Monday, April 20, 2009

BoHo is the real deal!!! (Hollywood)

Had a couple hours to kill before meeting some friends in Koreatown tonight so I headed a few miles up the road to a place I absolutely dread- Hollywood. It is true, I hate Hollywood... the people... the traffic... the parking... mostly the people... but I heard great things about this BoHo Restaurant on Sunset and Vine so I decided to try and get a few drinks in. I showed up there at opening, 5pm, and saw a great looking lineup of about 25 taps. 5-7pm is happy hour and that means 1/2 price beers (basically $3 glasses of beer) and 1/2 price pizza). When I looked at the beer list I immediately ordered up a Ballast Point Big Eye IPA since I hadn't had one of these in like 3 years. Out. Said they had replaced it with Firestone Lil' Opal (more on that in a minute). So I decided to order a Green Flash Le Freak instead. Out. So I quickly spotted a Lost Abbey Avant Garde and ordered that up. Great beer on tap. I don't really prefer it in the bottle but on tap it's spectacular, and I really don't know why that is.

After enjoying the Avante Garde I decided to stick with something low alcohol so I ordered that Firestone Lil' Opal that they apparently just put on. The beer came to me in a pint glass looking about copper in color and very clear. I've had Lil' Opal before and it didn't look like that. The bartender, who was very knowledgable, noticed right away and said he didn't think that was Lil' Opal and thought it might still be Big Eye IPA on. So I smelled it and got hit with a big citrusy orange smell. Nice! A sweet IPA. Maybe it's Big Eye? I don't know, cause I haven't had Big Eye in like 3 years and it actually smells and tastes like a Sculpin Light (nothin' wrong with that). So the bartender gets on the phone with the beer guy who changes out the kegs and tries to find out what beer it is. After waiting for a call back, I say to the bartender, "it might be a Union Jack." The beer guy calls back 10 minutes later and the verdict is in.... Union Jack. Nice! I have no problem with this. It tasted very good though if I had one small complaint it was pretty still in the glass and kinda slick, though the smell and flavor were still excellent. It didn't seem to pop in the mouth the way it should (that might not be the best wording, but this was Hollywood after all).

After finishing off the Union Jack I still wanted to catch the end of the Bulls/Celtics game so I ordered an Alesmith Nautical Nut Brown, which was a great English style Brown ale (another beer I hadn't had in like 3 years). It'd be one of my more favorite Alesmith beers, along with Horny Devil.

The tap list there was a solid A-/A. I really loved the chill vibe there as well. The bartender working tonight was very knowledgable and the wait staff was very friendly (and pretty easy on the eyes if I might say so). I'll definitely be back, maybe as early as next week.

5 comments:

BeerGuy said...

Down the street from Amoeba and that Jack In The Box with all the crazy homeless (I've got stories)?

Steve said...

Yep, right at that intersection.

J.Rhode said...

Same impressions of Union Jack at O'brien's this past weekend, little flat, slick, and missing something.

BeerGuy said...

You realize that May 2nd is the Kentucky Derby, right? And that you ought be having Juleps in the 7 Grand or wherever :)

Steve said...

Hmm... always enjoy watching the Kentucky Derby, though I've still given up on trying to make a good Mint Julep after that disaster the first time a few years ago. Might have to stay closer to home that weekend and do some RR on a couple of the days I have off in that week before graduation.