Category Archives: brewery

by | October 1, 2011 · 7:50 pm

Boulder Dam Brewing Company

Boulder City, Nevada. What can I say about it? Not too much…
There are some historical arches…
The sky’s really pretty in faux-HDR…
There’s a nice little bistro with a great wine and beer selection. Getting better…
The Coffee Cup is a landmark diner that found (even more) fame when Guy Fieri featured it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The line was around the freaking block for this place! I don’t have that much patience for greasy diner food. I ate at a similarly greasy place a few doors down.
Aaaand, that’s the town! It really is a street with a handful of diners, two or three antique stores and an “Area 51” store that has plastic aliens stuck to the stucco. I thought I was a small-town girl, but this town is TOO small!
On a street with diners and antique stores, they have a brewery! Who would thunk!
The Boulder Dam Brewing Company was packed so I didn’t really get the chance to look around too much. The fermentors sit behind the bar and have the taps coming directly out of the sides.
I got their sampler which consisted of the Belgian Wit, just-tapped Marzen, Hefeweizen, IPA, Chocolate Caramel Stout and their guest ale, Lobotomy Bock.
Props to Boulder City for having their own microbrewery! My favorite was probably their Marzen. Overall, the beers that Boulder Dam serves are all very light, in flavor and ABV, which probably suits the normal “hotter-than-hell” Nevada temperature well. The locals sure seem to love the place! There was a band playing outside in the sprinkling rain and the patio was jammed with pint glasses and people in shorts. Every single bar (all two of them) had loud music blasting and people packing the places.
Boulder City is relatively cute, extremely quaint, and just not for me. The temperatures that reached 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday didn’t do it any favors in my eyes. I’d whine more, but I was able to get Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA on tap at a new local place, The Dillinger, which I’ll do a write-up on soon. The Dillinger is what made this trip bearable!

Whine whine whine too hot whine whine whine Dogfish Head Happy.

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by | September 19, 2011 · 3:23 pm

Pyramid Alehouse

Walnut Creek, California: A small town, relatively quiet (from what I could tell, having been there for a total of 3 hours) and quaint. What could there possibly be to do here? Enter: BeerWhere – the awesome application on my phone that seeks out all breweries, homebrew stores and pubs that I could ever desire. I’ve seriously used this application for every trip I’ve been on and found some sort of craft brewery/beer in the area. LOVES IT!
Pyramid Alehouse was only a mile from our hotel. We’d spent the entire day sweating to death in our booth, losing precious amounts of water that had to be replenished as soon as possible.
The best way to rehydrate after a day of dehydration: BEER. It’s a scientifically proven fact. Don’t look it up or anything, just trust me…
I decided to get a sampler – five different six-ounce beers from the long list they provide.
I got the Thunderhead IPA, Juggernaut Red Ale, Draught Pale Ale, Imperial Red and Ink Blot Porter. The Imperial Red was definitely my favorite (I LOVE hoppy reds!) – but honestly, when you have thirty ounces of “tasters”, they all start to happily blur together. Besides, the important thing here was re-hydrating!
I ordered the first thing I saw when I opened the menu. I made a Honey Basil Chicken last month to pair with Bison Brewing’s Honey Basil Ale and it turned out DELICIOUS , so I wanted to see how Pyramid’s Honey Cilantro Chicken measured up.
Verdict: meh. The chicken was dry and excessively charred and it was topped with a relatively bland tomato sauce. The one part where they one-upped me? Garlic mashed potatoes. I should always know to place every food item I make atop of a huge pile of garlic mashed potatoes.
For dessert I got the Brownie Sundae. Note to the chefs – a thin chocolate cake does not a brownie make. It wasn’t bad, but it was basically like a piece of cake. Nothing to write home about.

Overall the beer was tasty, the food was passable and the waiters were extremely attractive. If you’re a girl, or a guy who appreciates fine lookin’ young men, Pyramid Alehouse in Walnut Creek will definitely be a WIN!

