Tin’s beer club newsletter Mar 6, 2026

Here are some recent beers from our tasting list.

Double Nelson — Cellarmaker
Cellarmaker is a colossal presence in the SF beer scene. After acquiring Rare Barrel, they’ve become an even deeper and more versatile beer brand. This Double Nelson is highly rated, and they absolutely nailed it. Nelson hops can be dank and a bit bitter, which isn’t for everyone. But this one amplifies the hop’s dankness and fruitiness while keeping the bitterness smooth and balanced. I love it.

Fogzilla — Humble Sea
Humble Sea is our local pride from Santa Cruz. Not every beer they make is top notch—some are just okay—but you can rarely go wrong with their Triple IPAs. Fogzilla is one of their best TIPAs and a staple release you’ll see every February. Expect a super fruity, smooth, and dangerously drinkable TIPA.

Focal Banger & Heady Topper — The Alchemist
The Alchemist is one of the most famous brewers from the East Coast. They were making hazy IPAs before hazy IPAs were even a thing (long before breweries like Tree House and Trillium made the style famous). People on the East Coast talk about Heady Topper the way West Coast drinkers talk about Pliny the Elder. They even recommend drinking these beers straight from the can to preserve the full flavor experience.

These two beers are best enjoyed side by side. Personally, I prefer Focal Banger, and many others do too, but Heady Topper still gets the higher overall score. Either way, these are beers you should never pass up when you see them—especially when they’re fresh.

Monkish Box
Monkish might be the best brewery in California, period. Their hazy IPAs are magical—you won’t miss Tree House if you have access to Monkish.

  • Diggin’ & Diggin’ — A phenomenal TIPA. I absolutely love this one.
  • Beauty in Death — Interesting. Not their best, but it showcases the punchy character of the hops.
  • Mind Grind — Monkish showing they can brew outside hazy IPAs. This American porter is malty, toasty, nutty, slightly sweet, and very smooth.
  • West Coast Waves — A modern West Coast IPA. It leans toward the newer aromatic, smooth IPA style popularized by breweries like Shred. Lots of aroma from heavy dry hopping, less bitterness than the classic piney style like Pliny the Elder. A different direction—interesting, though I think Monkish can do even better.
  • Stampede the Globe — A delicious DDH Double IPA, very much in Monkish’s wheelhouse.

Pro tip: Check these beers on Untappd. Pretty much everyone in the craft beer world uses it now. Look at the scores, read the reviews, and leave a few keywords in your own tasting notes too.

Vinyl Vice from Monkish

Triple Indian Pale Ale, 10.3% ABV

Triple IPA with Citra and Simcoe

The beer is pale yellow color, very hazy/opaque. The foam is coarse and medium rich, lacing on glass. The beer smells tropical, showing POG, vanilla milk shake, orange juice, lemon peel, mango purée, pineapple, Piña Colada, coconut liquor noses. The beer is medium sweet, not bitter, bold, high viscosity, full bodied. It tastes jammy, subtle salty, not sticky, but thick. This is a mellow one. It shows a jammy marmalade aroma at the base level, showing fluffy orange popsicle, big ripe orange, there’s orange peel oil but not a lot, not lemony, mango and pineapple juice, passion fruit juice, orange liquor aromas. There’s a big bold orange, dried orange slice aromas in this beer. The aftertaste is warm, cypress, hemp, leafy, grassy. It’s delicious though, although it’s not the most complex hops choices. But this beer gives you a consistent “big in orange” flavor and aromas from beginning to the end. The cypress and leafy hops aroma is nice, adding a layer of airy forest floral aroma on top of the big orange profile. The aftertaste is easter heavy liquor, orange liquor, pineapple, hemp dankness, lemon zest aromas.

You won’t get wrong with Monkish’s hazy. This one is no exception. For a TIPA, this is bold and thick, but it’s not over-sweet. I like the added softness (salty mineral) in this beer, and there’s absolutely no hops burn. It’s just hops partridge, very comfortable and soothing. The aftertaste is actually super leafy, cypress, newly mowed lawn alike, probably that’s eclipsed by the big flavor of Citra, but the Simecoe flavor does show a dank west coast evergreen forest airy vibe. This is also not a super dank beer, but dank enough to make it feel adult-friendly. Dank aroma add a bit of funk to the super fruity tropical flavor, and then the early herbs dankness paint the beer from golden to green. I don’ know if that’s the intention of the beer label design. But it’s a bold one, probably that’s what the vinyl is referring to. But in overall the simple hops selection is brave, and the result is still a high quality hazy TIPA. There’re no punishment from bitterness or hops burn, it’s just a smooth, mellow flavor bomb.

