Rambling Recommendations 3.2.2015 from Gordon Biersch, Ninkasi and Strike

Every so often after discovering a few new beers I like, I want to tell the world about them.  Or at least the small part of the world that reads this blog.  So let's get right to three beers to check out if you get the chance.

First up is Gordon Biersch Maibock.   This beer has an interesting back story in that this traditional German beer played a large role in Dan Gordon co-founding Gordon Biersch.  As Gordon states in a press release, “Maibock was the beer that inspired me to become a brewer. The Einbecker brewery was located fairly close to Göttingen, the town where I was an ungraduate exchange student and I toured the brewery as frequently as possible. In fact, I was enjoying a Maibock in my dorm courtyard when I decided to apply to the graduate program in brewing engineering at the Technical University of Munich with the ultimate goal of becoming a brewmaster.“ 

OK, that's nice, but how does it taste.  Like all Gordon Biersch beers, it's not a flavor explosion but a beer meant to be appreciated.  It's got a little yeastiness, with noticeable fruity esters and apricot flavors. There's light toastiness from malt, and at 7.3% abv the alcohol is slightly noticeable, but not in a bad way bad way.  A great sipper for a lazy afternoon and yet another example of Gordon Biersch brewing precision.

Next is Ninkasi Brewing's Dawn of the Red India-Style Red Ale.  I knew this was going to be good as soon as I poured it into the glass and all those great hop aromas started wafting upwards towards my nose.  It's bursting with very tropical, pineapple hop flavors and the slightly sweet roasted malt gives it both a juiciness, and flavor profile of a caramelized pineapple.  Personally, I find Ninkasi beers to be a hit or miss proposition given their rather aggressive use of bold flavors.  Sometimes, I wish they would dial things back a bit or other times I find their big flavors all clashing with each other.  Here, they've really nailed it.

Finally, there's Strike Brewing Big Wall Imperial Stout, their winter seasonal. I enjoyed it so much at their tap room, I made sure to take a 22 ounce bottle home.  Thankfully, Strike avoids the cloyingly sweet "liquid brownie" direction too many brewers take with Imperial Stouts.   Strike's version is very rich, very dry, with plenty of depth, lots of coffee flavors, with a very sturdy malt base.  It's very smooth with no noticeable alcohol present despite checking in at 9% abv.  Given that Strike's usually goes for sessionable, drinkable direction in their beers, it says a lot about Strike that when they go for it in an Imperial Stout, they brew one of the best ones out there.   

Big Wall Imperial Stout in the
Strike Brewing Taproom

Guinness Joins the Holiday Party

Guinness Generous Ale in the wilds of my kitchen counter

One thing learned during in my "research" for an article on California Seasonal Beers is that there's plenty of good ones out there, from some unlikely sources.

And yes, the big macrobreweries are getting into the act, some of their holiday beers are a lot better than this jaded beer geek expected.  One I really enjoyed was a new release from Guinness, their Generous Holiday Ale. 

A press release describes this beer as:

"Inspired by Arthur’s philanthropic legacy and devotion to generous, full-flavored beers, Guinness Generous Ale is special edition holiday beer that was developed in a traditional winter ale style, but with more body and the distinct roast for which Guinness Draught is known."

I found it to have a lot of light roasty malt flavors, with a little vanilla, and a fruity character (plums?).  Each sip ends with a noticeable piney hop presence.  Not something I would have expected from the beer, and it works.  It's "wintery" all right, but has it's own unique character.  Definitely worth checking out.

(Yes, Guinness did provide a sample for the purposes of this review. I'm glad they did.)

Beer of the Month: OTIS by Firehouse Brewery

The name "Otis" has long been associated with excellence in elevators, or just "sittin' on the dock of the bay".  And we can now add "Imperial Stout" to this list of excellent Otis's, thanks to Firehouse Brewing.

OTIS is actually an acronym for One Tun Imperial Stout, as it takes literally one ton of malt in the mash tun to brew.   After looking for a bottle of OTIS in the San Mateo area without success, I finally broke down and went to the source at Firehouse's Grill and Brewery in East Palo Alto.   They didn't have it on tap or even listed on their beer list above the bar.  But I asked the waitress about it, and discovered they did have it in 22 ounce bottles.  Now sitting down for lunch with 22 ounces of an Imperial Stout and a pizza is  a perilous act.   Even just 8-10 ounces of a good Imperial Stout can fees pretty heavy in your stomach, and create a mouth feel similar sandpaper, but such was not the case with OTIS.

It's surprising smooth for an Imperial Stout, with plenty of roasty flavors of dark chocolate, with a slight sweetness, a barely noticeable alcohol heat, and a grassy herbal hop finish underneath all that bitter chocolatey goodness.  A liquid dark chocolate brownie if you will.  An amazingly drinkable Imperial Stout at 11% abv at a surprisingly high 70 IBU.

But then, if you're familiar with the work of Steve Donohue, Firehouse's Master Brewer, this shouldn't surprise you.  After all, he's won a bunch of Great American Beer Festival medals brewing traditional styles such as his Baltic Porter, or with his more contemperary beers such as the Belgian IPA Pete's Support.   And if you've read this great interview of him, you already know that.

OTIS elevates the Imperial Stout style, and it's March's Beer of the Month.

Beer of the Month: Le Merle Saison from North Coast Brewing

I don't know about you but I'm not quite ready to give up the holidays.  That's why Le Merle Saison of North Coast Brewing is Beer of the Month for January.  Looks like champagne in the glass, doesn't it?  Well, a little bit.

