Eagle Rock Brewery - Unity 2012

On the side of the bottle: "On August 20, 2012, a team of cohorts from the LA Beer Industry joined forces for the brewing of Unity to commemorate the 4th anniversary of Los Angeles Beer Week. The name "Unity" represents the collective idea of promoting ongoing growth of the beer culture in our city. The camaraderie and support we lend to each other in this industry inspires and enables Angelenos to realize the common goal of unity through better beer!"

This year's Unity is a Berliner "Rye" (as opposed to Berliner Weisse) brewed with prickly pear and is a very manageable 3.25% ABV. It was available from Eagle Rock throughout Beer Week, and as this is a one-off beer, when the bottles run out, it's done for good!

Appearance: The picture makes this look quite orange, but it's actually a very light, cloudy yellow. I poured off minimal head that recedes to approximately nothing.

Smell: There is definitely a funky foot smell from the sour character, and the prickly pear also hits the nose in a big way. There is a bit of grain/breadyness, and a slightly sweet note from the rye.

Taste: Overall light and fruity, with a tart kick. This isn't an overly complex beer, but it's certainly refreshing; the prickly pear and rye flavors work well together with the tartness to create a flavor balance that has an impact without feeling heavy or overwhelming.

Mouthfeel: Very light and dry, with a perfect amount of carbonation.

Overall: It has been so damn hot in LA over the past few weeks, and this is a very welcome beverage to beat the heat. The brewers and collaborators definitely knew what they were doing when they decided on this style for a late-summer beer. Berliners aren't necessarily a "wow" style in that they don't really specialize in huge flavors, but Unity 2012 is exactly on point for what I would expect a "Berliner rye" to taste like. Sessionable beers can be very tough, in that their more delicate flavors don't mask "off" qualities as well as a bolder flavors do. This didn't appear to be a problem for Unity, as I can't pick up on any off flavors and am thoroughly enjoying the delicate palate and mouthfeel on this 100-degree day.

4/5

LA Beer Week - Brewer's Brunch at Eagle Rock Brewery

I just returned from the Brewer's Brunch at Eagle Rock Brewery, where Chef Jerry was serving up great brunch out of his food truck pop-up Tot Box (operating out of the Deano's Deli truck today.) I tried the Heisenberg tots, which consisted of tater tots with a variety of Italian sausage and maple syrup. If you like salty-sweet, it's a slam dunk. But, this is a beer blog, so I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention the wonderful variety of Eagle Rock beers on tap today:

• Solidarity, both the "regular" version and the vanilla bean version on nitro -- this is their unofficial "breakfast beer," as I like to think of it. A black mild with a nice roasty flavor that is low in ABV
• Manifesto -- their version of a wit, a great light option with floral notes provided by the addition of rose petals
• Populist -- their west coast style IPA; you'll get citrus and resin out of this
• Revolution -- their XPA, which displays the character of the grain in nice balance with the hops

The above are their year-round offerings; in addition they also had some seasonal selections:

• Eradicator Jr -- the bock they brewed for the GABF ProAm category, with a sweet nutty character
• Imperialist -- the first DIPA they've brewed, it's a huge 10% hoppy delight
• Unity -- the official beer of LA Beer Week, this year Unity is a "Berliner Rye," or a twist on the Berliner Weiss style that is brewed with rye rather than wheat. Unity also has the addition of prickly pear, which lends a crisp fruit note on top of the tartness from the traditional BW style.

If you try nothing else new this week, make sure you grab the Unity when you see it on tap. This light, refreshing beer could not be more appropriate for the scorching heat of the past few weeks here in LA. I'm going to review it later this week in more detail, but before I get to it I want to let everyone out there know that they should be on the lookout for it!

The brunch is officially done by now, but the taproom at ERB is open until 6pm on Sundays and 4pm-10pm Wednesday through Saturday, which should give you plenty of opportunities to try Unity before the closing festival next weekend!

LA Beer Week Starts TOMORROW!

Hey! So did you know my Aroma Coma review was my 100th post on the blog? Not quite my 100th review, but that's probably coming up since I haven't done that many non-review posts! I'll probably stick a fashionable confetti GIF or something to mark the "milestone" review, or something. Anyway -- onward to the important news, which is that LA Beer Week is back! Here are some of the events I'm going to try to hit up this weekend:

TONIGHT (Wednesday, September 19th): Women's Beer Forum at Eagle Rock Brewery
Though Beer Week doesn't officially kick off until tomorrow, Ting at ERB has done a Women's Forum once a month for about a year and a half, encouraging women to come and try flights of different styles of beer. She conceived the forum as a way to encourage women to find out what they like in a beer, and to try to develop a vocabulary around how to describe what those taste preferences are! It's a great opportunity for lady beer novices and "experts" to come try different beers, and tonight the focus will be on "LA Beer," including Unity, ERB's annual LA Beer Week Brew.

Thursday, September 20th: Dogfish Head invades Little Tokyo at Far Bar
I love the Far Bar, a tucked away little spot with a great outdoor patio in Little Tokyo. I don't always give a lot of love to Dogfish Head beers on this blog, but I credit them with being some of the first beers I tried as I got into craft beer. I think overall they produce solid, innovative beers, and the "tap takeover" includes 120 Minute IPA and Burton Baton, two beers we don't see too often out here in California.

