Los Angeles Advice

Yeah, if people go in with too high of a bias it only leads to disappointment in the end. HPB is brewery well in relation to a lot of the other local LA breweries (yet not equal to several), but placing them up with Barrelworks, SARA, and countless other California breweries is a bit much for right now.

 

I think if I were afraid of hipsters, the last place Id recommend is anywhere in Silverlake, or Highland Park for that matter.

 

Well, I suppose it comes down to how good they are with styles.

I like 1UP better than any IPA FW makes. Let's start there. I love its use of malt and the middle body sweetness that carries its otherwise bright aromatic profile. To be fair, SARA still makes my favorite PAs and IPAs out there (Singleton, Silver Lies... oh boy)

Sun Soaked might be my favorite berlinerweissen of all time. It's just delicious; almost salty, funky, light, tart.

Griffith J Griffith is astonishingly good for me; it took over Prairie Bomb! as my favorite stout. I love its almost soy-like quality, roasted character, and yet great balance. It has great body, without getting boozy or overly sweet. It's obviously a matter of taste whether one like BA stouts or not, and FW doesn't play around with non barrel aged iterations. As far as regular stouts go, I don't think it's an overstatement to call that beer top tier.

As per saisons, I definitely hold Uncontrollable and Nebraska in every bit as high regard as, say, Opal, Lil Opal or Sour Opal (though the latter is absolutely stellar, and might edge it side to side). Granted, the latter are amazing beers and I might just be underrating them. Uncontrollable I think is just plain amazing: the yeast has the HF-SARA quality of sweet, wheaty funk; while the vinous quality of the tartness was superbly smooth. Like a buttery chardonnay! I haven't had it from bottles, and I hear it's even better with the conditioning.

Nebraska with brett was just spectacular, I thought. It had that yeasty and bitter-hoppy finish, with the added funk house-culture sweetness which integrated perfectly. I arguably liked it better than Uncontrollable.

In the wild ale territory, the Feral Series is pretty amazing (I thought this year's One was perhaps the best of them all; though Vinifera is up there)... and Agrestic and Krieky Bones are delicious. Not much is here given by HP, though I'm hyped for this sunday's release. Lazy Susan is, however, one of my favorite Apricot sours out there. I really think it compares to SARA's West Ashley; and I was not alone in this one during the tasting we had.

I thought Vacation w/ brett was relatively weak.

Pfriem spaceship was delightful to me. I love brett white-IPAs, the stuff by Anchorage being among my favorites of all time. I thought Pfriem was superbly balanced, more so than the Anchorage, though it doesn't reach the lofty heights of Bitter Monk still.

Finally, some of their other regular fleet stuff was likewise tasty, though nothing as remarkable as the ones I mentioned above.

I don't think I'm being hyperbolic, tbh. Yes, comparing them to Barrelworks and SARA is lofty praise. SARA is my favorite brewery in the world, and when all is said and done I don't think HP is as good, though many of their beers are at that level (Bernice is my favorite saison in the world.)

Anyway, I'm sorry if I came across as 'overhyping', I'm just giving my sincere impressions on the beer as I see it.

 

Not for nothing but Lazy Susan wasn't apricots. It was peaches and nectarines.

 

FT: Uncontrollable Saison ISO: Westly.

Looking for 5 Westly for 1 uncontrollable

 

Since this is an LA Advice thread I would like to report that I had a bottle of Nebraska with Brett last night and it was pretty badass. It is such a different beer than regular Nebraska, which I did not enjoy at all. The brett really did wonders to this beer. It took a little bit to open up but once it did it reminded me of HF Arthur. I can't say that it's as good but it definitely reminded me of it and down the road I'd like to try them side by side.

I will say that I had SP Saison du Fermier right after and that saison is on another planet altogether. It made Nebraska seem like homebrew. Both really good beers but they are on different levels altogether.

 

I've never had SP's stuff, alas.

 

I forgot Highland Park.. my bad

 

I'll have to get over to HPB soon because I'm definitely not on the bandwagon yet. My experience is with bottles a grind picked up for me. Lazy Susan was good but not mind blowing and Griffith was a drain poor (I'm assuming it was a bad bottle). I'll have to get over there and try it myself

 

I thought Cherry ****z was nice, bright and tart, at the Bruery Anniversary Party but the Nebraska with Brett was not too appealing. The DIPA they served was good too, I forget the name.

 

It's called The Achiever IPA, 8.2% ABV.

 

I think Lazy Susan is fantastic. And I picked up my bottles of Cherry ****z today. It was great on tap.

 

I did enjoy the Achiever, was a nice change of pace from the other stuff I was drinking.

 

Lazy Susan on tap today for the Cherry ****z release was getting close to mind blowing, refreshing with a great tangy funkiness to it. Man, sorry you had a bad bottle of GJG, I drank my 2nd to last one 2 weeks ago and it drank really great, I didn't tell my gf what we were drinking and she was really digging it although I have heard reports of green pepper flavors developing in the GJG.

Just got back from a bottle share where there was a bottle of the barrel aged GJG and aroma/taste-wise it's amazing even when compared to some great imperial stouts we had tonight but it does have very low carbonation as it sits in the bottle right now. I believe it was bottled just last Friday so I'd think it should be up for sale sometime soon.

 

Yeah I think Lazy Susan keeps getting better.

 

I had a GJG last night and while the coffee wasn't as robust as it was fresh, on the whole, I thought it was fantastic. I wish I had more bottles.

 

You left too soon tonight man!

 

I need to see a pic of the aftermath.

 

that sounds like a good bottle share

 

Went to HPB for the first time yesterday to pick up my bottles and tried the Achiever, Lazy Susan, Cherry ****z, Uncontrollable, and Beer Memories. VERY impressed with their beer, especially Lazy Susan and I will definitely be going back. Phantom Carriage on Friday however...not very impressed.