I was given a bottle of this as a Christmas gift. After unwrapping it and thanking my friend who gave it to me, I thought to myself "Haven't I had this a bunch of times already".   Except for the fact that that I couldn't remember the last time I had Le Merle, or what it tasted like.

Living in the Bay Area, Le Merle seems ubiquitous sitting on the shelves at all the speciality grocery stores, BevMos!, and better liquor stores and bottle shops.  And so seeing it so often when buying beer created this odd familiarity, where the beer was some sort of friendly acquaintence in the beer aisle that I really didn't know.

It was time to change that.  And getting to know this beer was more difficult than I expected.  The taste is difficult to define.  There's this light earthy yeasty background, with a bunch of crisp light fruit flavors mingling in the foreground sort.  Is it pear, pineapple, lemon?  I can't really tell for sure.  It's very dry, with no sweetness at all. 

Which is what I really like about Le Merle, it's unique and hard to define while avoiding to taste cluttered and muddled, always the sign of a great beer.  Besides, if I wanted well defined fruit flavors in my drink, I'd just go down to Jamba Juice, order a smoothie, and pour vodka in it.

It's lightly earthy, yet crisp.  Clean yet complex.  A beer that could pass for sparkling wine if you aren't paying too close attention. A contradiction of flavors, a last gasp of the holidays, and Beer of the Month.

Beer of the Month: Hop Juice from Two Brothers Brewing

The Beer of the Month is Hop Juice, a Double IPA from Two Brothers Brewing I discovered on vacation taking my wife and kids to visit my parents where I grew up in Oak Park, IL, located just outside of Chicago. We also visited my brother and sister in-law in nearby Naperville. While a family trip is not an ideal time to go beer hunting, I did have a moment of male bonding with my brother-in-law at a Binny's. Binny's is a big box chain of beverage stores, the Midwestern equivalent of BevMo!. I heard a lot of good things about Two Brothers from my dad and brother-in-law, so when seeing their Double IPA through the windows of one of Binny's upright fridges, I grabbed one curious to see how it would compare to all the West Coast hop monsters back home.

Pretty damn well if you ask me. It's a blitz of fresh, intense hops flavors dominated by grapefruit peel, with a little tangerine in the mix that's well balanced by a slightly sweet malt. What really distinguishes this one was all the bright hop flavors that go done smooth, unlike a lot of hop bombs which can be rather harsh and astringent. I'd be willing to bet if you got a bunch of Pliny the Elder bottles, filled them up with this beer, capped them, and gave them out, no one would catch on. It really is that good.

Two Brother's Brewing was founded by, you guessed it, two brothers Jim and Jason Ebel who founded the brewery in 1996 following their home brewing aspirations. Located outside of Chicago in Warrenville, IL, I had a few of their other beers during the vacation, and every one of them was at least "pretty good" or better so you definitely want to check these guys out if you have a chance. The care and passion you expect from a family business really shows in their beers.

Speaking of families, my ten year old son Brandon built those Lego models of the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Building in the picture. Give him a Lego model and he gets very quiet and focused following the directions to build it, a certain strength drawn from his autism. My eight year old daughter Verona is more into art, and became an expert in identifying Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture in my home town of Oak Park, where Wright designed several houses. My new wife Linda has been great for the kids, and for me. Brewing or otherwise, families are precious.

Beer of the Month: Full Boar Scotch Ale from Devil's Canyon Brewing

I thought about featuring a winter seasonal for this January's Beer of the Month, but plenty of craft breweries have pulled their winter seasonals from the shelves, replacing them with their spring seasonals. It's bad enough when I go to K-Mart in the middle of October looking for Halloween costumes for my kids and they already already have the Christmas trees and decorations up, but here in the middle of winter, it's getting awfully hard to find a winter seasonal. Craft breweries alway claiming to be so much better than big corporate breweries often by the sole virtue of being smaller local companies, and if they stopped imitating the annoying habit big corporations have of releasing seasonal products months before the actual season they are intended for, this superiority they claim over big corporation would gain additional credibility.

Thankfully, Devil's Canyon Brewing Full Boar Scotch Ale, is available all year around, even if it seems ideal for winter. So ideal in fact, that I got myself a growler of it for the holidays, sipping out of port glass on cold winter nights. OK, it rarely gets below 40 degrees Fahrenheit at night in the Bay Area, but having gotten soft living here for ten years after moving here from the midwest, at least 40 degrees feels cold. It's a damp cold.

I quite enjoy all the flavors from the dark malts which combine with buttery, toffee-like notes with light molasses, and savory umami flavors. Try as I might, I couldn't detect any hops, even though I figure there's some in there. It's complex, but not heavy, making it very versatile beer that's both very drinkable and great sipping beer.

Devil's Canyon Full Boar Scotch Ale can be found in multiple locations up and down the San Francisco peninsula, or you can pick up a growler from the brewery in my hometown of Belmont. Enjoy it this month after a day shopping for Easter decorations.

Beer of the Month: Sleigh'r!!! By Ninkasi Brewing!!!

I once bought a Slayer album over twenty years ago back when I was in college. All I could remember about it was a bunch of really fast guitars nearly drowning out some guy yelling about a of bunch of people dying in particularly grisly detail. Metal bands have created some pretty compelling art about universal themes of fear, anger, frustration, and alienation, but I just found all that noise about countless gruesome deaths to be of all things, incredibly boring. I returned the record to the store in exchange for something else.

I certainly understand this personal anecdotal snippet from many years ago is no way to judge a band that's been together for nearly 30 years, but I still consider Slayer to be an interesting cultural curiosity I just don't get. But any band that's been together that long, has achieved status as one of the Big Four of Thrash Metal, and has millions of fans, including critical acclaimed classical violinist Rachel Burton Pine, must be doing a lot of things right. Like being the unlikely inspiration for an excellent Dark Double Alt beer released for the holidays by Ninkasi Brewing.

