Tag Archives: Enegren Brewing

City Tavern Pint Night

On my final day in Colorado, we left early for the airport and grabbed a quick bite to eat on the way.
amMiniature egg, chorizo, grilled pepper and arugula sammich from Dallabetta’s Muse in Loveland.
am1The airport was bustling with activity as they tried to load everyone onto the plane early in order to avoid two massive cells that were headed our way.
am2“I’m glad you took the window seat. You’ll be the one getting struck by lightning instead of me.” – Sweet words from the person sitting next to me.
am3After a few rough patches and harsh bumps, we made it over the storm cells and back into California.

The next day, Enegren was back at City Tavern in Culver City, spreading the joy of beer, and graciously inviting me along to eat a lot of delicious food and drink handcrafted beer. And take a few pictures. That too.
am4We started off with a flight, just to make sure everything was tasting as it should.
am7am9I went for a glass of Golden Spur Saison. Gotta enjoy the seasonal before it runs out!
am6Their rotating beer list had a few new beers I hadn’t heard of before. I tried the Wimpy IPA – a collaboration between Marin Brewing and Green Flash. Exceptionally pineapple-y on the nose and flavor and only 3.3%ABV! Tastes like a big IPA with just a flick instead of a punch of alcohol.
am8The dinner menu has shifted around a bit too. After a good half hour of deliberation and changing my mind three times, I decided on the pork chop.
am10Bourbon-glazed pork chop topped with apricot jam and apple butter, and served with jalapeno cheddar cornbread. Mind-blowing and deliciously tender, boozy and sweet. This dish was bliss on a plate.

The night ended slowly as I tried to emerge from my food coma and failed. Many flights and pints were had round the entire restaurant followed by quite a few people approaching the brewers table to extend their compliments. Quite a successful and delicious night!

Comments Off on City Tavern Pint Night

Filed under beer tasting

Getting Up to Speed

A few of the things that have transpired lately…
amPLINY THE YOUNGER! Didn’t even have to wait in line! I was taking a different route home, got a call from a lovely lady from Ladies at Ladyface and was receiving a pour two minutes later. I’m glad that I tried it, but I’m very glad I didn’t wait in line for it. It’s a perfectly balanced beer. Someone at Tony’s Darts Away explained it the best way – “So perfect it’s forgettable.” I’ll remember it just because of the hype. And the jalapeno and bacon mac ‘n cheese I paired with it.
am3Enegren Brewing and El Segundo Brewing beer pairing night at Short Order!
am1am4Tom from El Segundo Brewing, Matt and Joe from Enegren Brewing.
am2Valkyrie California Alt in front of the fire on a warm evening.
am5Bad news for you guys – the food was so delicious that it was devoured before I remembered I should be taking pictures. My apologies.
am7Custom Melt visited the brewery for our St. Patrick’s Day event!
am9Green Mac ‘n Cheese with Bangers. Spinach blended into the cheese made it green. And healthy. That’s how that works.
am8Heavenly corned beef and cabbage melts. It was jam packed again, similar to Superbowl Saturday, so I was only able to snag a few bites of everything.
am6Irish Car Bomb bread pudding! Thomas of Custom Melt made Valkyrie beer bread to use in this recipe. Have I mentioned how Custom Melt is my hero/haven/love/dream?
am10We had the 21st meeting of Ladies at Ladyface! Irish brews were the theme.
am11Plenty of donations from the ladies.
am12Traditional examples of nitro Irish stouts.
am13And and “Irish Car Bomb” beer by Ladyface owner Cyrena. She used Ladyface’s Barleywine and threw in whiskey-soaked oak chips. Dangerously delicious, plus each glass had an oak chip or two gracefully floating atop the sweet nectar.
am15Corned beef and cabbage sliders to top off the evening!
am17I also designed and hosted a beer pairing at Cafe Fiore in Woodland Hills!
am16The things my job requires me to do… It’s rough, I’m tellin’  ya.
am18Chef masterpieces commence….NOW.
am20Ahi Tuna Tartar with fresh avocado,  house-pickled cucumbers and crispy focaccia. I could’ve eaten just this all night and been content.
am21Citrus-glazed shrimp skewers with citrus wedges and spring greens.
am22House-made chicken and sun-dried tomato sausages atop sweet polenta, drizzled with a balsamic reduction. Again, heavenly.
am23Corned beef sliders – twas the season.
am26Awful picture, but possibly my favorite dessert EVER – caramel sauce, freshly sliced Fuji apples and asiago cheese atop freshly baked pizza crust. My boss, my boss’s boss and myself each ordered an additional one to take home and share with those who were truly deserving of such an abundance of deliciousness – that means I ate the majority of it. It’s THAT good.
am27I had a lovely girls’ night with Janelle and her little Avery last night as well! She made an amazing spread of stuffed peppers, roasted sweet potatoes and fresh salad to pair with the beers I brought.
amamaFarmer’s Reserve No. 2 by Almanac Beer Company. Wonderfully tart and not overpowering with spices at all. This will be a repeat.
am28Avery was a little jealous of us I think. Only 20.3 years and then you can join us in appreciation of fermented liquids! She shall be trained well when the time comes, but for now I’m enjoying capturing her beautiful innocence.

