![]() ![]() It makes perfect sense being that they’re uniquely situated on the outskirts of town, residing closer to the surrounding farmland than to the port area Oxnard is known for. Officially opening their taproom doors in early 2016, they were well on their way to providing a unique alternative for a community already clamoring for something new.Ī primary point of focus at Casa Agria has been in sourcing their ingredients from local farms, especially the wide variety of fruits utilized in fermentation atop their Saison and Berliner Weisse-style bases. With 84 wine barrels, a 15 barrel fermentation tank, and three 30 barrel foeders, Ward & Weyandt kicked off Casa Agria (Spanish for “Sour House”) in May of 2015 by creating a 400 person Membership Club, which sold out in 4 days. Eric Drew of Casa Agria Specialty Ales in 2015 – courtesy of Edible Ojai & Ventura County Instead, all their early batches were brewed at The Lab Brewing Company, located in nearby Agoura Hills. Opening their Oxnard production space in 2015, amid the area’s fast expanding brewing culture at the time, they didn’t even need to have a brewhouse. Their story begins in 2014 when home brewers Eric Ward and Michael Weyandt were looking to create something in short supply in Ventura County, California – barrel-aged Wild Ales. Just like the complex and continuously evolving styles they create, Casa Agria resides in symbiotic harmony with the land, community, and the following they’ve created. Silver lining of quarantine has been finding a new brewery to enjoy.Starting a brewery is no small task, especially if you’re coming at it straight from the realm of home brewing into… oak aged wild ales? And that’s how Casa Agria Specialty Ales came into being. No, these probably aren’t the top tier breweries for hazies but still pretty dang good and Casa’s beers have blown them all out of the water. To try to make sure my fanboyism for Casa isn’t unfounded I’ve also had a number of hazies from MT, Weldwerks, Revision, Grimm, Moonraker and Bearded Iris lately. Tastes of ripe mango, orange creamsicle, tangerine, kumquat, papayaĮxcited for this next 3 set of IPAs to arrive. Copper Wings: another silky soft mouthfeel with oats playing a prominent role. Notes of orange juice, pineapple, stone fruits, cantaloupe, ripe melon.ġ. Brings to mind the beer melting in your mouth. This has the creamiest, softest mouthfeel of the four. REM Cycle: really splitting hairs here with #1. Tastes of white grapefruit, lychee, papaya, citrus.Ģ. ![]() There’s a dank bitter citrus finish that ultimately was the decider to put below the next two. Ambient Fields: was my odds on favorite going into the blind tasting of who I thought would win. Notes of pineapple, mango, tropical citrus and grass.ģ. I’ve got 3 cans left and going to sit on those for a little bit to see what happens. Was a tad too green a few weeks ago and I’ve enjoyed it opening up since then but still hasn’t totally mellowed out. Jumbo Jets: still a great beer but I have it a slight notch below the other three. Not totally blind as I had had these beers recently, obviously, so it didn’t take long to identify which one was which (thanks to the wife for pouring!).Ĭonclusions on rankings in reverse order below:Ĥ. ![]() This last drop of 4 IPAs was so good and each beer very close in quality I finally ended up doing a 4 way blind taste test today. Beyond their IPAs I’ve enjoyed the schwarzbier, English barleywine and coffee stout they’ve put out in last couple months too. I know that’s what they’re best known for so if any members or others want to weigh in on those styles would be appreciated and also any recommendations as I’ve seen a few being sporadically available in the online shop. Saisons, wilds, sours aren’t my favorite and I haven’t tried any of Casa’s. Felt like this deserved a thread out of respect for the best shipping deal around, fire hazy IPAs and selfishly: shipping to Las Vegas during this quarantine. ![]()
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