Los Angeles Monkish of Anaheim from Monkish

DDH DIPA, 8.5% ABV

Double Dry Hopped (DDH) Double IPA with Galaxy, Citra, Enigma, Cashmere, and Krush hops.

The beer is pale orange color, very hazy. The foam is medium fine, a finger high, lacing on glass. The beer smells tropical, showing coconut liquor, POG, passion fruit, orange, guava, sweet pineapple, ripe mango, sweet mandarin noses. It smells splendid as usual. The beer is light to medium sweet, not bitter, medium body, pillowy creamy texture. There’s good about of ester aroma in this beer, and alcohol flavor is bright. The beer shows lemon peel, full crushed orange, marmalade, pineapple, melon, dank hemp herbs, mango puree, pine needles, orange peel essential oil, peach wedge aromas. There’s a lot of hops aromas, but it’s very hard to capture which is which. The oil content from hops leaves some hops burns, but it really bursts a lot of sparks of lemony, dank herbs stings.

TBH writing a tasting note for Monkish’s hazy is silly. Because most of time you can feel the fantastic depth of flavor and aromas in these hazy IPAs, you won’t get much bitter but the beer is not oversewed. You can feel the quality, but you just don’t have a good consistency in your taste to write down what you find, the way human’s aroma receptors work limit how can we tell the flavor. Most of the time it’s just strokes after strokes like the impressionist is doing in their drawings. Over time you can tell which one is even better, by observing more flavor, more complexity in aromas, and more everything. When you get denser and denser experience that ends a better hazy IPA. Some other beer style is different, you need a cleaner structure. But for hazy IPA, you just want to get your orange juice showing all different kind of citrus flavors without punishing your palate with bitterness. So on that side, it’s almost always win if you can find a hazy above 4 at Untappd. Which is not hard at all in California (or any city in the world). 

Girl Grey from The Bruery

Ale brewed with Lactose and Almond, with Earl Grey Tea and Natural flavor added. Hand-crafted with top chef Brooke Williamson, this Belgian-style was created for a new generation of beer lovers. 8.5% ABV, 2018 Edition.

We teamed with chef Brooke Williamson – a leader in redefining flavors and roles in the culinary world. Girl Grey extends those contributions to the beer world. It features the cool character of a Belgian-style ale, with sweet almond flavors balanced by the piquant qualities of Earl Grey tea. Cheers!

The beer is pink amber color, beautiful. The foam is fine and half-finger high, the foam disappears quickly. The beer smells like a lemon flavored black tea, fermented kombucha, early grey tea, wine barrel, earthy hawthorn fruit. That smell recalls, sangria, wine barrels, cinnamon and kombucha. The beer is light sweet, even lighter bitter, medium body, less carbonated, medium viscosity, lightly soappy. The beer shows a mellow Earl Grey black tea aroma, cinnamon, dried dates, Bergamot oil, alcohol, wine barrel, oaky, raisin, dried lemongrass, toast tobacco, dark malty, caramel aromas. The aftertaste is like a curiosity kola (old fashioned cola), with a strong elegant Earl Grey tea aftertaste.

I waited a bit, the beer is more and more lovely. It’s rather mild for 8.5% ABV, and it’s very herbal, spicy like an old fashioned cola. There’s quite a lot of herbs, lemon peel, Earl Grey black tea, dried dates aromas. 

Brother of the Quill from Fieldwork Brewing

English Barleywine, 13% ABV

Brewed with admiration for the over one and a half centuries of barleyinw history in England. We made this over-sized ode to the barleywine of the past with select British malts and a laborious bail.

The beer is Mahogany color, dark amber and maroon color. The foam is fine and rich. The beer smells like simple syrup, high mash wort, crystal hard candy, sugary and caramel noses. The beer is medium sweet, not bitter, full bodied, medium viscosity. Lightly foamy mouth feel, creamy and soft. The beer is high on ester, banana water, Chinese liquor, green apple hard candy, ripe bananas, caramel apple, cinnamon spice, vanilla bourbon aromas. It’s fancier and fruitier than a British Barleywine, and it’s less bar-stool or bar-rag themed. It’s sleek and very fruity, ester driven ale. The aftertaste is consist of the caramel and fruity ester aromas in the beer.

