Monday is here, and it’s time to start another week. Pick of the Weekend is our weekly post where we recap our favorite brews of the weekend past, and this week’s addition covers our extra-long, mini-vacation weekend over the 4th of July holiday! 

We’ve taken a break from the daily grind over the past few days to recharge our batteries, get back to nature, and enjoy some Los Angeles-area attractions. We’re back to our regularly scheduled posting; starting with the Pick of the Weekend! 

The mini-vacation weekend was naturally filled with beer; there were many old favorites and a number of new beers as well. One of my favorites was from a local brewery that I hadn’t tried before: El Segundo Brewing. Their Blue House Citra Pale Ale is an all-citra-hopped variant of their standard pale, and if you are a lover of the musty tropical flavors of the citra hops like I am then you’ve got to try this beer. It has a huge hop aroma hit with moderate bitterness and a light-yet-satisfying body. An easy-drinking pale ale that is better than most of the “session IPAs” that I’ve tried! I’m now very interested in the other beers coming out of El Segundo Brewing.

In addition to having lots of great beer over the holiday we also had some really amazing food, including some great beer/food pairings. The favorite was easily Julie’s apple pie, homemade ginger-vanilla ice cream, and a glass of Dogfish Head Chicory Stout. The dark and roasty qualities of the stout stood up to the pie & ice cream flavor-assault, and the beer’s intense coffee hit matched the vanilla and spice  flavors of the dessert. A perfect pairing; I cannot wait to try a beer float with that ice cream and the Chicory Stout!

Speaking of coffee in beer, several other coffee-Beers were sampled throughout the weekend, and two local beers are also worth a mention. Smog City Brewing out of Tustin has a Groundwork Coffee Porter that uses freshly roasted coffee from one of our favorite local roasters, and the porter was bold with intense coffee flavor. A real coffee-lover’s beer. We also sampled a glass of Golden Road Brewing’s Schwartz Stout on cask with double espresso beans. I’m a big fan of the base-beer; it’s one of my favorite beers that Golden Road brews, but the casks version on espresso is something special. If you are a fan of coffee in your beer don’t pass-up either of these delights if you see them on-tap around town!

That just scratches the surface of a holiday filled with new beers and old favorites. What was your favorite pint from the weekend?