Zoo, Magnolia Smokestack, Rats & CHP Kegging

Good Afternoon ladies & Gentlemen,

 

So after my Christmas & New Year’s trip to Utah, Izzy & I returned to the Bay Area… and as luck would have it, we had a few days off from work and/or school. What did we do? Well, first off we slept like 12 hours once we got home… but that should go without saying. Then what?

 

Well, Friday January 2^nd we started off the day… by going to the San Francisco Zoo and renewing Izzy’s annual membership… and of course check out the Lego exhibit & some of our favorites…

 

Then we headed over to Magnolia Brewing’s new Smokestack location in the Dogpatch to get a real try of the facilities. See, when we went for the SFGH Annual Brewery Tour last month, we felt like this one was incredibly rushed & we didn’t get time to sample more than one beer or even a niblet of food, so we checked it out. The beer is great, as most people know. The food however… not the best. It’s essentially barbecue that you can order by the pound, which sounds like it would be the perfect setup for a carnivore like myself. Honestly though, some of the barbecue was borderline horrible… and when they’re charging something like $15-20 per pound, it’d better be some f**king delicious barbecue. The sides were okay… but it’s hard to f**k up mac & cheese or beans and rice. So my suggestion, stop on by for beer… but don’t expect to fill up on food there as unless you’re dropping a C-note, it won’t fill you up & it probably won’t be worth it. It’s a nice looking location though… and maybe it was just a bad day for meat… but that’s what my experience was.

 

Afterwards, we headed over to Petco because… my ladyfriend missed having pet rats. She grew up with them most of her life… and she hadn’t had them for a few years… and because she tortures herself by signing up a bunch of cute pet Instagram feeds, she sees their hideously cute faces throughout the day… so we went & got her two rats to take care of… meet Fajita & Tamale… I’m not sure which one is which… they’re adorable rats named after Mexican food…

 

Saturday was a day of rest… and then on Sunday, January 4^th we kegged our Chocolate Hazelnut Porter… so now we have full kegs of CHP as well as our Beet Pale Ale… here are a few pictures…

 

Anyway, that’s just a quick sum-up of two weekends ago as I’m doing a bit of catch-up thus far in 2015… but don’t worry, last weekend’s awesome activities should be up shortly as well… and it involves some old friends, beer, and a beautiful & historic walk. Have a great day everybody!!!

SFHG Brewery Tour 2014

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

This Saturday was the SF Homebrewers Guild’s 3^rd Annual Brewery Tour, where for a nominal fee guild members ride along in a nice tour bus and travel around the bar area to three different & district breweries in the area. Last year’s bus tour was one of our first real introductions into the guild, and this year I was part of the planning committee so it just goes to show that a lot can change in a year when you find a hobby that you’re passionate about. We met up at the SF Public Library… and then made our way to our first destination…

 

Marin Brewing Company is located in Larkspur and oddly enough… Izzy & I have unknowingly driven past it dozens, possibly hundreds of times on the way to her house. It’s located in a bit of a shopping complex area… but this small brewery has won some pretty prestigious awards over the years & they took the time to let us sample their beers and tour their rather humble brewing facilities. Here are some pictures…

After the tour, we all sampled the beers… and most of them are pretty fantastic. The ones that really stood out were their Mt. Tam Pale Ale, their seasonal Helles Bock & Big Ben from Elevation 66 tells me that their 3 Flowers IPA is probably the best IPA there is, but I didn’t try it this time around. We also grabbed a few bottles to-go including their Old Dipsea Barleywine… so I’ll keep you posted on that treasure. Our next stop was…

 

Iron Springs Brewing Company is located in the picturesque mountain town of Fairfax, less than an hour from San Francisco. Their brewery is located in a nice little strip mall kind of plaza along Fairfax Creek and again, on the humble side sizewise, but they still manage to produce a lot of great beer out of there. Among their signature selections are Sless’ Stimulating Oatmeal Stout, which won the Gold Medal for an Oatmeal Stout at the World Beer Cup in 2008. We tried a few samplers and a Philly cheesesteak… and they also had a very good chocolate Brown Ale (Cleveland Brown), a hoppy amber ale (Epiphany Ale) and a plethora of great stouts involving chocolate as apparently December is Chocolate Beer Month. Who knew? If you’re in the neighborhood, definitely stop by here for a bite & a drink. Here are some pictures…

 

 

Our last stop was Magnolia Brewing’s new location located in the Dogpatch area of San Francisco. Unfortunately we didn’t have a whole lot of time scheduled to spend here… but we were still able to receive a quick tour from one of their masterful head brewers as well as sample a few of their beverages. I highly recommend the Cole Porter if you get a chance… but they have DOZENS of wonderful beers to try. We’ll definitely have to schedule more time to check it out another day… but in the meantime, here are some pictures…

 

 

Sunday, we headed over to Elevation 66 Brewery in El Cerrito for a great party hosted by Big Ben & his wife for the big Battle of the Bay football game between the San Francisco 49ers & the Oakland Raiders. The game was great as it was fairly close the whole time… even if neither team was doing a whole lot to “write home to mother about” as the expression goes… but the food & drinks provided by Elevation 66’s kitchen were AMAZING!!! Here are some pictures of the events…

 

Izzy & I literally ate so much that we felt sick that evening… and let me tell you, it was still worth it. I would say that Elevation 66 has hands down the best brewpub food that I’ve ever had… and I’ve had some great food at other brewpubs… but these guys are truly a hidden gem. I’m glad that Izzy introduced me to them on our first date almost three years ago & that they’ve been such great guys in letting us hang out, help out on brew days & just be cool as sh*t at just about every opportunity. Truly first class!!!

 

Anyway, that should sum up the weekend pretty concisely & with plenty of pretty pictures… coming up this next week are plenty of movie reviews, rain, little updates into my life, and then this weekend is a big trip to Redlands to visit Izzy’s mom… and of course check out Hangar 24 Brewery. Also, we may have the opportunity to do a REAL barrel aged beer in the near future… but details on that to come. Have a great day everybody!!!