With the sun’s death rays beating down on the Sunset strip, beer-drinking vegans take to the streets for some free supplemental vitamin D…but mostly for the fourth annual Los Angeles Vegan Beer & Food Festival. Mainly meatless since March, I’m all about getting in on this action. As a vegan beerfest virgin, I’m looking forward to grazing the bazaar of LA and OC’s best vegan food plus great local beer choices produced without any cow, fish, bee, or bull testes.

“I want it NOW” – Bridgette “Veruca Salt” Kominek with Husband Brad of Noble Ale Works pulling out all the money.

Many types of Vegans made it out for the fest: the beegans, then gleegans, veganics, v-sluts and the v-curious…all here with one thing in mind – eat, drink and be merry. With such an abundance of food, Bridgette Kominek tweeted, “I plan to run around singing the Veruca Salt song from Willy Wonka.” Indeed, she wants it NOW. The fest is laid out like the replica town in the movie Blazing Saddles, complete with hay bales, dirt, and a festive maze to get to the restroom. Food trucks and tents sandwich in the central beer garden and seating area neighboring the stage/music venue. Goers were encouraged to BYO chairs and towels, which makes the middle area look like Florida’s South Beach on a 90 degree day. I will say that this festival has an overall better-looking-than-average clientele than a typical beer fest. The stereotypical beer belly’d Pliny shirt/bearded dudes didn’t make it out for this one, sadly. Untappd only had around 300 checkins during the event.

Tony Yanow, owner of vegan friendly craft beer bars Tony’s Darts Away, Mohawk Bend and part owner of Golden Road Brewing spurs the vegan/craft beer scene in LA. He, along with power vegans Quarrygirl (vegan blogger) and Nic Adler (owner of the popular Hollywood venue The Roxy) blaze this annual festival. The best part about about this fest is vegans can safely eat and drink anything without asking questions. Food options range from inventive menu options like beer battered avocado tacos (a local favorite of mine from Seabirds Truck), meatless tamales, desserts and even a French dip sandwich from Tony’s Darts Away chef Randall St. Clair complete with Au Jus (Randall is pictured in green above, grub pictured below with a Maui Brewing Mana Wheat).

Bootlegger’s Jose and super lovely wife served up one of OC’s best hef’s with a kiss.

The beer choices on hand aren’t that much different from any other beerfest. Brewers towed typical summery IPA’s, wheats and pilsners. Some of my favorites of the day were Monkish Brewing‘s Oblate (Belgian Blonde w/Chamomile), El Segundo Brewing’s White Dog IPA (Nelson hopped and super fresh), as well as Firestone Walker’s Pivo Pils (described in this blog post).

Golden Road Brewing brought an Almond Milk Stout. The whole point of a milk stout is to have a mid to high level of sweetness that carries the roastyness. Traditionally, milk stouts use lactose sugar (not vegan friendly, moo) that is unfermentable by yeast to add sweetness. The problem with almond milk is that it’s largely sweetened with sugar cane juice which is ‘edible’ to yeast. I perceived GR’s Almond Milk Stout as fairly dry, tasting and finishing similar to a sessionable dry Irish stout, which is strange for a beer finishing above five plato. I would have expected more hints of creamy nuttyness and a little bit more sweetness. I’d like to try the beer in their pub on nitro. Fun beer though, and I applaud their experimentation. I would have thought Coconut Milk would have been the obvious choice.

(sponsored) Click to pre-order noted author and vegan handyman Randy Clemens The Veggie-Lover’s SRIRACHA Cookbook! Release date is July 12, just in time for all those backyard summer sizzles with your veggie-crazed buddies. Seriously, the book costs the same as like four bottles of Sriracha. You should buy it with four bottles, then squirt ropes of the cockish Huy Fong goodness all over your eggplant!

Normally, live music at a beerfest is a sub-par list of cover bands. Not today! I actually sat through an entire set of The Janks. This is the first beerfest I’ve actually discovered new music. I actually bought their album for the ride home! During other bands, people are actually shaking their groove things. I’m smiley. Great times are being had! The people watching here is also top notch.

I tried to talk her down to $2.

