Another Quick Update From Russain River

Got back to the pub last night after a really nice nap and ordered up the Toronado 20th Anniversary Ale (pictured right along with my buddy "the other Steve" aka Milty). If you like Supplication, the pinot nior barrel aged brown ale with sour cherries, you will love this beer. It had a little more body and a bit less acidity but still plenty of tart grapes to satisfy the sour beer lovers. I really enjoyed it a lot.

After that I tried Redemption, a really nice light Belgian pale ale. Light in aroma and light in taste and light in alcohol. Probably doesn't sound that great for many people but it really is a nice beer to drink. A bit of belgian yeast earthiness along with a light fruitiness and light creamy mouthfeel.

Lastly I tried Bravo, a beer made with 100% Bravo hops. It's listed as an American IPA on BA I think, but they had it listed on their chalkboard under Belgians, and it definitely did have a belgian background to it. The hops take front stage and those Bravo hops sure are tasty. They were more citrusy, not too dry, in fact pretty juicy, and fruity. Again, this was also a very good beer.

Day 1 in Santa Rosa was quite nice. We'll see what happens today.

Update from Russain River

After only 3 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours, we made it to Russian River and got fresh beer straight from the source. I started off with a Lap Dance Pale Ale, one of the best pale ale's I've had. This beer bursts with piny hops, and a nice clean bitterness that seems more than the 30 IBU's they report. Then went with a Pliny the Elder just cause it's a great beer and I wanted it at its freshest. Again, great stuff. Finished it with a Perdition which I've had before but probably liked it more the first time I had it (my buds were probly fried from the Elder), though it's still a very very good beer. Now it's time to take a nap and get back to the pub around 6pm so I can sample the Toronado 20th Anniversary Ale, and Redemption, both of which they aren't tapping until 6pm. Pictured is the Sampler my friend got.

Deaparting for Santa Rosa

Me and my buddy Milty (aka the other Steve) head out tonight at 1:25 am from Union Station in Los Angeles. We are doing the entire trip by public transportation thanks to him having a bunch of money left over from work vouchers. We depart via bus from LA to Bakersfield and then catch the Amtrak around 5:00 am and arrive in Martinez, CA around 10:30 am Thursday morning. The next bus we catch then drops us off in front of our hotel in Santa Rosa around noon. We are about 0.6 miles from the Russian River brewpub and that's where we plan on spending most of our time on Thursday and Friday before we head up north a bit to do a day and a half of rafting. I'm glad someone mentioned that there was going to be a Toronado 20th anniversary party at the Russian River pub on Thursday night. I'm really excited to get a taste of the Toronado 20th Anniversary Ale that Vinnie made specifically for this anniversary occasion. Might be able to check in while I'm up there, but otherwise I'll have a roundup on Tuesday.

Quick Beer Review: Terrapin Rye Pale Ale

The Terrapin Ryle Pale Ale would qualify as my first beer brewed in the state of Georgia. I kinda thought this beer would be from Maryland, given the fact that the terrapin is the mascot of the state university. Anyway, this was acquired in a trade and the label art is pretty cool with an old lookin' turtle strumming a banjo, as I guess they'd say. This one was gold-orange and a bit hazy, but probably cause I had it too cold. I tried to get a big head out of the pour, but as you can see I miserably failed, and I am 99% sure it was the glass' fault. The aroma is sweet malts. There is also the ever so slightest bit of tartness and a touch of earthiness as well, but it's mostly sweet. I was amazed the aroma was so similar to many DIPA's I've had, because in every other respect this beer is nowhere near a DIPA (and it's not suppose to be). So anyways, I was really taken aback by the smell because I was expecting more of a light malt and hoppy smell. They use 5 different hops and the Cascades really come out in the taste with a nice juicy citrus burst though the middle. There was still caramel in the beginning, and the finish was a bit dry and earthy (maybe from the English East Kent Golding & Fuggle hops they use?). Carbonation was high-medium and I think a little more Rye might have made this beer a bit more interesting. I finished it pretty fast though, if that says anything. 3.75 on BA.

