Thirsty in LA » beer

September 25: L.A. Craft Beer Crawl in Downtown Los Angeles

thirstyinla — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:16:01 +0000

The Beer Chicks will be signing books at Golden Gopher. | Photo: 213

Proving that his interests go beyond great cocktails and fine spirits, 213 Proprietor Cedd Moses is teaming up with The Beer Chicks (Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune) to present the inaugural L.A. Craft Beer Crawl, taking place in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, September 25th. For the price of one ticket, Crawlers will get unlimited samples of 50 craft beers, including Allagash, Brouwerij West, Craftsman, Dogfish Head, Eagle Rock, Jolly Pumpkin, Lost Coast, Stone, Telegraph, Unibroue and many more. The Crawl will be hosted at 213 bars Seven Grand, Cole’s, The Varnish, Las Perlas, Casey’s, Golden Gopher, Broadway Bar and Caña. The beer selection is curated by Perozzi and Beaune, authors of The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer.

The Crawl begins at Casey’s Irish Pub, where Crawlers will get a 6-ounce tasting glass, wristband and map (sure to come in handy after a few samples). Each 213 venue will offer its own distinct vibe and host different craft breweries: Seven Grand will pour barrel-aged beers with scotch and bourbon enhanced notes; The Beer Chicks will sign books at Golden Gopher; Pulitzer Prize winning food writer Jonathan Gold will host the VIP Room at the Varnish, where guests can enjoy Cole’s French Dip sandwiches paired with top German-style taps, as well as beer cocktails and a meet and greet with brewers.

To help Crawlers soak up the suds, Gold has selected some of L.A.’s top gourmet food trucks, including Grilled Cheese Truck, LudoTruck and Manila Machine.

The Jameson Stage at Casey's. | Photo: 213

Included in the ticket is admission to an afterparty at Casey’s, featuring live music and a dozen craft pints.

LA Craft Beer Crawl
Saturday, September 25, 2010
3pm-8pm
lacraftbeercrawl.com

Visit the event’s Facebook page and follow its Twitter feed for updated info and participating breweries.

Tickets are available online only, at lacraftbeercrawl.eventbrite.com.

Early Bird Special: $39
General Admission: $49
VIP: $89

A portion of the proceeds will go to Heal the Bay, a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds, including Santa Monica Bay, safe, healthy and clean.

Update 9/17: Early Bird tickets have sold out, General Admission and VIP tickets are still available.

Update 9/22: VIP tickets have sold out. General Admission tickets are still available.

Update 9/24: General Admission tickets have sold out.

Your Next Happy Hour Stop: Waterloo & City

thirstyinla — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:46:40 +0000

Photo: Waterloo & City

If the goal for Waterloo & City was to “create a fun, accessible neighborhood spot,” where guests can “enjoy a sophisticated, nuanced menu, knock back a few pints or do both at the same time,” then Executive Chef Brendan Collins and GM Carolos Tomazos have done all that and more. Their Culver City gastropub (named for a line on the Tube) has been packing them in and earning raves since its May opening. Based on her first impressions, S. Irene Virbala writes in the LA Times: “I can’t think of anything quite like (Waterloo & City) in all of Los Angeles,” and singles out the charcuterie as “gutsy and irresistible.” The LA Weekly’s Jonathan Gold likewise gives props to the charcuterie, noting in his review that “Waterloo & City has been mobbed from the second it opened,” and deems it “the right restaurant in the right neighborhood at the right time.”