Coming up this week – a new restaurant review. I did a beer education at this amazing place with an eccentric/genius chef and have been dying to sit down and have a full meal there. Tomorrey is that day.

1 Comment

Filed under beer, beer pairing

Superbowl Saturday

Enegren Brewing and Custom Melt joined forces today for a Superbowl Saturday Extravaganza!
am10Food and brews for six hours straight. We prepared for a heavy onslaught of hungry and thirsty revelers.
am1The menu was set – partly created by our very own Brianne Braun Enegren! She created these short ribs with Daniel Irons Oatmeal Stout for a brewery “family dinner” a few weeks ago, and the owners of Custom Melt decided to turn it into a sammich. Yes, please, thank you very much.
am2The food was prepped right outside the roll-up door behind the brewery and the smells were devastatingly tempting to all of the hungry souls inside.
am3About twenty minutes before Custom Melt officially began serving…
am4And this is what the brewery looked like for the rest of the day – a constant flow of brewery and Melt fans alike poured through the door. Those of us working behind the bar didn’t have a single chance to sit down, let alone enjoy a full dish from our in-house chefs. In between inhaling bites while hidden below the bar, I went around snapping pictures of other people’s food in order to have some sort of commemoration of what had graced our presence.
am7Mac ‘n cheese with parmesan crumbles.
am8Zesty chili paired with a Daniel Irons Oatmeal Stout.
am6Mac ‘n chili dog! My personal favorites of the day were a tie between the EBC short rib melt and the mac dog – both of which went unphotographed as they were being quickly consumed in between pouring glasses and washing said glasses.
am5It was an incredibly successful day full of happy, patient people, delicious foods and brews and incredibly sore feet. I’m attempting to heal with a Maui Brewing Sobrehumano Palena’ole. It’s not quite killing the ache yet.

Tomorrey is Superbowl Sunday! I’ve got a few recipes up my sleeve that I can’t wait to share with you!
amI have it on good authority that Daniel Irons Oatmeal Stout French Toast might be on the menu in the morning. Stay tuned!

3 Comments

Filed under beer, beer pairing

Working for the Weekend

Side note – I thought for 25 years that “working for the weekend” meant working ON the weekend. I was enlightened a month ago. This blog title is based on my previous assumption.

My weekend:
Commander Matt and I brewed at Enegren Brewing from 7:30pm on Friday night until we were relieved by Joe and Chris at 6am on Saturday morning. Then I was able to sleep for three hours before heading back to work the tasting room. Zombie Saturday.
Plenty of caffeine was consumed. Beer may also have been consumed…
During the short breaks in between customers, I played with settings on my camera.
Oh, I fancy, huh?
More photography as I tried not to fall asleep whilst holding my camera.
The EBC crew kegged their Golden Spur Saison that’s been aging in a Syrah barrel for three months.
We sampled it, just to make sure it was up to par. Heavenly with hints of vanilla, Syrah and a bold touch of oak.
Kegging for the tasting room!
Christoph takes his job of blanketing the keg with CO2 seriously.
Very seriously, as you can see.

After the long weekend, Commander Matt helped me move to a new place that’s within biking distance of Wolf Creek Brewery. After returning, we picked up the most amazing, delicious dinner known to wo/man. At least for this week.
That would be chili over mac ‘n cheese. I could tell you where we got this from… but then I would actually have to kill you.

