Beer Law: Bagging Alcoholic Beverages in California

A while back I was at Total Wine & More and when we were checking out I said, "We don't need a bag."  My wife and I like to be environmentally conscious and not use bags when we don't need to, and use reusable bags when we need a bag.  The checker informed me that state law required them to bag alcohol.

Thanks to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverages Control ("ABC") this has been clarified in a statement on their website:

"Over the past several years, the Department has received numerous inquiries concerning laws or rules that compel retail licensees to place alcoholic beverages in bags or other containers before handing the beverages to consumers.  Be advised that neither the provisions of the California Alcoholic Beverage Control Act nor the Department's business regulations require any licensee to put alcoholic beverage purchases in bags or other containers before customers leave the licensed premises.  It is possible that some cities or counties may have enacted ordinances that require the bagging of alcoholic beverages.  If so, licensees should adhere to these local ordinances."

Neither the city nor the county at the Total Wine I went to require alcohol to be bagged.  Well Total Wine checker, I was right, but thanks for the blog post idea.

New Belgium -- Snow Day Winter Ale

I'm no stranger to New Belgium Brewing, but this is the first of their beers that I've blogged about.  When I was in Colorado visiting our friend Blake, our plan was to tour New Belgium but they had just implemented a policy where tours had to be by reservation and they were full -- so we did the Denver Microbrew Tour instead.

Here is some history on New Belgium: in 1989, Jeff Lebesch road a bike with "fat tires" through Europe and then started home brewing back home in Colorado.  Jeff was an electrical engineer and built his home brewing set up from old dairy equipment.  Jeff officially started New Belgium in 1991 after friends urged him to start brewing as a business.  Jeff's then wife, Kim Jordan, was a social worker who started doing New Belgium's bottling, sales, distributing, marketing, and financial planning.  Today, she is New Belgium's CEO.  New Belgium Brewing is considered a regional brewery since it only distributes to 15 states, but it is still the third biggest craft brewer in the U.S. based on beer sales volume.

New Belgium, like Sierra Nevada, works hard to be "green."  And their website is even powered by wind.  How does that work?  Their data center is powered by a wind farm in Wyoming.  New Belgium is particularly focused on being environmentally sustainable.

Now for the beer: Snow Day Winter Ale.  New Belgium's old winter seasonal, 2 Below, was retired to make way for Snow Day and mix things up a bit.  The stats are: 6.2% ABV and 55 IBU's (although IBU's are just a made up number since its subjective and there is no way to quantify bitterness).  As you can see, the color of Snow Day is about as dark as beers come.  It tastes dark like a stout but quite a bit more hoppy.  The Midnight Wheat malt gives it subtle chocolate flavors.  It's crisp with a short aftertaste.  I thought it was like a pale ale in hoppiness but with darker roasted malts.  I expect winter ales to be dark and heavy, but different from a stout or porter -- that's exactly what Snow Day delivers.  Overall, it's a good beer that's balanced enough to have wide appeal.

Newcastle -- Werewolf "Blood Red Ale"

Escaped from Britain!  I previously reviewed Newcastle Winter IPA -- a beer I didn't really care for.  Thanks to our friend Paul I got to try Werewolf.  Like the Winter IPA, it's a limited edition.  As you can see it's a dark copper color, which I guess is close enough to be able to call it "blood red ale."  This beer is still thin tasting and light in body.  It's more bitter than the Newcastle Brown or Winter IPA, and the other thing that sets it apart is there is a burnt taste on the nose.

Overall, Werewolf is nothing to brag about, but if you're a Newcastle fan or someone buying beer for a party its worth trying and is a little different than just the regular Brown.

Avery Brewing -- Rumpkin

Thanks to my broham Brian for traveling all the way to Colorado and bringing back some Rumpkin by Avery Brewing to share!

Sharing is caring, hence the two glasses...plus it's 15.90% ABV.

I admit I'm new to Avery Brewing.  But, their website tells me that they are from Boulder, Colorado and were founded in 1993.  They claim to make beers that they like to drink, not necessarily what the market demands.  I can respect that, and after drinking Rumpkin I fully believe it -- Rumpkin is far from your average beer.