The beer itself pours a very dark brown, nearly black. As one might expect from its appearance, the first thing that hits you on the tongue is a heavily roasted, slightly smokey malt goodness which is surprisingly smooth and drinkable, despite all that heavy roasting and strong flavors. Then the banana-like esters kick in, solidly asserting themselves just before the a light clove-like aromatic spicy finish. It makes for an easy drinking sipping beer, or a beer that would pair quite well with a lot of strong wintery holiday foods like roasted beef, pork or smoked turkey.

Speaking of the holidays, not only has Slayer inspired a holiday beer, it's also inspired an entire Christmas light show someone created for their Southern California neighborhood my beer blogging buddy Peter Estaniel recently brought to my attention. Make sure you don't miss the flashing Christmas presents next to the electric flowing river of blood.

Perhaps the message here is that holiday good will can come from unlikely places. Maybe we'd have a lot fewer rivers of blood in this world if we did more to accept, seek out and welcome those who might seem strange and out of place, understanding it's these differences which make our world a great place to live. OK, it's a bit of sappy message, but I thought it would seem a lot less sappy cloaked in beer and thrash metal, so just work with me here.

Have a very Sleigh'r Holiday!

An Early Tasting of Stone's Vertical Epic 10.10.10

I'm not exactly sure what about Stone Brewing's Vertical Epic series excites me. Maybe it's the fact that arrives once a year, with each years release date is on the same numbered day and month of the release year, this year's release falling on October 10, 2010. Maybe it's because for each release, Stone tries brewing something highly original, even by their standards. Maybe I'm just a slave to their particular hype.

Especially since I didn't think the first Vertical Epic I tried, their 8.8.8 was all that special. A solid Belgian Strong Ale to be sure, but nothing really noteworthy, despite their best efforts. However, last year's 9.9.9 was a mighty tasty, roasted Belgian porter with all sorts of lovely flavors and nuances. So with high hopes for this year's version, I bugged my local San Mateo BevMo! for days after October 10th, until their shipment came in. Thankfully, they had stashed a box up front for me and a few other people who had been pestering them about it, and so I picked up three bottles to try every few months as the flavors evolve over time.

Stone's website describes Vertical Epic 10.10.10 as Belgian Strong Pale Ale brewed with pale malt and triticale (a cross of wheat and rye), hopped with German Perle hops, and steeped with chamomile during the whirlpool stage. A juice blend of Muscat, Gewurztraminer, and Sauvignon Blanc grape varieties was added in the secondary fermentation.

And give them credit, it's a very unique, memorable, and most of all, delicious brew. I'm sure if it's a good idea to age it that long, since must white wine is typically something not aged for more than 2-3 years, and there weren't really any rough edges in the flavors to mellow out over time. Drinking this is lot easier than describing it, as it has a unique character all to its own. The white wine grapes are pretty up front, complimented by a nice clove spiciness, and a tea-like bitter finish. I also picked up an interesting floral component, which may be from the chamomile.

What is Chamomile? I had to look this up myself and found it is daisy-like flower which traditionally has been used to cure sleeplessness, anxiety, and diarrhea.

Anything that makes you relax and doesn't give you diarrhea is probably a good thing.

A Great Double IPA Found at an Unlikely Airport

One of life's more fruitless tasks is trying to find new and interesting beers at an airport. Amid the Bud, Bud Lite, Coors, Coors Light strangle hood the big boys have on most cramped airport bars, usually something Sam Adam's Boston Lager or Widmer Hefeweizen can usually be found on tap somewhere. And as a fellow Bay Area blogger found, it's hard to find an IPA in an airport, even when it's located in a city with a great craft brewing community.

So it was no small thrill when I discovered a great Double IPA last week awaiting my flight back home. And at what airport could one discover a great Double IPA? Would you believe Salt Lake City's?

Yep, smack dab in the middle of one of the most alcohol adverse states of of the Union is a Squatter's Brewpub at Salt Lake's Airport, and I was fortunate to find their excellent Hop Rising Double IPA there. There's lots of big floral and citrus hop flavors, with a dominant note tangerine in this one. The malt side of the brew held it's own, with a slight caramelly character to it, and at 9% abv, this is an intensely flavorful brew, that isn't overly aggressive or downright assaulting, like too many Double IPA's I've tried.

Don't let anyone tell you there's no good beer to be found in Utah, or in an airport for that matter, either.

Boulevard Brewing's Smokestack Series

Over the past few weeks, I've been fortunate to sample a few of Kansas City's Boulevard Brewing Smokestack series, since my girlfriend Linda and I visited my sister Leigh and her husband Keith in Kansas City last month. I have to really thank Keith for that, as every evening, even if we'd had plenty of Boulevard's regular beers, he would pull out a bottle or two of one of the Smokestack Series bottles from stored in his fridge and pour everyone a glass. And before getting on the plane and flying home, he directed us to stop at some liquor store called Gomer's, which from the outside, appeared to be a good place to get a 40 oncers of malt liquor to consume on a nearby street corner. But Gomer's had a great selection inside, so I picked up a few Smokestack Series bottles to take home to San Jose. I would characterize the worst beer in the bunch as pretty good, so they're worth hunting down. Here's a quick run-down.

