femALEist

NEW BEER WEBSITE!

2010-04-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone Check out my new Beer website! It is all new and improved. Make sure to add it to your bookmarks as well as subscribe to the RSS feed so I won't annoy you with tons of blog posts anymore! www.femaleist.com Let me know what you think....I am VERY excited for this!

This will be my main blog, so make sure to take note and subscribe to the new website!

Cheers,

Tiila

Rent our Room! (and get some fabulous craft beer on tap too!)

2010-03-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

60's Vintage Modern Abode Beer Bnb!

www.airbnb.com/rooms/12600

Located in the heart of Noe Valley, 3 blocks away from Dolores Park and the Mission District..right outside is the J Muni line and 4 blocks away from the BART station. This LARGE sunny apartment with a private deck and a view of the city is a mid century lover's dream. The room is decorated as a game room, and includes a cocktail arcade game with Galaga, Ms Pacman, Pacman, Donkey Kong and more. The bed is a high end convertible futon that can accommodate 2 people. There is also a 60's record player with tons of great records- lots of Rolling Stones, Hall & Oates, Journey, ect. There is also a vintage poker table for those who like to gamble.

We also own a kegerator, so there may also be craft beer flowing when you visit- please inquire! We are craft beer affectionados and can accommodate those interested in knowing about craft beer, craft beer stores, local craft breweries, craft beer bars as well as restaurants with great craft beer pairings! We can also can arrange craft beer tours and private tastings (tasting notices should be at least 5 days in advance). Think of us as you Beer, Bed & Breakfast

We have a small 20lb dog Stella who is friendly- we may consider small dogs as long as they are friendly and housebroken- please ask. I also have a passion for cooking so breakfast is included and other meals may be arranged as well. Free wireless....
All in all, we are great and friendly hosts, we would love to tell you the best places to eat or hang out in the city. We look forward to meeting you!

Jug Shop BrewDog Tasting

2010-03-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Jug Shop always has some amazing lineups- and this one was one of the best that I have been to.
Kudos to Eric Cripe again!
$25 to taste 8 BrewDog beers.

We tried in order:
1- 5am Saint- Red Ale, 5% abv
2- Punk IPA- 6% abv
3-Atlantic IPA Ale-8.5%
4- Devine Rebel- Collaboration with Mikkeller, barleywine and 12.5% abv.
5-Juxtaposition- Collaboration with Stone and Cambridge. Imperial black pilsner, 10% abv.
6- Isle of Arran Paradox- Collaboration with Isle of Arran Imperial Stout, 10% abv.
7-Paradox SmokeHead- Collaboration with SmokeHead Whiskey, aged for 6 months in scotch malt whiskey casks, 10%
8- Tokyo- Imperial Stout, 18.2% abv.

5am Saint- This is made with Simcoe, Chinook, Nelson Sauvin and Centennial hops. This poured a bright copper red with a good, thick head. On the nose you get tons of passionfruit, pineapple and grapefruit pineyness. It tasted incredibly smooth with some light bitterness, a ton of pine and citrus. It was very forestry tasting- in a good way. It was a good beer to start off the tasting with.

Punk IPA- This is made with Chinook, Ahtanum and Nelson Sauvin hops. This poured a cloudy wheat yellow with very thick foam. It smelled of: funk, yeast, a hint of wet blanket and a ton of citrus. It tasted of a light honey, pine, grapefruit and it had a fantastic sweet to bitter ratio. Fantastic drinkability.

Atlantic IPA Ale- For those of you that don't know the story behind this beer ($28/bottle mind you):
James was given an 1856 "Brewer's Handbook" as a gift last Christmas which contained an even older original IPA hoppy recipe - which provided inspiration for him to embark on BrewDog's latest voyage of creating waves in an otherwise flat beer market. The following month (January 2009), he set off on a journey on his fishing trawler in the North Atlantic with eight barrels on-board, each containing beer brewed from the original recipe. Atlantic IPA (and James!) survived two months on the North Atlantic, involving a tense barrel-rescue-mission, beatings from force ten storms, 60 foot waves and encounters with killer whales. Upon safe return to dry land, the IPA was bottle conditioned and is now available at www.brewdog.com and Uto Beer, Real Ale (both London), Cornelius (Edinburgh) Beer Ritz (Leeds).
This poured an ornage copper with an off white with a touch of orange creamy head. This smelled like honey, spice, oak, malt and a touch of soy sauce. It tasted spicy, oaky, with roasted malt that turned to pine to bitter roasted coffee. It had a fantastic transition in taste. Glad I tried it, not sure if it's worth $28 a bottle.

Devine Rebel- This poured a murky sienna brown with no head. It smelled of raisins, dates, burnt sugar, and some sweet malts. It tasted absolutely delicious. It tasted like rasisins, prunes, dates, subtle smokiness with a hoppy bitter aftertaste. I Loved it! The bitter hoppy aftertaste was just perfectly balanced. I have to say this is one of my favorite barelywines!

Juxtaposition- This is made with Japanese and New Zealand hops. It poured a pitch black. It smelled like raisins, dates, prunes, maple syrup then spicy hops. It tasted like raisins, stewed plums, sweet malt than some spicy hoppy bitterness mixed with some juicy luscious fresh mango. Really good. High drinkability and not much burn for the alcohol- it was pretty well hidden.

Isle of Arran Paradox- This is aged in Isle of Arran malt whiskey barrels. This poured a semi clear cola brown. It smelled malty, with a touch of smokiness, light espresso and light hops. It tasted malty with some milk chocolate notes, light licorice, whiskey and light coffee bitterness on the ending.Quite well balanced and tons of delicate interesting flavors going on here.

Paradox Smokehead- This poured black with a tint of red. This smelled like TONS of tobacco, tons of smoke, scotch and a lot of alcohol. It tasted like malt but with a good balance of smoked tobacco. It tasted like I was drinking tobacco mixed with scotch. Like a glass full of scotch leftover from a party that someone ashed their cigarettes in. That may be your thing, don't get me wrong. I am not saying this is a bad beer; however, scotch isn't my thing, so it's just not for me. BUT if you do like scotch, this one may be interesting for you to try.

Tokyo- Last but not least, this puppy is made with jasmine and cranberries and then aged on french toasted oak chips. It poured a dark chocolate with a thin milk chocolate head. It smelled of sweet honey, raisins, stewed prunes, candied malts and a touch of spice. It tasted like sweet malt, sweet dried raisins, prunes, dates, touch of black currant and a light hoppy bitterness on the ending. It had a fabulous hop bitterness ending. I enjoyed this beer a lot!

Overall, BrewDog is doing some great beers with a ton of innovation. Their beers are beautiful; subtle pretty notes mixed with in your face barrel aging. They are mixing of everything great that's going on in craft beer from all over the world and creating some great new beers. I highly recommend that you try their beers.

5th Women Who Like Beer: Strong Ales, Barleywines and Samuel Adam's Utopias!

2010-03-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

Another fantastic meetup! We are so lucky to have such great people come and join in on all of the tasting fun~ It was so much fun this time that people hung out until midnight! Not to mention how great it was to open and taste Samuel Adams Utopias! We managed to score another bottle for everyone to try so we figured to have them try it at this meetup since it's such a rare find and a treat at $200 a bottle.

So I asked everyone who attended to do their homework: that was to rate their top 3 favorite beers and why they liked them.

The total consensus was:
1-Avery's Beast Gand Cru 2008 (we also all learned what Grand Cru means)
2- Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA (18% abv!)
3-Tie between Samuel Adam's Utopias (27%abv) and North Coast's Old Stock Ale

I also asked everyone to write why they liked the beers they picked.
Some of the responses were:

Courtney said she picked the Utopias as #1 because it's just like Port. She said the Deschuttes Jubel 2010 had a fruity punch in the middle and North Coast's Old Stock was very much like pop (in a good way).

Riah said It's difficult to say, but...the Utopias is so smooth and sweet but not overwhelming. The 120 minute IPA was lighter than the Beast Grand Cru but also sweet. I'm not generally a sweet beer person but the way we worked up to it really kind of leaves me out of context of the early more bitter beers that we tasted. She picked Dogfish Head's 120 as her #1 because it's smooth with some sweet pear notes but light. The Utopias as her #2 because it's creamy, like brown sugar, maple syrup and creme brulee. Her #3 was Dogfish Head's Palo Santo Marron because it had caramelized bananas and coffee flavors in it.

Shana picked North Coast's Old Stock as her #1. She said she loved the balance of the hops and the malt- super smooth!

Kate said her #1 was the 120 because it's tangy with a sugar blast.

Meredith liked the Beast Grand Cru because of it's honey, candy and maple syrup flavors. She also said she thought the Utopias would be too sweet and strong but she loved it.

Jen said she picked Nectar Ale's Black Xantas as her #1 because she loved the coffee bean flavors and of its drinkability. She picked The Breast Grand Cru as her #2 and said she didn't like it at first- until she tried it with crackers. She thinks it would be good with a salty pairing.

We also got a few compliments which is always nice to hear.
Meaghan Paice said Fun, nice people and educational.
Kate said You are so hospitable and gracious. Thanks you!!!
Shana said You guys always put on an exceptional tasting/pairing. Loved it!!!

Thank YOU guys again for making it so successful! I look forward to our next meetup:

Beer pairing with Cheese and Chocolate Fondue (with men too!)
http://www.meetup.com/Women-who-like-beer/calendar/12356946/?from=list&offset=0

New Zealand: 7 Random Bottled Beers

2010-03-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

So sadly, this will be my last New Zealand post from this trip. All good things must come to an end so then you can realize they were good, right? Anyways, I enjoyed a bunch of random beers along the way. Many of which were a gift from the guys at Croucher Brewing, which was much appreciated, as well as beers that I randomly found in stores. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!

1-Speight's Old Dark 5 Malt Ale- Traditional brewers of fine ales since 1876. 4% abv. This poured a reddish brown with a touch of a white head. It smelled of light caramel, toffee and vanilla. This tasted like sweet malts mixed with a touch of light cherry cola. It was just ok, and slightly weird. It didn't give me that wow factor by a long shot.

