Greenshift (Three Year Anniversary Ale) by Beachwood Brewing

10489865_10101935633347220_2268094347154339343_n 10525829_10101935634065780_6656750052035895626_nRating: 4.8/5

Greenshift (Three Year Anniversary Ale) by Beachwood Brewing is a 10% ABV Double India Pale Ale.

Label:
Greenshift is a gargantuan double India pale ale with a wide spectrum of hops. Citra, Amarillo, El Dorado, Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy, and Warrior varieties in the kettle create a planetary array of flavors. An infinite wavelength of aromas come from a supernova-sized charge of Citra, Mosaic, and Nelson Sauvin.
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Celebrating their 3rd year in brewing, Beachwood released this huge double IPA to the masses during their anniversary part. I am unsure if this beer will see distribution but I hope it does. I did not get a chance to try it while I was there and they recommended I grab a bottle to go. So I was like screw it! Let us see how good this beer is.

Aromas:
Herbal, floral, grapefruit, grassy and piney hops, garlic, and oniony dank notes. Mild caramel, biscuit bread, some tropical fruits coming through like mango, peach, apricot, hop oils, kiwi, strawberry, honey and herbal spices.

Flavors:
Herbal, grapefruit, floral, grassy and piney hops, garlic and onion notes, basil, caramel, biscuit bread, citrus, pineapple hints, tropical fruits like mango and peach, hop oil resin, herbal spices, mild brown sugar, apricot and all sorts of hop bitterness.

Aftertaste:
Leaving with dry finish only herbal hops, citrus and some caramel remain along with hop bitterness. No alcohol in the taste, but sipping drinkability. It is also very crisp and refreshing having a medium mouth feel.

Overall:
In the flavor profiles of IPA, this one falls strongly with the herbal hop type than the caramel citrus or intense Tropical fruit aspects which I really love and seek in IPAs. While it is a very delicious beer, I prefer the other kind of IPAs. Although, this one did have some tropical and malty caramel elements to it at different temperatures.. True hop heads can’t get enough of this one. At least in terms of the true hoppy and grassy style of IPA, this one knocks it out of the park for sure. Highly recommended if Grassy herbal dank IPAs is your thing.

Anime Corner:
Rydia from Final Fantasy 4 was used in this pairing to pair with the label colors and the whole green shift aspect. Rydia is a Summoner and a Black Sorceress so the whole Greenshift and aspect of change in one’s environment is what it is all about. That is what she does. So when you have a beer that shifts in all sorts of flavor profiles, nothing short of magic here.

Sources:
http://anime-pictures.net/pictures/view_post/57558?lang=en
http://www.zerochan.net/full/221561

Oaked Wheatwine 3rd Anniversary Ale by Manzanita Brewing

7855_10101360006498040_1757734750_nRating: 3.75/5

Oaked Wheatwine 3rd Anniversary Ale by Manzanita Brewing is a 9.5% Wheatwine

Label:
Wow, Wow what a 3 year phase in our lives! It’s been an amazing journey so farm with all of the hats we’ve had to wear to get a small business up and running. Seeing all of you enjoying out beers makes the struggles and late nights so worth it. So many people to thank for us this far: First and foremost our God, our families, our dedicated employees, our investors and our many invaluable volunteers. Toast to your friends as we toast to ours with this 3rd Anniversary beer.
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I have been meaning to try some of their beers for a long time. I am not quite sure when Manazanita started bottling. I do remember I tried to order their pumpkin ale once but was unable to get is as it was sold out. So as part of my beer run, I found this one. I just found out that they recently celebrated their 3rd anniversary and this one was a limited release. Well, knowing myself, I had to get it.

Aromas are light. Apples, caramel, toffee notes, light citrus, biscuit and rye bread.

The flavors are of toffee, rye bread, oak, caramel, coriander, apples, apricot, orange marmalade on toast, bourbon notes, vanilla, coriander, slight coconut, pilloncillo sugar cone, brown sugar and pumpkin or vegetable spices.

The aftertaste is stays a bit bready, light toffee and citrus. Yet another easy to drink well hidden alcohol beer. Although quite silky and buttery mouth feel. Very nice

Overall it was very good beer but still missing something. Also, the flavors are hard to pinpoint. Not exactly bad, just not enough for me to make an awesome review.. I really like how it was easy to drink yet high ABV. The beer is worth trying, if once. I cannot disregard Manzanita especially since I have not tried their other beers which I would definitely like. People say that the variations of this beer are way more awesome. This, I will have to investigate for myself. Maybe report back here 

Threes Anniversary Ale by Eagle Rock Brewing

!294866_10101174691181420_2069728603_nRating: 5/5

Threes Anniversary Ale by Eagle Rock Brewing is a 9.5% ABV Rye American Strong Ale.

Label:
“Threes was brewed to commemorate our 3-year anniversary and, as good things come in threes, it embodies all the great things that have happened to us in the past 3 years. Comforting aromas of toasted bread and jasmine complement the peachy esters, toasted marshmallows and alcohol warmth on the palate. A substantial hop presence and dry finish balance out this delicious full-bodied strong rye ale. Cheers to an amazing 3 years, and many more to come!
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Eagle Rock is one of the local breweries in my town of Los Angeles California. I have only had a couple of their beers, but when I saw they had an anniversary ale out, I had to see what was up.

The aromas of this beer are of caramel, rye toast bread toffee, biscuit, marshmallow, brown sugar, and a faint fruitiness. The flavors of this beer are of lots of toffee, caramel, rye toasted bread, slight roasty bitterness, barley wine notes, citrus, grapefruit, floral and piney hop notes, chocolate and coffee notes, brown sugar, hints crème brulee, butter scotch, honey and biscuits, rye whiskey notes and maple. This beer is nicely balanced having some sweet hop flavors along with more sweeter caramel and rye flavors. It goes down nice and smooth too. The level of booziness is minimal to moderate but nothing detracting from the the overall beer. This beer really hits a lot of nice sweet notes. Definitely a lot of rye and toffee in this beer. Eagle Rock is one of my local breweries here in LA so I think I will be trying even more of their stuff soon. Their Jubilee was an amazing beer and this one is just as awesome as this beer.