Comments Off on Working for the Weekend

Filed under brewery, brewing

Easing Into Real Life

I’m slowly reverting back into reality after my amazing weekend in Colorado.
That drive to the airport was just too short. I miss Colorado already.
Back to work on Tuesday! Lots of brewing, coffee and more coffee.
I run Wolf Creek’s social media. You can follow all my updates for them on Facebook or on Twitter! We had to take a picture of a full pint of Wolf Pack to show everyone it was going up on tap that day. You can’t waste beer, even if it’s 7am. It was a good start to the day.
Rob, Wolf Creek’s brewmaster, found this in the latest edition of Celebrator magazine! I’m so very proud to be part of both Enegren and Wolf Creek!
We took a little trip up to our new brewery site! This is what will soon be our tasting room! I’m so very excited!
We dropped off our new kegs into the grain area of the brewery. They look pretty good there, methinks.
I had the chance to go use one of my Groupons and get a massage yesterday. Passed by this little gem on the way. Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell! Anyone who gets that reference is now my best friend.
Tomorrey I’ll be working at the Zoo Brew in Santa Barbara with Wolf Creek Brewery, then perfecting my Black Stripe at Enegren. Although, I’m not sure it could get much better than that!

I do have one favor to ask you… Wolf Creek Brewery has applied for a grant to help us get the bottling line so we can start distributing our beers in Southern California! It’d mean the world to me if you would go vote for us. We only need 137 more votes! I’ll love you forever 🙂
Mission Small Business – Click to register, log in through your Facebook, type Wolf Creek into the search and vote! Thanks so much!

2 Comments

Filed under Daily Life

Deep Fried Bacon!

This week has been full of delicious freebies!
When we showed up to Wolf Creek Calabasas on Friday, head chef Chuy brought out these softball size monstrosities for us to sample. Wonderful monstrosities.
That would be a deviled egg wrapped in bacon and deep fried. Chuy’s version of a Scotch Egg. This definitely trumps the last Scotch Egg I tried. And then some.
After cleaning tap lines and eating delicious softballs, we drove down to Gardena to pick up a gigantic pallet of kegs. We navigated past at least a dozen teriyaki burger joints, one teriyaki dog joint, loaded up the truck and headed home.
Free sushi was necessary after spending three hours stuck in traffic on the 405. Design-your-own sushi! Spicy tuna with cucumber and avocado with unagi and avocado on top. Drool. Dance parties to “Call Me Maybe” (that would be my aunt being amazing) ensued. Then this happened.
Did it again! If only the colors would last.
My latest creation at Enegren – the Black Stripe! That would be Protector IPA on the bottom, Black Spur Saison in the middle and Golden Spur Saison on top. It took a good ten minutes to make, but ten minutes well spent! I have too much time on my hands…
The rest of my weekend was spent working the taproom, going to church, eating cheesesteaks and attempting to take professional pics for the latest beers at the brewery. Now I’m going to pour myself have someone pour me a tall glass of Protector IPA and take a deep breath before heading back to other brewery tomorrey.

Ladies at Ladyface is celebrating our one year anniversary tomorrey! Aged beers are on the schedule since we’re turning one year old! Stay tuned!

1 Comment

Filed under Daily Life

Spring Farm Festival

On Saturday I worked an event with Enegren Brewing Company benefiting adults with developmental disabilities. Enegren donated beer, and we were one of 27 booths pitching in to this great cause.
This view is starting to look familiar! So many beer events lately!
The festival was located in a beautiful house in Simi Valley. I went inside to check out the silent auction and stumbled across some of my former/slightly still current boss Ora’s art!!! She was working an art show in Woodland Hills this weekend and unable to attend, so she donated these beautiful prints. Our booth was placed along the tennis courts/basketball court with a bunch of other vendors and a stage for musical performances across the way.
Eddie Money was the featured performer of the evening. I had absolutely no idea who he was, although I did end up recognizing his hit songs. Commander Matt gave me a lot of grief for that…
The courts were packed with people, and Eddie kept calling out for his “Ladies from the eighties” to come up and sing with him. They obliged. Eddie also sang a duet with an autistic teen who, until four years old, was uncommunicative. To watch this girl belt out with Eddie was absolutely amazing!
The event seemed like a great success! I got a chance to enjoy the beautiful sunset with the marine layer rolling in over the mountains before we packed up.
I can’t wait to participate in more of these great causes! I’ve got a few coming up for Wolf Creek – I’ll be sure to keep you updated.

