Category Archives: brewery

by | November 29, 2011 · 12:55 pm

Iron Fist Brewing Company

Read about the previous visits: Hess Brewing, Ballast Point, Stone Brewing Company and Bistro.

Our final stop for the San Diego trip was at Iron Fist Brewing Company – another place that wasn’t open on Tuesdays, but allowed us in to check it out.
Iron Fist is located in a relatively large facility and has done incredibly well with distribution, especially considering it’s just over a year old. If you’re lucky enough to live in Southern California or Hawaii, their delicious brews can be found there!
One of the owners/brewers gave us a tour of the place and we got to try some beer straight from the fermentor.
They’d recently made a beer called Martial Law: a Belgian Strong Ale with cognac soaked oak chips and sour cherries thrown straight into the fermentor. On tap, this is absolutely delightful! It’s always nice to try something that’s completely out of the ordinary, especially when it works out so well!

We also got a chance to try some Velvet Glove (my dad’s personal favorite) on nitro!
I was hoping for a growler of this, but as you can see from the simple taster above it didn’t work out… Nitro + growler does not work. Sadness. I got a growler of the regular Velvet Glove instead.
Their growlers are ridiculously heavy-duty and awesome! They’re a bit more pricey than most growlers I’ve gotten, but well worth it for the design. This will be the new centerpiece in my room. It’s that incredible.
Seriously heavy duty.
All growlers aspire to this, I’m sure.
I’m hoping to get down there one last time before Martial Law is gone for good (it’s only going to be brewed twice… So far…).

That ends our brewery tour! Next to catch up with posts about crazy amounts of Thanksgiving foods and the off-flavor tasting I went to for my Cicerone studies last night.

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by | November 28, 2011 · 2:24 pm

Stone Brewing Company

After Ballast Point, it was time for fooding! We headed over to Stone Brewing for lunch. Once Matt dragged me away from gazing adoringly at the brewery, we walked around the beer gardens while we waited for an outdoor table.
This place is absolutely stunning!
Buddha – a preview of how I was going to look and feel after consuming foods.
I ordered the Vertical Epic 11.11.11. I am absolutely in love with this beer. The beautiful deep maroon beer is topped with a creamy, lacy head that emanates the slight aroma of cinnamon, a hint of chiles and clove. This tastes like heaven – honestly. Wonderfully malty with a hint of cinnamon and a slight kiss of chiles – not enough to be bitter or spicy, but just enough to give a warm essence of happiness and the aura of a cool autumn evening. The tail end features a slight bite of hops, rounding out what might be my favorite beer to date. It’s that good.
We perused the menu, placed our orders and were treated to a personal tour while we waited for our food thanks to Commander Matt’s friend from high school who’s currently employed there.
The regular tour had already taken off, as you can see in the bottom right, but we got to walk straight up the stairs and get a closer look.
We stared into the line of never-ending fermentors.
A look inside the mash tun. Glorious.
The view looking into the bistro area. As you can imagine, the view into the brewery is a million times as magnificent.
DROOL.
After walking around in a dazed, happy stupor, we returned to the table and were immediately greeted by one of the most amazing meals I’ve ever had at a brewpub.We split the prime rib melt – thin slices of tender beef covered in a smoky mayo, studded with bits of Anaheim chiles and topped with a slice of jalapeño havarti…
…and the Mac ‘n Beer Cheese – drenched in Stone Smoked Porter and garlic beer cheese with generous slices of Stone Smoked Porter sausage hidden throughout. Both dishes were demolished.

After the meal, this Buddha was rolled out to the car and we headed to our final destination – Iron Fist Brewing – Coming soon!

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by | November 27, 2011 · 4:12 pm

Ballast Point Brewing

After visiting Hess Brewing, we drove over to Ballast Point, one of the few breweries that was actually open on a Tuesday.
There were two other people in the place when we arrived around 11am.
We grabbed four tasters and took them over to the newly expanded area of the tasting room.
We got a selection of the beers from the specialties section at the bottom of the board: Sculpin IPA, Piper Down Scottish Ale, Oktoberfest Marzen and what I believe was the Sea Monster Imperial Stout whose name unfortunately has been erased from the beer-cam so I might be inadvertently lying to you… All good beers, but the Oktoberfest and the Sea Monster were my favorites – amazing malty/roasty (respectively) aroma to both and really rich flavor and mouthfeel.

After having a few sips, a mysterious man sporting protective eyewear emerged from behind the bar, equipped us with protective eyerwear of our own, and took us for a personal tour of the distillery. Begin picture binge…now:

This used to be a regular beer fermentor that Premier flipped upside down and turned into a distiller. Commander Matt explained a little of this to me and even after that I understand only about .00003% about how this works, so I’ll just say words that have to do with it: head, heart, tail. I won’t pretend to know any more than that.
Source

Part three and four coming soon – Stone Brewing and Iron Fist Brewing!

