Sights, Sounds, and Tastes of the Eat Real Festival

The Eat Real Festival is the place you might expect to see things like a large, red beet tattooed on some guy's muscular arm. I'd describe it as a street festival trying to get you to think locally about your street food. And while you might quibble if that includes a stand selling creme' brulee, they seemed to do a pretty good job pulling off the concept. And for pictures of the weekend festivities in better focus than the one on the right, head on over to Beer and Nosh.

Held the past weekend in Jack London Square, the Eat Real Festival certainly seemed to be a logistical success on the hot Saturday afternoon I was there. Despite the large crowds, there were reasonable enough lines to get food, beer, and the all important trip to the porta-potties. In the center of it all was the Beer Shed. If I have one recommendation for next year's Eat Real Fest, it's that they call it something else. I had visions of having to enter some rickety, dimly lit, poorly ventilated structure simply to get a beer. Imagine my pleasant surprise when instead, the "Beer Shed" consisted of a refrigerated trailer with 40 taps built into it sitting in the open air. And at the front of this trailer a "Meet the Brewer" table was set up, with an hourly schedule of brewers there to pour and talk about their beers.

Of course, it's one thing to meet the brewer, it's another to have an actual conversation with him in this set-up. One brewer, who possibly was as buzzed as I was, glided back and forth behind the table, talking in a volume barely above a whisper about his beer. When I asked "Would you be willing to share what hops you used in this?", he replied "Sure", and then there was a long pause. Then he said, "I need to help this couple over here", and then he moved a few feet sideways, poured them a beer, and started chatting with them. Figuring he wouldn't answer my question, my attention turned elsewhere, and all of a sudden, he glided over and rattled off a couple names of hops I wasn't familiar with, and almost instantly forgot. And with that, he was back over with the other couple. Note to self: Learn your all your hop varieties, and be alert when trying to gather more insight from the brewer about how he made the beer. And being a little more clear headed wouldn't hurt, either.

There was no such problem speaking learning about how Triple Rock made their Bill Brand Brown. They use cocoa nibs in a process similar to dry hopping to give the brew extra roasty, chocolaty dimensions. The Bill Brand Brown was one of many excellent beers Linda and I tried last Saturday, and here are the notes of those I was paying close enough attention to write something down about.

Triple Rock Bill Brand Brown
We enjoyed this rich, highly roasted brown session ale, with bitter chocolate flavors imparted from the cocoa nibs. Lots of chocolate aromas going on.

Magnolia Best Bitter

Linda and I detected a raspberry character to this bitter, which had a dry crisp finish. There's something about Magnolia's beer that have this subtle, unique twist on the style you don't find anywhere else.

Linden Street Brewing's People's Common

A surprisingly dry, astringent brew with an acidic, pineapple-like flavor that is far more enjoyable than it sounds like it would be.

Beach Chalet Riptide Red
Has a little toastiness, a little strawberry or raspberry fruitiness to it, and a little hop bitterness in the aftertaste. It's one of those beers that has a little of this, a little of that, and pretty soon, it all adds up to a lot.

Tacos anyone?

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?

Announcing Beer & Nosh's Notoberfest

Wanted to pass along I message received from Jesse Friedman over at Beer & Nosh about the upcoming NOToberfest event he's hosting this October 10. From the looks of things so far, looks pretty unique, interesting and of course, delicious. Here's what's in the works.

Beer & Nosh Notoberfest

Featuring:
- An epic feast prepared by Ryan Farr & the 4505 Meats Team
- Custom beer-infused ice creams & treats from Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream
- Reinheitsgebot-breaking beers from Valley Brewing Co.

Valley Brewing Tap Menu:
Luna Blanca – Central Valley Golden Ale
“Notoberfest” Bourbon Barrel Maibock Lager
Brandy Barrel Aged “Collaborative Evil” Belgian Strong Golden Ale
Olallieberry Sour
India Pale Ale
Bourbon Barrel Russian Imperial Stout
Valley Brew Skullsplitter Root Beer

Essential Details:
Saturday, October 10th 2009, 1-5pm
Mars Bar, 798 Brannan St, San Francisco, CA
$50 prepurchase / $60 at the door – All inclusive for beer, food and commemorative tasting glass.

All of the details and RSVP information can be found at beerandnosh.com/notoberfest

A blog post detailing visiting Valley Brew with the chefs to plan the event can be found here at beerandnosh.com/2009/08/notoberfest-planning/

Time to Eat Real: The Eat Real Festival Is Coming This August 28-30

I'm pleased to tell you all about the Eat Real Festival that's being held in Jack London Square in Oakland the weekend of August 28-30.

What is it about? Well, from the festival website, the Eat Real Festival was "founded in 2008, as a social venture created to inspire eaters to choose tasty, healthy, good food. Through a vibrant, local festival in Oakland, CA, and a focus on delicious and sustainable “street food,” Eat Real puts eaters in contact with the real people -- the farmers, chefs, and producers -- who make our food. Eat Real Festival will donate a percentage of its profit to several California organizations promoting access to healthy and affordable food, entrepreneurship and economic development."

And since beer goes well with most street food, they've included a Beer Shed with a great list of over 15 local breweries already scheduled to participate, and the website promises more.

To me, this is what food is all about. It's about eating something good, simple, and accessible produced in a sustainable way. Anything that puts the producers of what we eat and drink closer to the consumers is definitely something I support. If you agree, I look foreword to seeing you there.

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.