Two Jokers Double Wit
Quite frankly, I think their are way too many "Double Somethings" out there, and the Witbier style doesn't seem to be one to lend itself to "doubling". Then again, Boulevard's ZON Witbier won a gold medal in this years Great American Beer Festival, so if I bite the bullet and try a Double Wit, this would be the one to try. And it is. There's a hefty amount of cracker like malt, and lots of spiciness, with noticeable coriander and cardamon. Some peppery flavors as well, and of course, some bitter orange peel.

A Whole Bunch of Different Saisons
Really, I just couldn't keep all the different Saisons in the series straight. At the Boulevard Brewery tour, they were pouring Tank7 Saison, a dry hopped Saison with a strong lemongrass aroma and plenty of herbal flavors, grassy hop bitterness, and a little lemon in there. Later on, Keith poured us something simply labelled Saison which was more yeasty, peppery, a little grassy and had this tingly carbonation to it. Finally, I took home a bottle of dry hopped Saison - Brett which seemed to have a lot of complex yeast flavors I couldn't quite define, some resin-like character and a musty aroma to go with all that. I'm not a big Saison fan, but they all worked really well. If you have the chance to have a Boulevard beer with the word "Saison" in the title, I say go for it.

Double Wide Double IPA

Lots of grapefruitiness going on here to go with the stiff malt backbone. I liked the bitterness level of this one, as it was very noticeable, but not really aggressive. A little astringent, but got noticeably creamy as it warmed up.

Seeyoulater Dopplebock

It's aged in cedar barrels, and the cedar is the dominant flavor, but it blends well with the caramel and banana-like fruit esters. It's got a complex flavor to it, but still seems crisp and uncluttered.

So glad Leigh and Keith could show us the way around Kansas City.

Boulevard Brewing Tour and Tasting

Boulevard Brewing is one of the largest craft breweries in the country and the largest in the Midwest. Of course, it is the second largest in Missouri. But it seems to have a strong hold in Kansas City, as just about every bar, tavern, and liquor store prominently displays a large, conspicuous Boulevard Brewing sign.

Linda and I were in Kansas City for a few days visiting my kid sister Leigh and her husband Keith. Keith couldn't get off of work, but Leigh reserved a spot for herself, Linda, and me on the Boulevard Brewery tour. If you plan visit the tour someday, reserve well ahead of time, as it fills up a few weeks in advance.

As brewery tours go, it was pretty standard stuff. An energetic and enthusiastic guide took about twenty-five of us around the brewery, stopping at key locations to show a brief videos on the history of the brewery, or how various machines and gadgets are used in the process of making beer. We learned that founder John McDonald began construction of the brewery in 1988. This hand-made furniture maker and homebrewer turned entrepreneur when everyone told him he ought to start selling his homebrews. He even travelled to Germany to learn traditional brewing techniques prior to opening the brewery.

We also learned that all the old, red brick buildings housing the brewery have reinforced concrete inside to support the brewing equipment, which makes the brewery both tornado earthquake proof. And while the tour began in an old, dusty cellar full of beer aging in barrels for Boulevard's Smokestack series, most of the brewery is full of recently installed, shiny automated brewing and bottling equipment. While Boulevard has one of the largest outputs of any craft brewery in America, it takes a mere 12 hours for Anheuser-Busch to equal Boulevard's yearly output. That's longer than last year, when it took Anheuser-Busch just ten hours.

And of course, what most people consider the highlight of the tour, the tasting room at the end. So here's a brief review of those beers, from sampling them at the tasting room, and enjoying some more back at my sister's place. About 70% of Boulevard's sales is of their unfiltered wheat beer, which I didn't get a chance to try. I suppose any comprehensive review of Boulevard beer should include their flagship, but frankly, American wheat beers don't get me all that excited, and faced with a "so many beers, so little time" situation, I opted to try their styles that interested me the most.

ZON Witbier
It's pronounced "zone" and this summer seasonal won this years Gold Medal at the Great American Best Festival (GABF) in the Belgian Style Witbier catagory. I can see why this won, as it has a sharp, tangy citrus flavors that yield to strong notes of coriander. It's all enhanced by the tingly carbonation, and while I'm finding witbiers to be a tired, over-exposed style, this one is quite lively and really pops.

Tank 7 Dry Hopped Saison
It's part of Boulevard's Smokestack series, and according to Boulevard, you can only find it in their tap room, and on tap at selected locations in Kansas City which they didn't specify. It's too bad this is such a limited release. The brew has a lovely lemongrass aroma and the dry hopping gives it a strong herbal flavor, with some grassiness and a little lemon to boot. Another light, summer style from Boulevard with exploding flavors.

Luna Ale
Described as combination of a tradition British Brown Ale and a German Dunklewiessen, it's as weird as that sounds. I picked up all the flavors one would expect if you mixed two beers of those style together. Nutty roasted malt? Check. Creamy mouth feel? Check. Peppery yeast with some fruity esters ? Check. And put this all together and it's...ummm...well my sister really likes it. I'm trying hard to like it, but let's just say I'm still getting to know this beer.

Bully! Porter
Lot's of roasty malt goodness, with lots of bitter chocolate flavor and some detectable coffee notes, and little or no sweetness. Despite all the roasted malt, very smooth and drinkable.

Single Wide IPA
It's not a malty East Coast / UK IPA. It's not a thinly malted West Coast hop-bomb IPA. It's comes across as a middle of the road, IPA. There's a decent amount of malt to balance the grapefruity and slightly grassy hops. The mouth feel is pretty astringent. For me, I found this to be a good, change of pace IPA.

It's About Time I Write About El Toro

El Toro is only my favorite place to get a beer in the Bay Area, so I ought write about it by now. OK, Morgan Hill is not technically the Bay Area, but it's close. Morgan Hill is not the chic, hip, happening place people want to go to, but if you ask me, that's part of its charm.