On Friday, September 21st:, I'm going to take it easy.

Saturday, September 22nd: I'm going to be at UCLA vs. Oregon St football game during the day, so I'm not holding my breath for having a ton of energy left to hit up a lot of beer week events after tailgating. Since it's during the game, I definitely won't be able to make the Saturday with Kern River at Far Bar, but that would be a top pick for the day. KRBC is a fantastic small brewery, and their beers are in such high demand out here that getting a taste of any of their stuff at all without having to drive to Kernville is a freaking treat. If I can make it to anything in the evening, I might want to try to make it out to one of the Walker's Wild Ride events, where rare sours are going to be randomly tapped by out-of-a-hat (or similarly random) drawing at various bars around LA.

Sunday, September 23rd: I'm definitely interested in hitting up the Brewer's Brunch at Eagle Rock Brewery, both for the opportunity to hang out at my favorite LA craft brewery again, and for the (sure to be) delicious food that Jerry, family of the brewery owners, is going to be cooking. Guy is damn talented. I may head later to Beer Belly to participate in Crap for Craft, a charmingly named opportunity to trade in craft beer for local craft beer at the bar. Their food is also great...

I'll check back in early next week with some more events I'd like to attend. You should definitely check out The Calendar for yourselves, as there are tons of events every day, and I'm selecting events partially based on my geography. There will be something that interests you, whether it's drink specials at bars or more structured "learning" or "meet and greet" activities, and the events are all over the city! 

Will I be seeing you out at Beer Week?

Eagle Rock Brewery, Craftsman Brewing - Unity (2011)

Tamarind Saison ~7% ABV

Appearance: It's light to medium copper colored, and slightly hazy with constant, visible carbonation. The pour in this picture is from a growler, so it has lost some of the fizz, but when poured fresh Unity has a small-ish (1-2 fingers) head but very good retention in a tulip glass.

Smell: Primarily tamarind (appropriately), with nice barnyard spice and sweet bready malt. None of the scents are overpowering in any way -- the total effect is that it's subtle but inviting.

Taste: It opens with tangy citrus on the palate, which makes its way into the tamarind notes over a backbone of nice bready character (similar to the nose.) There is spiciness throughout and especially into the finish.

Mouthfeel: It's medium bodied with refreshing effervescence when consumed fresh. From this growler, it was still medium bodied, but smoother.

Overall: Another saison I enjoy. It's not my favorite of Eagle Rock's beers, or even my favorite saison of theirs. But I like the style so much that this is easily something that I would purchase in bottles to have stashed for year-round consuming. As it's a seasonal release, I'll definitely be taking the opportunity to drink this as long as it's on tap.

So far I've preferred to give whole-number scores, but I'm going to break the trend here and give it 3.5/5. It gets a boost for being a saison -- and since I'm biased, being from Eagle Rock -- but there are other saisons (and as I mentioned, other ERB saisons) that I prefer.

Eagle Rock Brwery - Stimulus

Stimulus is a "Coffee Brown Ale," not a stout or porter that traditionally would have a strong coffee profile in it. I don't know the exact %ABV, but I'm sure it's less than 8%.

Appearance: The beer is a deep, burnt orange, nearly copper. It is cloudy, with a nice, thick head and minimal lacing.

Smell: The beer smells primarily of roasted coffee, but hints of cinnamon and hazelnut come through.

Taste: The coffee profile is definitely strong here. Hazelnut comes through as in the nose, and there are also slight hints of bread and brown sugar.

Mouthfeel: The beer is medium-bodied, with moderate carbonation. It's not viscous or thick at all, which makes sense as it's an ale, but it's an interesting sensation as usually the coffee taste is so strongly associated with thicker beers like stouts and porters. The powerful taste and aroma does lend the beer a richness, but it's not overpowering.

Overall: I think Eagle Rock has something really special with this beer. It's an interesting thought to begin with a nutty ale base and add the coffee adjunct to it. As a result, the beer is what some might consider a nearly perfect "breakfast" beer. It's caffeinated, so it will pick you up, but it's also got a rich bready nuttiness that fills you up and relaxes you. It's a special occasion when they have it on tap, so if there are any locals out there reading this (Hi!) definitely get it when you see it available at the brewery.

4/5

Eagle Rock Brewery - Equinox

Young Sour Ale, 5.4% ABV

Appearance: Light straw in color, clear, minimal head/lacing -- possible that some carbonation has been lost in the growler that would have provided a thicker head.

Smell: White wine, funky, green apple, vinegar

Taste: Apple really comes through -- apple cider vinegar is a close approximation taste-wise but the beer is actually light and not harsh at all like drinking vinegar would actually be. As it's a "young" sour, it is not very full-bodied, but for beginners to sour beers this may be a good introduction, as it's light, mild, and very drinkable. Not a lot of malt character, which is nice here because for me I think too much sweet/sour would have reminded me of Warheads candy or SweetTarts.

Mouthfeel: It's very refreshing, and if the beer has at all gone a little flat from growler transport/keeping, it does not affect the mouthfeel at all. It's light-bodied.

Overall: This is a nice, clean, refreshing beer that Eagle Rock is smart to market as a "young" sour, since understandably it's a bit thin in complexity. It's a great beer as we transition into summer from spring, and I'd easily imagine myself drinking it on the beach.

3/5