From the Terrapin Brewing Company Website:
Malt: 2-row pale, Munich, Malted Rye, Bisuit Malt, Honey Malt.
Hops: Amarillo, Cascade, East Kent Goldings, Fuggle, Magnum.
IBU's: 45
O.G.: 13.5
ABV: 5.3%

Beer-(and wine?)-filled Weekend in Central California

We left sunny Southern California Saturday morning fueled on a Chik-Fil-A breakfast (best "fast" food place ever) to Pismo Beach. We stopped again at the Firestone Taproom in Buelton as we did a couple months ago. I had lots of respect for Firestone even before this Summer, as I really loved their pale ale though the Double Barrel Ale I had always thought was just OK. After my two experiences at Firestone this Summer I must conclude that the Double Barrel Ale is a very enjoyable beer, especially the unfiltered version you can only get at the Taprooms (pictured right). We stayed for about 2 hours, Pat threw back 75 oz. worth of Double Barrel and the IPA (how he does it I don't know), while I went with the Double Barrel and Pale Ale (pictured left). I'm not sure why but they serve beers in 25 oz. FROSTED mugs. It took my mug of Double Barrel at least 20 minutes before it came to a temperature where a lot of the fruit and bready/biscuity flavors could come out.

After Firestone we made a quick stop by the house to drop off our stuff but we quickly resumed our travels further north into Cambria to visit the amazing Seachest Restaurant. The place opens up at 5:30pm and we were sure to arrive at 4:45 so we could get a good spot in line and enjoy a few beers before doors opened. This restaurant is real popular for having people get there early and picnic outside the door. During my first experience there a couple months ago we were the 4th party in line and all 3 parties ahead of us had tailgate chairs, picnic baskets and wine. When we got there this time we were 3rd in line, and nobody ahead of us had brought anything. Those who arrived after us were also empty handed, it was kind of lame. Maybe the reason was the overcast afternoon, as opposed to a sunny day the previous time. No matter, we were well equipped with Anchor Liberty Ale and Anderson Valley ESB that we picked up at the gas station down the street. The great thing about this place is that anything you open outside and haven't finished when doors open is welcome inside. So as we took our seats at the oyster bar we finished off beers along with the sour dough, fried calamari, and oyster appetizers we started to order. Ironically, dinner consisted of Thresher shark and a bottle of Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay that my oenophilic friend Milty ordered. I know less about wine than I do almost anything, but I really loved this one.

That night we went out to a bar called the Frog & Peach in San Luis Obispo. We consumed many pints of Deschutes Black Butte Porter, and I finished the night off with a Young's Double Chocolate Stout (pictured left) that was served on nitrogen. I honestly felt like the bottled version I've had was a little chocolatier but as you might expect the draught version was much creamier.

The next day, while nursing hangovers, we went out for some lunch in Pismo to a tiny Italian bakery/cafe. A nice surprise to see at least was that this place had a few taps (Sierra Nevada, Blue Moon). Not feeling like beer at all, I did notice some root beer in the fridge and to my surprise it was from Sprecher Brewing Company, who's bottled beers I have seen in stores around here but have never tried. In addition, I had also seen a special on Fine Living channel I think about the root beer and other sodas that Sprecher makes. Needless to say, this was one of the best root beers I'd ever had, so I purchased a few more to bring back home.

The trip commenced with a dinner at the Hitching Post (for anyone who has seen the movie Sideways). I haven't begun to explore much in the way of wine, but it does intrigue me, so I decided to bring a bottle of their Pinot Noir back home for the folks, just to give it a shot. Why not huh?

The Session #6: Fruit Beer

The session spotlight this month is on fruit beer (being hosted over at Beer, Beats & Bites), and specifically raspberry fruit beer in this entry. I'm relatively new to fruit beer, having only had only two at a local brewery in the past. One of those I will feature here in this session. It's the Mom's Raspberry from the Old Baldy Brewery Company in Upland, CA. The other fruit beer I will present is one that has intrigued me for a while, readily available in Southern California, yet I just decided to buy it this last week due only to the fact that fruit beer was the subject of this month's session. That beer is the Lost Coast Raspberry Brown.