To tempt guests with even more reasons to stop by, last week Waterloo & City debuted two happy hours, available every day in the Bar/Lounge area only. Selected “Pubtails” are $6 (regular price $10), including a few happy hour exclusives:

The Westside – Gin, Lemonade, Mint, Fresh Watermelon
Sangria – Brandy, Wine, Fresh Fruit
Dark & Stormy – Goslings Rum & Ginger Beer
Peach Margarita – Tequila, Lime Juice, Triple Sec, Fresh Peach
Aperol Spritz – Aperol, Sparkling Wine, Club Soda, Orange

There are other drink specials to quench your summer thirst:

Wine of the Day: $5
Well Drinks: $5
Beer of the Day: $4

To soak up the libations, Waterloo & City has a variety of happy hour bites, including a selection of Small Plates & Shares (starting at $7) and a choice of three pizzas ($9 each). Can’t make it to happy hour? The Late Night Menu features the same Pubtails and drinks, plus a few more food specials. Next stop, Culver City!

Waterloo & City
12517 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90066
(310) 391-4222
www.waterlooandcity.com

Happy Hour: 5-7pm daily
Late Night Menu: 10pm-12am (Sun-Thu), 11pm-1am (Fri-Sat)

Time for a Cocktail: Hourglass Menu at Comme Ça

thirstyinla — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 22:15:04 +0000

With Bastille Day today and summer finally arriving in Los Angeles, the time is right for Comme Ça to debut its Hourglass Menu, available every night at the bar from 5pm to 7pm.

Wines by the glass or beer are half price, while the following signature 18A cocktails are $6 each:

Vodka Daisy – vodka, lemon, house-made curaçao
Mojito – rum, lime, simple syrup, mint
Rye Smash – rye, lemon wedges, honey, mint

The Hourglass Menu also features dishes available exclusively at the bar, including: fried oysters with sauce gribiche ($9), pulled pork sliders with pickled shallots and arugula ($8), and Poutine made with pomme frites, topped with Vermont white cheddar curds, sausage gravy and sunny side egg ($8).

You can view the Hourglass Menu here. Just make sure you’re at Comme Ça before time runs out!

Hourglass Menu at Comme Ça
Nightly from 5-7pm
8479 Melrose Ave.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(323) 782-1104
www.commecarestaurant.com

July 24: LA Street Food Fest – Summer Tasting Event

thirstyinla — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:14:34 +0000

Following a February event that NBC’s Joshua Lurie called “a culinary earthquake that has triggered several mobile aftershocks,” the LA Street Food Fest returns with an all-new Summer Tasting Event on Saturday, July 24th at the Rose Bowl.

Event co-founders Shawna Dawson (Sauce LA) and Sonja Rasula (UNIQUE LA) have addressed the crowds and long lines from the February Street Food Fest by capping attendance for the Summer Tasting Event at 5,000 (the Rose Bowl was built to handle crowds in excess of 90,000). Additionally, the all-inclusive tickets will be pre-sale only, and exclusively available online.

Sonja (L) and Shawna (R) bid you welcome.

For the price of one ticket, guests can sample signature bites from over 60 vendors, including gourmet food trucks, Old School carts and stands, celebrity chefs, and street-inspired dishes from some of LA’s best restaurants. Vendors will be serving from tented booths on the field of the world famous Rose Bowl, where attendees can grab a blanket and enjoy their food on the grass, dine at a picnic table or in a shaded lounge, or work on their tan up in the stands.

Summer Tasting vendors will participate in a Cook-Off Competition judged by a panel of experts, led by Susan Feniger (Border Grill, Ciudad, STREET), who says “the single biggest influence on my career as a chef has been street food.”

To wash down all the great food, the Summer Tasting will feature two Singha Beer Gardens, Sailor Jerry Rum cocktails, and refreshments from IZZE, Honest Tea and Dry Soda. Agave aficionados should head straight for the Upper Deck, site of a Tequila and Mezcal Tasting that includes:

The Summer Tasting will also include free prints from the Oh! Snap photo booth, live entertainment, raffle prizes and giveaways, plus free parking in the Rose Bowl parking lot for all attendees.