Overall, I can’t really knock this fest as it’s the only vegan beer fest in the world. Pretty much, if you’re vegan (or v-curious), you should go. The food and beer options are aces, but a few logistical issues should be addressed next time. (see bottom) I had a fantastic time and the great far outweighed the issues. If you’re a fruit and vegetable murderer, it’s well worth the trip up to LA for the vegan food and revelry. If you’re not…well, save it for another fest. Cheers! May the fourth be with you.

Gripes: Being in a field on Sunset Blvd looked like a nightmare for brewers to haul stuff in, grab ice and such. Flavored vitamin-type water bottles were handed out at one point, but ran out a couple hours in. The hand wash stations were also out of water…I saw a girl wash her hands with beer! That’s a first. I’m also not sure if the grounds were 100% handicapped friendly. There was no circular flow to the grounds, making a trip to the bathrooms a bit of a task if you were near the entrance. Brewers were given scarlet letter DD armbands even though they weren’t pouring. Harsh. Some people complained about parking as well but I can’t really speak to that. Maybe a better location next year? I hope so.

Walking in the brewery, I’m greeted by a tall wavering man with short hair. “Hey Buuuh-dy! BEEEEER?” asks Evan Weinberg like he’s riding a wave. I pat his back, pull up a stool and grab a flight. Being their 3rd anniversary, every beer they’ve brewed this past year is on tap. Lucky me!

Style-wise, Cismontane’s brewing technique is not like any other brewery I’ve been (except maybe the Bruery). Guided more by flavor, aroma and local hand-picked ingredients instead of BJCP styles, their beer takes on unique flavor profiles. Lines are crossed with recipes. Styles are blended. To add extra complexity, their beer likes to fuck around in wine, rye and whiskey barrels. Cismontane’s beer tastes like their philosophy: Natural, earthy, unique and complex. In a nutshell? Delicioso.

Cismontane’s staple-beers such as Holy Jim Falls XPA, The Citizen (CA Common), Coulter IPA and Black’s Dawn (Imperial Stout) are rounded and interesting, but the one-off special releases are what makes a trek to RSM worth while. As most special releases aren’t on the Untapped app, save your time and jot down some notes in your beer spank-bank for next time. Seriously, for a brewery open only three years, this list reads like a RSM housing complex rule sheet. 

The Mesa, for example, drinks like a winish-beer, or perhaps a beerish-wine. The ‘grapeyness’ of the Nelson Sauvin hops really plays well with 25% Santa Lucia highland Riesling and Pilsner blend. Oso, an Imperial Porter aged in Rye Whiskey barrels transports me to a different era; I can picture myself sipping it in an 1800′s saloon. The barrel quality is dark fruit, smoke and leather. <cracks whip>

Lets not forget what makes Cismontane truly unique: they open-ferment like crazy people. Like those commercials at 2 A.M. with girls that lift their shirts up for the video camera, Cismontane does this with yeast. Only a few breweries in America use this technique. “It’s a huge pain in the ass with yeast management” says Ross Stewart, co-bro of the brewery. Sierra Nevada employs open-ferm on one of my favorite beers, Kellerweis, but their room is pumped with filtered air and is off limits. Cismontane? Dudes pop ollies on skateboards while thick foamy krauzen dribbles down the tank like Japanese porn.

(Vine Vids complements of Cismontane brewer Dave Larsen.)

Sure Cismontane is off the beaten path, but their beers beat boredom. They taste and smell coastal, mountainy and beachy. One beer is  pleasantly grassy. Another is full of Belgian spice notes. Zippy sours like Marea Roja and boozy barrel beers like Black’s Nocturn display what this brewery is capable of. Some beers are beautifully unbalanced. Some are overwhelming, which is great! American Rye Strong knocked my socks off for a super hopped barleywine. I really could go on and on, but these beers will probably be long forgotten by the time you read this. Cismontane has probably gone off on another tangent, reinventing what beer should taste like.

Their tasting room is cozy with several tables and a small bar. There’s games and stuff to fart around with. Bottles and growlers are available to go! Food trucks come every so often. Check their website, their facebook, their Untappd, their twitter (@CisBrewCo) and of course Instagram (@CisBrewCo), as well as brewer Dave Larsen on Vine.