It’s a bold beer in terms of ABV, but on the aroma side is simple. It’s a very fruity ester driven barley wine, there’s a lot of ripe banana aromas in it. 

Smoking Wood from The Bruery

Smoked Imperial Rye Porter Aged in Bourbon Barrels, 14% ABV, 2014 Edition.

A rich porter layered with rye spiciness and earthy smoke, caramel-like flavors, toasty malt and oaky deliciousness.

Smoking Wood is brewed with a hefty amount of both rye and smoked malt, contributing to a full body and light spiciness, balanced by extended oak aging. This beer will cellar gracefully but is best enjoyed fresh. Best stored and cellared around 55F (13C) in a dark place. Ideal serving temperature is 50F (10C). Best served in a tulip or wine glass.

The beer is dark black brown, almost black. The foam is very thin, chestnut color, fine. This beer is 11 years old, because I’m drinking it at 2025. The beer smells like Bourbon whiskey, hot dark chocolate drink, soybean sauce, chocolate muffins, truffle chocolate, tequila, tiramisu cake. The smell is really nice, showing an Italian desert mixed with heavy liquor, in this case a smoky Bourbon Whiskey. It’s also showing some fermented vegetables characters, like soybean sauce, and fluffy dark chocolate noses. The beer is light sweet, showing a layer of sea salt, and follows by a slight bitter and tart balancing the flavor. It’s full bodied, medium-high viscosity, the alcohol flavor is obvious, but it’s well behind all the balanced flavors of sweet, salty, bitter and tart. The aromas are very complex, as good as you can expect from a BBA imperial stout or porter. It starts from truffle chocolate, dark bitter chocolate, smoky coffee (Italian roast) beans, and then the Bourbon Whiskey, Brandy aroma kicks in. Zoom in here, the Whiskey shows an original barrel strength, I mean the flavor, it’s very oaky, long barrel aging, smoked barrels, fully of liquor flavor and wood aged spices. Going back to the aromas, next series of aromas are pickled vegetables, soybean sauce, pub rags funky, vanilla extract with alcohol, city roast coffee beans, mezcal (smoky), drunk person edition of tiramisu, chocolate milk, cocoa bean and vanilla beans aromas. The aftertaste is vanilla, liquor, 90% dark chocolate, oak, coffee beans, cumin, dank diesel. It’s very interesting, a strong man’s version of dark beer. The aftertaste of aftertaste is tequila, tiramisu and tobacco. It’s not that sweet, but sticky and velvety, full of chocolate and smokiness. It’s a very nice beer reaching the experience of drinking a Long Island ice tea, strong but also full of characters of different liquors, I can definitely see Mezcal, Bourbon Whiskey, golden tequila, Brandy flavors, and a bit of dankness from earthy hops.

So Happens It’s Tuesday from The Bruery

Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels, 14.6% ABV, 2017 Edition.

A dark and delicious display of rich malt toasty oak flavors and vanilla-like notes from extended aging in bourbon barrels. 

Brewer’s note on beer label: Our infamous Black Tuesday stout is named in honor of the great stock market crash of 1929. So Happens It’s Tuesday is simply dark and delicious, but in a more affable format, reminding us that there is always a bit of good to be found within the bad. Things happen, life goes on. This beer can be enjoyed in all of those moments and seasons.

front view

The beer is very dark, looks black. Foam is beige color, thin but fine. It smells dark malty, molasses, dark brown sugar, vanilla and bourbon barrels noses. It’s a good imperial stout nose, dark desert like, toasty woods and vanilla noses like a real bourbon whiskey. The beer is sweet, dark and bold sweet, there’s a bit of bitterness at the back but won’t big enough to fully balance the sweetness. The beer is thick, but not very thick, it shows a milky, oat-y texture and viscosity. The alcohol burns are obvious in this beer, shows a strong boozy flavor in the darkness. The beer is full bodied. Again, the texture is velvety and creamy, it’s bold sweet with light bitter background. It’s quite a boozy dark ale, shows a very strong malty flavor which is stronger than a normal imperial stout. I always found The Bruery’s strong ales have this tendency to be more malty flavor. There’s toasty barrels, whiskey, subtle toast coconut, dark chocolate, plum juice, dried plum, orange liquor, vanilla aromas. Although I think I can say it’s still showing some shape of Tiramisu which is chocolate, vanilla and boozy, then this is the booze version of that and stronger enough you don’t remember that’s like Tiramisu anymore. It’s a very warm stout, I mean the alcohol warms your mouth and throat up. The aftertaste shows some pine wood, toasted tobacco leaves aromas, showing hints of American/English hops.

back view (label!)