2-Townshend Brewery- Old House ESB-from Rosendale, Nelson. Batch #118 and it had a best by date of 10/10/10. 5.3% abv. This poured a lightly cloudy reddish orange hue. On the nose you get: spice, malt and a touch of honey. It tasted of light malt, grass, herbs, light bitterness with a light grapefruit bitterness ending. It had great drinkability.

3-Wigram Brewing Co- Captain Cooks's Spruce Beer- This beer is based on Captain Cook's original recipe first made in Dusky Sound, New Zealand in 1773. Flavored with Spruce (rimu) and tea tree (manuka). Claims this to be a 'healthy' recipe. 5% abv. This poured an murky orange copper. It smelled of mushrooms, spice, bouillabaisse and seemed very meaty. It tasted soupy: very meaty with cooked string beans. And it had a light mint clean aftertaste. Very very weird. This seemed similar to the experimental stuff that Dogfish Head does with their ancient recipes. But sometimes those recipes are ancient for a reason. SO if you are a big fan of Campbell's Chunky Soup, then this is your beer. If not, definitely skip it!

4- Dux de Lux Brewing Co- Hereford Bitter- Dark Munich Lager. 5% abv. Brewed in Christchurch and Queenstown. This poured a dark chocolate with a slight orange hue. It smelled hoppy: dry hopped, marijuana and light mint. It tasted like it had a good malt character, dark espresso and ends with a dry bitterness. This one was decent. I would try their beers again.

5-Epic- Pale Ale- Made with 23 different types of hops. Made in Auckland. 5.4% abv. This poured a clear orange with a touch of sienna. On the nose, you get aromas of orange, light passionfruit, grapefruit skin and some resin. It tasted citrusy, bitter grapefruit and a piney aftertaste. This was the best hoppy beers so far (I had this before their Armageddon at Brew on Quay).

6- Harrington's Limited Edition Lazy Summer Lager- Made with tangelos, coriander and crushed ginger- 5% abv. This poured a clear golden orange with no head. On the nose, I got flavors of juicy ginger, spice and citrus. It tasted of a light malt, light tangelo, lemon with a huge spicy ginger almost ginger beer like flavor. I couldn't drink it all- it was too much for me. This may be good for those who like ginger beer, which seemed to be all over New Zealand, but even then it seemed way too intense to drink. Not even to pair with spicy food or bbq or anything- I just didn't like it.

7- Three Boys- Golden Ale- This sadly, was my official last beer in New Zealand. It is made with 100% Canterbury malted barley and 100% Nelson bred hops. A genuine Kiwi brew and a perfect match for summer. Batch # 1159 best before 10/16/10 (love those dates!) Serve at 7-10 degrees C. It had a great logo, great little details but they forgot one thing: not to bottle their product in a freaking green bottle! I opened it and sure enough: it smelled skunked! It poured a clear marigold yellow with a 1/2" thick head. It smelled skunked with some light sweetness, candied malts and pine. It tasted very refreshing, light grass, pine, light hoppy bitterness comes out at the end balanced with a tangy citrus. You get a light pucker aftertaste. You don't get too much malt flavor in taste, I get more malt just on the nose. Overall, it seems light- more pilsnery than an ale but it sort of goes with the whole kiwi thing. But there is more flavor in there than your run of the mill pilsner.

All in all, what I learned about New Zealand beer: there are some really good things happening over there in the world of small craft breweries. Overall, it seems like the majority of people like their boring British styles of beer, pilsners and beer that tastes like soda. However, when it comes to decent craft beer, there are definitely things blooming and good beers being produced. It's almost like watching the whole West Coast beer thing being born over there.( I mean, they are even growing Cascade for goodness sakes!) It's interesting to me, coming from San Francisco where we have access to a ton of fantastic beer but they are all very intense in-your-face flavors. But this was a process as well. I can't wait to see what will come next out of New Zealand and I am definitely looking forward to getting back there as soon as possible.

Cheers~

New Zealand: Brew on Quay & Galbraith's Alehouse

2010-03-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

So coming from San Francisco and being spoiled to having great access to beer in beer bars like Toronado, I have a bit of a high bar to fill when trying out a new beer bar. But I had hopes for Auckland, having a few on Beer Advocate that had good ratings. So I tried 2 of them: Brew on Quay and Galbraith's Alehouse.

Brew on Quay: Brew on Quay is the latest project from the Brew boys. 3 boys (actually men by age, but boys in every other sense), who have been friends/drinking buddies for a very very long while. With a background in the hospitality industry by trade, and the brew industry by passion, the Brew boys wanted to create a bar with a point of difference. Focusing on great atmosphere, ambience, fine food and the best brews from around the world.

I walked in an did a quick survey of their beer list. I had heard a bunch of good things about Epic; especially their Armageddon IPA, which I had not seen in any bar or store yet. So I ordered it. I took it upstairs to their rooftop beer garden, which was small but still a great touch.

Epic: Armageddon IPA- 6.66% abv and made with 42 hop cones in every bottle. It poured a clear bright orange with a hint of brown. On the nose I got tons of grapefruit, pineapple and citrus with some resinous pine. It tasted of fresh hops, fresh pine and tons of juicy grapefruit, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. I don't get much malt flavors or sweetness as the bottle says but it's a very very drinkable up to par ipa. Good job Epic!

As I drank the Armageddon, I browsed their bottle list. And for those skeptics who think you can't get your great beers in New Zealand, here is what they had of note: Damnation, Chimay, Anchor Steam, Anderson Valley David's Double, Delirium Nocturnum, Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Unibroue La Terrible and Duvel just to name a few.

I wanted to stay and have more but I had to go try Galbraith's Alehouse for dinner.

I have heard many good things about Galbraith's and it had an even better rating on beer advocate than Beer on Quay. So they are also a brewery besides having a good bottle list. So I decided to do their beer sampler.

I tried in order:
1-Galbraith's Tuatara Bavarian Hefe- 5% abv
2-Galbraith's Bitter & Twisted ESB- 5.3% abv and served on cask.
3-Galbraith's Resurrection- trappist style ale and 8.7% abv.
4- Galbraith's Grafting Porter- 5% abv and served on cask.

Galbraith's Tuatara Bavarian Hefe- This poured a cloudy wheat yellow. On the nose it had a huge mashed banana aroma with some sweetness, vanilla and clove. It tasted sweeter than expected, with overripe bananas, honey, yeast but lacking spice. It left a very light light spice on the tongue in the back in the aftertaste but extremely slight.

Galbraith's Bitter & Twisted ESB- Served on cask! This puppy poured a clear orange teak color. I smelled candied malts, roasted plums, raisins and citrus and pine. It tasted pretty much the same as the nose just a tad lighter. It tasted not as bitter as I would have expected for an ESB.

Galbraith's Resurrection- This poured a clear copper red. It smelled of light hops, light malt and slightly sweet. It tasted light with some caramel notes, light citrus and some spice on the end. It tasted pretty light for it being 8.7% abv. It was very English and very mild.

Galbraith's Grafting Porter- Again, served on cask! This poured a dark brownish black with no head. It smelled of coffee, vanilla, sweet malts and a touch of caramel. It tasted of light roasted coffee, light vanilla and toasted malts. It was very drinkable and Gary's favorite.

So out of the 2 beer bars, I definitely liked Brew on Quay better. It had a better selection of beer, the location was better (right on the Marina waterfront), the place was a bit new mixed with an old- like the brick building it is housed in with each room decorated different, and the friendly staff. Galbraith's Alehouse just seemed so old fashioned. The clientele was all older, the food was trying to be fancy but it was just redesigned pub food and the bartenders weren't that helpful. In fact, I noticed some really good bottled beer that wasn't on their beer menu and I asked about those and they didn't know much about it. One of my pet peeves is when I ask about a beer in a brewpub and they don't know about it. Shouldn't you know what you are selling? I do have to give them props for having beer in cask though. They also had some decent bottled and guest tap beers (Like Crouching Brewing's Vicar's Vice Forbidden Fruit on draft) but their own beer was very typical run of the mill English style boring beers, which aren't really my thing. Not to mention how dirty all of their brewery equipment was! I wish I saw that before I tried their beers. I would have stuck to their bottle list!

New Zealand: Waiheke Island Brewery

2010-03-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

So, you know how beautiful Napa/Sonoma is: the wineries, the landscape, the incredible food, the cheese, the olive oil and everything in-between; it seems like it couldn't get any better. Well, it can. Put it on an island surrounded by aquamarine colored water. It's called: Waiheke Island. You even take a ferry there from Auckland or Devonport (the only downer is you have to rent a car for the day, which is the equivalent of $50 US but totally worth it).

While there and enjoying some amazing wine and food from Cable Bay, we found out there was a micro brewery on the island that also does beer tastings. So of course, we had to check it out. It is called Waiheke Island Brewery. It had a great set up: a huge outdoor patio to enjoy your beers on (they also had wine tastings, olive oil tastings and sauces like chutney to taste there as well). Their bottles were so great and they even had a package where you could buy a bottle of beer with a glass in a nice wooden wine box (perfect gift to bring home to Dave!).

There were 4 beers to try in their tastings:
1-Baroona Pale Ale- 4.7% abv
2- Wharf Rd Wheat Beer- 4.5% abv
3-Onetangi Dark Ale- 4.3% abv
4-Matiatia Malt Beer- 7.2%

Baroona Original Pale Ale- the description said: Based on the German-Kolsch style with the use of the famous New Zealand Saaz (Motueka) hops. Baroona is brewed with 90% pilsner malt and 10% malted wheat and is top fermented. It recommends to pair it with spicy food. It poured a clear hay yellow with a touch of brown to it. It had flavors of grapefruit, citrus, hay and grass on the nose. It tasted very light, pilsnery with a very very faint touch of hops. Overall it did not have much flavor and I would disagree about it pairing with spicy food. Spicy food needs something substantial in flavor to stand up to it and you would think it might, according to its description of hops, but there wasn't much to this beer. So I would recommend pairing with it with simply grilled fish, smoked salmon, or anything pickled.

Wharf Rd Wheat Beer- the description said: Bavarian Hefeweizen style, brewed with 50/50 blend of pilsner wheat, very light hopped with Pacific Halleryau and fermented with Bavarian yeast. It recommends to pair it with salads, seafood and pasta. It poured a cloudy wheat yellow with no head. It smelled of banana, clove, bubblegum and a touch of sweet honey. It tasted extremely light- a light banana bubblegum aftertaste and slightly dry on the tongue. It was just ok for me if that. And again, with this beer being so slight I disagree with the pairing suggestions (really a hefeweizen with pasta?): I would suggest this beer pairs well with sausages, potato salads, pretzels, bratwurst, mostly german food.