Rumpkin is 15.90% ABV and comes in a bottle with gold foil.  This particular bottle was from a production of 512 cases and bottled on October 5, 2011.  The ingredients were simply water, malted barley, pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, hops, and yeast.  In the words of Avery, "We wondered what would happen if a monstrous pumpkin ale, plump full of spicy gourdiness, were aged in fine fresh rum barrels to add suggestions of delicate oak and candied molasses.  Rumpkin is what happens!" 

When poured, it has a brown-reddish hue.  What sets this beer truly apart from any other pumpkin beer is the molasses-rum taste, which I really enjoyed.  This beer is very spicey, a little sweet, has a heavy body, and strong alcohol taste.  It was really a beer to enjoy every sip of.  At $10 for a 12 ounce bottle you better enjoy it.  Rumpkin is definitely on the pricey side, but it may just be worth it.

The Bruery Provisions

After checking out the Tustin Brewing Company, I was able to spend some time hanging out with my wife and friends Brian and Jenn and checked out The Bruery Provisions.  The Bruery is located in Placentia, California, which is in Orange County.  The Bruery has a store in historic Old Town Orange (the largest historic district west of the Mississippi) called The Bruery Provisions which is a "specialty market and tasting room."  Basically, they sell craft beer, wine, specialty goods (olive oil, tea, chocolate, marmalade, etc.), and cheese.  If you go and check out The Bruery Provisions, it's worth while to explore the Orange "Circle," which is a big traffic circle surrounded by historic buildings containing shops and restaurants.  On a side note, I previously reviewed The Bruery's Orchard White. 

 

Street view

Huge selection of high-end beers, not just from The Bruery

Logo with bottle caps and corks surrounded by Bruery labels in frames

Taps with logo made of bottle caps

Bathroom wall wallpapered with Bruery labels

$11 is a lot for a small cheese plate, but it paired really well with their beers

Flights are normally $5 (but Brian and I each had a coupon for $3 flights), which is a pretty good deal considering most places will charge $8 to $10 for a flight of the same size, plus The Bruery's beers are stronger than most, and The Bruery's beers are more expensive than most.

The Bruery Classic Flight

Saison Rue -- 8.5% ABV -- Golden color.  Very Belgian tasting, which to me is yeast-y and light.  It's a Belgian/French-style farmhouse ale.  Overall, its light but complex.  The Bruery says this beer will dry out and get more complex as it ages.

Humulus Wet -- 4.6% ABV -- Copper color.  Brewed with "60 lbs of Chinook and 60 lbs of Citra wet hops makes for a blast of piney, floral and citrusy goodness."  Smooth and light.  Pine-y-and citrus-y taste.

Bruery Gremlin -- 7% ABV -- Straw color.  Light Belgian-style beer, but I thought it was a little too light.  A little bit of a floral flavor.

Rub-A-Dub-Dubbel -- 7.4% ABV -- Dark brown-red color.  The Bruery calls it a Belgian-style brown ale, that has a "nutty, coffelike malt back bone and a dry roasty finish."  Brian described it as a, "Sweet brown ale."  It has a creamy-chocolaty-brown flavor.  Its fairly light body for a dark.  It has a short linger.

Loakal Red -- 6.9% ABV -- Red color obviously.  It smells really hoppy but tastes balanced.  Its lighter body than most reds.  Its smooth on the front, but has a hoppier aftertaste.  This is a blend of two versions of the same red ale.  One version is aged for a month in new oak barrels, and the other version is dry-hopped.  This beer is only sold in Orange County.

The Bruery Special Flight

Citracado -- 5% ABV -- see my previous entry.

Bruery Gourd -- 6.66% ABV -- Black-brown color.  The Bruery says its a "milk stout brewed using fresh pumpkins from the Cal Poly Farm Store, seasonal spices, aged on cedar chips."  "Milk stout" = creamy stout.  Some spiciness.

4 Calling Birds -- 11% ABV -- This is the "fourth verse" of The Bruery's Twelve Beers of Christmas beers.  Dark brown color.  Its a spicy dark ale.  Pairs really well with the fig on our cheese plate.  Good holiday beer. 

Autumn Maple -- 10% ABV -- Orange-yam color.  Brewed with yams (17 pounds actually), and has a yam-my flavor so its a little different than a pumpkin beer, but its a good fall beer.  Its brewed with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, molasses, and maple syrup.