Now, after a long brew day and scrubbing of boil kettles that left my hands dry and raw, I’m going to collapse on the couch and never get up. Until it’s time to fill kegs and clean some more tomorrey, that is.

6 Comments

Filed under brewery

A Day Off

It’s been another crazy week! I have a feeling this will end up being the main theme of all my weeks at work. After brew day on Tuesday, I woke up to a surprise day off from work. What’s a girl to do with all that time on her hands? Visit more breweries – were you expecting something else?
First up was a trip to Bravery Brewing in Lancaster. This place hasn’t officially opened yet, but brewmaster Brian Avery let us get a sneak peak at his 3 bbl system and check out the space.
Just a quick teaser of the brewery – I’ll do a full write up once he’s up and brewing. This place is going to be amazing!
Afterwards, we headed over to Kinetic Brewing, also in Lancaster, and got a quick tour of their 10 bbl system.
Kinetic has been open for about three and a half months and already has a strong following. We got to try all of their beers on tap as well as taste their cheesecake with a crust made of graham crackers and spent grain. Drool.
From left to right – Potential Blonde, White Thai, Rusted Gear, Fusion Porter and McLernon’s Irish Stout. My favorite was the Rusted Gear – a little more roast than your typical amber with a hint of nuttiness and a malty ending. The White Thai is a Belgian witbier spiked with lemongrass and keffir lime – nicely balanced and not overwhelmed with spices, but I definitely couldn’t have more than a taster size of this. It’s always refreshing to find a new brewery that has consistently good beer across the board.
We grabbed a growler of the Rusted Gear and took off for Valencia.
The next day was back to work – filling kegs and setting up for a microbrewfest.
It was about 94 degrees out at the Westfield mall off of Topanga Canyon. Thank God the sponsors had provided us with tents!
We found a way to keep hydrated though. Quality control/hydration: very important.
LAB Brewing was also a featured brewery! We all agreed on how important keeping hydrated was, and spent the evening swapping taster for taster. Quite a few people came by and stated how they wanted to taste our beer versus our “competitor’s” beer. We are not competitors! Microbreweries should never truly be in competition, but always supporting each other in the fight to bring down the big guys who cram their beers full of crappy adjuncts and use flashy ad campaigns to try and entice consumers into drinking their fizzy yellow water. We should work together to help expand the palates of those who truly appreciate beer that is full of flavor, as well as introduce former fizzy yellow water drinkers to delicious craft brew! Rant over. Thank you for your time.
The fest was a success! We met tons of people who loved our beer, adored our food and wanted more. I personally left incredibly stuffed – of the 20+ restaurants that were there, I tried food from at least 15. Pain. Wonderful, delicious pain.

I headed to Enegren Brewing yesterday to get some more brewery fix. Three breweries in one week just wasn’t enough.
I got to meet Ryan and Laura! Ryan won my growler giveaway and drove up from the Riverside area to pick up his winnings. He also walked away with an Enegren growler full of Moorpark deliciousness.
Ryan and Johnson are the first to pick up their growlers! That means that Brent, Jacob, Christian K. are still lacking in the free growler department.

Okey, I’m back to work! Lots of thirsty patrons to serve!