For anyone not familiar with this Lost Coast beer, it is their regular release Downtown Brown ale that is infused with raspberries. I've always noticed this at beer stores because I like the label, but I only just thought about buying it. Being new to beer and food pairing (I just started reading the terrific Garrett Oliver book) I brought it home and poured a glass to go with my Caesar salad. I'm not sure if that is a great pair or not, but the raspberry and brown ale flavor seemed to go fairly nice with the salad. The aroma right when poured is tart raspberries, but they don't jump out too far, it's relatively subtle. It took some searching for me, but I was able to get more of a caramel or toasty aroma as well. The taste starts with a wave of mild raspberries and after that fades there's some toasty tasting malt with a bitter and maybe slightly metallic finish. The mouthfeel is to me what may make or break a fruit beer. They all taste like fruit, but the correct amount of carbonation can really accent the whole experience. This beer had a good mouthfeel, making it a bit spritzy, though it does have quite a smooth malt background to it. All in all it was an Ok beer. The weird bitter finish turned me off a little more than I enjoyed the initial taste, but it wasn't bad by any means.

On the other hand, I absolutely loved the Old Baldy Brewery's Mom's Raspberry. This fruit beer is built on their Kolsch base, like the Raspberry Brown is built on the brown ale base. The Kolsch is very light so it doesn't add a whole lot of character and lets the raspberry really take center stage. The carbonation is also on the high-medium side so it's very live on the tongue. Not complex at all but just flat out tasty.

So these are 2 of the less-than-handful fruit beers I've tried. It has really piqued my interest and I'm excited to eventually get around to the New Glarus Belgian Red and Raspberry Tart I have sitting in my fridge.

Brewpub Profile: BJ's Restaurant & Brewery

BJ's is a chain restaurant/brewpub/sportsbar type of place located mainly on the West Coast and in the Southwest but they have a couple locations scattered throughout the Midwest and South (Ohio & Florida). This has been one of my favorite places to go for good local beer for the last few years. Each location has a modern look to it on the outside, and the inside contains a lot of dark wood and a plethora of TV's. These are a big hit on Sunday's for the NFL due to the amount of TV's and the big screen they have behind the bar that is split into 4 screens with different games. They specialize in deep dish, Chicago-style pizza. I love it and I don't even think born and raised Chicagoins, (-ites?) would find it offensive either. They do have a very diverse menu and great desserts, the most famous of which is the pizookie- a big warm cookie (you pick what kind) with vanilla ice cream scoops on top.

Onto the really important stuff, the beer. I don't know what Gordon Biersch or Karl Strauss restaurant chains are like because I've never been there. However, I have heard people refer to them as good beer, but maybe dumbed down a bit, or just not as adventurous. Whether that is true or not I can't say, but although BJ's is a "chain" you will find some wonderfully crafted and adventurous beers there. Not every location brews their beer. Where I live in Southern California there are about 4 or 5 BJ's within a 40 mile radius, and only 2 brew beer. Each location offers 7 standard beers-

1. Brewhouse Blonde - This is a Kolsch style beer (though they use Lager yeast?) that is the go-to beer for most of the people who are not heavily into beer. It's not offensive, very mild, and goes well with pizza. I find it to be ok, but Kolsch is not one of my favorite styles.

2. Harvest Hefeweizen - I can say I never liked this beer before I resampled it today. Maybe because the last time I had it was so long ago during a time that I really didn't know what hefeweizen was even suppose to taste like. Today I resampled it and wow, it was the best hefe I have had that I can remember (though I don't drink many). The wheat is backed by just enough banana that comes through in the finish, and the mouthfeel is light but rolls over the tongue in a very smooth way.