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by | September 10, 2011 · 9:51 pm

Tied House Brewery

I’m up in Mountain View, California for the Mountain View Arts and Wine Festival this weekend. My first order of business – BREWERY!
My lovely friend and former roommate from college, Joelle, picked me up at my hotel and brought me to Tied House Brewery & Cafe.
Internets, meet JoelleFace. JoelleFace, meet internets.
We got the taster platter of all eight of their beers. Alpine Gold, Cascade Amber, Ironwood Dark, New World Wheat, Amber Light, Oatmeal Stout, Passionfruit Ale and IPA. I enjoyed the amber, oatmeal stout and IPA, but he only one I really liked was the Ironwood Dark (which won gold at the GABF 2010) – Very malty, dense caramel/chocolate notes with an incredibly smooth finish. I wasn’t able to get that much aroma from the glasses they gave us, but once it warmed up it gave of wafts of toasty coffee. I would like to say that the Amber Light and Passionfruit Ale were DISGUSTING! Amber Light tasted exactly like Budweiser (which I had my first and last taste of a few months ago), and the Passionfruit Ale was plastic-y and artificial tasting. Neither Joelle nor I had more than a sip of each.
I refused to even acknowledge those crap-beers.
I got over it quickly though, and enjoyed the Ironwood Dark, Oatmeal Stout and IPA to my heart’s content. Twelve ounces total of beer on a Friday night – WOOHOO! I’m getting old and responsible.
JoelleFace’s friend Dan showed up. This picture describes how the rest of the night went until I had to head back to the hotel around 10:30pm so I could sleep for a few hours before waking up at 4am for setup.

EXCEPT THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN. Turns out my hotel room is next to some very “frisky” neighbors who were “frisking” about from midnight until 5am, when I had to leave for work. Banging on the wall only seemed to encourage them…
Innocence has been lost.

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by | August 31, 2011 · 8:45 pm

Ladies at Ladyface: 4

Monday night was yet another Ladies at Ladyface meeting. Are they getting old? Um, no. Never. Not possible. Never ever ever. Never. No.
My mumsie (an eager-to-learn founding member of Ladies at Ladyface) and I arrived early to have a nice, leisurely dinner. I started with the Ladyface Rye. A beautiful red, delicate lacing, and full of wonderful Centennial aroma and bitters. Since we were having lots a few sips of summer beers later, I opted for a taster.
Ever since I had these with Brie, I’ve been dreaming about them. Popcorn chickpeas aka DEEP FRIED chickpeas. Personally, I don’t think you can go wrong with anything that’s been deep fried.
Little crispy paprika and lemon-scented pebbles of deliciousness. I’m salivating looking at my own picture. They’re that good.
We balanced it out with some green – spinach sauteed in garlic. See? My blog isn’t ALL about unhealthy foods!
Just MOSTLY about unhealthy foods. The sausage plate contained brats, jalapeno chicken sausage and basque. I wasn’t a fan of the basque (I Googled – it’s chorizo), but the brats were wonderful! This plate was demolished.
After our meal, we headed out to the patio to join the rest of the ladies and enjoy the warm evening.
It was nice and quiet for the first half hour, then people started filing in as the work day came to a close. Will someone explain to me what a work day is? I just can’t seem to remember what it’s like to work during the week… I’m kidding. Please don’t hate me.
Ladyface had just released their Palo Comado XPA (one reason why our meeting was pushed back a week), and Cyrena passed around a pitcher of the organic, pale, rose-scented sessionable beer. I loved the aroma and drinkability of this, but every summer I’ll always reminisce about their Derailleur.
There was a wide variety of summer ales on the table. A hint – don’t drink the Leinenkugel Summer Shandy. Weiss beer with “natural lemonade flavor” is nasty. Perhaps with REAL lemonade it would taste better, but I’m not a fan of drinking lemon Pledge. To each his/her own.
J. J., a local homebrewer, brought in her latest brew – Mango-Apricot Pale Ale. Heavy mango aroma, wonderful, slightly sweet apricot flavor with high carbonation and a smooth finish. I was surprised how much I liked it, seeing that I’m not the biggest fan of fruit in beer. J.J. then had us pour a small splash of cream soda into the beer and try it again. Mango-Apricot Creamsicle beer. Awesomeness in a glass.
My mom’s contribution was the La Folie sour brown by New Belgium. This was the first beer she tried that she actually ENJOYED! The first time I had it, I absolutely hated it. This time – LOVE. It’s strange how your taste buds evolve.
Brie brought Captain’s Summer Session as well as a bottle of the Valkyrie California Alt from Enegren. Yes, I’ve tried both before. Yes, I still had a taster (or two) of both. The finished Summer Session is lovely! I tried it from the fermenter before and loved it, so add a nice chill and carb and it’s awesome.
Janelle “doesn’t do” sessionable beers. Another reason I love her. She brought Avery’s Eighteen back from her trip to Colorado. Nothing like an 8.1%ABV Saison face-punch to spice up the night! Good choice, but boy, did things get crazy after that…
Someone brought out Horny Devil by AleSmith. It’s that gorgeous red-wrapped bottle there. ALSO a face-punch at 11%. DEFINITELY not a summer ale, but at this point, no one was caring! We were far too busy socializing, talking brew techniques, new breweries and beer.
Of course I couldn’t end the night without dessert. A center cut of the bread pudding. I think this was the best cut I’ve had to date! I’m sure they NEVER get tired of hearing me ask for the center cut. In fact, I’m sure they look forward to it… Maybe not… At least I tip well!