Onetangi Dark Ale- the description said: Porter style and using a blend of 8 different grades of malted barley. Hopping is stronger than most dark beers with New Zealand grown Styrian Goldings used for bitterness and aroma. Rich and creamy, yet light soft chocolate notes of malt are perfectly balanced for their hops, with their rich, fruit cake flavor. It recommends to pair it with roast meats, game or oysters.
It poured a clear orangish teak. It smelled of slight caramel and sweetly toasted malts. It tasted more roasted than expected with some light milk chocolate notes and ends with a little bitter dryness on the tongue. It had a good flavor for being so light at 4.3% abv. It was slightly too light for the style. It was the best out of all 4 in my opinion and reminiscent of a doppelbock .

Matiatia Malt Beer-the description said: based on the American IPA, this beer is perfect for an after-dinner beer or nightcap. The palate is rich and full with notes of toffee and chocolate, balanced with generous additions of New Zealand grown Cascade hops for a lingering resinous finish. It recommends to pair it with desserts, cheese or chocolate. It poured a slightly cloudy red mahogany with no head. On the nose, I got flavors of chocolate, vanilla, toffee, roasted malt and light espresso. It tasted of roasted malt but light for 7.2% abv. Very British feeling. Dry on the tongue. I would never have known it had Cascade hops in it. The only indication is the dry tongue aftertaste. How is this based on an American IPA? I would disagree with this one about it being an after-dinner beer. This would be good paired with oysters, stews or gravies, perhaps some light chocolate desserts but it feels more meaty than desserty. There are much better beers to pair with dessert or chocolate.

Overall, this brewery was a bit disappointing. The bottle packaging is fantastic and I really like that they are using New Zealand based ingredients. However, their beers were too middle of the road, if that. They were not different enough for me to justify the micro brew price so why would I spend more money on these beers when I can get ones I really enjoy for the same price? They all just felt like watered down versions of good beers. I think they have potential but they need to get there and make themselves stand out taste wise or they will be weeded out by the rest.

New Zealand: A little beer garden in Okere Falls

2010-03-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

Traveling to Lake Rotoriti, I was surprised to not only find a atomic vintage looking high end deli, but a cool one with a beer garden in the back! It's called the Okere Falls Store We got there on the late side, but they said that their hours were from 7am-7pm, but if there were people hanging out in the back that they sometimes don't close the beer garden until 9pm. Good to know! So we had to come back the next day (we were only there 2 nights).

So the next day, after boating on Lake Rotoriti to the Hot Springs in the middle of the lake in the rain, we washed up and got ourselves over to the Okere Falls Store for a snack and some beer. They had really cute T Shirts there as well as local jellies, sauces, espresso, wine, local vegetables and delicacies. We grabbed a few snacks to munch on in the back as well as a beer.

The beer I tried was:
by Altien-brauerei Kaufbeuren- Hellespont Starkbier Belli Bock- 6.9% abv and a Maibock/ Belli Bock. It poured a hazy sunshine yellow. It smelled of light apricot, lemon, malt and some light cereal. It tasted belgiany, yeasty with light sweet malts and a touch of dried apricot. It was very pleasant to drink- especially in their outside beer garden. That's something we are lacking here in San Francisco is a decent place to sit outside and drink your beer.

We also tried by
Altien-brauerei Kaufbeuren- Jubilaums German Pils- 5% abv. This poured a yellow hay color with a thick white foamy head that dissipated quite quickly. It smelled of a touch of hops with some earthiness and grass notes to it. It tasted of light hops, a touch of herbs, and some light malt.

Apparently this place has a bunch of beer festivals as well. You should try to make it there!

New Zealand: Monteith's Brewing

2010-03-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

So after a 13 hour plane ride that landed at 5:30 in the freaking morning and a semi-nap, I was looking forward to trying my first New Zealand beer at lunch. It was Monteith's Brewing Radler Bier and boy, did I wish I had a glass of wine instead! I looked up the brewery and once again found that it was bought by a large corporation, DB Breweries. I disliked the Radler Bier so much that I wouldn't buy anymore Monteith's when I saw it. However, my friend and I were walking around a neighborhood and there wasn't much to do there, so we saw a Monteith's Ale House called The Copper Room and out of pure boredom, we tried 2 more beers.

Monteith's Radler Bier- 5% abv, says : An easy drinking beer with light hoppy notes and a hint of natural lemon juice. Poured a light clear yellow. It smelled like Sprite soda, artificial lemon and light faint hops. It tasted like Sprite soda with the tiniest touch of hops. It was nasty. The last thing I ever want a beer to taste like is soda. It reminded me of a Zima or something to that effect. I bet it is popular with college students who don't know the taste of real beer. (I just looked it up and it has a D+ rating on beer advocate. Not sure what the + is for).

Montieth's Summer Ale- Lager 5% abv. I didn't even want to try this beer after the Radler Bier, but the bar tender in the brew pub insisted I try it, as it's apparently their best seller. The only difference between this and the Radler beer is that instead of Spite lemon/lime soda, this tasted like carbonated apple juice soda. Not sure which one was worse, but they were both the worst beers I tried on my trip.

Monteith's Black Beer-Schwarzbier style- 5.2% abv. This poured a dark black brown, slightly clearish. It smelled of light roasted malt, some espresso and a touch of vanilla extract. It tasted light, with a good chariness to it, toasted malts and roasted espresso. It had decent drinkability because it was such a light drinking beer. Hands down, the only decent one that is passable for Montieth's if you have to go there- which I advise that you don't.

Overall, there are MUCH better beers out there in New Zealand. Don't try their Radler or Summer Ale even if you were stuck on a dessert island and drink their Black Beer if there's nothing else decent to try.

Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink The Beer Book Mr. Beer Premium Edition Home Microbrewery System

New Zealand: Moa Brewing Co: Exceptionally Rare Beer

2010-03-12T10:35:00.000-08:00

I also came upon Moa's beers in a wine speciality chain store called GlenGarry. I was looking for some interesting New Zealand beers to try as that was my only rule during my stay on the North Island: only drink the local beer. So when I saw Moa's beers on the shelf, with a cork and higher abv's than the rest, I thought I would give it a try. My only note of distain is that they were all in green bottle no less (shame on you guys- change the freaking bottle to brown! Otherwise they will be skunked-).

Their website says:
A vision of Moa beer came to Josh Scott, winemaker for Allan Scott Family Winemakers...

What if he used his winemaking expertise to craft an exceptional quality beer?

The process starts off quite normally. Josh brews the beer using mainly local hops, malt, wheat or barley. Then he veers off the well-worn path. Josh bottles the beer, adds a dose of yeast and sugar and then seals the cap.

Just like champagne, the bubbles produced by this second fermentation are dissolved in the liquid. The result is a beer unlike any other — clear, exquisite, and bottle-fermented

We tried in order:
1-Moa's St Josephs Tripel-Belgian Style Tripel and 9.5% abv-Limited edition
2-Moa's 5 Hop Winter Ale- 6.2% abv- English style Extra Special Bitter/Strong Ale and limited edition
3-Moa's Harvest- 5.5%- fruit beer made with Nelson hops and cherries
4-Moa's Imperial Stout Barrel Reserve- 9.5% abv aged in Pinot Noir barrels and limited edition

St Josephs Tripel- This poured a cloudy caramel yellow. On the nose, you get flavors of sour lemons, slight spice, light caramel and very belgiany. It tasted: of a slightly sweet caramel, light spicy clove, yeast, belgiany, some dark fruits and some light citrus. It was extremely good and probably my favorite beer so far in New Zealand.

5 Hop Winter Ale- This poured a teak brown with a good, thick white head. It smelled of light sweet malts, hops, and some light tropical fruits. It tasted belgiany with some bitterness, candied sugar, malt, light grapefruit and light spice.

Harvest- This beer poured a golden yellow with a touch of white foam. It smelled of wheat, light fresh cherries and slight vanilla. It tasted light with some light cherries, slight banana, clove spices and wheat. Very drinkable and refreshing.

Imperial Stout Barrel Reserve- Yeah! Aged in Pinot Noir barrels! Someone is doing something comparable to what's going on here on the West Coast. I actually brought this one on the plane back home with me for my husband to try. The only problem with beers being bottle conditioned is that sometimes they explode. This one didn't quite explode on the way over, but it did leak due to pressure (the other bottles of Moa did not). It poured a dark brown black with an oatmeal cream head. It smelled of wine, chocolate, light vanilla, and big roasted malt. It tasted of dark espresso, fresh vanilla bean, toasted malt with some light tannins in there as well. It was super carbonated and not too bitter- very drinkable and very good. I am glad I brought another bottle home to age!

Overall, they are doing some good stuff over there and if you get a chance to go to the South Island of New Zealand you should definitely make a trip to their brewery! (If I ever get to the south island, I definitely will!) Keep up the good work Moa!

New Zealand: Mac's does a good job disguising itself as a 'craft' brewery

2010-03-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

Going into a New Zealand supermarket, one isn't quite hopeful to find any 'craft' beers. However, I found some beers on the shelf that had very clever packaging and extremely cute bottles. (Not that I am a sucker for packaging or anything). The bottles had rings on the top of the neck, which made for easy gripping and the bottle cap, you pull off and it pops off. Somebody needs to steal this design.

Anyways, Mac's beers are everywhere. I first noticed something was up when I saw one of their beers on the supermarket shelves: Mac's Light low alcohol beer and 1%! 1% people, now what's the point of drinking beer that's 1%? If you are on a diet, have 1 glass of really fantastic beer, not 10 of total crap 1% beers. I was so shocked, I had to take a photo.

Then there was their beer bar in Auckland. Totally done right- all vintage items pieces together and really comfortable and cool. It was a shame when I learned the true story about Mac's from the bartender there- Lion Brewery (the equivalent of a New Zealand Budweiser company and actually part of the Mitsubishi Group) had bought Mac's Brewery from a man named Terry McCashin who actually still owns the brewery but since August 2000, Lion has leased it and has in fact, already moved a big part of their production. I guess they saw how the 'craft' beer industry was booming so they decided to make some 'craft' beers and disguise them by being a cool, young, vintage-y feeling brewery only to trick us young folks that actually like good beer. It's a shame too because their whole package from the beer bars, brewery and beer packaging actually IS quite fantastic. I am actually surprised Budwesier or any of the big '3' have not developed this system yet.