5 Comments

Filed under brewery

Birthdays, Engagements and Breweries

Having a full time job plus working another job on the weekend makes for… no time for anything else in the world, like blogging. Or sleeping. Forgive me for my absence, but I took pictures to make up for the lack of posting.
On Friday we delivered kegs to the Calabasas Wolf Creek. It was not a very fun trip, driving the gigantic refrigerated truck down the 5 in the pouring rain with lightning flashing overhead, but somehow we survived. No toes were crushed in this delivery. One finger may have been smashed (again)…
On Saturday I worked at brewery number one – Enegren Brewing. It was a beautiful day out to make up for the excessive amounts of downpour we’d had the day before, so I took the brewery bike to pick up cheesesteaks from Carli’s in Moorpark. If you’ve never had a cheesesteak before, you must go eat one right now. This was my first, smothered in cheese and jalapenos, and I want more. I want more now.
We’ll soon be having another Mrs. Enegren on our hands! Congratulations to Brie and Chris!!!
On Sunday we had to take some kegs to Short Order in Los Angeles and decided to sample from the menu – this is the Charlie Brown adult milkshake. Vanilla custard, peanot infused bourbon, peanut butter, chocolate and awesomeness in a mason jar. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the one to order this, so I only got the few sips I stole when the consumer wasn’t watching. Insert evil laugh here.
I was still pretty stuffed from a hearty breakfast at a greasy diner, so I opted for the potato wedges with heavenly sour cream and bacon dipping sauce. Hands down, these are the best fries in the entire universe, especially when combined with the sour cream and bacon.
Back at the brewery, I made a beautiful tan and tannerValkyrie California Alt topped with Golden Spur Saison. I think I’ve found my calling – eating cheesesteaks and making pretty beer combos. I’m set for life.
The next day was spent celebrating Commander Matt’s birthday! He works at and owns a brewery which he goes to every single day, so obviously more brewery was necessary. I was more than happy to oblige and force my company upon him.
Hollister Brewing Company was the first stop (after mass amounts of fried fish at Andria’s Seafood in Ventura, of course).
We sampled almost all of their beers and came away with a growler of their Hip Hop Double IPA. My personal favorites were the Riverdance Irish Red – malty with a slightly sweet finish, gentle carbonation and low ABV, and The Pope IPA – not quite sure what it was about this that I fell for, but something about the malty aroma and surprising bitterness at the end made me happy. Very happy.
We also swung by Island Brewing on the way down the coast and the owner, Paul, was kind enough to give Matt, Grayson and me an in depth tour of the place.
I’m incredibly intrigued by their bottling line. Only four fillers, but they manage to bottle 720 bottles every time they bottle. Bottle bottle bottle.
The owner, Paul, suited up in his official “Tour Guide” lab coat. It’s embroidered with the words “Tour Guide”, so it’s official. That and he owns the place. That also makes it official.
I swung by the Ladies at Ladyface meeting (Number 11 already! We’ve almost hit our one year anniversary!) and sampled from the dry hop experiment – Ladyface Blonde with Delta pellet hops thrown on top, put in a French press and, well, pressed. It was “hop night” so there was a handful of single hop beers, homebrewed IPAs and other IPAs that could wreck your palate.
So they say. I’ve had more daunting, but this is a delicious beer!

Now I’m going to be awesome and hit the hay. Three nights of little to no sleep, brewery, brewery tour, brewery work, plus a ten hour brew day today = complete and utter happy exhaustion.

3 Comments

Filed under beer sampler, beer tasting, brewery

Short Order

Commander Matt and I took an evening trip on Wednesday to Short Order in LA to drop off some delicious Enegren brews for their tap selection.
Short Order is a freaking delicious burger and beverage place located in the Farmers’ Market on 3rd and Fairfax in Los Angeles, right across from where I used to live! If only it had opened while I’d lived there. Le sigh.
They serve four beers on tap at a time. Enegren’s Golden Spur Saison and Valkyrie California Alt will be up soon, but for this night we picked from the current selection of craft brews.
I got a non-beer-clean mason jar full of Eagle Rock Revolution – an American pale ale full of light caramel maltiness and a heavy dose of hops.
Commander Matt chose Great Divide’s Hades Belgian Strong Pale Ale – the Belgian yeast gives off a fruity aroma, but the finish is shockingly crisp, dry and full of bitter hops. Absolutely loved this one!
The restaurant has a large supply of hard alcohol as well for those of you who prefer a good whiskey at the end of your day. I’m not up to date on these, so enjoy the picture where I have absolutely no input.
Potato wedges with SOUR CREAM AND BACON DIP. How have I never thought of this before? These crispy, buttery potato wedges were mercilessly dunked in the rich ranch and sour cream dip, with extra bits of bacon spooned on top. If everything else here was terrible, I would go back just for these. Fortunately, nothing else was terrible. Everything was amazing.
Matt chose the pork belly burger – basically a luscious thick slab of bacon smothered in cheese, crunchy butter lettuce and a few other things that I could not pronounce or interpret.
I chose Ida’s Old School Burger – medium-rare grass-fed beef, aged cheddar, grilled onions and housemade pickles with a secret sauce on top of a ridiculously soft bun. These burgers are absolutely out of this world, and extremely messy! I ate about half of this before it fell apart on me and was too overwhelmed with the mess to know where to pick it up from. Instead, I polished off the potato wedges and was happy.

It was an uncomfortable drive back, but oh so worth it.

Right now, I’m in Tempe, Arizona and this just happened.
More on that tomorrey once I’m back to healthy and speedy internet connection.

CHIVE ON!

1 Comment

Filed under Restaurant Review