OCBeerBlog Sponsor! I won the OC Beer Society chili cookoff with the chili recipe from this book!

Bonus Vid!

On February 23, 2013, we came, we drank and we danced the old tasting room away.  A couple weeks went by, and the new tasting room finally opened. Bavarian picnic tables were erected. Cornhole bags flew back and forth with laser-like drunken precision. The sound of girls cheering wildly playing Lawn Jenga filled the air. The beer flowed again, and it was good.

The new location couldn’t be more perfect. Edging the corner on the downtown Fullerton map, Boots is now part of the DTF tribe. I’ve always said Bootleggers is a perfect kicking off point for a night out in Fullerton, now you can simply park on Sante Fe and actually ‘crawl’ your pub crawl.

Amerige IPA admires the sunset

The new Boots tasting room has it all: Separate sex bathrooms, a proper Joust arcade game, forty taps, and a tasty pizza place moving in next door. The beer garden extends three areas: inside with a custom-made penny bar, outside with umbrella-covered tables and a covered/lit alcove area. For food trucks, the easy access driveway on the side makes the location a modular beer geek restaurant. The view is also stellar, especially at sunset. There’s also a pilot brewery (the production brewhouse is nearby at another location) which will serve one-off beers in the tap room.

After five years of constant growth and success, it’s nice to see a hard work pay off. On Sunday April 28, Bootleggers will host its ‘fif’ Anniversary party at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center (for the second year in a row). You should probably go! Here’s the details from Bootlegger’s website:

Sunday, April 28th We will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary with Bootlegger’s Music & Beer Fest at The Muck: Celebrating 5 years!!! The celebration will be held from 1-5pm at the historic Muckenthaler Center in Fullerton. Tickets can be purchased here or they can be purchased at Bootlegger’s Tasting Room & Pilot Brewery at 130 S. Highland Ave in Fullerton ahead of time to avoid the online service charge. Additional tickets may be available at the door for $40, but will depend on availability.

Included in the ticket price will be:

• 10 taster tickets (additional tickets will be available for purchase)
• Commemorative tasting glass
• Live bands performing on stage
• Over 30 house beers on tap including several barrel aged rarities and sour beers
• Local guest brewery beers
• Access to The Muckenthaler Gallery exhibit showroom.  The featured gallery will be: Vintage Travel
• Mechanical bull ride, Bocce ball, a dunk tank, and MORE!!

In addition, there will be 3 gourmet food trucks: Dos Chinos, TJs Woodfire Pizza, and The Viking Truck as well as Brew Haw BBQ and desserts by Brew Cakes available there for you to purchase. We will also be unveiling our 80th Anniversary Ale. A portion of the proceeds from this event will go towards The Muckenthaler Cultural Center!  For additional info on the Muckenthaler Cultural Center visit: http://themuck.org

Tickets: http://bootleggers5th.brownpapertickets.com/

Pics of new and old tasting room:

“Congratulations, the IRS has accepted your federal tax return.” Getting back around $1,600 this year, it’s time to celebrate with the real IRS; Stone Brewing’s Imperial Russian Stout. 2013, being an odd year, Stone comes hard with their second ‘odd beer’ release. Tossing in a few hundred pounds of espresso coffee beans into IRS is arousing. ‘Coffee’ and ‘Stout’ is something that piques my interest no matter what. Throw in ‘Russian’ and I go all perestroika on my shopping cart.

Now, this blog post is mostly pointless because A) I hate reading beer reviews and B) You will most likely buy these beers no matter what (which you totally should). The classic release is the same recipe Stone has been making for years on end. It’s a beautiful beer that has tons of character and ages well. Now that your cellar is devoid of Vertical Epic beers, is it worth filling with Stone IRS? Should you go all espresso or classic? That’s my goal in this post.

I line up shots of IRS in my traditional Russian glassware: Russian president shooter glasses! On the pour, both versions are black with a thick bubbly tan head. Aside from that, both drink like two totally different beers.