Also, on a side note, Dave and I finally watched Beer Wars, which if you haven't seen it, you should AND you can stream it from your computer if you belong to Netflix. SO ridiculous how the big guys are just out to crush everything and every brewery in its sight. Yeah America. What the hell is wrong with our country? How do these people sleep at night? Oh yeah, under their billions and billions of dollars that keep themselves and their lobbists happy. BUT they also show at one point, an Organic Wild Hop Lager from Green Valley Brewing which is actually made and owned my Anheuser-Busch! It's completely disguised to look like a local craft beer with independant brewers. Disgusting!!!! Nowhere on the package does it say this. I demand more people! Hoegaarden as well! I'll be damned- I didn't even know that one! You can read a great article about this beer documentary here.

Anyways, back to Mac's Brewery and their beer.

1- Hop Rocker Pilsner- German style pilsner.-5% abv. Says: a superb golden pilsner heavily hopped with sauvin and cascade varieties giving it citrus aromas and a proper bitter finish. It poured a clear yellow with a slight Orangina hue. On the nose, you can actually smell a hint of hops and wheat. It tasted like a light wheat with a touch of citrus. I can see how people can easily drink this and think it's a 'craft' beer because of the touch of flavor, which is lacking in any mainstream corporate beer. However, I guess it's a gateway beer and hopefully it might open up people to the idea of flavor for their beer and they can keep trying others until they realize this stuff isn't that great.

2- Great White- Belgian style whitbier and 5% abv. The bottle says: a complex, cloudy Belgian witbier with banana, bubblegum and Turkish delight flavors leading to open discussion of rhubarb and custard, raspberry, aniseed, orange peel and coriander. Can you see why I picked it up? It poured a cloudy orangish hay color with a white head and good lacing. It smelled of definite pink bubblegum, typical banana and clove. It tasted very wheaty with coriander spice, strong orange peel and banana flavors. It was light and good to drink on the beach. However, I think the person who wrote the description on the bottle was smoking something else while it was written. Rhubarb? Raspberry? Custard? Did they mix 2 beers together? Absolute marketing scheme and I was a total sucker.

3- Sassy Red- English Bitter and 4.5% abv. The label says: a real favourite and Mac’s most awarded beer. A very hoppy bitter with loads of Saaz B and five different malts. All the flavour you can handle. (Don't you love how the English spell things like flavor?). It poured a copper red with a touch of a head and minimal lacing. It smelled of some light toffee notes, some berry, and a touch of piney hops. It tasted crisp, with some berry fruitiness, with a good malty backbone that leaves a nice dry hop bitterness on your tongue. I actually liked it. Kudos for the name, plus I was with a sassy redhead, so it actually worked out quite well. (it actually got a B+ on BA)

4-Black Mac- English Brown Ale and 4.5% abv. Label says: newly reformulated, this chocolaty dark beer is rich in toasted malts and Hallertau hops. It poured a brownish black with an off white foamy heady. It smelled of light malts and some slight roasted flavors. It tasted of light coffee, slight caramel and a faint bitterness on the finish. Good drinkability considering how light the actual flavor is.

Overall, don't be fooled by the large corporate breweries. Even though there is some slight flavors in the Sassy Red, and apparently they even make a beer called Brewjolais -made with the season’s first green hops, and Mac’s Mojo, a unique espresso porter brewed with coffee beans from local roasters- Mojo. They are just trying to tap into the craft market for craft beers. I was even fooled. Let this be a lesson to all of you craft beer drinkers- be careful what you buy and never fool your taste buds. Oh yeah and go watch Beer Wars. It will change what you pick up top drink.

*** Also worth mentioning is that in the ladies bathroom, a completely stereotypical statement in on the door talking to us 'women' like we are idiots and incapable of liking good beer.
On the door it states the following:
Some people think guys like girls who are frilly and girly. This isn't true. Guys like girls who know jujitsu. Want to impress a guy? Order a Black Mac. Cocktails won't do it. They're just the anaesthetics disguised as fruit juice. Besides, he may like the idea of buying you a drink but he won't want to shell out $15 for it. Tell him you want a Black Mac and he'll be awestruck and grateful and intimidated all at once. And sit there cracking your knuckles while you wait for him to come back with it.

New Zealand: Croucher Brewing

2010-03-09T15:53:00.000-08:00

SO I have been away for the past 2 weeks, galavanting across the north island of New Zealand. I have been tasting a ton of beer along the way, along with an on air beer interview as well as a free helicopter ride. I finally am back in the States and sort of re-cooperated from the jet lag and ready to write about all the beers over there.

First up: Croucher Brewing Co in Rotorua, New Zealand

I got in touch with Nigel Gregory through a mutual friend from the states who said that they were doing some great beers over there- he wasn't wrong.

My friends and I found their brewing company in the back of an industrial area in Rotorua. We pulled up and Nigel Gregory and Paul Croucher dropped what they were doing to entertain us lady folk. They were both extremely nice and welcoming and went out of their way to have us sample some of the great beers they are creating over there besides the 3 types of beer that they bottle. We tried in order:

1-Czech Pilsner (they bottle this one)- a dry hopped pilsner and 5% abv. They use New Zealand Pacific Hallertau and Cascade hops to create this pilsner. It poured a light cloudy golden hay- orange with a bleach white head. It had a fantastic hopped nose to it with tons of juicy fresh grapefruit, pine and some mango. It tasted light but with some bitterness, light biscuit, and grapefruit. It had a nice dry, bitter finish. Now I am not a fan of Pilsners, but I really enjoyed this one. I honestly think it was the best Pilsner I have ever had. It's not the run of the mill Pilsner style, which is why I like it- it actually has some interesting flavors.

2- The Hef (they also bottle this one and it's the beer I have Colin & Matt from 97.9 Kool FM try on the air). 5% abv. This poured a cloudy straw color and a light white head. It smelled of banana, clove, yeast and bubblegum. It tasted of banana bread with clove spices over some wheat/yeastiness with a hint of cereal/biscuit malt. Nothing out of the ordinary in this one, but a good standard hefeweizen to drink on a hot sunny day.

3-Pale Ale (the last one they bottle). American style pale ale brewed with Cascade hops and 5% abv. This poured a cloudy orange rust shade. It smelled of: cascade hops, citrus, grapefruit and pine. It tasted a bit light with some citrus, grapefruit, grass and a light caramel malt finish. It was my least favorite of their beers- it was decent but it did not rock my world, but I am also hard to impress living in California and the land of fantastic craft beer.

4- Cherry Bock (not bottled)- 8% abv. This poured a cola brown with a touch of red highlights. It smelled of cherry cola, candied malt and a hint of vanilla. It tasted lightly sour (yum), caramel malts stewed cherries with a huge raspberry lingering finish. Very drinkable and a great example of some interesting brews they are cooking up over there.

5-Belgian Collaboration (not bottled)- collaboration with Epic Brewing - This poured a cloudy bright orange with a hint of sienna brown. It smelled of juicy peaches, light fresh grapes and sweet malt. It tasted of light grapes, vanilla and light caramel malts. It was not bitter, it was quite juicy but it lacked carbonation.

6- Vicar's Vice Forbidden Fruit (not bottled)- I got the chance to sample this beer at Galbraith's Alehouse in Auckland on draft. It's a trappist style and 7% abv. It poured a yellow copper. It smelled belgiany with some stewed plums, dark fruits and some slight biscuit notes. It tasted belgiany with a light, sweet caramel, some toffee notes and a bit of stewed dark fruits. Again, another great innovative style that they are doing at Croucher.

After our trip to Rotorua, we went to Whangamata, New Zealand, where I was interviewed on the radio talking about beer. I had Colin & Matt, the radio interviewers try Croucher Brewing's The Hef on the air. Check out the broadcast here.

All in all, these guys are giving New Zealand what most of their beers lack- flavor. For an country that mainly drinks Lion Beer and English styles, they are doing some great innovative styles and giving New Zealand some actual flavors in their beer. I highly recommend you try their stuff.

Pliny the Younger on tap at Toronado Friday 2/19

2010-03-01T00:26:00.000-08:00

So who would of thought at me getting my haircut on a Friday would lead to me drinking Pliny the Younger on tap without a crazy line? So I go to get my haircut right around the corner from Toronado, and feeling a bit beer'ed out, Dave and I go to just have a drink or two after work on Friday. He rushed over to make their happy hour, which ends at 6pm, and low and behold when we walk in, on the chalkboard it said: Younger at 6pm. $7 for a 13oz glass.
It was 4 minutes until 6. Booyah.

SO we were both able to taste this incredible beer once again. It was amazing that only a week later had this beer already changed in character. Hops really fade over time- who would have thought 1 week would make such a difference? But when you are drinking it really fresh, you definitely take notice. So this 1 week old version was a bit astringent and way way less sweet. It wasn't even sweet anymore. It was still super dry and bitter- and sticky. Incredibly sticky. You still get the amazing hop, citrus, grapefruit rind flavors and drinking it for a while, it definitely gets more similar. But that first initial smell and taste was much different. It was pretty cool to try it and notice the differences!

Vertical Tasting of Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot

2010-02-21T10:51:00.000-08:00

You would think that with SF Beer Week going on, we would be to our limit with tasting beer. But when 4 friends come to town and 2 of them come in by past midnight before Toronado's Barleywine Festival, you know we had to break out something tasty.

SO we tried a vertical of Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot Barleywine- years 08, 09 & 10. All 9.6% abv.

Bigfoot 2010- Poured a clear orangish teak. Smelled very floral with notes of grass, lemon, citrus and not too much hop character. It tasted like bitter grapefruit, citrus, pine and leaves a large hoppy bitterness on the back of the tongue. Pretty good drinkability.

Bigfoot 09- poured the same orange brown with a shade darker than the 2010 version. It smelled hoppier than the 2010, more malt flavors, grapefruit. It smelled the best out of all three.
It tasted of hops, bitter grapefruit skin, citrus, some light toffee and malt flavors.