The next morning, I was up bright and early to help out a family member who had surgery. Took her to the surgical center, suffered through hospital food…
and now am waiting on her hand and foot.
Hahaha, FOOT! Get it? It’s a PUN!

Since I had to stay around to care for her, I decided I should do some studying for class. Instead, I did this:
Me as Taylor Swift.
Me as Zooey Deschanel.
Me as Taylor Momsen.
And me with my MAD AWESOME Photoshop Paint skills, trying on some new hair. If you follow me on Facebook, you already got a preview of this. And for that, I am so very sorry.

Now I should really go study, but the bottle of Coronado’s Red Devil Imperial Red is calling my name.

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by | August 28, 2011 · 10:33 pm

Firestone Taproom

On Friday, we headed up the 101 for an art show in Palo Alto. I’ve seen the Firestone Taproom every time we’ve driven up, and finally got a chance to try it out!
The menu isn’t overly extensive – thank the good Lord, otherwise I would have had an even more difficult time choosing.
I ordered a 10 ounce Solace for Ora, and only had a sad sip or two since I was driving.
I got the special of the day – a jalapeno chicken panini covered with garlic aoli, pepperjack cheese, copious amounts of avocado and roasted bell pepper. Holy. Heaven. I was stuffed after the first half, but it was so delicious that I ate the rest. I don’t regret it. And the fries! Crispy and hot and droooooool.
The Taproom was originally built to be the Firestone Brewery, but had issues with the city concerning water usage. Paso Robles jumped up and practically begged them to brew up north, so north they went. What would have been the brewery is now full of seating and displays of their awards.
I love how bright and airy it is back there! The front of the restaurant, where we were seated, is much smaller and earthy. It looks like a small town bar where everyone knows each other, full of walls of beer club steins, ragged wooden slats and squeaky bar stools. Quaint and wonderful.
They also have a nice selection of wine… If you’re into that sort of thing. I’m not so much, so I just enjoyed looking at the oak barrels they used as tables.
They have all their beers on tap. Next time, I’ll plan to stay for awhile and fully appreciate one of these beauties!

I really loved everything about this place. The food was absolutely mind blowing, the beer – although I only had a few sad sips, was full of malty fresh sunshine, and the building is gorgeous. Another thing I loved?
The setting. Absolutely beautiful!
It really feels like you’re at some mystical place of happiness, bubbling over with beer out in the middle of nowhere.

Loved everything. Must go back soon and actually enjoy a full beer alongside my meal!

I must now pass out. I had a crazy night with my brew boys that lasted until 3am and need to not die of exhaustion. If any part of this post is confusing, boring, non-descript or in any way not to your satisfaction, I blame Grayson and Frank. That is all.