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by | November 23, 2011 · 11:43 am

Hess Brewing

Yesterday I headed down to San Diego with Commander Matt from Enegren Brewing to pick up a keg washer from Premier and visit a few breweries. Unfortunately, the majority of them are closed on Tuesdays. Fortunately, since I was with the owner of a brewery, we had an in to ALL of them.
Our first stop after Premier was Hess Brewing where we met up with Michael Skubic – tasting room manager and beer wrangler.
Hess is located in an industrial complex in a quaint and cozy space.
I love the touch of the hanging candle lanterns! I’ll have to come back in the evening sometime soon.
These guys work on a 1.5 bbl system. It looks like a gigantic homebrew system and they brew on it pretty often to keep up with demand.
I first tried the Magna Cucerbita Pumpkin Stout. The pumpkin spice aroma in this beer was  perfectly balanced – definitely noticeable but not overwhelming like many pumpkin ales I’ve tried. I wanted another taster of this, but decided that trying some others would be a good idea…
My options were extremely limited. There weren’t too many to choose from… *insert sarcasm here*
Up next: Grazias Vienna Cream Ale. I have absolutely nothing to compare this to since I’ve never had a cream ale before. All I can really say, without a doubt, is that I liked it. Very smooth, slightly sweet, easy drinkability with a hint of vanilla (maybe?) in the aroma.
My favorite of all the beers I tried (and I tried and adored every one) was the Jucundus Orange Honey Wheat. This one reminded me exactly of Elysian’s Avatar Jasmine IPA thanks to the aroma of the chamomile, coriander and orange blossom honey. The honey flavor is apparent in the first sip and accompanied by a wonderful floral sweetness, yet not perfumey at all. The hops are nice and quiet on this making it a VERY easy drinker that would suit either a warm summer day or a rainy autumn evening with a blanket and a book. Jucundus Orange Honey Wheat would be the perfect substitute for chamomile tea on that chilly evening.
There really is no lack of choices here. If you’re ever in the San Diego area and want to visit a gem, head over to Hess Brewing at 7955 Silverton Ave, Ste 1201. I’ll be going back soon for a mid-holiday visit!

Part two of the San Diego brewery trip (Stone, Iron Fist, Ballast Point) coming soon – too many amazing breweries to clump into a single post. They all deserve their own recognition.

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by | November 5, 2011 · 11:56 pm

4am = Sadness

I was up at 4am today in order to work the Downtown Burbank Art Show. It was not worth it. Getting up at 4am is never worth it. NEVER. Not for ANYTHING. Not even for bacon that’s so perfectly cooked that it simply melts in your mouth – and that’s saying a lot coming from me!

The show was freezing (the thermometer hung around 48 degrees Fahrenheit for the majority of the day) and it promises to be colder AND rainy tomorrey! Oh joy.
Looking back on this, I guess getting an iced Thai tea with boba probably wasn’t the smartest choice for trying to stay warm. I spent the day shivering and studying. After the show, I headed over to Enegren Brewing to help close the tap room since they had a brew day and were surely overwhelmed with busyness and important brew stuffs.
There was lots of work to be done. Lanterns were lit, Chinese food was consumed.
I’m glad I was there to help out and make the brew day a little easier… In other news, thanks for the free meal and entertainment, guys!

I’m going to pass out now and sleep in an extra hour! And then I’m going to work in the rain all day after church. That should be fun…

Disclaimer: Any boring, incoherent wording on this page has been because of extreme sleep deprivation. Becki is not responsible for the dull title or the lack of images. Please use Bites ‘n Brews responsibly.

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by | October 31, 2011 · 5:26 pm

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

I tend to have incredibly nerdy tendencies. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you already know this. On Friday I decided to make some chocolate covered pretzels to take into Enegren. I originally planned to cover them with orange and black sprinkles and go with a Halloween theme. When I got to the grocery store, there were no orange OR black sprinkles to be found. I stumbled across silver and gold, then had an epiphany.
Enegren’s official colors are grey, red and yellow. Nerd-dom activate!
Silver (gray), gold (yellow) and red sprinkles.
Served in an Enegren glass, of course. I warned you: NERD.

I’d love to say that I created this recipe, but really, dipping pretzels in melted chocolate and sprinkling them with sprinkles isn’t really a recipe. I DID, however, steal the idea from Dashing Dish.

For a super simple recipe – melt a whole bunch of chocolate chips in a coffee mug, take long pretzel rods and dip them in the melted chocolate. Place the dipped pretzels on wax paper and sprinkle with toppings, then freeze for 10 minutes until they harden. Recipe magic!
While I waited for those to harden in the freezer, I enjoyed the always lovely California afternoon.