Bigfoot 08- the darkest color of them all- dark copper orange. It smelled of more malt characters than hops- toffee, vanilla, caramel and light citrus. It tasted more bitter than the 09 with more flavors of bitter grapefruit skin, light malt and citrus.

Overall, my favorite was the 2009 Bigfoot for it's fantastic malt/hop balance. The 2010 is great for a fresh barleywine that is still $10 a six pack, which is amazing. It's a good barleywine to start with if you have never had one before. It's also a good beer to have your first vertical with, as it is not too expensive and you can definitely tell the difference in the age of each.

SF Beer Week: 1st in line at Toronado's Barley wine Festival

2010-02-19T19:03:00.000-08:00

Toronado Barleywine Festival

February 13 - 14, 2010

Description:

17th Annual Toronado Barleywine Festival

Location: Toronado, 547 Haight, San Francisco, California

Time(s): 11:30AM-2AM

Admission: no charge

So this posting is a few days late, but I confess, I thought I lost my barleywine notes. Many hours of standing in line, followed by many hours of drinking barley wine with LOTS of note taking, then a trip to Dolores Park and a fight at home with myself not to fall asleep before 10pm-which was lost at 9:45-resulted in me apparently forgetting which pair of jeans that I wore. The pair that I swore I wore did not have my barleywine list in it, nor was it anywhere else in my apartment. Then after a few days, I put another pair of jeans on and voila, my barleywine list! YEAH!
So considering this is my 3rd attendance (and Dave's 7th) and we had a bunch of friends in town visiting that we had to save space for at our table, we got our butts up early and waited in line for about 4 hours. Plus they opened at noon, a 1/2 hour later than they were suppose to- but all in all worth the wait. We were first in line! Whoot! Whoot! I felt like a celebrity for those many hours in line. I bet I was the 1st woman in the history of Barleywine festival to be first in line and to enter!
We got our photos taken, we were interviewed and on camera. (though I did terrible math when asked how long we were in line- I was up very early that morning)
Here are some links here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjGAWJM7C88
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5G_qW2n6YE
When we first entered, we were given a bottle of Rogue's Old Crustacean, 6.4oz from 1995! I haven't had mine yet but I will let you guys know how it tastes when I open it.

SO out of 48 barley wines, we tried 35, not that we couldn't try all 48, but there were a few that we could get anytime and we would rather get the rare stuff and drink more of those than the others (like the back room barrel aged goodness). As my friend said, "Barrel aging beer is the equivalent of bacon wrapping. Do you want Lobster? Or do you want bacon wrapped lobster?"

My top 3 in order of favorites were:

1- Lost Abbey's Angel Share Grand Cru, 10% and brandy barrel aged. (This was Dave's favorite as well). It had tons of vanilla, malt, toffee, molasses, brandy- sweet and delicious with not much burn.
2-Dogfish Head's Olde School 15%. I truly liked this barleywine. Not many men did, although many of the women that I talked to did as well. It was very different compared to the others- TONS of muscat notes, honey, fresh grapes, caramel and sweet malt flavors. Delish.
3-Firestone Walker, Abacus Blend- barrel aged and 12%. It had a great nose- tons of toffee, caramel, bourbon, vanilla and malt

My honorable mention ones are:
1-Oskar Blue's ODB, 13.2%- one time small batch. I thought it was the best for hops/malt balance with a good bitter spice character to it and very interesting malt flavors.

2-Alpine Brewing's Great, 14.2%. Flavors of: toffee, caramel, bourbon, malt, a touch of hops and slightly yeasty. I wrote: this is what I think of when I think of barley wine.
3-Anderson Valley's Barkley's Sour Horn, 9%. It had a light sourness to it with some butterscotch notes. It had a good sour/malt balance and it was very interesting. I wrote: I wouldn't kick it out of bed.
4- Hebrew's Human Blockhead, 10% Lager. It had a good nose! Honey, light spice character, for a lager, it was pretty good but it was 10% and all.

My least favorite:
Schooners' Devil's Inventory, 11.2%- a blended collaboration with Valley brewing. It was very weird- belgiany, soda like and smelled like cherry coke in an artificial way.

And for the official Toronado Barley wine contest winners:

1st Place: Big Woody, Glacier Brewhouse
2nd Place: Abacus Blend, Firestone Walker
3rd Place: Old Gnarlywine 2008, Lagunitas Brewing
Honorable Mention: ODB, Oskar Blues Brewing

Ah, SF Beer week is officially over...so now I can start to recover and await next year's great lineup.

SF Beer Week: Mystery Beer Night at City Beer

2010-02-16T15:21:00.000-08:00

City Beer Store

Mystery Beer Night: Midnight Sun Brewing

Feb 12, 2010

Free Admission

All Day Event

It's never a bad idea to end the week at City Beer Store, especially if it is SF Beer Week.

It was the debut of Midnight Sun Brewing, out of Anchorage Alaska's beers to be distributed down our way. We only tried 2 of their beers and one from Cascade because we did find out of a local beer bar that had Pliny the Younger on 'secret' tap for those in the know. I won't divulge the info on the place as Pliny is already gone and I want to keep their secret for doing something so awesome. Considering we went to 2 different beer events just for Pliny the Younger and Dave didn't get any, we had to go to this place.

We tried in order: Cohoho IPA, Panty Peeler and Cascade's Sang Noir.

Cohoho IPA in an imperial IPA made by Midnight Sun. It is made with brown sugar, honey and juniper berries. 8% abv. It poured a dark mahogony. It smelled of light hops, grass, citrus, and pine. It tasted bitter upfront with a strong grapefruit back note and a watery finish. It was just ok in my books for imperial ipa's.

Panty Peeler is a Tripel by Midnight Sun and 8.5%. It is made with bitter orange peel, coriander and belgian yeast. Kudos on the name, of course. It poured a vintage orangish brown. It had honey, coriander spice, banana, clove and belgian yeast on the nose. It tasted of spice, honey, ripe bananas some apples and belgiany. It is very fruity and pleasant.

Sang Noir by Cascade Brewing is a barrel aged sour brewed with cherries and 8% abv. It poured a pitch red dark brown with a hint of black. It smelled of cherries, Brett and sweet malts. It tasted sweet and sour with cherry goodness, malt and oak notes. It was my favorite of the bunch, but I am a fan of Cascade and any sours, so I'm partial.

After these 3 beers, it was getting a bit crowded and we wanted to make it in time for the Younger, so we bought 2 bottles of Midnight Sun's Treat beer, which is an imperial chocolate pumpkin porter and 7.8%. It is brewed with pumpkin, cocoa nibs, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. I will let you know how that one tastes.

Oh and that bar did have Pliny the Younger on secret tap. We had 4 glasses for $6 each.

Dave finally had his love of SF Beer week restored.

SF Beer Week: Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Night at Toronado

2010-02-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Night

February 11, 2010

Location: Toronado, 547 Haight, San Francisco, California

Time(s): 6PM+
Admission: no charge

Another SF Beer night, another night we stumble upon Toronado. Well, actually, we went because we tried to go to The Page after hearing they had Pliny the Younger on draft. But by the time we got there it was kicked, so instead of being utterly disappointed once again, we headed to Toronado for their Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Night. The program is what Sierra Nevada calls "Beer Camp". For Beer Camp, they invite people who work in the beer industry to go and spend a couple of days at Sierra Nevada. The first day is spent exploring the brewery, sampling beer, and learning about the history and future of Sierra Nevada. On the second day, campers meet with the brewers in their research and development brewery. There they come up with a recipe that they would like to brew, in any style in which they choose. Once they come up with a style, projected abv, and recipe, they brew the beer. When the beer is ready they have the kegs shipped back to their establishments and have their own micro release beer on tap.

We tried in order: Edge of Darkness, Golden Ticket, Hopstar, and Hoptimum.

Edge of Darkness- is a brown ale made with star anise and molasses made by Beer camp #12. 6.75% abv. It poured an opaque dark brown with a light cream head. It smelled of roasted malt, a hint of raisin and some light hops. It tasted light with a good malt character, some anise flavors, chocolate milk, good hop bitterness and an espresso ending. It had a good drinkability to it for being so light.

Golden Ticket-Beer Camp #14 created this Baltic Porter. 7.3% abv. It's the most talked about beer camp beers. It poured eclipse black. It had roasted malt, molasses, espresso and chocolate aromas. It tasted like molasses, malt, toffee, and some hop bitterness. It had a buttery aftertaste.

Hopstar- IPA made with Simcoe, Chinook, Amarillo and Magnum hops. 7.5% abv. Made by Beer Camp #17, including member from Toronado and City Beer Store. It is the first beer camp beer to ever be torpedoed, which is Sierra Nevada's proprietary dry hop method. It poured a golden yellow. It smelled of hops, citrus, grapefruit with a hint of caramel. It had a good bitterness to it, was very dry with pine, woods, grass and a hint of citrus flavors, minus grapefruit. Very drinkable.

Hoptimum- Made at Beer Camp #19 and 10.4%. It had members from Toronado, Zeigeist, Pi Bar, Barclays and the B Street Bistro. It's an Imperial IPA with pale and Munich malts, Simcoe, Chinook, Citra and Magnum hops. It poured a yellowish brown. It smelled of lemon citrus, hops and grass. It tasted light with some bitterness, some sweetness but not too hoppy.

All in all, a good night of drinking at Toronado yet again.

Sf Beer Week: Oyster Fest at Magnolia

2010-02-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

Magnolia Pub and Brewery

Feb 11

OYSTER FEST!

2-6pm

Nothing gets me out of the house faster than fresh shucked oysters. My husband and I have been known to buy a bag of 100 and shuck and eat them all (with some help from our friends of course). Plus I knew they had an oyster stout available and I have never had that type of stout before. AND it's their Strong Beer Month, so I knew I could get some good stuff.

I went around 4pm and sat outside due to the lovely weather and the craziness inside.

I had their own: Oysterhead Stout, Four Winds Quadrupel and their Old Thunderpussy Barley wine. Not to mention I had some of their food that was paired with these.

