I cannot be rational about the Craftsman Brewing Company, and should recuse myself from reviewing any of their beers for fear of appearing to be on their payroll. That said:
I traveled to Pasadena, California, the other day, specifically to see if I could find more varieties of Craftsman beers closer to the source. I got there early, in order to beat traffic, and poked around looking for the brewery itself. It turns out to be in an office park, where two guys brewed the beer in essentially a converted garage. I stepped in and talked to Mark, which was lucky for me, because he told me Todd would have chased me out. Couldn’t have been nicer. I told him I started a beer blog because I was inspired by Craftstman 1903. He shrugged, as if it happened all the time. It’s probably true. But in terms of brewery tours, I was out of luck.
So I rolled down to Lucky Baldwin’s, in Old Town Pasadena, where they had a lot of beers on the menu but not as many on tap. Seems their orderer was out of town. So my first three choices were shot down by an unlucky server. Fourth choice: Craftsman Heavenly Hefeweizen. Should have been first. I do not know or understand what Mark and Todd do to their beers. I would like them to keep doing it, and doing more of it. I have never had a disappointing Craftsman. Heavenly Hefeweizen is precisely as advertised: smooth, dry, spicy and light. It just cleanses the palate with wheat and a light dusting of fruit. When I dream of hefeweizen, this is the stuff of which I dream.
I told you I can’t be rational, and will make no attempt to pretend otherwise. This is just incredibly good beer.
Craftsman Heavenly Hefeweizen: A
Sampled at: Lucky Baldwin’s, Pasadena, California
