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Tag Archive: The Surly Goat

April 11, 2011

Tomorrow: Deschutes Kicks Off Base Camp Week in LA

Deschutes Logo Pints by Deschutes Brewery

Oregon beermaker Deschutes Brewery is invading Southern California! From tomorrow through Saturday, you won’t be able to turn around without running into a pint glass of Deschutes beer. OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration but for Deschutes Base Camp Week — basically a thank you from the brewery to its fans in Phoenix, LA, San Diego and Houston — there will be beer tastings, bourbon-barrel beer tastings, beer and food pairings and appearances from Deschutes mascot, Woody the giant barrel all over the place, from Greater LA to Corona Del Mar.

Check out the following calendar for a beery good time near you:

Tuesday, April 12

Verdugo Bar: Beer Tasting with Brewer Veronica Vega — 6pm to close
Enjoy your favorite Deschutes beers plus the never-released Black Butte XXIII and Jubel 2010 (which is available once a decade). Woody the barrel will be dancing a jib and Deschutes’ only female brewer, Veronica Vega will be hanging out to discuss the brewery.

Rustic Canyon: Beer Bash With Beer Chick Christina Perozzi — 6 to 10pm
For $75 enjoy a five-course dinner where beer expert and author Christina Perozzi paired Deschutes Brewery beers with a beer-inspired menu by Chef Evan Funke and Pastry Chef Zoe Nathan. Brewer Tim Alexander will also be on hand to discuss hard-to-get brews, The Dissident ’10 and The Abyss ’10.

Wednesday, April 13

Surly Goat: Beer Tasting — 5 to 9pm
My fave beer bar in WeHo will welcome Woody the giant barrel and pour the Lost Barrels of Mirror Mirror which actually were lost and rediscovered in the brewery’s warehouse. And if you can’t make it all the way to Glassell Park’s Verdugo Bar for the Jubel 2010, not to fret as they’ll be pouring it here!

Schmeven Schmand: Craft Beer and Whiskey Wednesday — 6 to 8pm
OK, this sounds too good to pass up. At this downtown whiskey bar you’ll get a rare chance to taste Deschutes’ Abyss Imperial Stout ’07, ’08 and ’09. Pair it with some hand-rolled Leon Cigars which will be available at the event for extra decadence.

Thursday, April 14

Hot’s Kitchen: Food and Beer Paired Lunch — 12 to 3pm
Take a lonnng lunch at this beer event in Hermosa Beach where you have the pick of 50 different tacos to pair with Deschutes craft beer. Woody the giant barrel will be there as well as a brewer who will answer questions about the beer.

Congregation Ale House: Deschutes Night — 4pm to close
It’s Deschutes night where the brewery will take over every tap in this Long Beach beer bar. Knock back favorites Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale. And you also get a chance to imbibe The Abyss Imperial Stout ’08.

Friday, April 15

Hi-Time Wine Cellars: In-Store Tasting — 12 to 3pm
Tired of being teased into tasting but not being able to buy at the above events? This in-store tasting in Costa Mesa will pour Deschutes beer that is available for immediate purchase. Could be dangerous. At this event they’ll also be pouring the rare Abyss Imperial Stout ’07.

Side Door: Beer and Food Pairing — 5pm to close
This Corona Del Mar restaurant’s executive chef Ryan O’Melvany has created a special menu to pair with Deschutes beers. Also they’ll be pouring The Abyss ’08 and Woody will be parked out front blasting on tunes and spinning a disco ball. Surreal.

Saturday, April 16

Pizza Port: Deschutes Night — 5pm to close
It’s a pizza and beer party at this San Clemente pizza joint. They’ll be pouring Deschutes year-round and seasonal ales like Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale and Nitro-Obsidian Stout.

EVENT: TUESDAY, APRIL 12 to SATURDAY, APRIL 16

Twitter: @DeschutesBeer

Categories: Beer, Los Angeles, Nightlife

This Weekend: Free Dessert Tasting, Beer Fests, Magnum Pinata

For non-Valentine things to do this weekend, I give you the following. It’s going to be a gorgeous one. Go out and have fun!

Thursday, February 10

Barbara Fairchild Booksigning & a Free Dessert Tasting
To celebrate former Bon Appetit editor in chief Barbara Fairchild’s new book Bon Appetit Desserts Larry Nicola, chef and owner of Nic�s Beverly Hills, is hosting a booksigning for the author as well as a free dessert tasting when Nic’s pastry chef Zak Means will recreate some of her favorite desserts from the book like Chocolate Caramel Slice and Vanilla Bean Marshmallows. There will also be a full happy hour bar food menu available and even a specialty cocktail called the Fairchild for $7.