The brewpub opened in 2006, but Geno and Cindy Acevedo of El Toro have been brewing since 1994. They do great standard session beers, and they do great beers with that have their own unique twist on a style, that few other breweries attempt. With about 20 taps, there's something for everyone. And the food is pretty good, too. Frankly, if this place was in San Francisco, everyone would be talking about it. But it's not, and too few people have heard about it, or have even been there. Luckily, I live in the South Bay, and El Toro is only a 20 minute drive from where Linda and I live. We were fortunate to spend dinner over the weekend, and enjoy some of their beers. Here's what we thought of the beers we had.

El Conejo Red IPA
There's a little sweetness in this red IPA, and plenty of roasted malt. Centennial and Amarillo hops give it a tropical fruit, pineapple character to it. The bitterness of the roasted malt coupled with a healthy dose of hops gives this brew a very strong bitterness and astringency. Unique and different, it's just a little too much bitterness for my taste, but Linda, the wine loving closet hop-head can't get enough of this.

El Toro Awesome IPA
Here's to truth in advertising. El Toro uses Columbus, Centennial, Cascade and Amarillo hops to give this the classic citrus, slightly floral West Coast IPA bitterness, with just a modicum of malt. The slight sweetness what little malt there is works well here.

El Toro Blackraspberry Ale
Fruit beers are often dismissively labelled a "chick beers" by card carrying beer geeks. I'm afraid I was not secure enough in my manhood to order this, so left it up to Linda to get this one. We both like the slight tartness and the clear, slightly earth black raspberry fruit notes, without the cloying sweetness that ruins many a fruit beer in my opinion. El Toro also has Peach and Raspberry Ales on tap, and perhaps next time, I'll have the guts to order one of these brews.

El Toro Negro Oatmeal Stout
Plenty of roasty, coffee-like malt goodness you look for in a stout, but we found it light and smooth, with little or no sweetness, despite the rich flavors. We also picked up some bitter chocolate in there. Very easy drinking and enjoyable.

Can't wait 'til I get back there.

Getting Primed for Jelly Bellies at Blue Frog Grog and Grill

I took off last week from work to spend it with my kids on a so called "stay-cation" about Northern California. One of our destinations was the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA and wouldn't you know, Blue Frog Grog and Grill is only about a five minute drive for the factory. Anyone with small kids will tell you well fed kids tend to function on these sort of outings a lot better than unfed ones. The same goes for parents. So it seemed like a win-win situation to stop off at Blue Frog for lunch prior to the factory tour.

We already had some familiarity with Blue Frog, as Linda and I had enjoyed Blue Frog's Red Ale we picked up at our nearby BevMo! about a month prior. I'm not a big fan of red ales, but we both enjoyed its citrus and tangy flavors, its strong malt character, and slightly grassy hop finish, and it was one of the better Red Ales I've had. So we figured we'd each have a different pint to sample during with lunch with the kids.

Blue Frog Grog and Grill is located in one of those sun drenched retail areas that seem to dominate the Fairfield - Vacaville area, where shade seems to be a precious luxury. Linda and I choose the place mostly for the beer, but we also found the food was every bit as good as the beer. And of course, family outings are great opportunities to take slightly out of focus family pictures in bad lighting, where at least person has a funny look on their face.

Linda had a flavorful portobello mushroom sandwich, and I was pretty happy with my smoked salmon fish and chips. Linda and I also appreciated the slightly tangy, crunchy red cabbage slaw included with both of our lunch entrees. My six year old daughter Verona proclaimed cheese pizza on the kids menu as "really good". Brandon, my eight year old son, has autism and so is a man a few words, but when asked if his grilled cheese sandwich was "yummy" or "yucky", responded with "yummy" in his high pitched voice. Looks like Blue Frog gets Brandon's thumbs up as well.

But you're probably reading this about their beer, not the kids menu, so here's what Linda and I thought about the beers we tried.

Blue Frog IPA
This dark yellow, fresh tasting IPA had plenty of piney hop goodness, with some floral character in there for good measure, and just a little malt to balance it. A good example of West Coast IPA style done well.

Blue Frog Pub Ale (Seasonal)
This was our favorite beer of those we tried. It's got a little caramel taste to it, a little sweetness, a little piney hops, and a little dry finish and all these little things add up to a lively little session ale.

Blue Frog Hefeweizen
Linda and I split a 12 once glass of their hazy yellow, unfiltered hefe, and found it to be a rather light and wheaty with some aromatic clove-like notes.

Blue Frog Double IPA
We purchased a 22 once bottle of this before we left, and Linda and I split it a couple days later. A strong citrus aroma greeted us immediately upon pouring. As one might expect from the aroma, this one had a very strong grapefruity hop character to it, as well as a little sweetness. There's a good amount of malt in there, which gave this a slightly creamy mouth feel, and this brew really went down smooth despite the strong hop flavors. We really liked the well controlled strong flavors here.

The Jelly Belly factory turned out to be a blast for everyone. I'm always proud of my children, but special mention should go to Brandon, since the large chattering crowds, sudden loud noises, and large spinning and repetitive motions of the factory equipment during the tour pose all sorts of challenges to an eight year old with autism. He handled it really well, and has won yet another small battle to overcome his autistic behaviors.

Does anyone have any ideas of what to do with the bag of jalapeno Jelly Bellies I purchased?

The San Diego Tap Room in San Diego's Airport

Time to go home. The convention is over, I've packed every thing up, and catch the first available cab to the airport. I have a couple hours before my flight, so head over the the San Diego Tap room located by Gates 3-10 in San Diego's airport.