3. Piranha Pale Ale - This has been my favorite beer at BJ's since the first time I went. It is a heavily "C" hopped pale ale. In fact, I like to think of it as on the border between a pale ale and an IPA. There's lots of citrus and tons of pine, and it leaves the best lacing of any beer I've ever seen. It also has a really great clear burnt orange color that I love (in beer, not in football). Now that I've had many great pale ale's such as FFF Alpha King, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Firestone Pale Ale and Stone Pale Ale, I can definitely say that the Piranha is just as interesting and tasty as any of those.

4. Jeremiah Red - A pretty strong (7.3%) Irish red ale brewed with 5 different imported specialty malts. I had this a long time ago but it's been so long I don't remember how good it is. A lot of people I go to BJ's with really like this beer, and I gave the one in my sampler today to a friend.

5. PM Porter - A very good and robust porter. The waitress described it to me as a "dessert" beer and though I know she didn't have much knowledge of beer other than the 2 or 3 sentences she probably had to memorize about each one, that was a pretty good description. The PM Porter is rich with chocolate and a nice and full mouthfeel. Take your standard great porter like Black Butte or Edmund Fitzgerald and take away just a bit of the roastiness, add a bit more chocolate, and give it just a bit more body to create something a little more viscous and you have the PM Porter.

6. Tatonka Stout - A Russian imperial stout that has massive coffee character. Brown sugar, molasses, crystal and chocolate malts all even out the roastiness and give it an opposing sweetness but honestly, they lose. The roastiness and coffee stands so far out in front here. I like this beer but I would like it a bit more if it had some of that PM porter sweetness.

7. Nutty Brewnette - A brown ale, have tried it a couple times but nowhere near recently. I didn't like it that much when I did have it, but I will definitely give it a chance again as my palate has developed, just to be fair.

They also do seasonals and special brews, though some are available only in certain regions. Today I had the Nit Wit witbier, which was excellent. I recently reviewed Avery's White Rascal, and I liked the Nit Wit by far. In addition they brew an IPA (not bad), oatmeal stout, pumpkin ale, oktoberfest, pilsner, bock, Belgian strong pale ale, juniper rye (very good), whiskey barrel stout, and Xtreme Amber. They do have a selection of other beers, for instance they also had Hoegaarden on tap today, and BJ's was also the first place I ever tried a Duvel (they have an OK Belgian selection). They have many sampler variations but the most inclusive one is a 7 beer sampler that contains 6 of the regulars (all but Nutty Brewnette in the one I had today) plus your choice of 1 seasonal. The samples are 5 ounces in flute sampler glasses and runs $8.50. I recommend anyone who lives fairly close to one of these and hasn't been yet go right away.

New Glarus Hop Hearty Ale & Bell's Two Hearted Ale

Starting with the New Glarus Hop Hearty Ale. According to New Glarus this is "the Wisconsin I.P.A. I've been thirstin’ for." Unfortunately, after tasting it, I can tell you it wasn't. This beer poured a nice and dark amber to light brown in color, with a nicely formed fluffy and slightly rocky head. I didn't snap the picture till I'd gotten down almost to the end, so I couldn't document its nice pour. The initial whiff was very nice, with hops as I was expecting. In addition to that there was also a bit of citrus and sweet malt in the aroma as well. After that initial whiff though the hops were on vacation. This was the furthest thing from "cleanly bitter and aromatic" that you could find. What did actually come through though were lots of caramel malt, toasted malt flavor, and just enough hops to balance that out. It tasted like a REALLY GOOD amber ale. Honestly, if they just renamed this beer New Glarus Malt Hearty Ale it would be praised by people all over. Instead they call it an IPA and it gets good but not great reviews on BA. Honestly, I know they are putting somewhat of an English spin on this beer, using some "old world hops" like East Kent Goldings, it still doesn't come out bright enough in flavor or aroma to match up with even the English IPA's. Either way, I'm not saying don't drink this beer, it is tasty. It just doesn't taste like an IPA. I had to give it a 3.15 on BA. When New Glarus starts promoting this as an amber ale I will immediately switch my score to a 4.5.