In recent years I have less The Bruery than before. I don’t mean I don’t like them anymore, I love The Bruery. But you need to know their trait of BA strong ales, they are complex and delicious. But when you age them, they stay young, I mean they don’t change that much over time. This 2017 bottle is 7 years old, but I feel it’s as strong and sharp as I bought it. That is a great trait because of consistency. But it also making aging that that fun, because I don’t find that much of variations over time. Maybe those beer are not bottle conditioned? But from the level of carbonation I feel they are bottle conditioned.

side view 1
side view 2

以下是 DeepL 的翻译，非常感谢免费的服务！

啤酒颜色很深，看起来像黑色。泡沫呈米黄色，稀薄但细腻。闻起来有黑色麦芽、糖蜜、黑红糖、香草和波本桶的味道。这是一种很好的帝国黑啤的味道，像黑暗的沙漠、烤焦的木头和香草的味道，就像真正的波本威士忌。啤酒很甜，深沉而大胆的甜味，后面有一点苦味，但不足以完全平衡甜味。啤酒很浓稠，但不是很浓稠，它呈现出一种乳白色的燕麦质感和粘稠度。酒精的灼烧感在这款啤酒中非常明显，在黑暗中显示出浓郁的酒香。啤酒酒体饱满。同样，口感如天鹅绒般细腻，甜味中带有淡淡的苦味。这是一款相当醇厚的黑啤酒，麦芽味非常浓郁，比一般的帝国黑啤更强。我总觉得布鲁里的烈性啤酒更倾向于麦芽味。有烤木桶、威士忌、微妙的烤椰子、黑巧克力、李子汁、李子干、橙子酒和香草的香气。虽然我觉得我可以说它仍然呈现出提拉米苏的某种形态，即巧克力、香草和酒香，但这是酒香版的提拉米苏，而且足够浓郁，让你不再记得那是提拉米苏。这是一款非常温暖的黑啤酒，我的意思是酒精会让你的口腔和喉咙变得温暖。回味时会闻到一些松木和烤烟叶的香气，还有一丝美式/英式啤酒花的味道。

近年来，我喝布鲁里啤酒的次数比以前少了。我并不是说我不喜欢他们了，我爱 The Bruery。但你需要了解他们的 BA 烈性啤酒的特点，它们复杂而美味。但是，当你把它们陈酿时，它们会保持年轻，我的意思是，它们不会随着时间的推移而发生太大的变化。2017 年的这瓶酒已经有 7 年的历史了，但我觉得它和我买来时一样浓烈、尖锐。这是一个很好的特性，因为它具有一致性。但这也让陈酿变得很有趣，因为我并没有发现随着时间的推移会有那么大的变化。也许这些啤酒没有经过瓶中调制？但从碳酸化程度来看，我觉得它们是经过瓶调的。

通过DeepL.com（免费版）翻译

Fonio Belgian-Style Blonde Ale from Russian River Brewing

Bottled on 081324 11:16, Drink Aug 30, 24.

Belgian-Style Blonde Ale at 5.65% ABV.

Brewer’s note on beer label: This Belgian-inspired Blonde Ale is brewed with Fonio, an ancient West African super grain which requires no fertilizers or insecticides, needs very little water, and grows in some of the most inhospitable conditions. ‘Brewing for Impact’ is a global collaboration with our friends at Brooklyn Brewery to explore the unique characteristics of Folio in beer, promote the environmental benefits of regenerative agriculture and support smallholder farmers in Africa. Thank you to our friend, Garret Oliver, for inviting us to participate. Cheers, Vinnie & Natalie Cilurzo.

front view

The beer is very pale golden color, mostly transparent. foam is coarse and rich, lacing on glass. The beer smells like champagne, coriander seeds, wet dough, chamomile floral, yeasty, spice and flora noses. The beer tastes light bitter, very dry, not sweet. It’s light body, crispy. The fragrance and aromas are strong. There’s jasmine, citrus flower, apple flower fragrance, banana, fuji apple and Chardonnay grape fruity aromas, coriander seeds, clove and dried citrus peel spices. This Belgian blonde ale is drier than Damination (Belgian golden), more floral, same spices as Jasmine (Saison), and the fruitiness is also strong. I really like this new offering, the Folio is full of flavors as Belgian-style blonde. The green apple and Fuji apple aroma is getting stronger when it warms up, make it even brighter/fruitier. The spice and apple fruity definitely recalls apple cider, but it’s very dry which is not like the farmer’s market apple cider. The aroma also strongly recalls white wine, especially unoaked Chardonnay, the body is low and crisp. Really want to revisit this beer again soon.