The classic release smells like a hot See’s Candy store clerk: dark milk chocolate and notes of cherry cordial and vanilla as she passes by the nose. The taste makes my cheeks rosy; some boozy warming chocolate, cocoa, roastyness and notes of cherry wood and currants.  The creamy bitter finish balances the whole situation and lingers for a while. Such a nice pleasant layered sip; this beer is really done well, but you knew that.

The espresso release is a totally different beer. The fruity/cherry notes make way for a rich coffee aroma. It’s such a pleasant relaxing smell as well; I’m inhaling this beer for a few minutes and can feel the tension of doing taxes melt away. On the sip, the espresso smooths out the beer and calms the heat. I’m shocked this much flavor can come from water, plants and yeast. I wish I had another one so my wife could say, “Greg never has a second Espresso RIS at home”.

Overall I prefer the Espresso release by a wide margin. Both are stellar beers, but the classic release needs to lay down for bit to calm the warming. At 10.5% ABV on the classic and 11% on the espresso, I would have thought opposite. The espresso release is great now! One thing to note: most coffee/espresso beers give me a slight dry metallic note, this beer doesn’t do that. Stone Brewing Co. manages to keep my ADHD interest high in this ever expanding craft beer landscape. First Dayman Coffee IPA and now this? 2013 is the year of the coffee bean.

For the cellar: My goal is to pick up a few of each, maybe an extra espresso bottle to sip with some friends.

Suggested Food Pairings:

• Dessert: cherry cheese cake, bon bons, oreo sundae – anything chocolate
• Soup: split pea, red clam chowder, spicy african peanut soup at the Gypsy Den in Anaheim
• Meat: open flame seasoned steak, Las Vegas 3 A.M roast beef, Indian restaurant prepared lamb chops
• Vegan: Thai coconut curry, tofu pad thai

Thanks Stone Brewing Company for the preview bottles!

It’s no Pea Soup Andersons! (credit Beer of Tomorrow)

11:35 A.M – Buellton, CA Two and half hours up the coast from Orange County, the bus door snaps open like a UFO in a corn field. I jump out, apply a fresh coat of lip-balm, and crack my bones like I’m in a home run derby. A seagull flies over my head, lands atop a nearby flagpole flapping a British flag, craps, and flies away.

I’m outside Firestone Walker’s Barrelworks, which I understand pours my style of drink: wild, sour and funky beers. After sitting on the road for a couple hours, I could easily drink a beer out of a hobo’s shoe! Stepping inside the warehouse, I’m sucked into a booming craft beer vortex. Nipples slowly erect with the temp, retinas dilate to the dark…I slide my fingers across a barrel and knock on it for good luck. “There’s creatures living in there” I whisper to myself like the creepy little lady in Poltergeist. The lights kick on, revealing an aging beer mothership of deliciousness. I feel like we’re here for a beer séance. Lets join hands!

Audio: Jim Crooks explains some history and philosophy behind Barrelworks

Inside, QC manager/Master Blender Jim Crooks (aka Sour Jim) gives the rundown on Barrelworks. Teamed up with OG brewer Jeff Richardson (originator of the Firestone Walker barrel union) started this “padded room for brewers” to create wild beers away from the production brewery. Micro-organisms like Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and wild yeast can wreak havoc in a brewhouse like an infected cruise ship, hence the need to “infect” these beers well away from home base. At the production brewery, bugs “can be the end all, the be all…We test for these bugs every single day, if any show up anything, be it in the DBA union, the entire union will get cancelled…get thrown out” says Jim. In a controlled environment such as Barrelworks, brewers can go nuts.

Starting with only 28 barrels last year, Brewmaster Matt Brynaldson secured 400+ two-year old Opus One barrels (pictured above with colored stripe) to use at Barrelworks. Using base beers brewed at the production brewery in Paso Robles, fermented beer is racked into barrels and transported to Barrelworks for inoculation and/or aging.

