The Past Three Weeks

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Been a few weeks huh? Yeah well… insanely busy. However, here are a few things that have happened in the last (sigh) three weeks. First off, a while back we checked out Old Devil Moon, which is operated by one of our buddies from the SF Homebrewers Guild… great beers on tap… and the location is pretty sweet with some kick ass po’ boys… so what’s not to like? Check it out here…

 

We also celebrated Oktoberfest at Spiesekammer again with Big Ben & Lone Cicerone and a few other friends… beers, meat, cheeses & fruits were had… but mostly beer, all paired with polka music & good peeps!!! Here are pictures…

We snuck in a last minute Giants game against the Padres at AT&T Park… big thank you to the Riegelsbergers!!!

 

Then there was Oktoberfest at Ferment.Drink.Repeat owned by another one of our buddies from the Guild… again, great beer, they had brauts, and good times… and a test of endurance & strength…

We also started two batches of beer on our own! First was our wedding gift from Big Ben & Lone Cicerone, who gave us the ingredients for their WONDERFUL California Common recipe…

 

…and the other was called the Black Death Porter kit from the Oak Barrel, which will be put into our oak barrel at home… so that we can FINALLY bottle (and drink) our 2^nd Imperial Stout recipe that’s been in the whiskey barrel for nearly 9 months now… yeah, damn!!! Here are some pictures of those…

 

 

My Lady also got the first of her Purrmaid stuffies… and it’s amazing…

 

Gretchen reached 119,000 miles… two years to the day from when she hit 90,000 miles…

 

Lastly, we helped sort & organize about 50 cases of beer for the California State Homebrewing Competition… and that was exhausting… but yeah, good times & for a good cause!

 

That was all in between working overtime & the usual hum-drum… so now you see why I’ve had a hard time keeping up with this thing… but hey, you can catch up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yahoo, telephone, text and any other means so… hit me up!!! In the meantime, next update will include our next trip later this week… to Disneyland, Knott’s Scary Farm, and a cruise to Catalina & Ensenada… so yeah, busy busy.

 

Have a great weekend everybody!!!

BAM Brewery Tour 2015

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Saturday, Izzy & I took part in the Bay Area Mashers’ Sacramento Brewery Tour, where essentially this homebrewing club arranged for a Google bus to take 40-50 likeminded homebrew enthusiasts up to Sacramento where we toured FOUR breweries in the Rosemont area. This is very similar to the SF Homebrewers Guild annual brewery bus tour (coming again this December) but we had never gone quite as far as Sacramento… and this trip was fantastic!!!

 

First stop was New Glory Brewing which opened in 2012… and the taproom / brewery that we went to was located in essentially a “warehouse” area of town with lots of concrete structures, storage units, basically industrial space. That being said, the taproom had a very rustic feel to it… similar to a sort of high-class, dive bar or a Man-cave kind of vibe. Lots of wood accents, but the furniture was still comfortable, and of course, most importantly… the beer was on point. I particularly liked their Robust Porter and Hoppy Amber Ale… but that’s pretty obvious for me. They also had several variations of Saison on tap (French, hibiscus, etc) and a pretty sweet 15 barrel brew system… here are some pictures…

 

Two blocks away was Device Brewing which opened recently as well, and flaunts “Beer with Purpose.” The brewery & taproom had more a minimalistic modern aesthetic (similar to Elevation 66) with more bare-bones walls… but some great local art on the walls for sale as well as very kid & dog friendly for a great sense of community. The beer is also very good which a little bit of everything from lagers to imperial stouts and everything in between including a variety of Belgian ales. All that I tried were fantastic as well. I would definitely check both out if I’m in the area. Here are some pictures…

 

Next up was a few miles away at Track 7 Brewing which dons a wide variety of beers but is actually the only one on this trip that I’ve seen in a few taprooms here in the Bay Area. They seem to be more of a production brewery than the first two… and they also happen to have a taproom with long communal tables and usually have food trucks available to offer greasy delicacies to help you sop up their delicious beers. I personally loved their Nite Bite (Cascadian Dark Ale) & their Left Eye Right Eye Double IPA wasn’t too overpowering. Again, though, they’re all pretty good from what I’ve tried. Here are some pictures… and yes, it's located next to Cock Grease Hair Pomade...

 

Our last stop was Oak Park Brewing Company which seems to be a little more focused on the restaurant aspect of the brewery with a very diverse menu with chefs and what have you… but the beer isn’t lacking either. It was very similar to the restaurant at Sierra Nevada last month but with a 7 barrel system as opposed to the massive complex in Chico. Their draft list was really diverse with things like a Pumpkin Saison, Imperial Oatmeal Porter, Coffee Porter, Flanders Brown and frankly… they were all pretty darn good. We also order some bacon & bleu mac & cheese… and it was scrumptious. Here are some pictures…

 

Sunday, I was due to help out with the bottle sort for the California State Homebrew Competition… but unfortunately… I apparently got a pretty bad case of food poisoning. “Come on $teve, you were just f**king drunk and/or hungover! Let’s be real…” Oh no, I was VERY respectable… the entire time that I was in Sacramento with no more than two pints at a location… over the course of MANY hours… and I was perfectly fine until I dozed off on the drive back… and it just HIT me. I have no idea what it was… but I have a few suspicions… but I don’t want to go into details. The important thing was that my lovely ladyfriend Izzy was an absolutely champ, took care of me (SEE! She wasn’t drunk either! She’s a lightweight!) as well as helped the bottle sort by picking up one-third of the entries and dropping them off. I feel really bad that I wasn’t able to help out… but hey, there’s still time before the big show in a few weeks! Regardless, the rest of the San Francisco Homebrewers Guild and other volunteers got everything set for the preliminary round next week (when we’ll be moving Izzy’s mom, so I’m sure I’ll be helping after that).

 

Anyway, so it was a great weekend other than a few REALLY suck-ass hours Sunday… but it was still okay… we watched some football & some movies… but more on those later. Until then, go check out some of those great breweries in Sacramento… and have a great day everybody!!!