This place is a typical airport bar, and for the most part, has stuff like Bud Light, Bud, Stella Artois, and Guinness on tap. But they also have a couple taps devoted to local brewpub chain Karl Strauss. I've enjoyed their beers in the past, but didn't get a chance to stop at their location near downtown this time, so figure I'll try a couple of their beers here while I wait for my plane to board.

It's so crowded, I don't walk in, but rather sort of wedge myself into a spot at the extreme end of the bar. The place is littered with empty glasses the harried staff has no time to collect and clean. I get one of the bartenders attention and she pours a Karl Strauss Amber Lager, which does its best to keep its dignity in the Bud Light glass it was poured into. I've always like this Vienna Style lager, with its light nutty flavor in that lingers long after beer is down the throat. It's light drinkable, and there's a slight grassy hop crispness to it. I've always found this rather refreshing.

Finishing that, I then try Karl Strauss's flagship Red Trolley Ale, a red ale named for the red trolleys that roll around the city. It's got a little complexity to it, being a little sweet and fruity, with a little roasted malt, with a little astringency to its finish. It's a solid red ale.

They board my plane, I find my seat, and fly home.

The Toronado San Diego

The Toronado in San Diego is an expansion, if you will, of the temple of beer of the same name in San Francisco. I went with a long time friend I hadn't seen in a couple years, so I was more occupied with catching up with her, then scribbling down notes and making observations for this post. So there isn't a whole lot I can say about it, but what can I say having been there once?

Well, it's kind of loud, as we had to find a picnic table in the corner at the back patio to carry on a conversation, which still required us to talk in elevated voices. I didn't see a juke box, but late 70's Clash featured prominently in the background music. And the wait staff could've been more patient and understanding with customers as they figured out what to get on tap, without getting into the really surely attitudes the Toronado in San Francisco has a reputation for. Maybe they should call this place Toronado Lite.

The tap list was full of Double and Imperial somethings, or stuff with European names most people, like me, have trouble pronouncing correctly, but there were still a few more accessible "gateway" beers that everyone should be able to find what they like.

Alpine Bad Boy Double IPA
The bartender who poured this referred to this as a Triple IPA (yikes!) but the Alpine website calls this a Double IPA. I like Alpine beers, it's one not normally available so was willing to try it, but was bracing myself to get whacked in the mouth with this one. Instead, I got a really smooth, reasonably balanced Double IPA with a piney, resiny hop bitterness that kept building up in intensity over time.

Port Brewing 547 Haight
Named after the street address of the Toronado in San Francisco, the bartender told me this was an Imperial Red. It found it rather sweet, fruity and juicy, with some of toffee, roasty flavors also running around, with plenty of hop bitterness to balance all the malt goodness.

I'm Down with Downtown Johnny Brown's

The first thing you need to know when going to Downtown Johnny Brown's in San Diego is the place is hard to find. It's inside the San Diego Civic Center Concourse and not visible from the street. The first time I tried to go there, I walked back and forth two or three times, trying to find it based on the street addresses which seemed to skip a few numbers, before I finally poked my head inside the concourse and found it.

The dark interior looks a little like a British pub crossed between an American Sports Bar. The walls are full of light, wooden framed pictures of San Diego sports starts and pictures of what look to be patrons of the place over the years. It's a neighborhood look other establishments try to manufacture, but here, it's grown organically for twenty years to create it's own unique character. The tap list it highly loyal to the local craft brewing scene, with San Diego area breweries dominating the list.

Is Downtown Johnny Brown's on a quest to support its local breweries? Is it trying to reduce their carbon footprint? Perhaps. But Todd Alexander, who owns Downtown Johnny Brown's, seems more driven by common sense, than anything else. "...why waste the energy and money on shipping a keg 7000 miles?" he asks. Good question.

I found out how much thought goes into the tap list after contacting Todd before my most recent visit and asking how he comes decides which beers to fill his seventeen taps. Expecting a two or three sentence answer, he responded with a paragraph long, complex formula on his decision process.

In his own words:
"....in terms of how I go about putting together my tap list, I have a few general rules and then I fill in the blanks from there. I always try and have 8-12 local beers. Now we only have 17 taps so that is where I start. I love Belgium beers, but I tend to put domestic versions of the styles on first and I almost never have more than one import. To me when I consider how great beers are here in America in general, and in San Diego in particular, why waste the energy and money on shipping a keg 7000 miles?.....although we do carry some imports. I try and have 4-5 IPAs, one Pilsner, one hefeweizen, and one high abv. Belgium style and at least one stout and/or porter. In that mix of 9 beers usually everyone will find something they like. Currently I am trying to keep 30th St Pale Ale from Green Flash on tap at all times for two reasons; one I love it, two I like to keep one Pale Ale on at all times. Now that’s 10 of my 17 taps. We also participate in Sierra Nevada’s specialty program. In order to do that they want us to keep one of their beers on. So that’s 11 of 17. From there, I try to keep a balance, maybe an amber and a nut brown.....gateway beers for people that are not craft aware. That leaves me room for something special, like a sour." Whew!

When I finally met Todd, he's sitting at the bar, chatting away with the bar tenders and the customers like one of the many locals that frequent the place. Once he sees me taking out a scrap of paper to write down notes on the first beer I try, he probably figures this guy he's never seen before scribbling down notes is probably the person who contacted him by e-mail about a strange beer-running blog he's writing, he moves over to take a look. I figure out this guy moving over to check me out is Todd Alexander, and I'm right. He seems eager to tell me his story, and it soon becomes obvious why.

