What is everyone drinking this year?

Craft beer has trends. Some come and go real quick (anyone seen any glitter beers lately?) and others stick around and create a lasting impact (the Hazy IPA is now everyone’s favorite beer style). Here are a few trends we’ve spotted so far this year:

Rice Lager

They’re everywhere. Crushable, delicious, light lagers made with rice. I can think of 10 different Los Angeles breweries that have one on tap right now, and many of them are putting them out in package too. “Hayabusa” from Beachwood is available in 12 oz cans all over LA (I drank what could be considered “too many” of them at the annual LA Beer Week Battle of the Bands resulting in this photo).

Kveik Yeast

Pronounced “Kwike”, this historic Norwegian yeast strain is the new hot ticket for brewers all over the city. It ferments quickly, it operates effectively at high temperatures, and it makes some awesome fruit flavors. LA Aleworks has used it, Eagle Rock Brewery did a collab with El Segundo and used it. Three Weavers did too. Wanna get geeky? Read this article: Kveik, The hottest new centuries-old beer yeast you’ve never heard of.

Unfiltered Everything

The rocket-rise of Hazy IPAs taught brewers two things. 1. Never fall behind on a trend. 2. People like unfiltered beers. So, many brewers, for better and for worse, have been leaving their beers unfiltered all over the city. So, next time you get a pilsner poured for you and it has some haze to it, it’s up to you to decide if that’s a creative choice or if the brewer is simply being lazy.

Low Alcohol Beers

It may not be a full “trend” but a couple of beermakers around the city are creating beautiful, complex beers that clock in at < 4.0% ABV. Two breweries – Ambitious Ales in Long Beach, and Cellador in Van Nuys make some of these truly sessionable beers that, for their lack of alcohol, don’t miss anything in the flavor, complexity, or mouthfeel. This isn’t new, per se, Eagle Rock Brewery built LA Beer with a 3.8% English Mild called “Solidarity”, but, I’m excited to see a few local brewers continuing the craft of all-day-drinkers. Also, don’t knock it, you’ll still get a lovely buzz off a 3.8% beer. The Spanish refer to that type of buzz as “La Chispa” (The Spark).

The Return of West Coast IPA

The West Coast IPA style of beer is arguably the mother of the craft beer boom, but in the last few years production on that style has quieted down with the rise of things like Session IPA and Hazy IPA eating up market share. But, this year, we’ve seen a resurgence with beers like “LA OG IPA” from Smog City Brewing, “Now Again” from Mumford, and “West Coast IPA is Dead” from Green Cheek. They’re not quite as bitter as they were back in 2012, but, they’re not hazy and they pack a delicious hop punch 🥊.

Hard Seltzers

Give me a million dollars to bet, and I wouldn’t have put even a single dollar on any LA brewery creating a hard seltzer. But here I am, without a million dollars, and there are multiple LA breweries including Beachwood Brewing who have done just that. They’re fizzy, they’re fruity, and they’re CLEAR. Fermented just from sugar, they’re technically gluten free, light-bodied and easy to drink. But are they good? You gotta try one yourself.

Look out next week for our update on new breweries that have opened so far this year.

Hop on this special East & Central tour with Certified Cicerone®, Hal Mooney!

Visit three of the best breweries in LA and chat with Hal about wild yeast cultivation, hip hop varietals, food pairing and all of the geekiest beer topics you can think of over a flight of beers at each location (he’ll be drinking too, not driving). At each brewery we will dive into a different aspect of Cicerone knowledge – sensory evaluation, production techniques, and food pairing. Includes beer & food.

Breweries: Verdugo West (for sensory evaluation), Eagle Rock (for production techniques) and Mumford (for food pairing featuring Baldoria).

What’s Included: A flight of beer at each location, a brewery walkthrough of each location, food pairings provided by Baldoria and as much beer info as you like.

Ticket: $80 (and $50 for DD)

Pickup Location: Union Station

Time: 1:00pm

Date: March 5th, 2017

GET TICKETS HERE

What’s a Cicerone? It’s the beer equivalent of a Sommelier – a certified professional who has acquired a level of expertise in beer history, production, service, storage, food pairing, and sensory evaluation.

You love your dad. You want to get him something nice for Father’s Day, but you got him a Personalized Steak Branding Iron last year and you’ve run out of ideas. Don’t fret, LA Beer Hop is here to be your Guide to Father’s Day. Here’s our 2016 Gift Guide.

LA Beer Drinkers

• Take him on an LA Beer Hop – you can buy a specific date or a gift certificate – that’s a no brainer.
• Make him “Beer Guide” official with an LA Beer Hop T-Shirt.
• Go to Three Weavers Brewing and pickup the new Unity Beer brewed by Three Weavers in collaboration with the LA Brewers Guild.
• Take him to the LA Beer Week Kickoff Festival on June 18 – Tickets here.

Beer Geek Dads

• Make sure he gets every nuance of flavor and aroma out of his beer with these: Spiegelau Tasting Glasses
• Get him brewing his own beer with this 1 Gallon Beer Kit from Northern Brewer
• Or go the geeky homebrew route and get him this PicoBrew system.
• If he’s into reading and drinking, here are some of our favorite beer books: Tasting Beer, The Complete Beer Course, and The Oxford Companion to Beer
• Is he stuck on Budweiser? Get him this book to help sway him away: Bitter Brew
• Be a boss and get him a Kegerator.
• Be a real boss and get him a walk-in beer cave.

Free(ish) Adorable Gifts

• Get him grandchildren. Or a puppy.
• Take him on a hike and talk to him about his childhood.
• Play cards with him all night.
• Go to a record store with him and try and figure out what his musical taste was like.
• Frame an article from his hometown newspaper.
• Get him a book that you’ve read or will read. Then talk about it.

Gifts That Have Personally Worked

• My dad really likes lights: Security Lights, Flashlights, Headlamps, etc…
• And he flipped out over this portable campfire: Blazing Block
• My wife gave me this brass pen and I wear it every day: Astronaut Pen
• This brass wallet too (it’s not heavy): Machine Era Co Wallet
• If he wears a robe all the time, get him some nice loafers: Leather House Slippers
• Watches always work, I like this one: Timex & Red Wing Collab
• These steakknives are rad: Bandsaw Steak Knives

Woot, woot! Our owner and Beer Guide Hal Mooney is now a Certified Cicerone®. What does that mean for you and for LA Beer Hop?

A Cicerone is like a “sommelier”, but instead of knowing everything about wine, a Certified Cicerone® knows everything about beer including beer styles, processes, ingredients, techniques, history, food pairing, serving and tasting. It’s a significant knowledge base. If you want to, you can check out the Certified Cicerone® Syllabus for the exam just to see the wide swath of information that it covers.

The title of Certified Cicerone® is granted by the Cicerone Certification Program. To attain the title of Cicerone, you first must pass the Certified Beer Server exam, then subsequently pass the Certified Cicerone® Exam. The exam is a five hour long affair that consists of three parts: written exam, tasting exam, and demonstration. To see a more detailed account of what the exam is made of, feel free to check out their exam breakdown. 

What doest that mean for LA Beer Hop? Nothing really. All of our Beer Guides are learning about beer every day (tough job, I know). The most important part of the certification process isn’t that Hal received his certification, but that he is continuing his education about beer and acting as a stellar representative of craft beer. The certification is happy proof that we all at LA Beer Hop take this seriously.

We’re eager to share all of our information with you. If you’re ever interested in taking the exam or have any questions about beer in general, feel free to give us a shout.