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by | August 26, 2011 · 8:53 am

End of Summer Flight

Last night I met up with Brie at Wades Wines for the End of Summer Flight Night.
She’d never been to Wades before, so I decided it was my duty to show her around. I’m helpful like that.
The beer they had for the tasting was all extremely light and low in ABV.
The Eagle Rock Solidarity Black Mild was exactly that – mild. While it had a wonderful aroma with hints of chocolate and coffee, the flavor didn’t match up. It was pretty bland and… mild. Who would expect that? Both Brie and my favorite was the Rugbrod Rye by the Bruery. Rich aroma full of rye and caramel and a full flavor to match.

After Wades, we were hungry. Well, before Wades we were hungry but after, we were ravenous. If you’ve been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you’ll know where we ended up…
Ladyface! Durr.
Brie got the Ladyface IPA while I opted for a splash of the cask of the week – mango Chesebro IPA with cayenne pepper. Um, not a fan. It tasted like a weak peach juice with a facepunch of spice (and not the good kind). It took a while to get the back of my throat to stop burning. Props for creativity, though! I stuck with my usual – regular Chesebro IPA.
They had a happy hour special that we had been eying – “popcorn” chickpeas. Deep fried chickpeas sprinkled with paprika and fresh lemon. It was long past happy hour, but they were kind enough to fry up a batch for us. These disappeared in a matter of minutes. SO GOOD!
I was craving a juicy, blurry burger topped with white cheddar. Craving fulfilled. Ladyface was pretty busy and unnaturally chaotic last night – we waited for about twenty minutes before I finally got my Chesebro and had to reiterate our orders at least three times before they headed back to put the order in. Our bill came out pretty quickly though… It’s a good thing I love Ladyface or I would’ve been a little peeved.

After, we headed out to Paramount Ranch to look around in the dark and once it started to get a little chilly, headed BACK to Ladyface to hang out with Matt for a bit. It was a long night – exactly what I needed before I get back on the road to head up to Palo Alto today for the art festival.

Time to start that lovely six hour drive!

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by | August 21, 2011 · 11:55 am

Brewing at Enegren!

Yesterday I awoke at 4:30am, made a gigantic mug of coffee and rolled out the door over to Enegren Brewing Company for brew day!
When I got there a few minutes after 5am, Chris and Matt were already set up, prepping for the mash in.
In order to fill one of their 6 barrel fermenters, Enegren has to brew TWICE in one day. It’s a crapload of work and makes for a long day, so I tried my best to help out in any way I could, as well as not get in the way.
And this is just the first batch.
Here’s what’s in one of those buckets that Matt’s lifting. There were five buckets of this size. TWICE, they lifted five of those to the mash tun. Macho men.
Delicious oatmeal breakfast mash! Such a heavenly aroma.
While the mash tun does have a thermometer on the side, it isn’t the most accurate way to read temperature since there can be hot pockets and uneven heating througout. Matt, Chris and Joe use a long harpoon-style thermometer to check for those hot spots and make sure their readings are accurate.
Checking the pH.
While they did the scientific stuff, I stirred in my required brewniform.
Tacky boots were a necessity – of course.
In my attempt to be helpful, and since the brewers were excessively busy with creating delicious beer, I filled these kegs with beer from Joana – the fermenter full of their California Alt beer.
So. Many. Kegs.
They showed me how to fill, and after a getting soaked by a few minor beer showers, I finally got the hang of it.
Lauter tun with a false bottom, extracting the sugary wort from the mash.
Once all the liquid is extracted, they open the door to a wall of caked grains, and try to get the bucket underneath before it spills all over the floor. They succeeded – this time.
I think I need to do more weight lifting if I’m going to be in the brewing business…
11am rolled around, so I changed out of the brewniform and stepped behind the bar with Brie to help serve the masses of craft beer lovers that stopped by.
Wave after wave of groups came in to taste, fill growlers and chat with the brewers. They stayed for a couple of hours, but I don’t think they really enjoyed themselves or liked the beer that much… The couple in the center is actually getting married soon, and Enegren will be serving their beer at the wedding! I guess they do kind of like it after all.
While brewing is a very, very serious business, there’s ALWAYS time to play Whack-a-Mole when Chris is cleaning out the mash tun.
Brie has had serious training when it comes to Whack-a-Mole.
You can never practice too much when it comes to Whack-a-Mole.