I worked at the brewery Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The kegs of Christopher Columbus (Enegren’s IPA that was dry-hopped with Columbus hops) were drank dry by happy customers, so my awesome artwork had to come down. Another aspect of my job as a brewtern: artwork. It almost never turns out…

Last night we had the monthly meeting of our local homebrew club: the first time I’ve been in town and able to make it since it began.
We had about twenty people show up, and about twice as many bottles. What you see above is about half of what we had.
It was a beautiful evening.

Without further ado, Happy Halloween!
This monster tried to attack me the other day. I was not appreciative.

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by | October 19, 2011 · 12:22 pm

Orcutt Beer Adventures

I’ve been going through withdrawal symptoms after not traveling for my job for over two weeks. Yesterday, I got my fix.
Commander Matt from Enegren Brewing and I went up north to Orcutt, California to explore the beer world and pick up some brew equipment.
After working our way up the coast, we stopped for a beer from the local brewery. Interestingly enough, the Orcutt Brew Company doesn’t have any of their own beer on tap. The brewer is “on hiatus”. Exactly what I was hoping for from a brewery that took two hours to get to – guest beers that I can get anywhere else.
Neither Matt nor I were very pleased. Somehow, we survived and finished our beers. Dedication right there.
Either way, the “brewery” is set in a nice area. It’s very serene and has lots of character.
I think all breweries should have seating available on the walls. That and their own beer. I’m not bitter…
We went next door to Rooney’s Irish Pub to meet with Dan, the owner.
Just my size! I’m a vertically-challenged half-pint and owning it.
Dan gave us a tour of the brewery as well as a sampler of all their beers.
I fell head over heels for the porter. He was kind enough to give us a growler to go. Want. Now!
After picking up some brewing equipment, we worked our way back down, stopping at Figeuroa Mountain Brewing Company in Lompoc. This place is HUGE and gorgeous! The tasting room overlooks the brewery and has a great, cozy feel to it. It was pretty busy considering where their location is, and that it was a Tuesday.
We had a sampler of four of their beers: Paradise Rd Pilsner, Danish Red Lager, Hoppy Poppy IPA and an espresso stout (can’t find the name on the website). I think this is the first pilsner I’ve actually enjoyed! It has a sweet aroma of honey and none of the funk I’ve come to expect from pilsners. The lager was also very clean and the IPA was more in the style of a traditional IPA – hoppy with some sweetness to balance it out, instead of the hopbombs we usually get from a lot of American craft brewers.
We traveled further down the coast into Santa Barbara and checked on my Vanilla Porter (which at the moment is just a porter until we add vanilla beans into secondary). Apparently my beer has been incredibly happy in my absence! I sliced a few vanilla bean pods open, scraped out the seeds and soaked the seeds and pods in a splash of bourbon to extract the flavor. Grayson will be throwing those in for me later today since I’m back down south.

We didn’t end up visiting as many breweries as we’d planned (partly because Orcutt Brew Co. isn’t officially a “brewery” anymore), but a good time was had by all, necessary brew equipment was acquired and quite delicious brews were consumed.

I’m on another road trip today up to Ojai! I am a slacker extraordinaire…

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by | October 18, 2011 · 9:38 am

Ladies at Ladyface: 6

It was a belated Oktoberfest at Ladies at Ladyface last night.
We started off with a pint of Hutash, the new 3.9% ABV session beer hopped with Citra hops. It’s a nice, clean beer with hints of tropical fruits and a refreshing gulp. There were no bittering hops used in this, but I still got a great hoppy ending (teehee) after every sip.
We got a preview of Ladyface’s new autumn/winter menu: Soft pretzels dipped in a smoky cheddar sauce…
Pickled cauliflower, green beans, carrots and tomatoes… Portabella and spinach salad topped with pesto and goat cheese.
One of the first beers I ever tried at Ladyface was their Weizenbock. SO glad to have it back on the menu! I’ve missed the cloudy, clovey-with-a-hint-of-coffee-and-banana goodness!
Fellow Lady Michelle brought in some her amazing kraut! This is not like any other sauerkraut – this is smokey and sweet and stuffed full of bacon, ribs, and any other delicious part of a pig you can thing of, and stuffed with peppercorns, bay leaves, and tons of spices. I hate sauerkraut. This has made me a convert, especially with the generous doses of kielbasa served alongside. This is another one of those meals that I will dream about.
The perfectly temperate evening was spent tasting the new menu, sampling other Oktoberfest/Marzen style beers and enjoying the company of other beer-geekesses and soon-to-be geekesses. These meetings will always be my favorite Monday of the month!

