The Session #57: Fizzy Blueberries

For this month's Session Steve Lamond of Beers I've Known pinch hits for Peter Brown while Peter recovers from the theft of his PC, and asks us to share our "beer confessions and guilty pleasures."  


There have been many moments in my life where beer was involved that I look back and think "Why on earth did I do that?".  It would not be wise to share most of those moments on the internet for all to see, but will confess to a guilty beer pleasure I discovered the time I took my family on vacation to San Diego last year.

We starting the trip driving down from our home on the San Francisco peninsula, and after a morning of driving, rolled into Paso Robles a little before noon on a Monday to stop for lunch at Downtown Brewing, located in the main square in the center of town.  For some odd reason, I ordered the one "chick beer" they had on the menu, their Blueberry Ale.   You know what beer I'm talking about, the one on their tap list for those who would otherwise get something like Coors Light or Corona if it were available.

Maybe because I was thirsty and at that early hour, just wasn't ready for an IPA, Stout, or some of the other styles they had on tap.  The waitress brings it out and there's a bunch of blueberries in the light golden brew swirling around at the bottom half of the pint glass.  It looked like one of those Asian inspired tapioca pearl drinks you see junior high school girls slurping down at the local mall.  Thank goodness the place was pretty empty and only my wife and kids were there to see me drink this totally unmanly foo-foo girlie beer.   My nine and seven year old kids laughed and pointed to the blueberries, and I forced myself to laugh with them, but the whole time I'm thinking "Why did I just order this?".
I braced myself for something sickening sweet, but the blueberry flavor was really restrained, with only the barest of sweetness and provided a great accent to the light ale.  Subtlety and balance in a light refreshing ale is an underrated thing of brewing beauty, and if you asked me, Main Street nailed it.  Sometimes beer works in mysterious ways and this odd looking concoction was exactly the beer I needed to regenerate before continuing our journey south.

So if someday you find me hiding in a dark closet clutching an empty beer glass with dark blue stains on my hands and face, you'll know why.

SoCal Vacation Day 1: After Much Ado, Downtown Brewing in Paso Robles

Last week Linda, my wife to be, and I took the kids Brandon and Verona, ages 9 and 7 respectively, on a vacation to Southern California. Like craft beer drinking and running, vacations are a lot about discovery. Discovering new places of course, but also discovering something about ourselves as a family as we pursue common destinations. Many people associate Southern California with vacations, but it's also a great region for craft beer, so I scouted out a few brewpubs I thought we could all enjoy together during the trip.

As vacations lead to discovery, one thing I first discovered as we were getting ready for the trip is that Linda and I both stress over the little trip details, and be quite particular about them. But we often have very different points of view on these details, which we don't back down from very easily. And so as you might expect, getting ready for the trip led to plenty of little bickering firefights between us the day before. Of course, when you see something of yourself in your partner, that can be a good thing, even if it leads to friction. And understanding how this conflict arises allowed us to check my emotions, let logic take over, and allowed ourselves to take control and stop these silly arguments. For five minutes anyway, before we found something else to bicker about. And please don't ask us what all the fuss was about that day, Linda and I still can't remember.

I suppose all that effort into planning the trip was worth it, since got the car picked in record time and it was smooth sailing out of the Bay Area to small rustic town of Paso Robles for lunch. While Firestone Walker is the best known brewery there, their brewpub isn't open for lunch on Mondays, according to their websites, and brewery tours aren't the most kid friendly activities in the world. So instead, lunch was at Downtown Brewing, located in, you guessed it, downtown Paso Robles.

For some odd reason, I decided to start off with the "chick beer" they have on the menu, their Blueberry Ale. Maybe because I was thirsty and it wasn't even noon yet, and the Golden Ale and Wheat Ale on their beer list just didn't seem all that appealing at the time. Or perhaps I am simply becoming more comfortable in my manhood as I get older, and can order a chick beer with a "you gotta problem with that?" attitude. Or maybe I am just a wuss. Whatever my motivations were, it was actually pretty nice. Maybe it was the dozen or so blueberries added to the brew, but there was a very noticeable blueberry flavor to the light ale. But a light fresh blueberry taste, with very light sweetness. Hey, it worked for Linda and me. I also tried their Reggae Red Ale. Soft, rich and with smooth caramel and roasted malt flavors ending with a light earthy hop touch, it was rather quite smooth and drinkable. Another good beer find.

We spent some time in the town small park in the center of Paso Robles before getting back in the car. We had places to go, but I've often found the effort in reaching the big destination is only worth taking on if you can periodically enjoy the small things along the way. But soon, it was time to head back in the car to head for Santa Barbara to meet an old friend from grad school, before heading to points further south.