As you may recall, I had written that I was excited to check out the FiftyFifty tap takeover at Verdugo Bar last Wednesday. It was great, but that wasn't the only beer encounter of my day!
I actually first had the opportunity to try a flight of the beers brewed over at Haven Gastropub in Pasadena, along with some lunch. My main course was a plate of pulled pork tacos, which you can never go wrong with in my opinion, but my true love of the hour was the macaroni and cheese with black truffles. As I learned at Blue Palms awhile back, truffled food and drinking beer is a sublime experience. I previously was unaware that Haven actually brewed beer onsite, so I was stoked to try their lineup. Of the eight beers I got to sip on, my two favorites were "Hello World," their pale ale, and "Brewmaster's Breakfast," their light breakfast stout. Both had great flavor, and for lunch on a hot day, neither felt too overpowering. They struck a nice balance of being bold but not heavy, which was exactly what I was looking for given the weather and the fact that it was mid-day lunch.
And look who it is! The back of my head is a celebrity! This event was really cool: I got to try two FiftyFifty beers I'd never had before -- "Rockslide IPA" and "4 Wheat" -- as well as the latest version of BART (Barrel Aged Really Tasty), a beer that changes with every batch basically based on what the brewer wants to throw in. I'm not entirely certain what was blended into this version, but it had the rich sweetness of a barleywine and some dark fruit flavors. Very decadent and delicious. I'm really looking forward to the Eclipse release at the end of the year. California and the west coast tend to be known more for their IPAs and hoppy beers than for their imperial stouts and barrel-aged beers, but the Eclipse series beers collectively rank in my top 3 for west coast barrel aged stouts (due to both the barrel treatment and the strength of the base stout, Totality) and prove that we go toe-to-toe with some of the more stout-heavy regions. Look out for reviews and tasting notes for those later this winter!
I'll write up the closing festival at Union Station in my next post, but be warned -- my precise recollection may be... unreliable?
I actually first had the opportunity to try a flight of the beers brewed over at Haven Gastropub in Pasadena, along with some lunch. My main course was a plate of pulled pork tacos, which you can never go wrong with in my opinion, but my true love of the hour was the macaroni and cheese with black truffles. As I learned at Blue Palms awhile back, truffled food and drinking beer is a sublime experience. I previously was unaware that Haven actually brewed beer onsite, so I was stoked to try their lineup. Of the eight beers I got to sip on, my two favorites were "Hello World," their pale ale, and "Brewmaster's Breakfast," their light breakfast stout. Both had great flavor, and for lunch on a hot day, neither felt too overpowering. They struck a nice balance of being bold but not heavy, which was exactly what I was looking for given the weather and the fact that it was mid-day lunch.
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| Photo credit: Friends of Local Beer |
I'll write up the closing festival at Union Station in my next post, but be warned -- my precise recollection may be... unreliable?
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