Beachwood BBQ and Brewing - Long Beach, CA #OTTBeerDiary Day 398

This post is a continuation of the 2015 New Beer Every Day Beer Diary Challenge, #ottbeerdiary. Over the course of 2015, I drank at least one new beer every day. Please read the background in the link above, and enjoy reading about the most recently tasted beers below. This year I may deviate from the diary format in some posts, hoping to concentrate more on the locations and the breweries I am enjoying. If you’d like to join the challenge as well, let me know in the comments below. You can catch up on all of our posts as part of the challenge under the tag ottbeerdiary.

Day 398: February 2, 2016

Diary entry:

Today was a day to be productive in the Los Angeles area, with an appointment at the customs office in Long Beach for my Global Entry interview.

We met Erin’s father for breakfast at King’s Hawaiian Bakery for some Bananas Foster French Toast, and then I went to to Long Beach for my appointment. Very painless, and within an hour of the appointment ending, I already had the confirmation email that both my Global Entry and APEC Business Traveler memberships had been approved. This should make flying into and out of the US and most Asian countries much easier!

Lucky for me, the Long Beach customs office is right around the corner from The Promenade, which is home to California’s best Beer Restaurant according to the 2016 Ratebeer Best awards, Beachwood BBQ and Brewing.

Taplist at Beachwood BBQ and Brewery in Long Beach, California.

I went with the tasting flight of four beers, consisting of:

Laurel – 7.1% American IPA – Very decent hops. Smooth flavor. Quite nice. Amarillo, Summit, Columbus, Centennial, and Simcoe hops. Dry hopped with Amarillo, Centennial, and Summit.

FV9 – 9.3% Double IPA – Just tapped today. Excellent Double IPA. Good hoppy bitterness. Well balanced with a good body. Citra, El Dorado, Equinox, and Mosaic hops. This was the first beer in Beachwood’s Fermentation Vessel #9.

Hops of Fury – 11% Triple IPA – Very nice. More bitter than the DIPA, but same basic excellent body and flavor. Warrior, Summit, Galaxy, Simcoe, Amarillo, and Citra hops, along with a small bale of Columbus hop flowers added to the mash! Dry hopped with Mosaic, Citra, Nelson Sauvin, and Centennial. 100 IBUs.

Beer Camp Across America Pilot Batch Stout – 7% Stout – Pitch black. Dark hop aroma. Dark hoppy flavor. Some richness in the flavor – But not very well defined. Perhaps even a bit lacking in body. Collaboration with Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Bagby Beer Company, Port Brewing Company/The Lost Abbey, Smog City Brewing, and Societe Brewing Company. This is the pilot batch, brewed at Beachwood, that is brewed and distributed nationally by Sierra Nevada.