I lasted until 11pm before I decided that I wanted to survive the drive home and not fall asleep behind the wheel. The guys were getting close to finishing up the second brew, but still going strong when I left. It was a LONG, exhausting day for me – the fact that the brewers hold 9-5 jobs AND do this on the weekends astounds me. I’ll be back there as much as possible, until they kick me out. And just to end this post on a gratuitous note:
See you guys soon!

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by | August 18, 2011 · 11:31 pm

FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!

In order to weasel my way into the hearts, and into the brewery of Enegren Brewing (speaking of which – check out the latest, most amazing blog full of epicness written by Joe, Enegren’s brew chief), I willingly accepted their challenge to give Surf Brewery another try.
The verdict? It was okay… The carbonation has definitely mellowed out since the last time I was there. I didn’t drink the first two – both a little too close to water for my liking, but the Surf Patrol Black IPA was not bad! Pretty low on the IBU, but passable. After finishing most of the sampler, we ordered a pint to split amongst the four of us. I jokingly asked the server for straws. She brought straws.
That server is my hero. Naturally, we didn’t want to let this precious moment go to waste.
How could I not?
Matt, Chris and Brie – willing to go the extra step for the sake of beer. Awesome.

While I’m still not officially a fan of the brewery, I am slightly more willing to go back and try some of their new brews. They have improved since their soft grand opening.

Since it was still semi-early, and since we’re real people who can’t solely subsist on beer, as much as we’d like to believe, we went over to what used to be a creepy old abandoned restaurant in the Channel Islands Harbor – now refurbished into a Toppers Pizza.
When Toppers first destroyed the beautiful destitute remains of the brick building – complete with shattered windows, dead leaves littering the faded carpet, and wooden booths with cushions ripping at the seams, I was bummed out. But then we ordered a “Fire in the Hole” pizza – pepperoni, jalapenos and pineapple.
Toppers, you are completely forgiven for destroying the history of the crumbling restaurant formerly known as “Harbor Lights”. You are TOTALLY forgiven. I may have dreamt about this pizza last night, and talked nonstop about it today. Maybe…

After that deliciously cheesy, sweet and painfully spicy pizza, we went over to the old mental institution to walk around. Seriously, how can you end a night WITHOUT trespassing into old abandoned courtyards littered with old cafeteria chairs and balconies that have ominous ropes dangling from them at midnight? Pictures to follow:
I couldn’t believe I got a picture of that! Seriously creepy, right?Yeah, I didn’t actually take any pictures there… I’ll put my ridiculously fancy camera at risk at midnight at an old mental institution sometime soon though, I promise. Matt, Chris and Brie – good luck getting rid of me. Anyone who’ll gorge on pizza, drink craft beers with straws and then traipse around creepy abandoned buildings in the dark is… well, just plain awesome.

Something beautiful came in the mail today…
My official Certified Beer Server pin! I’m officially official now!
That sums up my life about now. And what a wonderful life I lead!

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by | August 14, 2011 · 4:56 pm

Wolf Creek Restaurant & Brewing Company

First things first: I AM NOW OFFICIALLY A CICERONE CERTIFIED BEER SERVER!
I took the test yesterday morning and passed with flying colors! WOOHOO!!!! In order to celebrate, I figured it was time to get something I’ve been drooling over for a long time.
I GOT A DigiSLR!!! A Nikon D3100 to be precise. After lots of research, I was deciding between the D3100 and the D5100. Since I won’t be focusing on video, I figured this one would be perfect. I’m in love!