The concept of someone starting at the bottom and working themselves all the way to the top is such an American cliche', we forget it sometimes actually happens. Todd Alexander is such an example. He started in the middle 80's as a busboy when the John Brown owned the place, and then graduated to tending bar. During John Brown's ownership, the place developed a reputation for introducing new beers from the growing local craft beer scene, but when John Brown moved down to Mexico about eight years ago, that momentum seemed to stall. After about four years of this, Todd was down in Mexico visiting his boss, when John asked if he wanted to buy the bar he founded. Todd took the opportunity, and over that time, has broadened the range of beers the place offers.

It seems exactly where Todd wants to be. Chatting behind the bar, talking shop with his bartenders, and figuring out the next beer to put on tap. Take the extra time to find this hidden place, a few blocks away from the touristy Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego, and you won''t be disappointed.

While there, I tried:

Coronado Brewing Lime Wit
Sour lime dominates the slight yeastiness of this Wit beer, which has a bitter lime peel finish. I prefer my Wit a little lighter and more subtle, but an interesting San Diego culinary take on the Belgian style, which is starting to become over-exposed and tired.

Alpine Duet IPA
I found this IPA to be quite refreshing with it's light amount of malt, and a crisp, astringent hop bitterness. It's light for an IPA, but the hop crispness doesn't make it seem watery. A pilsner on steroids?

Port Brewing Pig Dog Pale Ale
I found this to be a fresh, complex Pale Ale with a little caramel and fruitiness to it, and a strong, astringent hops finish.

The Neighborhood in San Diego

This place seems to be trying real hard at being hip and arty. At the far corner of this bar are separate paintings of Jimi Hendrix and Jesus Christ eating a cheese burger. Next to these paintings is a sculpture consisting of an industrial, grey metal star placed surrounded on both sides by a row of four human skulls. I spent a couple evenings contemplating the deep meanings of this artwork and, sorry to say, failed to come up with anything. All I can really conclude after a couple short sessions is that The Neighborhood is a pretty good place to get a beer.

Looks like others have come to the same conclusion. It made the Draft Magazine's list of one of the 200+ best beer bars in America in it's August 2009 issue, and plenty of other local acclaim The Neighborhood proudly displays on their web site. The tap and bottle lists are written on chalkboards and mirrors in a hurried, sloppy script writing similar to gangster graffiti. I suppose it allows the residents from nearby high rise condos to get in touch with their inner gang banger. Given its close proximity to Petco Park, it does a pretty good business with people merely seeking to get a beer before or after a Padres game.

I really appreciated The Neighborhood's tap and bottle lists' wide variety of styles, which pays homage to the great local breweries San Diego has to offer, while including many unique and tasty brews from far away lands. Here's a brief run down of what I tried there.

Victory Brewing Prima Pils
OK, it makes complete sense that the first beer I have in San Diego, is from Victory Brewing, 2,500 miles away in Downing, PA. Victory has long been one of my favorite breweries, and Prima Pils is a brew I’ve been wanting to try for some time. Thankfully, The Neighborhood had it. Like any good pils, it’s got a crisp grassy hops finish. Unlike most pils, I picked up some savory herbal character with all that hoppy goodness, giving it a rare complexity for a pilsner.

Stone Brewing Pale Ale with Coriander (Cask Conditioned)
Not what one normally expects from Stone. Tasted very light and feathery from the cask, and balanced between the malt and hops. A little floral, and the coriander gives this one a light, savory dimension. Well blended, and I found this very memorable.

Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale
From Kiuchi Brewery in Japan, one of the most unique beers I've ever tried, made with red rice and Hallertauer hops. It's got a tangy, fruitiness this seemed cherry-like to me, and maybe a little strawberry in there. Or maybe it's just this brew's hazy pink color playing tricks on my taste buds. Light, bubbly level of carbonation. Is it just me, as does this seem a little like a Belgian sour ale? This intriguing brew poses a Zen-like puzzles.

Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck St. Louis Gueuze
VERY sour apple flavor with light, tingly champagne like fizzy carbonation, with a slightly lemony acidic aftertaste. Interesting beer, but not quite my style.

Alesmith Speedway Stout
A big, thick, rich double Stout with plenty of chocolate malty goodness, and a little aftertaste of bitter coffee, which has been added to the brew. It's aged in bourbon barrels just to give it slightly more complexity. Just the barest whisper of sweetness, and the 12% abv is undetectable. Another excellent Alesmith brew and a great way to cap off my last evening there.

Prelude to San Diego: Green Flash Double Stout

Next week, I'll be travelling on business to San Diego. I'll be staying downtown without a car, so won't have an opportunity to visit the many great San Diego area breweries, but I will have an opportunity to sample some of the local beers. And running along the inner harbor trail is some of the best urban running in America.

To get myself in a San Diego frame of mind, I decided to giving Green Flash Brewing's Double Stout a try. I've enjoyed their West Coast IPA, an aptly named beer since that hop monster has a mere whisper of malt to pacify the mass quantities of hops Green Flash uses, the West Coast IPA style totally pushed to the limit

Turns out, the Imperial Stout is very much the yang of the West Coast IPA yin. Lot's of rich, creamy, bitter coffee tasting malt in this bad boy, with the barest touch of any sweetness, and a little bitter chocolate character to it. The alcohol is really well hidden in this one. And as you can see, it pours a very thick, foamy head. Not really the beer to have during the afternoon at a San Diego beach during low tide, but works for me as an excellent late night sipping beer.

Hmmm.....what if you mixed Green Flash's highly bitter, malt forward Double Stout with their West Coast IPA? Maybe I shouldn't ask.