For more information on the LA Street Food Fest, visit lastreetfoodfest.com.
Follow LA Street Food Fest on Twitter: @LAfoodfest
Become a fan on Facebook: LA Street Food Fest

LA Street Food Fest – Summer Tasting Event
Saturday, July 24, 2010
4-5pm (VIP Preview)
5:30-9pm (General Admission)

The Rose Bowl
1001 Rose Bowl Drive
Pasadena, CA 91103

Featuring:

Over 60 food vendors
Open bars and beer gardens
Ice Cream Social
UNIQUE LA Pop-Up Mini-Market
Street Food Cook Off
Live performances from The Deadly Syndrome and Warpaint, plus DJ Bryan Davidson
Portion of proceeds to benefit St. Vincent Meals on Wheels & Woolly School Gardens

Tickets are on sale now, available only through the Summer Tasting Event website and Eventbrite. No tickets will be sold at the door.

General Admission: $45

5:30pm entry
Unlimited samples of signature eats and drinks
Complimentary parking
Photo booth prints
Concert and entertainment

VIP: $65
Includes all of the above plus:

VIP Preview Hour from 4-5pm
Access to a VIP parking lot

NOTES:

Children age 7 and under are admitted free with a paying ticketed adult.
Due to health and Rose Bowl regulations, no dogs allowed. Sorry, Snoopy.

Update 7/11: half the tickets have already been sold, according to a comment posted yesterday on the event’s Facebook page.

Images: LA Street Food Fest

Tapping the Newcastle DraughtKeg

thirstyinla — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:02:13 +0000

England may not be able to produce a decent World Cup goalkeeper, but after centuries of brewing it certainly knows its beer. Introduced in 1927, Newcastle Brown Ale is a relative youngster compared to other English beers, debuting to acclaim and expanding since then to its current global standing. Craft beer aficionados may not clamor for Newcastle (which is imported by Heineken USA), but personally I have fond (if somewhat hazy) memories of downing pints of it during many a Westside pub session back in the day.

With the USA-Ghana Round of 16 match coming up last week, I wondered what I should have on hand when The Red Bearded Hipster came over. Fortunately the booze fairy was way ahead of me and sent me a Newcastle DraughtKeg to review. Accompanying the review package was a Geordie Schooner, a custom Wellington pint glass specially branded for the American market.

The Newcastle DraughtKeg is a steel mini-keg which holds 5 liters (1.33 gallons) of Newcastle Brown Ale. Following on the 2005 introduction of the Heineken DraughtKeg, the Newcastle version launched last August, utilizing the same internal CO2 pressurization system and mini-tap to provide a convenient, portable way to enjoy up to ten pints of beer. The DraughtKeg is compatible with the Krups BeerTender, an appliance that chills and maintains the DraughtKeg at its ideal temperature, ready for use in your Man Cave.

The directions said to chill the DraughtKeg for 10 hours, so I left it in the fridge overnight. The RBH was running late, so at halftime, after deciphering the hieroglyphics of the instruction sheet, I proceeded to tap the DraughtKeg. The delivery system comes in two plastic components, a tap and a nozzle.

The DraughtKeg nozzle and tap.

Once the beer is chilled, tapping the mini-keg couldn’t be easier. Flip the rounded handle of the tap, then snap it into place in the center of the DraughtKeg. Rinse out the nozzle in running water before sliding it into the tap.

To serve the beer, position the pint glass below the nozzle and slowly flip the tap handle. Be careful not to suddenly flip the handle all the way; a full stream of beer shoots out of the nozzle, which can be messy if you’re not ready for it. After a couple of tries there was no problem with tap control.

Beer flow is easy to control with the DraughtKeg tap.

One thing the instructions didn’t mention (that I fortunately anticipated) was that most of the initial glass would be very foamy, just like a regular-sized keg. Also not mentioned is that some residual beer drips from the nozzle after each pour, so plan accordingly.

Mmm...beer...

