Our Bottlecraft North Park manager, Gene, selects his favorite beers of the week. You can stay up to date on our beer shop favorites through our news feed and also through our Instagram. This week’s theme is cats!

1. Brouwerij West | Chill | West Coast IPA, 7.1%

San Pedro’s Brouwerij West – located right by the Port of Los Angeles – has always impressed with their hazies, lagers and neo-Belgian offerings. Yet recent years have shown a marked increase in West Coast IPAs as well, a most welcome development. Their cans are famously intricate – blank silver metal with an array of circular stickers forming a collage of color and shape. On the heels of their popular Bounce (with a grinning Cheshire cat front and center) comes Chilloo, whose label depicts a photorealistic orange tabby staring out impassively at the viewer. The beer itself is a New Zealand hop-bomb, with stalwart Nelson joined by relative newcomers Riwaka and Nectaron, with Citra just for fun.

2. Pariah | My Cat From Helles | Helles Lager, 5% 

3. Jolly Pumpkin| La Roja du Kriek |Flemish Red, 6.9%

Jolly Pumpkin returns! Not seen around these parts since late 2018, this Michigan brewery was once the leading light for mixed-fermentation beers in the Upper Midwest. A limited drop in cans (!) has returned them to our shelves – of the smattering of SKUs, we are most excited for this one. La Roja du Kriek is an oak-aged malty sour red ale with cherries added for brightness. The label is in a vaguely Parisian fin de siècle style, displaying a red cat wearing a cravat and epaulets in profile, somehow holding a chalice of beer in its left front paw. Welcome back to Jolly Pumpkin, and cheers to cat-lovers everywhere!