First up: Oysterhead Stout- brewed with 20 dozen Hog Island Sweetwater oysters & 5.2%. It poured a pitch black with a chocolate brown cream head. It smelled of roasted coffee, toasted malt with some mineralness in it (I assume from the oysters). It tasted like burnt espresso, malt and a light oysterness to it. It was very bitter and a tad dry. It was pretty good, considering the oysterness but it's the first one I've tried, so I don't quite have anything to compare it to.

So I paired it with 2 types of oysters: BBQ'd and Rockefeller both 3 for $6. I would have had and preferred the raw but at $2.50 a pop, this was a better deal. Plus I can get fantastic $1 oysters everyday, so to pay 2 1/2 times the price, didn't seem worth it to me. The bbq'd oysters were sweet, chewy and spicy. Paired with the Oysterhead Stout, the bitterness of the stout complimented the sweet while the heat lingers on your tongue. I also tried the oysters with the quadrupel just for fun. The 4 Winds Quadrupel became more sweet and the spicy flavors came out.

Oysters Rockefeller are cooked oysters with sort of a creamy spinach sauce on them. They were creamy, spinachy and a drop of the oyster mineral to them. That's always a bit disappointing when I can't quite taste the oyster, as I love the oyster flavors and always eat them raw- straight up without any condiments. So I admit, I was a bit out of my element trying both types of cooked oysters. Anyway, the Oysterhead Stout did not work with these at all. The bitter coffee notes overpower this combination. I did not like it with the other two beer either. It might go well with an IPA or Hefeweizen- definitely something lighter.

I also tried THE most amazing salad. Warm Frisee and Radicchio Salad with fried pheasant egg, oyster vinaigrette and only $7! OMG I was in heaven. Who knew? It had a fantastic bitterness from the radicchio, creaminess from the egg and a TON of raw oyster flavor in the vinaigrette. Absolutely fantastic. I tried it with the Oysterhead Stout and it was interesting and less bitter with the stout, but it did not wow me and I wanted the bitterness to be there. The other 2 didn't work either- way too sweet. I again, should of had an IPA to go with the bitterness of this salad.

Next up: 4 Winds Quadrupel and 9.1% abv. It poured a clear red rust with no head. It smelled of cherries, dark fruits, malt, vanilla bean and a hint of sour funkiness. It tasted sweet with malt flavors, toffee, dried plums and a tad sour. It finished dry on the tongue. I really enjoyed it.

Then Magnolia had some $5 pairings, which in itself was awesome and I had the suggested pairing with this one: Olive oil poached baby octopus and fried chickpeas with honey spice. The chickpeas were out of this world! I would just order a bowl of them. They were slightly sweet with a salty fried crunch. The octopus did not have that much flavor to them besides some thyme and they were a bit mushy chewy, not firm chewy. Paired with the Old Thunderpussy, the sweetness was really brought out between the chickpeas and the barley wine. You start to get some good cereal tastes occurring together as well. The saltiness gets washed away with the maltiness of the beer. Paired with the 4 Winds, as suggested by their menu, the taste becomes more bitter and the salt flavors came out more. It wasn't bad, I just preferred it with the barley wine.

Old Thunderpussy Barleywine- 10.8%. Points for the name. It poured a hazy teak with no head. It did not have much of a nose- just a touch of candied fruits and malt. It tasted of caramel, toffee, malt with a touch of bitter grapefruit hops and a tad sweet. It was very dry on the tongue from the hop presence. Overall, a pretty well balanced barley wine.

All in all, it was a great meal. I need to go here more often but Dave always complains that it's too expensive. These beers were only $2 pours and the $5 pairings, $7 amazing salad and a little overpriced oysters were definitely a deal for the whole package. Get your butt their to try some Strong Beers!

SF Beer Week: Lagunitas Night at Toronado (RR leftovers too)

2010-02-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

February 10, 2010

Lagunitas Night

Location: Toronado, 547 Haight, San Francisco, California

Time(s): 6PM+
Admission: no charge

Dave and I went to Toronado for Lagunitas night, which just so happened to be the night after their Russian River 'tion Night. We were very excited with the leftovers from the night before that we only tried 1 beer from Lagunitas. Especially because they had some verticals of Supplication and Temptation, so we just had to try those together. We went at 10pm on Wednesday and managed to get a seat at the bar, which is always a plus.

We tried in order: Supplication 07 & 09, Temptation 08 & 09, Beatification, Mortification, Interlude by Allagash and Maximus IPA on cask by Lagunitas.

Supplication by RR is a brown Ale aged in French oak Pinot Noir barrels with three strains of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and sour cherries. 7% abv. The Supplication 07 is a two year old aged version. It poured beautiful teak color. It smelled of fresh sour cherries, oak and Brett. It tasted sour on the sides and back of my tongue with some oak dryness. There is cherry fruit upfront but it is sour but not super pucker sour. The Supplication 09 looked pretty much the same except a shade lighter. It's nose was not as pungent at all compared to the 07. The taste is more fresh bing cherries, more oak and less sour pucker. I got some pucker on the roof of my mouth, but it has much more fruit compared to the 07. If you are new to sours, this one would be a good one to try. It's not as full bodied as the 07 but it tastes more fruity and oak. Dave liked the 09 better, however I appreciated the more sourness you got out of the 07.

Temptation by RR is a blonde Ale aged in French oak chardonnay barrels with Brettanomyces and it's 7.25% abv. The Temptation 08 poured a clear deep marigold with a creamy white head. The 08 is a shade darker than the 09. The 08 had an incredible nose- chardonnay grapes, oak, fresh green grape juice. It tasted of fresh grapes, lemon peel, oak, chardonnay with a hint of honey. A very pretty beer. The 09 did not have a strong aroma compared to the 08. I had to smell it hard just to get some oak notes out of it. It tasted of citrus, pink grapefruit, honey, and a sour dry finish. It was good, but I hands down enjoyed the 08 better. It was almost like a completely different beer. Get your hands on some if you can.

Beatification by RR is a wild ale that is 100% spontaneously fermented beer using the oldest barrels that no longer have any wine flavor or oak flavor left in them. 5.5% abv. It poured a cloudy sun yellow. It smelled of sour, oak and Brett. It tasted sour! Lemon, lemon, lemon sour, Brett and super dry. It is one tart beer! Reminiscent of Isabelle Proximus, a one note incredibly sour beer.

Mortification is a quadrupel and 11% abv. It poured a nice dark chocolate with some red highlights. It smelled of sour malt, toffee, cherry, dried plums and vanilla. It tasted like roasted malt, plums, cherries with a hint of sour funk. Pretty tasty.

Interlude by Allagash is a wild ale aged in French Merlot and Sirah oak barrels. 9.5% abv. It poured a deep sienna orange brown without any head. It smelled of cherry, dark fruits, malt, toffee and some red wine. It tasted like lemons, malt, caramel, touch of vanilla, oak and a sour ending with a dry finish. It is very wine like but it seems a bit off. There's some astringency going on with some phenol and solvent characters- not a good sign.

Last but not least, and the only Lagunitas beer we tried of the evening (only because the ones offered we could get anytime and the RR beers were a bit more interesting and rare, though we did ask for the Brown Sugga on cask but it was just kicked):

Maximus on cask by Lagunitas is an Imperial IPA and 7.5% abv. What is a cask ale? Cask ale is often referred to as 'real ale' is unfiltered, unpasteurized beer that still contains live yeast. It is always served from a hand pulled from a handpump and without an extraneous gas, like beer from a keg. It is served warmer than keg beer, between 54-56 degrees, which is cool but not chilled like keg beer. This lets the aromas and flavors become more prevalent. It poured a orange copper with no head. It smelled of grapefruit, grass and sweet juicy hops. It tasted like bitter grapefruit peel, hint of sweet malt, hops and very wet. It was not too bitter at all.

All in all, Toronado seems to be wining it for us for great beer, less crowds and good deals for this year's SF Beer Week. Did I mention that every brewery they feature each night is happy hour prices? I don't recommend going to RR night because it's insanely crowded but leftovers are usually ridiculous as well and way more accessible. Looking forward to Saturday!

SF Beer Week: Russian River at Pi Bar

2010-02-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

Brewery Night: Russian River Brewing Co. plus Meet Brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo

Pi Bar

1432 Valencia St.

February 9
3:00pm - 11:00pm

Admission: No Charge

So being that Pliny the Younger sold out at Russian River Brewery in 2 hours, my friend and I went as soon as we could to Pi Bar to get a taste of that crazy sought after beer. (You can read RR's letter to their fans expressing their apologies here) We were there by 3:45 and the keg was kicked by 5pm, unbeknownst to my husband who left work early and arrived by 5:15 just to taste his favorite beer. My friend and I managed to both have a 6oz pour and tried other beers thinking we could come back and have another glass. Considering it wasn't crowed at all- I counted 25 people in the bar until 5:15, I was in shock to hear it was kicked. We also looked at everyone's beers and it wasn't like people were chugging 3 pints of Pliny each, people were drinking other beers. So we were dumbfounded to hear it was gone. Personally, I think the keg was tapped the night before to owners or friends because there is no way a 5 gallon keg would be kicked that fast. So it was beyond disappointing to my husband and all of their other customers who walked in after 5pm. I know some people who came in and just left because of it- not a good way to start any good customer relations. Not to mention that the majority of these beer events start before 6pm (not only at Pi Bar). Basically, the locals who work a normal job, love beer and year round support these establishments have no shot in hell to get any great rare beers, so it has become an event for tourists to travel here to get good beer. It's kind of a shame. Anyway, enough of my rantings.

I tried in order: Pliny the Younger, Supplication, Rejection, and Consecration.

Pliny the Younger- Imperial IPA & 10.75%. It poured a golden vitamin pee yellow with a touch of white cream for a head. It smelled of lemon, lime peel, pine, grass and hops. It tasted surprisingly sweet with a bitter grapefruit peel on the back of the throat. It left my mouth tingly and dry.

Supplication-Brown Ale aged in Oak barrels with Cherries added & 7%. It poured a red rust color. It smelled of sour cherry, oak and a hint of malt. It tasted pucker sour with dried cherries, oak, and wood. The sour was on the side of my tongue. It is very wine like- pretty good. Bottles just came out of it, so you might want to pick some up at City Beer Store.

Rejection-Belgian inspired black beer brewed for Valentine's Day & 6.1%. It poured a cola brown. It smelled of malt, vanilla, caramel with some coffee notes. It tasted pretty much the same as the nose- vanilla, toffee, roasted malt and espresso. It was my friends' favorite beer of the evening- and he loves Pliny.