By this time the RBH had arrived, so we filled a couple of pints and proceeded to watch Team USA go down in frustrating defeat. Ah well, at least we were able to enjoy a few rounds of fresh draught beer. Something we both noticed was that we hardly felt any effects from drinking the Newcastle. At 4.7% ABV it’s certainly average in strength, and it’s unlikely the DraughtKeg did anything to reduce the beer’s kick.

Overall I found the Newcastle DraughtKeg to be an excellent product. The Newcastle pours out a rich brown with a proper head. The beer is a bit thin but smooth and very drinkable, with an upfront roasted malt and a hint of sweetness at the finish.

According to the press materials, the beer will stay fresh for thirty days. A friend who bought a Heineken DraughtKeg said this wasn’t the case, but I’ve read other reviews of the Newcastle that said the beer did keep for extended periods. Not that I’d be able to keep a DraughtKeg in my fridge without killing it well before it went flat. The Newcastle held up fine over the next couple of days, though I can’t say the same for the teams I was rooting for on Sunday, from England and Mexico in the World Cup to the Dodgers against the Yankees.

The Newcastle DraughtKeg is currently available in select U.S. markets at a suggested retail price of $22.99.

For more information, visit newcastlebrown.com.

Tapping into the Inaugural L.A. Craft Beer Crawl

The Edison Happy Hour Returns with the 35 Cent Martini and the Centennial Cocktail

thirstyinla — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:11:05 +0000

Summertime and the drinking is easy at The Edison, which is bringing back its popular Happy Hour specials beginning Wednesday, June 23rd. Foremost among the bargains is the deal that started it all: The 35 Cent Martini, as well as Friday’s $1 Centennial Cocktail, created in honor of the 100th birthday of the Higgins Building. The Edison is also featuring its Dog Days of Summer special, a combo that includes a giant kosher hot dog, a draft beer, and onion rings. Baseball and apple pie not included.

The Edison Happy Hour
Wednesdays and Thursdays
5-7pm
Featuring: the 35 Cent Martini (limit one per guest) and 40% off all Edison House Cocktails, well spirits, and select beer and wines by the glass.

The $1 Centennial Cocktail is offered every Friday from 5pm to 7pm (limit one per guest).

Happy Hour Food Menu
Wednesday-Friday
5-7pm
$5 items include Vegetable Panini, Kobe Beef Slider, Calamari, Chicken Wings or Grilled Cheese Sandwich. All items are served with Edison or Tesla (sweet potato) Fries.

The Dog Days of Summer
“A Dog & A Brew”
Wednesday-Friday
5-8pm
Hot dog, draft beer, and onion ring combo for $10

The Edison
108 W. 2nd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 613-0000
www.edisondowntown.com

March 14: St. Patty's Fest in Hollywood

thirstyinla — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:41:35 +0000

On Sunday, March 14, Barcelona Enterprises presents St. Patty’s Fest, at the Taglyan Arts and Cultural Complex in the heart of Hollywood. Your ticket gets you all the beer, wine, and whiskey you can drink from more than 35 breweries, 20 wineries, and spirits including Tullamore Dew and Feckin Irish Whiskey.

To soak up the booze, there’s all you can eat Pink’s hot dogs, Boar’s Head sandwiches, and of course an array of Irish sausages, cheeses, and breads. Live entertainment includes the Claddagh Dance Company and music by Peter Daily & the Royal Band. Best of all, proceeds benefit the Children’s Tumor Foundation and The Irish Center.

St. Patty’s Fest
Sunday, March 14, 2010
2pm-7pm

Taglyan Complex
1201 N. Vine St.
Hollywood, CA 90038

All-inclusive $100 tickets are available online now.
Ticket includes food, drink, live entertainment, and all the singing and dancing you didn’t realize you had in you.
Proceeds benefit Children’s Tumor Foundation and The Irish Center.

For more information, including the complete list of participating breweries, wineries, and spirits: www.stpattysfest.com

Update 3/2: Groupon has 50% discount tickets available TODAY (Mar. 2) ONLY: www.groupon.com/deals/barcelona