Oude Tart 7.5% ABV -- Red color.  This is a sour beer and tastes really fruity.  Brian says, "Smells and tastes like wine...[it's a] kick in the face."  The Bruery describes it as a "Flemish-Style Red Ale aged in red wine barrels for 18 months.  Pleasantly sour with hints of leather, dark fruit and toasty oak."


Overall, most of The Bruery's beers are on the sweeter side, except for the few that are sour.  At anywhere from $9 to $12 for a bottle the size of a wine bottle, their beer is pricey, but its also a lot stronger than most beers and the flavors are more complex.  The nice thing about The Bruery's beers is you always know its going to be quality.

Tustin Brewing Company -- Groundwork Coffee Porter and Pom Bomb

I reviewed Tustin Brewing Company before so check out that entry for reviews on their main beers.  Kiki and I went with our friends Brian and Jenn to TBC for some tasting and some hanging out.  Apparently, TBC is a meeting spot for a University of Michigan fan club, and Michigan vs. Illinois was in progress when we showed up -- the place was packed.  We lucked out to get the last table available.

The largest group of Michigan fans in Orange County

Brian and Jenn

Hard at work with 33 Beers

Groundwork Coffee Porter and Pom Bomb

Groundwork Coffee Porter

This one was interesting.  Its dark black like coffee.  It smells like coffee.  And it tastes like coffee.  Some porters have some coffee tones, but this was truly coffee turned into beer.  It sounds kind of gross, but it really wasn't bad and I kind of liked it.  The coffee flavor made it really bitter, but it had a light body and a pleasant lingering aftertaste.  Not something you would want to drink all the time, but it was a cool beer to try.


Pom Bomb (Pomegranate Hef)
 Pom Bomb was actually my first sour beer (long overdue).  It has a sour-fruity taste and a hazy-straw color.  To me this one seemed more like a cider and didn't really taste like a beer.  This beer also had a light body, and a really long linger.  Pomegranate is generally not my favorite fruit (mostly because of the seeds), but I really liked this beer.

Newcastle -- Winter IPA

Thanks to my main-man Brian for giving me a couple bottles of Newcastle Winter IPA.  Newcastle is really only known for making one beer: Brown Ale.  Their Brown Ale is a malty and watery brown that has mass appeal.  I admit that I went through a Newcastle phase for a while, but then I decided that its flavor was really not that interesting and I'd save it for only drinking every once in a while.  Newcastle's website, like Stella and Guinness, puts a lot of emphasis on how to pour it and making the perfect pour.  That's great, there are better ways to pour beer than others, but if the flavor isn't there, then pouring can only do so much.  Given that Europeans surprisingly know even less about beer than Americans, I guess its no surprise that the focus is on pouring than on quality.  Newcastle is owned by Heineken International, which owns 125 breweries in 70 countries.

Winter IPA, is a limited edition.  The limited editions are available in Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, and Phoenix, and throughout California, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.  But, coming in January 2012 6- and 12- packs of the limited editions will be sold nationwide.  Besides the Newcastle Winter IPA, the limited editions also will include: Newcastle Summer Ale, Newcastle Werewolf, and Newcastle Founders Ale.

Newcastle's claim: "Our recipe echoes the style of 18th century India pale ales, which were subtly higher hopped than British pale ales.  This brew has a seductive malt, caramel and zesty character which accompanies a balanced and creamy finish."

In actuality: this beer is not very hoppy for an IPA.  If the bottle didn't tell me that this was supposed to be an IPA I would have no idea because there is so little hop taste.  The flavor is mostly malty with distinctive caramel flavor, and with a lightly spicey aftertaste which I suppose is why they call it a "winter" beer.  Overall the body is watery and light.  Usually with a winter beer you expect it to be heavier and darker, which this is not, and with an IPA you expect it to be hoppier, which this is not.  Similarly to Sam Adams, they tried to make a different style, but they did not stray very far from their bread and butter recipe.  Its not that I hate this beer, but Newcastle should have made it more distinctive.  If you really love Newcastle you'll probably like this beer.  Otherwise, its ok and easy drinking, but if you want a winter beer or an IPA this is not the one for you.