As of early 2013, the barrels are being used for:

• Aggrestic Ale = DBA + Brettanomyces in secondary + Lactobacillus. Takes on a Belgian style Flanders quality.
• Sour Opal = Lil’ Opal + Bugs
• Reginald Brett = Double DBA, Aged in Bourbon + re-racked and inoculated with Brett.
• Brettaweisse = Hefeweizen + Brett (Described in this post)
• Raw Barrel aging with no bugs/brett is also done to see the character a raw barrel will impose on a base beer.
• Collaboration with Mikkeller – Brewed saison, hit with bugs and locally sourced wine grapes. Will be available at the Firestone Walker Invitational beer festival in June.

Blending Session!

After a beautiful Taphouse lunch, Jim puts my sour beer protégé Simon Ford and I to work blending a batch of Sour Opal.  With samples from three barrels, paperwork and a Ph meter, we get to work making notes of each and what works best. With souring, beers don’t really start to get interesting until the Ph gets less than 3.8, but we opt to use our palates instead of a meter. In the end, our zippy blend makes our palates do the Harlem Shake. “I think I’ve got a winner here” I say to David Walker. He samples it silently and slides the glass back on the table without saying a word. Ah well, we enjoyed it. Must be a British thing.

Stealing Bugs – Credit Simon Ford

Using my best guilt tactics, I ask Sour Jim if I can take some bugs home to further my own sour beer program. “Is there any way you can pay it forward like Vinnie Cilurzo did for you?” “(laughing) We used to steal bugs on coasters, let me get you some baggies” says Jim. Simon and I are giddy at the thought of dumping bugs from this roller coaster day into our homebrews.

The fun doesn’t stop there, as the unimaginable happens: Jim sneaks Simon and I deep into the barrelhouse for an impromptu tasting. Pulling a nail out of a few special barrels, Jim shows us the nuances of a few favorites. The same base beers with the exact amount of inoculent in similar barrels can have vastly different character. Each barrel is its own microclimate, its own universe. I have goosebumps. What a day!

Barrelworks in Buellton is not only a place for the brewers to go wild, it’s a place where the craft beer curious can learn more about barrel aged beers. It’s a beer geek’s classroom! Barrelworks has a full Taproom restaurant, gift shop, brewery fresh and cellared beer store, funky tasting room and a climate controlled barrel warehouse. Self guided tours are available. With a beautiful 2.5 hour coastal drive up, this is the perfect weekend getaway!

Hangar 24

• Diamond Club
• Knothole Club Suites
• Broken Bat
• Draft Pick Gate 2
• Draft Cart Section 126 Gate 4

Other locations will be added as info becomes available. 

Disneyland California Adventure has featured local craft beer for some time. When news broke this morning about the new brewhouse, I strapped on my mouse ears and screamed the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme! M I C…K E Y, WHY? Because you love Craft beer!

The brewhouse is scheduled to be complete by April 2014 in time for the Beer-Wine-Food Festival. The brewhouse will sit next to the new Ghirardelli in the Pacific Wharf area.

Disney PR listed some potential beers that will be available:

• Bippity Boppity Brown
• Snow Wit
• Jane Porter
• To Infinity and Beyond Pale Ale
• Peoplemover Pils
• The Abbomidable Hefeweizen
• Jack’s Big Pumpkin Beer
• Gipettos Barrel Aged Barley Wine
• Merida’s Irish Red
• Pooh’s Honey Blonde
• John Smith’s ESB
• Dumbo DIPA

3pm on a Saturday: Paso Robles :

Bird’s eye view of the patented Firestone Union – gulp!

On the tour, we sample 100% barrel fermented Double Barrel Ale (DBA); compared to the production 20% blend you get in stores, has a fruitier nose and firm bite. If this beer were served on cask, or even on nitro, I’d probably drop to the floor and have kittens! Both 100% and 20% DBA are outstanding and screaming with character, and worthy of a trip up to Paso Robles alone. Beer history lesson in a glass!

In the name of the Adam, and of the David, Amen. – View of Paso Robles and silos

Continuing the tour, fifty feet up on a grated catwalk makes my ass pucker. High as a kite, I duck through a portal to the outdoor silos. I believe I could fly. I believe I can touch the sky.  On the way back in, I pee in the brewers lounge, which may sound fancy, but it’s pretty much just a regular toilet next to some lockers. I’d skip that portion of the tour next time.

Preview for next time: Barrelworks!