Consecration- Barrel aged sour ale with currants added & 10%. One of my all time favorite sours. It poured ruby red. It smelled of sour cherries, oak and funk. It tasted like dried currants, sour pucker, oak, wood and cabernet. Very wine like and tasty.

Overall, it wasn't a bad experience. We got in early, got a table and had waitress service, which was nice. Although on a side note, if you buy a beer from the table, they charge you tax, which stinks because alcohol prices already have tax built into the price, so you get double taxed on beer. But they aren't the first or the last restaurant to do this. I am not a fan of their pizza either, as every time I get it it is always burnt and the crust is like a thick hard cracker. I wish it was more like Pizzeria Delfina, but they always have a great beer selection and anything other than their pizza on their menu has been pretty great (especially their polenta fries and home made rainbow cookies). Still, I don't understand the younger, but I hear a local bar here has a keg that they are saving for after SF Beer week for the actual locals to try some. Now that's customer service.

SF Beer Week: Lost Abbey & Pizza Port at Toronado

2010-02-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

February 7, 2010

Lost Abbey & Port Brewing Night

Toronado, 547 Haight, San Francisco, California

Sunday Feb 7, 2010 6PM+

Admission: no charge

Anytime I am forced to watch football- especially the Superbowl, I at least have to have some decent beer to get me through (Yeah New Orleans! Always got to route for the underdog). And anytime Toronado has some awesome event, especially during SF Beer Week, it is always a mad zoo. Last time I went to Russian River night during SF Beer Week 2009 and it literally took me 2 hours to get a beer. This time however, with the perfect timing of the Superbowl, it wasn't the case. It was busy but not swamped, which made it way more easy to get some great beer from The Lost Abbey and Pizza Port.

We made it in time to try: Cable Car 09, Duck Duck Gooze, Veritas 007, Red Poppy and Mongo- in that order.

Cable Car 09 by Lost Abbey is an American Wild Ale aged in oak barrels and 7%. It poured a hazy straw yellow. It smelled very sour, some Chardonnay notes, citrus, oak, wood and some funk. It tasted like citrus, lemon, a hint of pineapple, oak, wood and extremely sour from start to finish with some good bitterness in there as well. It was the tartest of the evening.

Duck Duck Gooze by Lost Abbey is an American Wild Ale, 7% and hard to get a hold of since they brew it in very small quantities. It's a blend of their young and old barrel aged beers. It poured a hazy straw yellow with a hint of white head and lacing. It smelled of tart citrus, sour green apples, oak, and some leather notes. It tasted sharp and tart at first with some lemon peel and wood. Then it finished a bit sour and dry but very well balanced.

Veritas 007 by Lost Abbey. It is an American Wild Ale, 8% and it is barrel aged on Cabernet Franc grapes. It poured a beautiful pinkish red color with a dollop of white foam. It smelled of fresh sour cherries, funk, overripe peaches and Cabernet. It tasted sour with a hint of peaches, sour cherries, tart grapes, oak, cabernet but not too overly puckery. There's a rumor that the base is Isabelle Proximus then aged with Cabernet Franc grapes. It was overall really great- my favorite of the evening.

Red Poppy Ale by Lost Abbey is a Flanders Oud Bruin style beer and 5.5%. It is a brown ale brewed with sour cherries and aged in oak barrels for over 6 months. It poured a beautiful copper red with a pinky full of a white head. It smelled of citrus, sour cherries and a hint of barnyard funkiness- kind of a one note nose. It tasted like dried sour cherries, Brett, and vinegar. The sour cherriness was pretty well balanced.

Mongo by Port Brewing is an Imperial IPA and 8.5%. It poured a clear sunset orange color with an off white head. It smelled of citrus, grapefruit rind, lemon peel, hops, and a hint of peach. It tasted of juicy hops, some toasted malts, grapefruit, citrus peel and a touch of honey. It was quite balanced between the bitterness of the hops and the sweet malts. Great drinkability.

Sf Beer Week: Alesmith at City Beer Store

2010-02-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

City Beer Store

Alesmith Tasting Event

Saturday Feb 6th

2:30pm-5pm

$25 for 5 tastes ($20 if you bought then earlier)

We were there by 3pm and were expecting it to be packed. It was busy but not too annoyingly crowded, which is always a good thing especially considering it is SF Beer Week. They actually held the event across the street at Triptych to accommodate more people- smart move on their part because the City Beer store itself can get pretty crowded. Plus they gave you a free tasting sniffer glass which has the city beer logo on them- pretty cute.

So we walked right in- got 2 red tickets for the 'special rare beers', which included Alesmith's Decadence and their Bourbon Barrel Aged Speedway Stout. Alesmith's Decadence is a Anniversary beer that changes in style every year since since they started making it in 2005. This year it was a dark weizenbock featuring malted wheat and a unique German yeast. Alesmith's Bourbon Barrel Aged Speedway Stout is very rare beer that they make less than 200 bottles of it per year.

So we walked in and right to the rare stuff- first up, a glass of their Decadence. Being 9%, it is their lowest ABV that they have made for this beer yet. It poured a dark mahogany with a thin creamy oatmeal colored head. It smelled like stewed raisins, fresh vanilla beans, roasted malts, some yeast and some cereal. It tasted like dried plums, raisins, some toffee and malt. It was not too heavy and was a bit interesting for a dark weizenbock. It was not an barrel aged Speedway Stout, however and we quickly realized our mistake. We should have just gotten 2 pours of the Speedway Stout since we could have gotten a bottle of the Decadence and have had more of the rare stuff.

So then we went to try the event of the afternoon. The Bourbon Barrel Aged Speedway Stout is 12.5%, just a .5% more than their regular Speedway Stout. It poured an eclipse black with some light cream. It smelled like bourbon, malt, espresso, but not too overwhelmingly bourbon. It tasted like toasted malts, bourbon, but no burn. It was incredibly smooth for 12.5% and seemed more like it was created using Irish whiskey barrels perhaps? You don't get much vanilla or coconut flavors out of it- just a hint. Seems reminiscent of the Deschuttes XXI. Overall, pretty tasty.

Next we went onto our 3 blue tickets which were vouchers for the less rare stuff. First up: Evil Dead Red Ale. This beer is an Imperial Red and 6.66%. It poured a beautiful deep copper red. It smelled like hops, grapefruit, citrus, and grass. It tasted very floral, citrus, with some sweet malt character. It was not that bitter- it was more malty than bitter. I enjoyed it while finally meeting a fellow female in the beer world- Gail Williams. She is Beer Judge as well as a fellow Bay Area Beer Blogger with her blog: beerbybart.com. She is also hosting her own SF Beer Week event for women this Saturday Feb 13 at Beer Revolution in Oakland from 2pm-5pm:
A toast to Women in the Beer Community

It's always great to meet such fabulous women in this world of beer!

Next up: Yulesmith, which is an Imperial IPA and 8.5%. It wasn't that floral and I didn't get much nose out of it- a hint of hops. It tasted like citrus hops- it had a great bitterness to it and was a bit dry. It left a dry grapefruit skin bitterness on your tongue and throat. Someone next to me at the bar said it was reminiscent of a greyhound- in a good way. It was pretty drinkable.

After all of these, we didn't have another one we want to try besides the Barrel Aged Speedway Stout, but we had used up all of our tickets. Then Dave went up to the woman who was pouring and asked for the bourbon barrel aged version again, which she then poured for him and me out of the goodness of her heart- bless her soul. MMMmmmm bourbon coffee stout!

Tucson Tastings

2010-02-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

Here are some random tastings of beers that I consumed during my recent trip to Tucson:

1- Wild Raspberry Ale by Great Divide Brewing Co, Fruit Beer 5.6%

2- Ephemere by Unibroue, Fruit Beer 5.5%

3-Old Monkeyshine by Nimbus Brewing Co, English Strong Ale, 8.2%

4- Rillito Red Ale by Nimbus Brewing Co, Amber Ale 5%

5- Firestone Walker 13 by Firestone Walker, American Strong Ale 12%

6- Velvet Merkin Bourbon barrel aged version by Firestone Walker, Oatmeal Stout, 8%

7-Hopslam Ale by Bell's Brewing Co, Imperial IPA 10%

8- Dos Hermanos Dunkelweizen, Barrio Brewing Co, Dunkelweizen 6.6%

9-Scottish Red by Barrio Brewing Co, Scottish Red 5.8%

Wild Raspberry Ale- Served out of a bottle. It poured a clear deep pink reddish mahogany. It smelled like raspberries and sweet malts. It tasted lighter in raspberries as pronounced in the nose, light malts and a faint hoppiness seems to come out. It was very light and very session-able. It seems like it would be a great brew to enjoy on a hot summer day.

Ephemere-Ale brewed with apple juice, coriander and curacao. Served out of a bottle. It poured a foggy golden yellow. It smelled of caramel green apples, vanilla and coriander. It tasted of a light crisp sour apple, yeast, milky with a light lingering spiciness on the tongue. The flavors seemed too fake tasting though for my own taste. It tasted a bit too much like a green apple jolly rancher. It was reminiscent of a wine cooler with a beer twist. Do they even make beer coolers? This would be a good example. Definitely not my taste and I won't be drinking this one again.

Old Monkeyshine- My sister had a bottle of this one in her fridge already and I was looking forward to drinking some local Tucson brewed beer from Nimbus Brewing Co. It poured a deep teak brown with a hint of red. It smelled like light vanilla, light roast and a bit caramel-y. It tasted light at first, then a nice roasted malt with bourbon notes come in and leave a little burn. Medium carbonation. Very drinkable. I was looking on their website and apparently they have a bourbon barrel aged version of this, at least at the brewery. I wish we had made it out to the Brewery as our visit to the Barrio Brewing Co seemed a bit wasted.

Rillito Red Ale- Had on draft. It pours a beautiful copper red with a hint of brown to it. It smelled like ripe cherries, caramel malts, cereal and some pine. It tasted a bit light, but with some molasses notes, grass, pine, cherries, and very malt driven. It seemed pretty interesting for a light beer. It had a good malt flavor with some hops to balance it out a bit. Very session-able if you are looking for something light with some flavor.