Next up was Bell's Two Hearted Ale. I had high hopes for this beer given that it is pretty darn popular in the Midwest. This beer pours a rich golden in color with your standard frothy IPA head that lingers for a few minutes (I also snapped it's picture a little late). The smell doesn't jump out at you at all really. If you search you can get a bit of hops, but not pungent at all (as we are use to on the West Coast). The taste is fairly quenching. Sweet malts mixed with citrus in the beginning, and a nice lingering bitterness in the finish. It's not an overly aggressive IPA, but there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you don't always feel like a Green Flash West Coast IPA, or Bear Republic Racer 5. Bell's Two Hearted has it's place and it asserts itself as an IPA, so you can't complain. I gave it a 3.9 on BA.

Upcoming Adventures in the Summer of Beer

The Summer of Beer in its true sense is reaching the final stretch. School starts back up on August 27th, and with that my 7th and final year of college classwork ever (8th year is just rotations). Summer of Beer however isn't just a 3 month journey... it is me, and I am it. So I have a few things marked on the schedule that I plan to squeeze into this final 30 days.

• August 4th-6th - Heading back up for a 2nd Pismo Beach trip this Summer with Pat and Milty. Pat's parents have a vacation house there which makes it convenient. Among the favorite things to do are to stop at the Firestone Taproom in Buelton. One of the best kept secrets is the mustard they put on tables for you to dip your complimentary pretzels in as you sip on some beers. Also enjoyable is The Frog & Peach Pub in San Luis Obispo. They have a very nice tap selection, about 14-16 total, and a bunch of bottles. Last time they had plenty Deschutes Black Butte Porter, New Belgium Skinny Dip, Alaskan Amber and more. The third and final main event is to stop at a great seafood restaurant called "The Seachest." This place is open from 5:30pm to about 9:30. People show up by 4pm just to wait in front of the door and tailgate with wine, beer, and picnic baskets of appetizers. It is fun to sit at the oyster bar where the cooks prepare the food right in front of you. They also have many microbrew and imported beers to pair with your dinner. I plan to have a couple this time since previously I was in no mood for beer once we got there.

• Aug 9th-13th - Milty and I head up to Santa Rosa to visit Russian River brewpub. We leave at 1:00am Thursday and are staying in Santa Rosa for half of Thursday, Friday, and then heading a bit more north for a rafting trip on Saturday and part of Sunday. We go back down to Santa Rosa for some more Russian River Sunday afternoon and leave back for So. Cal on Monday. A couple other spots we plan to hit while in Santa Rosa are Third Street Aleworks and The Flavor Bistro, who apparently have a small but nice tap lineup that includes Moonlight beers (which I have not tried but will make a point to find when I'm up there). The main focus of this trip though is Russian River, which has in the last 3 months become one of my favorite breweries.
  

• Aug 18th-26 - Lucky Baldwin's Belgian Beer Fest II. Plan to stop in somewhere during this fest and have some Belgian beers, though with what I've noticed over the last couple years, if you don't get there the first couple days all the better Belgian beers will be gone.

On top of all that I have a beer inventory that seems to grow exponentially here at home, so I need to try and knock down as many of those as I can. This weekend looks like a good one for Summer Yulesmith and New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red.

Review: Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA

I was very excited to obtain this beer, brewed by Weyerbacher located in Easton, PA. The marketing pitch for this beer is that it has all the hop flavor with none of the harsh bitterness, due to exclusively using Simcoe hops. It went from a seasonal release to a year-round'er now that it has become so popular, and scores a very good 4.21 average on BA.

It pours a very murky brownish (a little red and orange thrown in with some light) with a very nice fluffy, well-developed head. Fruit and citrus burst into the nose, and the 9% alcohol stings the nostrils during longer whiffs. If you search hard, or just get lucky (as in my case) there also seems to be a bit of caramel flavor that can be detected below the huge rush of hops. The taste is very single dimensional in the hops category, as you would expect. You can tell the flavor is coming from one hop and not from a bunch of different ones because it's straight forward. A lot of juicy fruit and citrus but it finishes a bit dry.

