Sante Adairius Rustic Ales

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Thursday night, Izzy, her aunts & I had dinner at Elevation 66 Brewing for the first time… and it was fantastic. Super Dave was even there just doing his brewmaster / owner thing, helping run the place. I got there first (because I'm a man) and had a Coast 66 Double Rye IPA while waiting. Dave stopped by & we chatted it up for a minute or so, but then he was off doing owner stuff. The ladies showed up, we ate some GREAT food including house-made sausage (probably the best I’ve ever had) with spaetzle that was incredible…  fish & chips with three full large pieces of fish… a delicious Reuben sandwich… and even the mushroom Panini sh*t that one of the aunts got was pretty good. Of course their beer that we helped (in a small part) to make was great as well. Super Dave even stopped by a few times to say hi & introduced us to his wife Esther, the namesake for their vanilla stout. That's cool as well. Best part: With four full meals (ladies had leftovers) and two rounds. and even some snacks & tremendous beer & cheese soup while I was waiting… the total came to like $85. Not bad at all for a bit of a fancy night at the pub. I highly recommend it if you’re in the El Cerrito area. It’s just two blocks from the BART station for El Cerrito Plaza, check it out.

 

Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the food... but here's something that Izzy & I made... it's flat steak marinated in soy sauce, Worcester & Mangria... wrapped around bleu cheese and slow roasted in a crock pot. It wasn't perfect... but yeah, delicious.

 

 

Saturday, we went on a little road trip down the Pacific Coast Highway towards Harley Farms in Pescadero. If you remember from a few weeks ago, we went out there & took the tour… and they mentioned that the farm was expecting dozens to hundreds of baby goats around this time of year… and with Izzy being such a HUGE fan of goats and all cute four-legged creatures, we thought we’d go check them out. We would’ve went on another tour… but they’re pretty much booked up for the next few months… so we just went on the cheap (free-99) and saw a few cute guys. Here are some pictures…

 

Next stop was a brewery that I had heard great things about called Sante Adairius Rustic Ales in Capitola. They pride themselves on unique brews… and using a variety of different methods of brewing to kind of experiment with flavors. For example, they had cask-conditioned IPAs & porters… along with a variety of saisons (farmhouse ales) with mixed types of fermentation & yeasts available when we stopped by. I admire their determination to try new things and to go into the unknown wholeheartedly… however, I just didn’t particularly care for the beverages that were on hand. Now, that being said… I not a huge fan of saisons in general (see Beer Talks) nor cask-conditioned ales unless their more suited for cask-conditioning. For example, English Ales & some of the maltier choices (porter was much better than IPA) work well with the cask method… but for me personally, it just tastes like flat lifeless beer otherwise. Again, if you like saisons & cask ales, then I highly recommend that you check this place out if you’re in the beautiful area of Capitola. The proprietor of the establishment is a wonderful bearded man who came out to greet me & share in height-advantaged conversation for a few moments… it has a good vibe full of dog owners… and the beer is okay… but perhaps I’m just spoiled by constantly being surrounded in AMAZING beer, that I felt this stop was just okay. Again, go check it out for yourself… and stop by some of the other sights down there by Aptos, Santa Cruz & Watsonville like we did.

 

Speaking of which, here are some of our stops along the way while down there… including an okay BBQ joint called Sid’s Smokehouse… and then back out to Aptos to see the beautiful Seacliff State Park...

 

Saturday night, we stopped by Izzy’s friend Peter’s Birthday Bash at his house… and as is usual with his house parties, they’re amazing & awesome!!! Dozens of people filling the place, enough booze to poison an elephant’s liver beyond repair, dance floor competitions, live entertainment, just a great time. We also brought some of our Hefeweizen & Nut Brown Ale bombers… and our 5 Day Cider which was ready for consumption. We had tried it Friday night & it was pretty splendid… basically just like sparking apple juice but cloudier and maybe 3-4% ABV. You could easily drink it all day. Anyway, several guests wanted to try our beer… and they all seemed to like it, with most LOVING it. There was even one drunken guest who offered to help with financing a brewery if we started one… but we’ll see in a few months when he sobers up & we come to collect. Regardless, it was a fantastic time with good peeps & everybody made it home safe thanks to public transportation & designated drivers like me. Yup… that’s right… I was drinking coca-cola most of the night… cuz that’s how a G do.

 

My bathroom in my apartment is getting torn up & remodeled (leaking pan) so hopefully when it’s all said & done, I’ll have a new bathroom with a raised shower nozzle (you know, for a man of 80 inches in height as opposed to 60). It’s a bit of a pain sharing the bathroom with the other three lady roommates but… whatever. I’m low maintenance & plan ahead. Also, Jackie D is in town again… and we’re going to check out some apartments while she’s in town, getting ready for her move back. Have a great day everybody!!!