Now I’m off for a day trip up the 101 to visit a few breweries, sample their beers, and take mass amounts of pictures! Eventually I’ll get around to studying for my classes. Maybe…

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by | October 16, 2011 · 5:55 pm

Catching Up

My life has been consumed by writing papers for class and working at the brewery. I’m okay with the latter, not so much with the former when they take away from my blogging time… Yesterday I wrote an entire paper while at the brewery. It made it a lot more bearable, being able to distract myself by helping mash in and working the tap room. My paper might suck, but at least it’s done!
Plus, now I have these awesome bruises from mashing in! Apparently I incorrectly rest my forearm on the edge of the mash tun while stirring. This is the second time that I’ve ended up bruised and battered from mashing in. I plan on resting my forearm on the edge of the mash tun from now on so I can whine about it and annoy the brewers at Enegren. I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.
The rest of this blog will be random pictures that I’ve taken over the past week and been far too busy to post.
Sparks flying at Enegren Brewing Company.
The lovely Ms. Sofia Pernas, rocking a “Lara Croft” French braid, a la me. I’m a French braiding rock star.
A beautiful sunrise to transition to the next, terrifying picture.
Black and white jumping spider of death and terror with millions of minions of spider-zombies.
A close up of the black and white jumping spider of death with millions of minions of spider-zombies and his evil eyes and pincers.
A delicious mise en place of my Autumn Pumpkin Ale Chili in preparation for something super sneaky.
Super sneaky sneak preview.
Post super sneaky stuff adult beverage. Bison Brewing Gingerbread Ale. They tweeted about this going out two weeks ago and I’ve been seeking it ever since. It took oh, so very long to find it. In my world, two weeks is an eternity.
Me enjoying said adult beverage. This porter has a nice aroma of ginger on the nose and a spicy, beautifully carbonated sip that explodes across the tongue with sweet ginger and a whisper of nutmeg. HIGH drinkability factor. Be warned, it goes down easier than you’d expect. On a completely unrelated note, I’m extremely chillaxed and happy and full of ginger as we speak.

Unfortunately, that is all. I have some awesome stuff coming up this week that I’ll be sure to photograph!

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by | October 9, 2011 · 6:34 pm

Solvang, California

Today I took a road trip with my lovely parental unit up to Solvang – a ridiculously touristy Danish village that you must visit exactly once every seven years. Seven years ago, we visited. Today, we went back. It’s now a tradition.
The entire day was spent playing with the manual settings on my camera and laughing like crazy with my mumsie and pops.
Only about half of the pictures I took were even usable.
We went into a book store that had an entire level devoted to first edition and limited release books. I’m a total nerd, so I loved looking through the dusty cabinets at the peeling covers.
They also had an old printing press. Inner nerd happy-dance.
It was painfully warm out, so we ventured around, searching for a place for a nice icy glass of water.
Oops. Found a brewery. Beer it is! Solvang Brewing Company.
We split the sampler of seven of their beers.
Before.
After. We weren’t the biggest fans of this. The amber was solid and the kristall weiss was good, but generic. The dark lager was the most unique – major molasses aroma and flavor, but with a funky finish thanks to the lager yeast. Unique, but not quite my glass of beer… We left almost all of the IPA (apparently I’m not a fan of the musky Warrior hops, or something else that was extremely musky/earthy in this beer) and dark lager and headed back out to walk around town a little more.
Not just flowers… MANUAL flowers!
Not just a window… a MANUAL window! Okay, I’ll stop now. Afterwards, we drove around the winding roads through Los Olivos and made our way down to Carpinteria. Island Brewing Company just started serving their seasonal Avocado Honey Ale. Once they start serving, it’s gone almost immediately thanks to the Avocado Festival that overtakes the entirety of the town. For the past three years, I’ve never been able to even get a taste.
I have never seen Island Brewing so packed! I got a wristband at the door, slowly navigated my way through the crowd, bumping at least twenty people on the way, and asked if they had any Avocado Honey Ale left. The bartender poured me a taster and pointed me in the direction of the fridge. A man stood in front of the fridge, the door held open with his hip as he collected the last four bottles of the ale for the year. He turned, saw the imminent tears of desperation forming in my eyes, and held out a bottle of the liquid gold.
Yaaaaay! Three years of waiting and I finally got to taste! They add honey from beehives in the middle of avocado orchards to the boil to get this hyper-speed-selling beer.
I love any beer that has honey in the boil! Overall, I think this beer was a little over-hyped, but it’s truly a delicious light brew! There’s a floral honey aroma that billows off the soft head, followed by a smooth, clear sip with a hint of honey that lasts on the tongue for a few moments after you swallow. Bouncy carbonation and a light finish – the perfect end-of-summer beer. Summer, I’ll miss you. Now bring on the spicy, malty and robust autumn beers!

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