5-7pm. Nic�s Beverly Hills, 453 North Ca�on Drive, Beverly Hills (map). (310) 550-5707.

Friday, February 11

Double Feature at the Aero: The Princess Bride/The Notebook
Now, I usually prefer slasher movies for Valentine’s Day but these are two of my favorite lovey-dovey ones. Both revolve around twoo wuuuve. And The Princess Bride has romance, adventure, comedy, a sword fight and The Notebook has, well, Ryan Gosling. Swoon! You’ll laugh and you’ll cry. The Notebook gets me every time I see it. Every. Time.

7:30pm. Tickets: $11. Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica (map).

Charity Wine Tasting for Mutts and Meows
Drink wine for a great cause: Molly’s Mutts and Meows which goes toward helping cats and dogs find homes. For $25, you get to taste three wines — Domaine Guindon Muscadet 2009, Para Silverlake 2007 Merlot-Cab mix, Earth First Malbec 2009 — and half of the proceeds go to the charity. There will also be food.

7-9pm. $25. Silverlake Wine, 2395 Glendale Boulevard, Los Angeles (map). (323) 662-9024.

Sunday, February 13

33rd Annual LA Chinatown Firecracker 5K/10K
This is called a fun run but it’s also an ass-kicker with its 1-mile uphill. Oy. Last year when I was in great shape I did the 10K, this year I’ll be happy if I can do that 5K. If anything, all 5K/10K finishers get a medal! Plus the entry fee includes a carbo load meal the night before. Online registration is closed but you can still register at the race.

6am registration. $37. Broadway and College Street, Chinatown (map).

Monday, February 14

Hophead Heaven Kickoff at Library Alehouse
You’re bitter about Valentine’s Day, embrace that bitterness at this Hophead Heaven hop-centric fest which features AleSmith’s My Bloody Valentine, a hoppy seasonal red, as well as Green Flash’s West Coast IPA, Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA and Sierra Nevada Hoptimum to name a few. $10 gets you the Alehouse logo tasting glass, $2 for 3.5-ounce pour.

Library Alehouse, 2911 Main Street, Santa Monica (map). (310) 314-4855.

Tuesday, February 15

Russian River Brew Night at The Surly Goat
Here’s a beer night you won’t want to miss. Even the elusive Pliny the Younger will be on tap but get there early before it runs dry. Other Russian River beers on tap, some of which have never been on tap in LA before, include Pliny the Elder, Damnation, Redemption, Mortification…great names. If you miss the Younger here, there will be some available at sister bar, Verdugo Bar.

6pm-2am. The Surly Goat, 7929 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood (map).

Magnum Pop-up at Pal Cabron
Magnum pop-up part deux, featuring the food of Chef Joseph Mahon (Bastide) and wine pairings by David Haskell (Bin 8945), is going to be a blast, especially the late hours which will have a dj and even a pinata bashing. Whoever finds the Magnum condom that falls out of the pinata with the Mexican candy wins dinner for two at the next Magnum pop-up. Make your reservations asap as there are only a few spots left. Four courses for $48/eight courses $72, with pairings add $27/$48, bonus mescal and foie gras cemita pairing $20.

Tuesday-Wednesday. Pal Cabron, 3337 1/2 W. 8th Street, Los Angeles (map). Reservations: (323) 798-4648 or magnumdh [at] gmail.com.

Categories: Dining, Los Angeles, Movies, Recreation, Shopping & Sales, Sweets

5 Ways Not To Order a Beer by LA Experts

Ordering a beer at Father's Office Los Angeles

You ever walk into one of those fancy beer bars and hope you don’t say the wrong thing when ordering a beer? Well, thanks to three L.A. beer experts — Larry Caldwell of Father’s Office Santa Monica; Christina Perozzi, author of The Naked Pint and former beer sommelier of Rustic Canyon; and Ryan Sweeney of Verdugo Bar and The Surly Goat — I got five things not to say and why.

There’s too much head on the beer.
This glass isn’t frosted.
Why such a small pour for higher alcohol content beer?
What’s up with this girly tulip glass?
This beer isn’t cold enough.

These guys gave me the lowdown for my LA Weekly Squid Ink post “L.A. Beer Experts Mythbust 5 Complaints of Amateur Beer Drinkers.” And surprise, that whole Budweiser technology where the mountains on the can turn blue to let you know the beer is cold enough to drink is just a gimmick. Beer, at least good beer, should not be imbibed ice cold.

Anyway, I got the idea for this post when, at the Bruery’s 2nd anniversary party, I heard Natalie, Larry’s wife and the manager of FO Los Angeles, and Ryan complain about how certain customers give them grief for these very things. So I figure it would be good to share this knowledge with everyone because, like the average beer drinker, I don’t know half this stuff. Enjoy!

Categories: Los Angeles

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