Firestone Walker 13- I made my sister and her husband go out to 1702 Pizza and Beer because the last time I was in Tucson, I heard they had Dogfish Head's 120 IPA on draft, so I was definitely not going to miss this bar this time. We weren't disappointed. We walked in and it happened to be Firestone Walker night. It was very crowded but we found a table right away and our server was totally on it and even brought us each a taste of the Firestone 13 for free. It was not the first time I have had this beer, but it was the first time I took notes on it. Had it on draft. It poured a deep eclipse black. It smelled like bourbon, light roasted vanilla malts and some toffee. It tasted light at first, then charred malts, vanilla, caramel, wood then the bourbon comes in and leaves a little burn. It seems very agable. Can't wait to try the 4 year vertical we have of this from 10-13.

Velvet Merkin Bourbon Barrel aged version- This just gets an A in my book for the fantastic name. I have had this one before as well, but any barrel aged version is always a nice surprise- especially on draft. It poured a deep black with some light oatmeal lacing. It smelled like bourbon, espresso, oats and malt. It tasted of bourbon, roasted espresso with a medium bitterness to it. The bitterness gets stronger and lingers on the tongue with some cereal and oats mixed with a bit of burn from the bourbon. The bourbon was there but wasn't very harsh, which is nice. It seemed very well balanced instead of being in your face bourbon.

Hopslam Ale- Dave and I were texting when I was at 1702 and he saw this one of their menu and told me to get it. I was not disappointed. I had it on draft and it poured a clear tangerine yellow. It smelled of grass, hops, citrus and sweet ripe grapefruit. Talk about a nose- I could smell this beer as our server was heading over to our table! It tasted sweet, some honey, citrus, grapefruit and it was definitely bitter. It reminded me of the bitterness off a grapefruit rind. This beer has the most grapefruit bitterness flavor from hops that I have ever tasted. It was quite amazing. I highly recommend this one!

Dos Hermanos Dunkelweizen- I made my sister leave 1702 because I wanted to check out Barrio Brewing Co. I checked their beers on their website and I was very excited to see a Bourbon Barrel aged beer on cask as well as a grapefruit blonde. When we got there, no such beers were on tap and the only 2 that looked decent were the Dunkelweizen and the Scottish Red. I also just realized that they say on their website: We have 10 to 12 of our own very special microbrews on tap (depending on season). We also offer Bud, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, and Ace Pair and Apple Jack Cider in bottles. All complemented by a full bar and RC Cola products. Wow, I have never seen a brewery not only offer crappy beer but advertise it on their website. Talk about not having faith in your product! Who would go to a Brewery and order a Michelob Ultra? What brewery would even offer such a thing. Oh and on top of this and not having the beer I went for in the first place, the bar tender took his sweet, sweet time in helping us, when the place was very empty and there wasn't anyone else ordering anything at the bar. Anyways, back to the Dunkel, which I had on tap. It smelled of sweet malts, vanilla and some toffee. It tasted sweet, a hint of sour, malt and very typically dunkel. It actually was pretty drinkable but I wish it was a bit more interesting.

Scottish Red- Had this one on draft. It poured a nice walnut brown with some reddish tones. It smelled like tobacco, hint of sweet malts, hint of exhaust and quite smoky. It tasted like sweet malts, a hint of cherry and definitely reminiscent of cherry cola. It was a bit more malty than I would have expected, but oddly enough I did like it. But I do have a thing for Cherry Cola.

All in all, I would definitely go to 1702 again, finally hit up Nimbus Brewing Co and skip Barrio Brewing (although it did have some cool looking brew kettles in the back).

SF Beer Week event: Beer + Chocolate = LOVE

2010-02-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

SF Beer week how I love you so- your insane rare beers, barrel aged goodness, barley wines, guest brewers and of course, pairings. One of which was my own! Beer + Chocolate = LOVE actually had 2 event dates, Thursday and Friday but because Friday was the start of SF Beer Week, Friday was the official event of the evening.

Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate! MMMmmmmmm yet something else I love so dearly. Beer has so many vast varieties of flavors, textures and complexities that truly compliment those in different chocolates. Tannins and the high acidic wines overpower the subtle flavors that you can get out of chocolate.

We also had the great sponsorship from TCHO chocolates, which were kind enough to donate their 4 amazing flavors of dark chocolate-
1-"Citrus"- Madagascar, 67% Cacao and Organic
2-"Chocolately"- Ghana, 70% Cacao
3-"Nutty"- Ecuador, 65%, Organic and Fair Trade
4-"Fruity"-Peru, 68%, Organic and Fair Trade

These chocolates really worked well with the beers that we paired because of their high profile one flavor note (hence the name of each chocolate). A lot of the people who came had never seen or heard of this local San Francisco chocolatier before so they were very pleased to have tried it. Plus they are very excited to know about their location in Pier 17 in the Embarcadero, where you can also get a fantastic Blue Bottle Cappuccino to go with your chocolate should you so wish. I also bought some great chocolates at their store to be part of a raffle that we did each night- their chocolate covered Cacao Nibs and their chocolate covered Mango Morsels-mmm delish! These were raffled off with a bottle of Dogfish Head's 120 IPA, Deschutte's Abyss, BrewDog's Dogma, a Saison Dupont and with this being pre-Valentine's day and all, a romance package filled with lotions, candles and creams- for $5, not a bad raffle if you ask me!

As always, I make my 'students' take notes and hand them into me afterwards. Everytime I do this, each night is always different, which I just love.

The Thursday night meetup group's top 3 beers of the evening were:
1-Dogfish Head's Burton Baton
2-Saint Somewhere's Lectino Divina tied with Avery's Hog Heaven
3-Dogfish Head's Fort

Thursday's top 3 favorite pairings were:
1- Dogfish Head's Burton Baton paired with Vosges' Naga Bar

2-Saint Somwehere's Lectino Divina paired with Tcho's "Citrus"
3-Dogfish Head's Fort paired with Tcho's "Chocolatey".

I always ask people to switch around the pairings and come up with some on their own. Mike really liked Alesmith's Speedway Stout paired with Tcho's "Chocolatey", Avery's Hog Heaven paired with Tcho's "Fruity" and Dogfish Head's Burton Baton paired with Tcho's "Citrus".

For Friday's meetup group, their top 3 favorite beers of the evening were:
1- Alesmith's Speedway Stout
2-Cascade Kriek Ale tied with Saint Somwehere's Lectino Divina
3-Dogfish Head's Theobroma

Friday's top 3 favorite pairings were:
1-Dogfish Head's Theobroma paired with Chauo's Firecracker
2-Avery's DuganA paired with Vosges' Naga Bar

3- Stone's Speedway Stout paired with Tcho's "Nutty".

Some interesting pairings you guys came up with:
1-Stone's Smoked Porter with Tcho's "Fruity" by Meredith
2-Cascade Kriek Ale with Chauo's Firecracker by Casi
3-Avery's Hog Heaven with Vosges' Naga Bar = OMG Chai! by Courtney
4-Avery's DuganA paired with Tcho's "Fruity" by Sasha
Alex said " I will murder for the curry chocolate (Vosges' Naga Bar).
Devon said "Pop rocks chocolate = awesome".

A good time was had by all. Elissa said "Thank you! You guys are a gracious, cool couple and this was an enjoyable, worthwhile event. Your professionalism and beer knowledge exceeded by expectations. Cheers!". Thanks Elissa! We look forward to the next event- Strong Ales, Barley wine and Samuel Adam's Utopias on March 19th. We hope to see you fabulous ladies there~

Some tastings from the home front.

2010-02-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

Here are 4 completely random tastings of some beers that Dave and I have tried recently:

Brasserie d'Orval Orval Trappist Ale- 6.9% Belgian Pale Ale
Saint Somewhere's Lectino Divina- 8% Saison
21st Ammendment's Monk's Blood- 8.3%- Strong Dark Ale
Allagash's Fluxus 2009- 8.3% Saison.

In order from my favorite to my least favorite:
21st Ammendment's Monk's Blood. This dark belgian is brewed with 8 malts, Belgian candi sugar, cinnamon, vanilla bean, dried local black mission figs and aged in oak barrels. Now this wasn't the first time I have had this beer- I have been enjoying it since it has come out but I have finally been able to take some notes on it last weekend. It poured a dark mahogany. It smelled like cinnamon, prunes, dates and some cereal malts. It tasted like caramel, roasted malt, figs, stewed raisins, molasses and some cinnamon spiciness. Ironically this beer is quite light bodied for 8.3%. It goes down easily and with much enjoyment on my part. Kudos!

Saint Somewhere's Lectino Divina- Dave recently bought this from the Jug Shop. He has seen it before but was a bit turned off by the label. But he had recently heard some buzz about this Florida brewery so he decided to bring it home for us to try. It poured a reddish chestnut brown color with a huge head. It smelled like dates, sweet bourbon, sour, Brett and some funk. It smelled incredibly interesting. I have never smelled anything quite like this before! It tasted sour, roasted nuts, dates, figs, malty and slightly sweet. It was reminiscent of a dobbelbock. I would definitely try this one again!

Brasserie d'Orval Orval Trappist Ale- I was definitely looking forward to this beer. It poured a cloudy orange gold hue. It smelled like sour, tart apples, and yeast. It tasted sweet, overripe grape, sour apple, a hint of spice but left the tongue tart and dry. I actually preferred the smell better to the taste. The taste was a bit light, but I guess it is just a pale ale. I thought it was have more umph for 6.3%- guess not. It just wasn't my favorite. I don't see myself buying anymore anytime soon.

Allagash's Fluxus 2009- This beer is made with sweet potatoes and black pepper! That definitely caught my eye in the store. Plus I am a fan of Allagash beers, so why not? It poured a beautiful crystal clear bubbly tangerine. It smelled spicy, some wood and a hint sweet. It tasted like PEPPER! It had some light citrus and spritzy quality to it. I did not get any sweet potato at all. THIS was a HUGE disappointment to me. I didn't even finish this beer as it was just like a black pepper spritzer. I don't even know why they bottled it. PLUS it's $17! I will not be buying this one again.

All in all- 2 to buy, 2 to skip, at least for me. I know a lot of people like the Orval, but it just was a bit too disappointing for me. Maybe it's because I am a woman and I have high expectations and when they miss, then they miss with me.