Hello Friend, Glad You’re Brewing

Hello Friend beers

I went to my neighborhood bottleshop today and noticed some new beers from a brewery I had never heard of called Hello Friend.

Normally I am too tight with my beer budget to risk trying something from new breweries, but today I had some rare cash to take chances with.

I look for beers with Mosaic hops first off and this brewery had several with Mosaic – if you’re a brewery that uses a lot of Mosaic you are already pulling me in, brother.

Over the past few days I have had four of their beers. One I forgot ??‍♂️, but the other three were:

  • I’ll At Ease.
  • Nothing’s Never Forever.
  • Till I Crumble.

If I had to choose my favorite of the four three… Till I Crumble. But they are all nice beers.

Come to find out this is a brewery operating out of Berkeley’s the Rare Barrel. They are on the property but have their own “area” I suppose.

I think it’s a good idea to make a separate brewery in your own brewery, if you want to make a different style beer with its own marketing.

If you are interested and in California, you can get their beer here.

Ambiant Review: Tioga Sequoia “Bridalveil Lager”

The beer subject: Bridalveil Lager

I am not okay with giving straight reviews of beers. Either reviewing beer bores me or I simply suck at it, or both.

So this is the closest I can come to a beer review. In the roughly 20 minutes it took to drink this, these are some thoughts and things.

BEER DETAILS:

  • Name: Bridalveil Lager.
  • Brewer: Tioga Sequoia (Fresno,CA).
  • Style: American Lager.
  • ABV: 4.5%

THOUGHTS & SETTING:

  • 3:50PM. Fresno. On my patio at a table in my backyard. 94 degrees.
  • Music: “Citizen Erased” by Muse plays in the background.
  • Woah. This beer is easy to drink – I mean that in a good way.
  • I wonder how many people know that Bridalveil Falls is in Yosemite – that can be a very dangerous hike up that trail, super slick.
  • Oh hey, a little breeze. Maybe a 10mph gust.
  • Is Muse an underrated band or are they rated properly and I just haven’t paid attention?
  • Someone odd parked across the street. [inspects]. It appears to be someone looking at the house to rent it.
  • A neighbor with their patio on the other side of the fence from my patio, has come outside. She is arguing with her boyfriend whom is still inside. She is yelling back at him things, I can’t help but overhear. The fight seems to be about a friend of his who is a woman and he was defending her. My neighbor is not okay with the amount of positive talking he is doing about this friend.
  • This is a solid Lager. As crisp as the sky is blue right now.

Thanks for coming to my first Ambient Review of a beer. Here is some Muse for you:

5 Beers To Drink Right Now

Some new. Some classic. They all hit well at the moment. Pretty much mostly kinda available, if you live in California or have a California Mule.

The Hop Concept [San Marcos, CA]:

Jolly & Joyfull IPA.

Jolly & Joyfull IPA, Christmas Beer

Dude, with that can I’m thinking “Spruce Tips. Here come the Spruce Tips!” But this is not that beer. It’s just a good clean IPA.

Pizza Port Brewing [The San Diegos]:

Bacon & Eggs – Coffee Porter

It’s a classic and great for this time of year. A wonderful Palette Cleanser Beer for an IPA fan like me. I don’t finish it in one sitting but keep it in the fridge for a couple days to break up the IPAs and reset myself.

Modern Times Brewing [So Cal & Portland]:

Danger Dolphin – Pilsner

A little spicy way to begin your drinking or slow your pace. Citra hops in a Pilsner setup. The can color is brilliant.

Zack’s Brewing [Fresno, CA]:

Air Hugs & Finger Guns – IPA.

This beer is better than it was earlier in the year. A fine-tuned Simcoe & Mosaic based IPA, waiting to be enjoyed now.

Liquid Gravity [San Luis Obispo, CA]:

IPA – WCIPA

Liquid Gravity IPA

What a modern dry West Coast IPA should be. Not too much of anything, just enough of everything.

I enjoyed the hell out of all these beers the past couple weeks. Hope you can find one so you can too.

Blurred Lines IPA from El Segundo – A Collective Review

Just got done having El Segundo Brewing’s Blurred Lines IPA and I have something to say but…

I don’t review beers well. I think it takes talent or something. Plus, straight reviews are usually kinda boring anyway. That’s why I like to group some reviews together from people I like or people that sound like they know what the hell they’re talking about.

First, here is your basic info via Untappd:

Here are what some Untappd friends had to say, starting with Jason:

Then Robin:

Then Brian:

And how about some dude I don’t know:

As far as what I think, I bought this beer because I saw “Hybrid IPA” on the can and I’m like, “Oh, that is interesting.”

I like the beer. Heavy on the Centennial hops for sure, the Mosaic and Citra get lost a bit. I think it delivers on the hybrid claim because I get the West Coast clear vibes as strong as I get the hazy vibes.

Here is what Great Craft Brews thought:

Worth the try if you see it if you like things to get a little blurrrrry.