Tag Archives: Craft Beer

Tasting Room

Yorkshire Square Brewing Company – Torrance CA

Leave a comment

Yorkshire Square Brewing Company is in Torrance right near Monkish brewing and serves a different clientele so hopefully they can both do well despite being so close together. They have a focus on English style beers primarily served on cask. They offer flights using the 10oz glass so that you can try four without ordering a full pour of any of them. The tasting room is a good size and has plenty of seating and regularly visited by a food-truck.

The traditional bitter was lightly toasty with a lingering bitterness, notes of herbal hops and acorn. It was a solid beer though not really my style. The dark mild was delicious with notes of roasted malt, light coffee, and a hint of molasses. It is a lighter take on a porter or a stout yet easy to drink a pint because of its low alcohol. The dark mild had a good medium body and a dark amber color.

The ESB was tasty with notes of plum, mild floral hops, and hints of candied apricot. It was good and balanced without being too bitter. The Imperial Bitter was a bit stronger than I thought I was ordering when I saw it. I figured it might be 5% but it was closer to 8%. To me it seemed like a slightly weaker version of a barleywine. It was caramel forward with prominent herbal hops, notes of raisins, and a sticky sweet finish.

The golden ale was nicely balanced with notes of floral hops and a good dry finish without being too bitter. The oatmeal stout was nice and chewy with notes of chocolate and raisins. A solid balanced stout. If you happen to be in the Torrance area and aren’t feeling like drinking classic West Coast style beers, Yorkshire is a great spot to stop in for an English style beer or two. They said they were also quite packed during a few of the world-cup games.

Top 2:
ESB
Dark Mild

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

More Posts

Follow Me:
TwitterPinterestGoogle Plus

Tasting Room

Hogshead Brewery – Denver Colorado

Leave a comment

Hogshead is primarily an English style brewery and so you can’t order a 5oz taster of anything. Beers are either in 10oz, 16oz, or 20oz pours for most standard beers with a few higher alcohol beers that are only served in a tulip. I had two proper pints and three 10oz pours while I was there and found the beers to be overall solid. It would have been nice if some of the lower alcohol offerings were a bit less expensive. I could see myself drinking a lot more pints of the standard bitter if they were $5 instead of $7 for a proper pint.

The English Mild had a nice copper color and was smooth drinking with mild roast on cask. Like the standard bitter, this is made for drinking not sipping so I didn’t focus as much on the small details. The Cook Lane pale ale on cask had a base of caramel and cracker malt notes with light earthy hops and a mild bitterness on the finish. It was perfectly balanced and creamy body on cask. The standard bitter had notes of light cherry with mild bitterness. I enjoyed the more subtle flavors of the standard bitter after the pale.

The ESB cask kicked just as I was about to order it so I had it on draft instead. The ESB on draft had a nice roasty base with notes of caramel and mild earthy hops. It was one of the better versions of the style I’ve had. The IPA was to me surprisingly low on the malts because typically I think of an English IPA as being more malt forward. It is similar in style to a West Coast pale ale without the bitter finish that is common. The beer had tons of hop aroma nicely balanced between herbal and citrus flavors. I would drink this on the regular if it was available in cans.

Overall, I was quite impressed by all the beers at Hogshead. The lighter alcohol beers were more flavorful than I usually encounter and served in proper glassware. They join The Civil Life out of St. Louis MO as one of the handful of English ale focused breweries that has blown me away.

Known for:
Come for delicious English style ales served on cask and draft. They also had a few lagers.

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

More Posts

Follow Me:
TwitterPinterestGoogle Plus

Brewery/Restaurant

The Bell Marker – Downtown San Diego – Now The Owl Drug Company

Leave a comment

Update – August 2019.

Some time after the original posting of this blog, The Bell Marker closed and was replaced by The Owl Drug Company. This transition kept many things the same including the quality of the beer though led to a change in food menus. I visited The Owl Drug Company during Comic-Con 2019 to see how things had changed.

