Ritual Brewing Company | Four Brewers Podcast

Season 2, Episode 48 – This week on the most awesomest beer podcast on the Internet as far as we’re concerned and more than confident is actually true according us, are some mostly local brews and one brew that some how snuck into the “locals only” party.

We’re drinking stoutish beers on the show this week. “Stoutish” according to the Four Brewers Dictionary (it isn’t a real dictionary) means “a dark beer that may not be a stout but has certain traits that would lead one to believe it is a stout, and it’s also part of a larger beer tasting that has actual stouts in it, therefore one could say that it’s a group of stouts that aren’t all stouts; also there’s an IPA thrown in for fun and good measure.”

Yeah. We’re doing that this week.

Beers from New English, Ritual Brewing, and Sierra Nevada

First up are some stoutish beers from New English Brewing Co., the first of which is an IPA, which is obviously not a stout, but falls in line with the Four Brewers definition of stoutish, so it qualifies.

Anyway, the beer is called Pure and Simple IPA, and it is in fact just that: pure and simple. New English is a fairly new San Diego area brewery, so it’s almost like they need to make a great IPA to even be considered as qualified for leasing brewing space in the area. This beer doesn’t disappoint. If you want a pure and simple IPA, then look no further…or look further and drink another great IPA from another great brewery after you drink this one. Tasty, San Diego IPA is fairly ubiquitous at this point. Damn, it feels good to be a beer geek in the golden age of craft beer.

Next up, we get to the stoutish-er (do I *really* need to define this?) beers which we kick off with two more beers from New English Brewing Co., the Brewers Special Brown Ale and the Bourbon Barrel Aged Brown. These beers are once again very, very good. New English even won gold at this year’s Great American Beer Festival, but it wasn’t for these stoutish beers. It was for an actual stout, which (guess what?!) is up next.

Zumbar Chocolate Coffee Imperial Stout is up next. This is not a stoutish beer. It’s a goddamn stout. This beer won gold at the Great American Beer Festival this year. It’s pretty rad and it was the inspiration for this weeks episode. Buy it. Drink it. High-five the brewer.

Ritual Brewing Co. is a local brewery to 3/4 Four Brewers, located in Redlands, California. They recently celebrated their 3rd anniversary, so congrats to them for that! Java Deluxe came out a few weeks before their anniversary party to much fanfare. It’s made with coffee from local coffee roaster Stell Coffee, and it’s great. Ritual also won gold this year at the GABF for an aged variant of Big Deluxe.

Here’s something cool: we tasted a cuvée of Java Deluxe and Zumbar. (Did it disappoint? Well, since I said it was something cool that we did, probably not. If I said it was something lame that we did, that would be telling as well.)

We finish up with some “Guess That Brew!” and some 4B Patreon shout-outs while sipping on a beer included with this year’s Sierra Nevada Brewing Company winter pack, Coffee Stout.

BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Beers from this week’s episode:
New English Brewing Co. – Pure & Simple IPA
New English Brewing Co. – Brewers Special Brown Ale
New English Brewing Co. – Bourbon Barrel Aged Brown Ale
New English Brewing Co. – Zumbar Chocolate Coffee Imperial Stout
Ritual Brewing Co. – Java Deluxe
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company – Coffee Stout

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Season 2, Episode 40 – This week we’re drinking some GABF medal-winning beers.

Every year, beer drinkers from all over the United States and the world descend upon Denver, Colorado for the Great American Beer Festival. It’s one of the biggest beer festival we know of, and two of the Four Brewers got to attend this year.

While the draw and the allure of GABF is the seemingly endless beers available to sample, many people and breweries especially focus on the awards on Saturday morning. Winning a bronze, silver and/or gold medal at GABF is quite prestigious to say the least. The panel of judges at the festival is comprised of the best brewers, beer drinkers, beer writers, and beer enthusiasts from all over the country. Winning a medal at GABF can really catapult a brewery into the stratosphere.

Southern California is no stranger to winning metal in Denver. Breweries like Pizza Port, Societe Brewing Company, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, and countless others from SoCal have dominated in recent years. This year, SoCal took home many medals, even though the landscape of winners outside of California seemed to be much more diverse. This week, we’re focusing on some local breweries that took home some medals.

Taps Fish House and Brewery at GABF 2015

First up are two beers from local Orange County and Inland Empire superheroes, Taps Fish House and Brewery. They took home four medals, and also won Mid-Size Brewpub and Mid-Size Brewpub Brewer of the Year for their brewery located in Corona, California. Today, we’re drinking the bronze medal-winning Amend This! and silver medal-winning TAPS Kellerbier.

Bottle Logic Brewing Company at GABF 2015

Next up is a brewery that’s fairly new to SoCal but is already a favorite of many local craft beer drinkers, Bottle Logic Brewing from Anaheim, California. Bottle Logic scored two gold medals this year for their dark lager named Lagerithm, and their Baltic porter, Cobaltic Porter, and we’ve got them BOTH on the show. Hells. Yes.

Firestone Walker Brewing Company at GABF 2015

Firestone Walker Brewing Co. is definitely no stranger to the stage at GABF. FW really killed this year at the GABF awards, winning five medals and Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year. Thanks to Matt, we were able to get our hands on the bronze-medal winning Sour Opal.

Next up is Toaster Pastry from 21st Amendment Brewery. This beer kinda took everyone by storm over the last month, and for good reason—it’s awesome! The hop aroma that comes from a freshly poured pint of this beer is just stellar. The whole room filled with the danky aroma that came from this beer as we opened them in the 4B studio. This beer won a silver medal at GABF, and now we know why. Damn, this is good! 21A took one more silver medal this year for their session beer, MCA. Well, done, 21A!

Last, but certainly not least is the new jewel of Inland Empire breweries, Ritual Brewing Company from Redlands, California. Ritual has always kind of flown under the radar, but their beers have always been spot on. The brewery is beautiful, and the folks at Ritual couldn’t be cooler people. They really deserved to win some metal this year. Ritual took home TWO gold medals this year for their imperial stout, Big Deluxe, and for the beer we have on the show today, their barleywine-style ale, Fat Hog.

The Great American Beer Festival was great this year. The Brewers Association expanded the available floor space for breweries and attendees, which made for even more beer to choose from and guaranteed that every brewery that wanted to attend, could attend. Our hats are off to the Brewers Association. Really, they did a superb job this year.

The complete list of medal winners and award winners at GABF this year can be found here. Hope to you next year!

GABF THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

Beers from this week’s episode:

• Taps Fish House and Brewery: Amend This! and Kellerbier
• Bottle Logic Brewing: Lagerithm and Cobaltic Porter
• Firestone Walker Brewing Co.: Sour Opal
• 21st Amendment Brewing Company: Toaster Pastry
• Ritual Brewing Company: Fat Hog

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