I confess that, though this is a pretty good beer, I would take many many other Double IPA's over it. For instance, Ruination, Pliny, Dorado, Hop 15, Hopsickle, Maharaja, Racer X, and others. Hint, Hint, I like the West Coast interpretations of Double IPA's. Though Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA was fairly good, Double Simcoe missed the target on my palate just a bit. And though I know the East Coast makes good Double IPA's (Hop Wallop is one of my all-time favorites), I would say I need to try more from the other coast to give them a fair chance before I proclaim that the West Coast definitely rules.

Saturday's Triple Marathon

A few buddies and I scheduled a short trip down to San Diego mainly so we could visit Stone and watch "Airplane" which they were showing as their "Late Night Movie in the Gardens" feature. I also wanted to leave early in the day so I could stop by Port Brewing for a while. Since my friend Steve and I didn't have to work we left around noon and arrived at Port around 2. I would have had no problem spending the entire day there, but unfortunately their tasting bar/alter hours are only from 12-5 on Saturdays. We arrived down there to what seemed like a bunch of local regulars, which was a bit uncomfortable at first, though the man serving our beer was very hospitable. We started with a sampler of the Lost Abbey beers. A great touch to this place are the cups of malted barley sitting on the bar for people to munch on. After a bit we kind of weaved our way into things at the bar and ended up meeting some really fun people. Though I knew that Beer Sage and Beer Molly frequent Port Brewing, I wasn't expecting to see them there, but towards the end of the day was able to introduce myself. A brief conversation with them led to a recommendation that we go to a local pub called Churchill's before we head over to Stone. We met another couple friends, Pat and Pete, there who had just driven down after they got off work. Churchill's was a really good move as it enabled us to fill up our stomachs for a little cheaper price than at Stone. The beef dip sandwich rivaled Philippe's, the downtown LA landmark, and was a great recommendation by Beer Molly and Churchill's owner Ivan. At Churchill's I had a Deschutes Twilight Ale (pictured right) which I really wanted to like because they are one of my favorite breweries, but the taste of this one just didn't sit with me.

We eventually got over to Stone by about 8pm. A couple new beers to me that I had were a Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale and Bear Republic Racer X (pictured left). Both very good beers and highly recommended. One interesting thing to note was that we ordered an Avery The Beast which none of us could really tolerate. It tasted like sugar, maple syrup, and molasses dissolved in water. The movie started at 10:30 so we took our tailgate chairs out to the lawn. Pat fell asleep about 5 minutes into the movie, but other than that we and a bunch of other people on the lawn enjoyed it. Still have a couple growlers of Ruination and Double Bastard to get through now.

Lucky Baldwin's Lagunitas Fest

I stopped by Lucky Baldwin's Delirium Cafe last night on my way home from work expecting to get a pour from one of their regular taps. Surprisingly, the "Lagunitas Fest" that was suppose to start today (Saturday) and run for 9 days actually got going a night early. As usual they had a buy the first pint for $7 and keep the cool Lagunitas pint glass deal. Refills are then $4 if you have the glass. It was jam packed on this Friday evening and there were only 2 seats open at the bar in which my buddies and I were forced to squeeze 3 seats.

As far as I can remember, the Lagunitas beers on tap were:
1. IPA
2. Sirius
3. Sonoma Farmhouse Saison
4. Sonoma Farmhouse Hop Stoopid
5. Undercover Investigation Shut-Down
6. Olde Gnarleywine
7. Maximus
8. Pils

I tried the Sirius, a cream ale that is probably one of the hoppiest you could find. The Sirius is 7.2% alcohol in an anorexic malt body. It pours a lager-like crystal clear but rich golden (points for the style). Alcohol and hops in the glass with faint pale malt. The hops are mostly pine and a little earthy, and leaves a clean but brisk bitterness. A good and refreshing beer.

Next up was the bartender's recommendation, Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale. This beer falls into the double IPA style. It pours a very deep amber/red and the aroma consists of very fresh smelling hops that give off mostly pine, on a deep caramel malt body. The taste is a lot of malt sweetness and fresh juicy hops. It's standard double IPA sticky, but not overly syrupy. Overall a very good DIPA.