The Return of Hoppywood & Bine: A LA Beer Week Collaboration with Karl Strauss

LA Beer Week is back and with it comes the return of our special collaboration beer with Karl Strauss Brewing Company, Hoppywood & Bine. We first brewed this crisp and hoppy India Pale Lager for LA Beer Week 2015 as a celebration of the awesome LA craft beer scene and it was a big hit among locals. That’s why when we started talking to the Karl Strauss crew about a reprise for LA Beer Week 2016, bringing Hoppywood back was a no brainer.

Last year’s edition of Hoppywood & Bine was a recipe put together by Karl Strauss brewmaster, Paul Segura, featuring a light lager body loaded up with Chinook, Citra, and Mosaic hops, and dry-hopped with even more Mosaic. The resulting beer was heavy on tropical citrus in the aroma, and crisp lager bite with huge drinkability. We blew through a keg in under an hour at the release party at City Tavern, we got tons of great feedback from everyone that tried it, and we drank a ton of it ourselves throughout Beer Week. Basically, Hoppywood & Bine was an awesome beer.

So with Hoppywood & Bine being the hit that it was in 2015, we all decided to stick with the name and further develop the brand into Karl Strauss’ annual LA Beer Week beer. Only this year, we worked with Karl Strauss’ new LA brewer, Mickail Murawski formerly of Uncommon Brewers in Santa Cruz. Mickail put together a fresh new IPL recipe for the 2016 version of Hoppywood based mainly around ADHA 529, an experimental hop that boasts aromas of lemon, mint, tea, and coconut. Needless to say, once we found out about the new recipe, we were excited for brew day.

So, after getting together, brewing the beer, and waiting through the lagering and fermentation process, we’re super pleased with the end result. This year’s version of Hoppywood & Bine has a refreshing classic lager malt backbone bursting with aromas and flavors of lime, citrus, and green tea. It’s super drinkable at 4.8% and 45 IBU’s, perfect for kicking off LA Beer Week 2016 and a warm Los Angeles summer.

Be one of the first to try the 2016 version of Hoppywood & Bine at our release event at Far Bar in Little Tokyo on Thursday June 16th at 6pm. You’ll also be able to find it at the following bars around LA over the next few weeks. Cheers, LA hop heads!

LA Brewers Guild Kickoff Festival, DTLA
Buzz Wine Beer Shop, DTLA
Mega Bodega, DTLA
Barrel Down, DTLA
City Tavern, DTLA
Sixth Street Tavern, DTLA
Spring Street Smokehouse, DTLA
Melody Lounge, DTLA
Craft Beer Cellar, Eagle Rock
Eagle Rock Lounge, Eagle Rock
Dog Haus Biergarten, Pasadena
Slater’s 50/50, Pasadena
Rose City, Rosemead
Crazy Harry’s, Winnetka
The Local Peasant, Sherman Oaks & Woodland Hills
House of Billiards, Sherman Oaks
West End Tavern, Chatsworth
Twisted Oak Tavern, Agoura Hills
Taps Valley Gastropub, Northridge
Timmy Nolan’s, Toluca Lake
Naja’s Place, Redondo Beach
The Red Leprechaun, Long Beach
The Stache Bar, Long Beach
Bo Beau, Long Beach