Coming soon, part 3: Firestone Walker’s latest venture: Barrelworks in Buellton. Blending sours, stealing bugs and sneaking tastes from nail-holes!

Tuesday March 26 at 6:30, the Globe in Garden Grove is hosting a YUGE Beer for Boobs event! If you haven’t been to the Globe, they’re a Belgian expatriate-ran pan-euro gastropub with more Belgian beer taps than you can shake a trappist monk at.

The event will host:

• Four course prix fixe Belgian beer paired dinner! – $40 online, $45 at door. If you have issues ordering online, call direct at 714-537-7471 from 4pm (M-S)
• Bottle share with purchase of a Beer for Boobs glass (bring a bottle)!
• Silent Auction benefiting Beer for Boobs!

Dinner includes:

• Blanche De Bruxelles with Baby Endive, shaved fennel, lemon and white pepper dressing, and crumbled Feta.
• Leffe Brune with Prosciutto wrapped scampi shrimp, skewered with rosemary sprigs.
• Chimay Tripel with Skirt steak florets.
• Straffe Hendrik Quad with Crème brûlée with a few spicy candied pecans.

Silent Auction!

I’d give my left teste for this box of westy

A hand-carried from the mother land super rare box  of Wesvleteren
Degustatiebox Trappist Westvleteren!

• 1 Authentic Trappist Westvleteren Chalice
• 1 Bottle Trappist Westvleteren 12 (Quad)
• 1 Bottle Trappist Westvleteren 8 (Dubbel)
• 2 Bottle Trappist Westvleteren Blond (Pale)
• Other rare donated bottles and memorabeeria from the restaurant owners, distributors and superfans, like this bottle of St. Martin’s Cloak from Brasserie De Brunehaut (Only 7,500 bottles produced and released in late 2012 – thanks to Mario Valle of Liguor Mart Whittier) and others from Julie Lim of OC Wine Mart in Irvine.

Bottle Share!

Buy a Beer for Boobs glass and bring a tasty bottle of beer to share! The B4B team will be on hand as well with tshirts, coozies and other goodies.

On tap at the Globe:

• Tickets! Get your dinner tickets
• Facebook event page
• Be sure and hashtag #OCB4B on all your untappd checkins!
• Location: 12926 Main Street Garden Grove, CA 92840

About Beer for Boobs:

Beer for Boobs is a super walking, super cancer fighting walking crew. The idea for this fabulous team was born at White Labs in 2008. We wanted to raise yeast by day, and stomp out breast cancer by the mile. Our fearless leader & Vice President of White Labs, Lisa White, collected her superhuman yeast ranchers & friends to create our breast cancer fighting crew. Our crew walks 60 miles in 3 days this November to fight against breast cancer. 

Proper pitching rate achieved.

Everyone likes a little Irish in them from time to time, right? Since true Irish craft doesn’t make its way across the pond (yet), I really like Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. Guinness’ older, stronger brother. Look for the yellow label! Not shipped to the US until a couple years ago!

Bootleggers Knuckle Sandwich DIPA: Fresh Knuckle is available everywhere this week! Its (sort of) reddish hue can fake your 1% Irish heritage into thinking you’re drinking an Irish Red. At 10% ABV, you’ll surely get the gift of gab and stumble around like a drunken Irishman. This weekend, check out their new tasting room with Knuckle on cask w/Citra hops Friday and their  grand opening party on Saturday.

Ain’t no party like a Dublin party!

At the end of the rainbow in Brea, there’s GABF Silver waiting for you…grab a growler of TAPS Irish Red! Their Sunday brunch is no Irish Breakfast, but it’s VERY solid. Later in the day they have a special ‘Green’ menu that is worthy of a jig.

Petty Larseny

When I think Irish beer, I think session. My favorite local session beer right now is Cismontane Brewing’s Holy Jim Falls XPA. Huge hop aroma and low ABV keeps me happy! I plan on cooking my corned beef and cabbage with a bottle as well. Cismontane brewer David Larsen is 25% Leprechaun (I think) so it’s legit!

What are you drinking? Be sure to follow me on Instagram and Untappd!

Sláinte!