Peace, Love, Beer and Barbecue in Haight-Asbury

I must admit to being a bit of a tourist whenever I go up to San Francisco, having moved to San Jose from Detroit nine years ago. Linda and I try to take a day off from work once a month for a little exploring, and often we spend it in San Francisco. We've been talking about going to the Haight-Asbury neighborhood for sometime now, and yesterday we finally went. I had never been there, and was eager to see the neighborhood, a focal point of the 60's counter-culture revolution, that gave the world Janis Joplin's powerful soul, as well as The Grateful Dead's tedious banality.

As I suspected, Haight-Asbury is a good place to buy stuff like Tibetan crafts, Buddha statues, Jerry Garcia t-shirts, and ornate glass bongs. But I wasn't there for that. I was there for the beer at Magnolia Pub & Brewery.

We walk in and they're playing what seemed to be a 60's-era recording of Bob Dylan in concert, a promising sign. We take our seat at one of the large, black booths, and as it is our first time here, order a couple of their tasting flights. The menu looked interesting, but besides a couple of luscious cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon, we didn't order any of the food. Here's a brief run-down on the notes we took of the beers.


Kalifornia Kolsch
One of our favorite beers of the afternoon led off the flight. It's hazy yellow brew, with a strong peppery flavor and we also noted some notes of lemon. Despite the strong flavors, has a feathery lightness to it. Really nice.

Half Step Hefeweizen
Strong, rich bread dough like flavor, without the fruity esters one normally associates with the style. Maybe we picked up a little banana in there, but there was also a little underlying sourness. Still a good beer, but a reminder that California brewers seem to struggle with this style.

Blue Bell Bitter
A toast bomb? Lot's a toasty malt here, with some nuttiness to the overall flavor. Couldn't detect much hops here, but with all that toasty goodness, who needs them?

In the New IPA
This was a more restrained, balance IPA than one usually found in West Coast brewpubs, much more like the East Coast style. Had a citrus-like aroma, a grassy bitterness, and a decent amount of malt to balance the hops. Well crafted and balanced IPA's like this one are way underrated.

Proving Ground IPA
We're back on the West Coast with this one, and in a good way. Lot's a bitterness, at 100 ibu's, but there's more going on than just the brewer punching us in the face with a bunch of hops. We detected some aromatic spice notes and a little sweetness in the malt. Linda's is a big hop-head, so when we were done with the tasting flight, she had a half-pint of this.

Gallows Hill Porter
Part of Magnolia's summer long project to brew various beer styles using artesional Maris Otter malt, in collaboration with Teddy Maufe of Branthill Farms from Norfolk, England. Lot's of bitter roasted coffee bitterness in this one, with a really sturdy mouth feel to it. Sorry to miss the earlier releases of this project.

Afterwards, we walked down the street into the Lower Haight for an early dinner at Memphis Minnie's barbecue. I like the fact that they don't use any sauce in the preparation of the meats, but leave a few bottles of traditional barbecue sauce styles at each table for each person to add to their liking. Way too much barbecue is buried in sauce, but Memphis Minnie's puts their expertly smoked meats front and center. Inspired by San Francisco's multi-culturalism, Memphis Minnie's serves sake to pair with their barbecue, which we didn't try having been a bit beered out by the time we got there. Sure, Memphis Minnie's is located in barbecue Siberia, but having been to national barbecue shrines Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City, and Angelo's in Fort Worth, I assure those dismissing it as "hippie-cue", it's the real deal.

Linda likes taking photographs of flowers, so this shot taken as we walked back to the car seemed like the appropriate way to end this post.

Carbo Loading with Mirror, Mirror from Deschutes Brewery

A lot of big, bold runners and beers have come from Oregon.

The state has a long, powerful distance running tradition. In the 50's, University of Oregon coach Bill Bowerman trained Bill Dillenger to set American records in the 50's, before Dillenger retired from racing and became Bowermen's assistant, finally taking over as head coach in 1973. Both revolutionized distance running training, and produced numerous All Americans. Such as the brash, iconic Steve Prefontaine who held the American records from the 2,000 meters through 10,000 meters the day he died in a car accident in 1975, at the prime of his running career. And the obsessive Alberto Salazar, a strong 5 and 10 kilometer runner on the track, who moved up to the marathon and in the first marathon he ever ran, the 1980 New York Marathon, defeated a strong field that included Boston Marathon champ Bill Rodgers in his first marathon he ever entered. Salazar went on to a number of New York and Boston marathon victories in the early 80's, before it is widely believed that his high, 180+ weekly training mileages finally took a toll on his body. Then there's Phil Knight, who co-founded Nike with Bowerman by selling shoes at Oregon track meets in the early 70's, and became one of the world's most powerful businessmen before retiring in 2004.

Oregon has a great brewing tradition, too. One of my favorite breweries is the Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon, and I've long enjoyed their Mirror Pond Pale Ale. So when I discovered they've amped up the Mirror Pond Pale Ale into an oak-aged barleywine called Mirror Mirror, I knoew it was something I had to try. Deschutes Brewmaster Larry Sidor had this to say on the Deschutes Brewing website page descrbing this brew. “I’m really looking forward to this version of Mirror Mirror because it is not only an advancement for this beer, but it also shows the evolution of our knowledge related to barrel aging and how the whole Reserve Series has developed.”'

I've enjoyed Sidor's creation a couple times now. Pouring it into my tulip glass creates a foamy light tan head floating on the dark tan brew, with an citrus aroma. It has a rich, creamy malty flavor with an orange-dominated citrus character, and a little pine-like bitterness which becomes more pronounced as it warms. I can taste a little oak from the barrel aging, and at 11% abv, the alcohol is a detectable. It's complex, yet easy drinking barleywine.