Brewer’s note
side view

以下是 DeepL 的翻译，非常感谢免费的服务！

啤酒呈淡淡的金黄色，大部分透明。泡沫粗而丰富，在玻璃杯上呈带状。啤酒闻起来有香槟、芫荽籽、湿面团、洋甘菊花香、酵母、香料和植物的味道。啤酒尝起来有淡淡的苦味，非常干，不甜。酒体轻盈，口感清脆。香气浓郁。有茉莉花、柑橘花、苹果花香、香蕉、富士苹果和霞多丽葡萄果香、芫荽籽、丁香和干柑橘皮香料。这款比利时金色啤酒比 Damination（比利时金色啤酒）更干，花香更浓，香料与 Jasmine（赛松）相同，果味也很强烈。我非常喜欢这款新产品，作为比利时风格的金啤酒，Folio 充满了各种风味。青苹果和富士苹果的香气在升温后变得更加浓郁，使其更加明亮/果香更加浓郁。香料和苹果果香绝对让人想起苹果酒，但它非常干，不像农贸市场的苹果酒。香气还让人联想到白葡萄酒，尤其是未经橡木桶酿造的霞多丽，酒体低而清脆。真的很想尽快再次品尝这款啤酒。

Triple Socks and Sandels

Triple Socks and Sandals from Humble Sea, Drink at Smoke Eaters

It’s bright orange yellow color, foam is fine and thin. Fully hazy, opaque. It smells like mandarin juice, the fruity smell you may get from kids’ favorite Orange-D. The smells definitely is a simple orange, orange hard candy like. The first sip, it’s balanced bittersweet, but that flavor is very bold. You can tell both the sweetness and bitterness are strong. There’s a bit of minerals giving it a hint of salt. It’s full bodied, thick but not very oily. It shows a strong fruit hard candy aroma, citrus aromas orange, mandarin, limoncello, passion fruit, ripe guava, orange liquor aromas. The tropical fruitiness is quite radical, it can cut through some greasy food I guess (I’m not eating that this meal), the fruitiness is so bright and citrusy.  The aftertaste feels a bit like artificial citrus flavor, combined with floral fragrance like lilac or jasmine, citrus peel, pine resin and weedy fragrances. It’s a very nice beer. I appreciate its balance flavor. And when you take sips, you can still get the spirit of “Socks and Sandals”, that fruity, easy and happy, (redwood coast) foggy forest, tropical and weedy. The balance and smooth is a key for extreme style like this TIPA, it’s not a simple “doubling down”, but an intentional amplifying of a style.

以下是 DeepL 的翻译，非常感谢免费的服务！

呈亮橙黄色，泡沫细腻。完全朦胧，不透明。闻起来有柑橘汁的味道，就像孩子们最喜欢的 Orange-D 中的果味。闻起来绝对是简单的橙子味，像橙子硬糖。第一口，它是平衡的苦甜味，但这种味道非常大胆。甜味和苦味都很强烈。还有一点矿物质的味道，给人一丝咸味。酒体饱满，浓稠但不油腻。酒体散发出浓郁的水果硬糖香气、柑橘香气、橙子香气、柑橘香气、柠檬香气、百香果香气、成熟番石榴香气、橙子酒香气。热带水果的香气相当浓郁，我想它可以切开一些油腻的食物（这顿饭我没吃），果香非常明亮，柑橘味十足。 回味起来有点像人工柑橘味，再加上丁香或茉莉等花香、柑橘皮、松脂和杂草香。这是一款非常不错的啤酒。我很欣赏它的平衡味道。当你抿一口时，你仍然能感受到 “袜子和凉鞋 ”的精神，那是一种果香、轻松和快乐，（红木海岸）雾林、热带和杂草的味道。平衡和顺滑是 TIPA 这种极端风格的关键，它不是简单的 “加倍”，而是有意放大一种风格。