I had visited Owl Drug Company back when they were The Bell Marker and walking in you will recognize the space if you were there before the switch. Though they no longer have a board listing the various house beers, they still had a good variety to choose from. They also still have a good vegan friendly menu though there are not as many options as before.
I started with a pint of their American amber which was crisp and lightly sweet with notes of acorns and light hop notes. Despite the name it wasn’t aggressively hopped like some of the style can be. The American brown ale was quite lovely with notes of burnt toffee, roast, and raisins. The beer had a nice medium body and was right in the middle between a brown ale and a porter.
Along with my beers I ordered a pizza with vegan cheese and added a whole impossible burger and some vegetables. The pizza turned out great and was fantastic both eating the first half there and the second half later at home. Despite the change in owners, this is still a fantastic place to visit downtown, though they no longer have the delightful hummus plate that I raved about earlier.

Original Post

The Bell Marker took over a spot on the corner of 6th and Broadway. They had a wide lineup of beers so that it would have been difficult to try them all even doing flights. I happened to visit during happy hour so I had pints rather than my usual tasters because they were only $4 a piece during that window. If you are there for happy hour, I highly recommend you order the hummus plate, which is a great deal and a healthy meal when paired with a pint.

I first had a pint of their English Brown. This is a style I don’t order very often in San Diego but when I saw the lower alcohol it was worth trying a splash. As expected, the American Brown they have is a bit more hop forward and higher alcohol than the English style. I loved the dark color like a porter. The beer was roasty and quite flavorful for the low alcohol with notes of chocolate and caramel. Some may say this borders on porter territory with the prominent roast but it is a delicious beer either way and a rarity with the low alcohol.

I returned another day and had the cream ale and Belgian Wit. I was going to try their pale ale or session IPA but the splashes of both were a bit high on the bitterness and I wasn’t feeling them so I went on the lighter side. The cream ale was crisp and delicious with notes of pear and peach with a soft body. The Belgian Wit was super dry with a hint of clove and a mildly earthy finish. It paired wonderfully with their hummus plate and is one of the more authentic versions of the beer I’ve had locally. My husband drank the milk stout both times and it was tasty with a mix of caramel and roast with a medium body and not overly sweet.

If you are in Downtown San Diego it may not be too far to walk to Bell Marker. If you do, you will find a good variety of solid beers and a broad menu of food options. Their happy hour is currently 3-6PM daily with $4 pints and discounted appetizers. They have a good sized restaurant with standard restaurant seating and a good sized bar.

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

More Posts

Follow Me:
TwitterPinterestGoogle Plus

Tasting Room

Weldwerks Brewing Company – Greeley CO

Leave a comment

Weldwerks is quite the long drive, about an hour outside of Denver, and located in the middle of nowhere. You can find some of their beers around Denver in bottle shops and on tap but a lot of the beers don’t leave the brewery. The tap list was so insane that I could only go to that one brewery for the day because I wanted to try so many different beers. Though they are known for their hazy IPAs, and they are good I was most impressed by the milkshake IPA and the Berliner weisse beers with fruit. Their barrel aged imperial stouts were also quite excellent.

I started with DDH juicy bits, their flagship hazy IPA. It was creamy and mildly bitter with notes of tangerine and tropical fruit. It is a solid hazy and hits the right flavor notes for the style. Coalescence hazy IPA was similarly creamy but more explosive with hop aroma this time mostly tropical fruit including tons of papaya. I would have bought cans of this if they had been available. Evil Haze Factory was also super creamy with notes of vanilla, strawberry, guava, and pineapple. While it had some lingering sweetness, it was still my favorite of the hazy IPAs from the visit.

My initial flight of tasters including IPAs and fruited sours. 

Double blackberry milkshake IPA was delicious with tons of berry flavor and related acidity. It was juicy and lightly sweet though I was surprised it was not hazy. Perhaps the hazy had been part of it originally and had settled out. In comparison, I much preferred the fruit explosion of the tropical milkshake IPA. It had a bright pink/purple color with a creamy body and explosive tropical fruit and berry notes. The stone fruit Berliner was juicy and tart with prominent stone fruit and a nice thick body similar to a smoothie almost. It reminded me nicely of the stone fruit gose from Aslin brewing. The strawberry rhubarb beer was like liquid pie. It was sweet with notes of baking spices and just the right amount of fruit.

The brownie batter stout was a big hit for my husband and other friends though a bit too sweet for me. It had nice prominent dark chocolate and dough but I don’t care so much for the heavy lactose flavor. There are plenty of delicious milk stout options for you here if you love a sweet stout. I prefer more of the barrel aged stuff so after this I had three versions of their meidanoche stout, a crazy powerful 15% barrel aged stout aged in rum barrels. Each was served as a 6 ounce pour.

