Right before Sabroso I went to a media beer tasting event at Stout Burgers and Beer in Santa Monica thrown by Einstok. It was mainly to celebrate the release of their specialty beer, Snorri’s Awakening, which is a coffee pale ale in collaboration with Yards Brewing Co. from Philadelphia, PA.

We arrived to Stout around 6:30pm and I was eager to get some food and have a cold beer on this balmy weekday evening. We found the event happening in a narrow small room in the back, and food was being brought out pretty regularly so we snagged a bite of the burgers when the next round arrived. The food was delicious. The burgers were juicy and very flavorful albeit messy, but hey I don’t mind a messy burger. The fries were well cooked and had fresh herbs on them. I would probably come back again for the food. The place was small, but super close to the beach so that’s a nice plus.

The drinks were good. We were provided an Einstok tulip glass to taste some of the different beers and the most anticipated offering of the evening, the Snorri’s Awakening. It was tasty, but didn’t match up to other coffee beers I’ve had. I think I am just spoiled, but it lacked the body I wanted and the coffee flavor dropped off too fast for my liking. I much rather enjoy the Doppelbock and the Toasted Porter, which after I had the initial taster of the Snorri’s I opted to drink the remainder of the event.

The hospitality and professionalism from the Einstok team was very well received. They were very forthcoming and attentive. If you read my blog, you might already know I have a bit of an issue with tight, crowded, hot, confined spaces and the restaurant was so small that I ran through my tolerance with the space relatively quickly. We opted to walk to the beach to get some fresh air and snap some shots of the sunset, and head back home. Thank you so much to Einstok for inviting me to the event and it was great to see some of my beer colleagues and hang for a bit. I hope you understand why I didn’t stay longer! Cheers 🙂