no idea which column of cups went with which beer. Since we couldn’t see the labels, this wasn’t too hard, especially since all the beers looked the same in the glass, but it still took a few rounds of “one person leaves the room and the other mixes them around.”

So what did we test? Well, this was partially decided by what was available in the store. I am a weirdly proud fan of classic Budweiser (not Bud Light) but unfortunately there weren’t enough small quantities of normal beer [What is the opposite of light beer? Full beer?] so we went with the light ones:

  • Bud Light
  • Miller Lite
  • Coors Light
  • Michelob Ultra
  • Natural Light

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Abita Abbey Ale – News Flash

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Abita-3

Having recently been to New Orleans, when I came across an Abita I hadn’t yet had in BevMo, I had to check it out.

The Abbey Ale is an 8.0% Belgian dubbel, and, like most of Abita’s brews, was very tasty. Sweet and a little funky like the dubbels I’m used to, it also had nice spice notes (they say cloves on the bottle, which I couldn’t name but seemed to fit), and it was easy to drink despite the high alcohol content. Whether that last point is a point for or a point against is up to you. It was a nice dark color as well, looking very regal in our chalices. It didn’t have as big of a head as I was expecting, but it was still bubbly so I didn’t mind.

It was also pretty cheap, so definitely check it out. Only downside is that it only comes in 22oz bottles, which are a little less manageable than more normal sizes. And, what’s more, every bottle gives 25 cents to St. Joseph’s Abbey, which is presumably some nice monks in New Orleans? I have chosen not to research, in case I find out it isn’t…

Abita-1

 

Grilled Pineapple Old Fashioned – News Flash

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I saw this drink over at ToGatherCuisine and thought it sounded delicious. He’s got all sorts of good stuff on the blog, so definitely check it out.

I tested out his pretty original take on an old fashioned, with the unique twist of allowing the fruit to make its own simple syrup! Sadly, I found it wanting, but I’m pretty sure this was either my fault or the pineapple’s fault, not the recipe. Notes to follow.

It’s a pretty simple recipe, copied below in its entirety.

Grilled Pineapple Old Fashioned Ingredients

Grilled Pineapple Old Fashioned

  • 4 oz. bourbon. (Bulleit was [his] weapon of choice)
  • 1 slice of fresh pineapple, 1/2 inch thick.
  • Using an indoor grill pan or an outdoor grill, grill the pineapple for 3 minutes on each side over medium to medium-high heat. Add the slice of pineapple to a shaker filled with 1 cup of ice. Muddle for 20-30 seconds, leaving only a few cubes of ice still frozen.
  • Add the bourbon to the shaker and shake for a few seconds, just enough to incorporate the pineapple and the alcohol.
  • Pour the contents of the shaker into a tumbler filled with ice through a strainer, making sure none of the pineapple chunks fall into the glass.
  • Enjoy while cold!

Tip: While using an outdoor grill with charcoal and/or wood will add another layer of depth and smokiness to the drink, just make sure to clean the rack your pineapple will be resting on well before grilling the fruit. The last thing you want is remnants of the burgers you grilled floating around in your glass.

Pineapple GrillingMixing Gif Grilled Pineapple Old Fashioned

Tasting Notes:

BN: I really wanted to like this, but it wasn’t sweet enough and was too watered down. I think therefore that was some issue with my ratio of ice to pineapple, or the fact that maybe I didn’t grill the fruit for long enough to really pull out those caramel-y sweet flavors. Maybe it needed to be fresher pineapple — I’m not sure how good the one I had was. Alternately, maybe canned pineapple would be syrupy enough.

Also, I think this would be an even better recipe with the inclusion of bitters, a) for Old Fashioned’s sake and b) because bitters make everything better. I will try this again, maybe in the summer when I have more grilling confidence, because I love the idea, and I think I just didn’t do it justice. But wrote about it anyway.

PiC: I don’t like Old Fashioneds very much in general, and this one didn’t really have much taste which was too bad because I do like pineapple.

Grilled Pineapple Old Fashioned Hero

Kopke Fine Ruby Port – News Flash

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I think I like port now.

That’s the main conclusion I’ve drawn, after trying this very nice Kopke Fine Ruby Port, as well as the Port Wine Sangaree from a few weeks ago.

My first experience with port was about 10 years ago now, on a cold Christmas Eve night in Aberystwyth, Wales. It was included in a prix fixe meal as an after dinner drink, and I was super excited (for some reason), but when it came I hated it. Syrupy, too sweet, too alcoholic… I just wasn’t having it. A disappointing end to a delicious meal. And so, as a first impression, it was a poor one, and since then I’ve assumed that I didn’t like port. But now more and more I feel like it was probably just bad port.

Anyways, back to the Kopke. We received this as a part of the PiC’s Cheese of the Month subscription from the Cheese Store of Silverlake (if you’re in LA, check them out!) and it was a great choice. Just looking at the bottle,  I loved the design – it almost looks like a fake wine bottle from a cartoon or something (I pictured seeing XXX on the other side, like a big jug o’ alcohol). When we poured it, it was a beautiful deep ruby color. Apparently, and I just learned this, ruby port is aged in stainless steel, so doesn’t oxidize or change color (unlike tawny, etc., aged in wooden barrels).

Tastewise, it was very nice, fruit-forward and not too sweet or alcoholic tasting. Paired perfectly with the cheese that we had, and you could sip on this for a long time without getting tired, or it turning saccharine. A very fine ruby port. (See what I did there?)

It seems to retail for around $14.99, and a bottle would last you a fair amount of time (you wouldn’t want to drink it all in one sitting).

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