After snapping dozens of photos around the house, I decided to take Nikita aka Nikki aka my new beloved camera, for a test drive.
Allie and I went to Wolf Creek Restaurant & Brewing Company in Calabasas.
The interior is bright, cheery and earthy. I love the rustic wood and gorgeous streaks of ruby paint racing across the walls.
I love the floor to ceiling windows! If you need natural light to test out your beautiful new camera, this is the perfect place for it!
They immediately brought out piping hot fresh bread with a funky purple dipping sauce. I forwent the sauce and just shoveled hunk after hunk of scorching sourdough into my mouth. Drool.
They brew their own beer on site. Awesome!
And the beer! From the top left: Golden Eagle – their blonde ale, Howlin’ Hef – self explanatory, Wolf Dog – A hoppy amber, Wild Angels – a sweet tripel, Midnite Howl – a mix of IPA and stout, and Oatmeal Stout – their guest brew on tap from Anderson Valley. Wolf Dog was my favorite – a nice, dry, beautifully hopped amber that finishes with a healthy bite of citrus hops.
SO good to have more options in local brews!
Allie and I split the Chicken and Brie sandwich – grilled chicken breast, gooey brie cheese, guacamole, sundried tomatoes and chipotle mayo on ciabatta bread. We subbed the sweet potato fries for the regular chipotle. DROOL AGAIN! Any place that has sweet potato fries is a win on my list.
Dessert was – COMPLIMENTARY! The waitress brought out this amazing sculpture of maple ice cream studded with vanilla beans, sandwiched between sweet waffles, drizzled with a maple cream and fresh berries. They served maple syrup on the side, but it was sweet enough without. This definitely cemented my adoration for Wolf Creek.

And to finish, I had to share (with Allie’s permission of course) – Allie (not a fan of bitter beers) tries her first sip of a black IPA.
I love my cousin. And my new camera that was able to capture, in succession, this amazing piece of history.

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by | August 9, 2011 · 7:03 pm

Jack’s Brewing Company

For the show in Fremont, I hoped against all odds that there would be some type of place in the area that served craft beer. Using my handy BeerWhere application on my phone, I found a brewery! In Fremont! Yessssss!
Jack’s Brewing is a little sports pub in the middle of downtown Fremont. It’s not labeled well and if not for the “Jack’s Brewing Company” van parked out front, I may have never found it.
Their selection of beer was decent. They had the standards: wheat, APA, amber, IPA, porter, plus a seasonal pilsner and double IPA.
Lemon in the wheat. Grumble grumble grumble. Overall I enjoyed the double IPA and amber the best. The wheat was watery, unflavorful and meh, but everything else surprised me with quality! All the beers were sweeter and malty with unfermented sugars, but it wasn’t off-putting. Decent sessionable beers with low ABVs.
I would like to add that this was the best pilsner I’ve had to date! I’m not a fan of the style, but I think the malty body really made me enjoy this pilsner. I’m fairly certain that the SRM is way too high to qualify as a true pils, but I sure enjoyed it!
We split an order of the artichoke dip – holy freaking delicious. I stole all of the cheese and inhaled giant dollops of this on the chips they provided. I was full before we even looked at the entrees.
And yet, somehow, I was able to fit more food in. The grilled salmon salad. I didn’t eat the salad – that’s just filler. The salmon was wonderful! Tender, juicy, caramelized on top from the grill. I love me some salmon!
Dessert? I couldn’t. Pecan-apple bread pudding? Okay, fine! Stop badgering me! We got this plate to split amongst four of us. I ate the entire thing. You snooze, you lose when it comes to bread pudding and me. This spiced bread was studded with candied pecans and sweet, juicy bites of apple, and drizzled with raspberry and caramel sauce. I would have licked the plate, but that would make me appear less of a lady.

After two weeks on the road, it’s so wonderful to be home! I brought back many good memories, and I’m ready to make some new ones.
Stone Brewing Japanese Green Tea IPA – had it last night. Adding green tea to the second dry hop and calling it a green tea IPA? It doesn’t work that way! There wasn’t a hint of green tea in the aroma or flavor. A delicious, wonderfully hoppy IPA nonetheless. I’ll be working through the rest of these soon!

I’m also on the hunt for a good DigiSLR under $1200. Any recommendations? I’m gonna get all professional and stuffs. And then I’ll drink more beer!

Stay tuned for a mass amount of recipes this week! I’m home again and my kitchen needs cooking/baking/sauteing/FOODING!

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