Part 1 of the massive tap-list displayed on their large TV screens. 

Part 2 of the massive tap-list displayed on their large TV screens. 

The cool thing about the medianoche beers is they have a special glass just for the beer and so even if you get a six ounce pour, it is proper glass for the beer. I had three versions, a version made for their invitational beer festival with coffee and chocolate, a malibu version with coconut and vanilla, and a version aged 18 months in a single barrel without any adjuncts. They were all fantastic, not crazy boozy despite the high alcohol, and wonderfully balanced. They were some of the best barrel aged stouts I have had anywhere.

Two varieties of Medianoche in their signature glass. I had to try them side-by-side.

The invitational version was thick and fudgy with light barrel character and fairly hidden alcohol. I got some mild nutty coffee out of it as it warmed up. The malibu was slightly sweeter with notes of strawberry. The 18 month version was the most boozy of the bunch with strong rum character. As it warmed up the beer had some nice notes of toffee and tobacco.

The view of the inside. Plenty of seating. 

Despite the crazy drive to get out to Greeley, I was glad I visited the brewery and would consider doing it again depending on the tap list that they have, which thankfully they update regularly on Untappd. If you go to their Untappd page you will see a list of beers available to drink on site and beers available to-go.

Pint of Juicy Bits that I ordered before leaving. 

Top Beers:
Stone Fruit Berliner
Tropical Milkshake IPA
Invitational Single Barrel Medianoche

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

More Posts

Follow Me:
TwitterPinterestGoogle Plus

Brewery/Restaurant, Tasting Room

Columbus Ohio Breweries – Lineage and Hoof Hearted

Leave a comment

Lineage Brewing


Lineage also has a full kitchen. They have a large outdoor area and a fairly sizable indoor seating area near the bar area. I tried six tasters while I was there. They certainly know how to make a good modern IPA.

I started with their standard IPA which had a nice soft body with a dry finish. While the beer did not have a ton of hop aroma, it had a resinous hop character to it that balanced nicely with light herbal hop notes and cracker malts. Compared to this, I much preferred the hazy pale which was nice and soft and bursting with flavor of citrus, pineapple, and tropical fruit. This was a very nice hazy pale.

The passionfruit Berliner Weiss had a hazy yellow appearance and was lightly sweet with strong passionfruit character. The base beer had some notes of white cake and a mild tart finish. The beer was nicely balanced and easy drinking without lingering on the tongue. The Amber ale was soft and dry with light caramel malt character and mild herbal hop notes. It was well-made, but I would have preferred a little more body and roast to it

The Saison was nice and fruity with notes of white wine, mild herbal hop character, and a nice dry finish. This was an excellently balanced and delicious Saison. The Imperial Stout was thick and sweet with prominent flavors of molasses and light dark chocolate and date notes. While well-made, it was not as impressive as the previous two Imperial stouts.

Top two:
hazy pale
Passionfruit Berliner Weisse

Hoof Hearted Brewing

Hoof Hearted was my fourth stop of the day so I only had four tasters. The indoor area was fairly large and loud so I decided to sit outside where it was much quieter. Though they were still generally an enjoyable place to go, they were my least favorite of the four for the day.

I started with a farmhouse IPA which had vanilla cake notes for the base with a prominent herbal hop bite. I didn’t find this beer to be particularly hoppy or flavorful but it was decent enough and had a dry finish. The Helles logger was strongly hoppy and far too bitter for the style. The hop flavors were resinous and floral, also not normal for the style. I’m not really sure what they were going for here but it did not impress me.

What surprised me and impressed me most was their beer called everybody wants some Denali (hops). It was delicious and bright with notes of citrus, pineapple, and lightly bitter on the finish. My previous experience with this hop has tended to be more herbal so I was quite happy with the flavors they extracted from it. I ended with a double IPA with lactose and vanilla added. Sadly, it was not very hazy so it did not really work that well. The beer was creamy and lightly sweet with mild citrus hop character but compared to the other one, it was not very enjoyable.

From my brief exposure to the beers at Hoof Hearted I get the impression that they are one that likes to follow trends but have difficulty executing most of the time. Thankfully the DIPA with Denali hops was one beer where they nailed it. So if you are looking for an excellent hazy IPA, it is still worth visiting to see what they have available.

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

More Posts

Follow Me:
TwitterPinterestGoogle Plus