by | September 5, 2012 · 9:36 pm

Patty Melts and Beer Studies

Some of the random things I’ve been doing this past week:

One of my nostalgic favorite places to eat: The Waypoint Cafe at the Camarillo Airport.
My parental unit and I used to go here at least once a month when they lived here to enjoy a greasy meal and watch the planes taking off.
The place has been spruced up since the last time I was here. The interior was all gussied up with new tables and booths and a polished bar. Luckily, their menu was still the same.
The patty melt. A must-have to fulfill grease-laden desires with deliciousness. This pairs perfectly with a chocolate malt.
If your finger aren’t dripping butter after each bite, your patty melt just wasn’t prepared correctly. These don’t have that problem.

The only problem I had was that they also had a cheesesteak as a special on the menu… What’s one to do?
One of the many benefits of having a dining companion. Order both…
…and halvsies! When both diners are craving unhealthy sammiches overflowing with beef, everyone wins!
I’ve also created a Beer ‘n Wings group. I went with Kevin and John to scout out the place for our first meeting. Shockingly enough, the local Hooters has craft beer on tap! Stone, Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head were among the selection. The boys seemed to enjoy themselves there, so I knew it would pass with other members of the group. I enjoy awkward things – going here is one of said awkward things I enjoy.
I headed up to Santa Barbara to get some Cicerone studying done with my buddy Grayson. Of course we had to stop at Island Brewing since it’s on the way up.
Some very kind gentlemen at the bar bought me a Blackbird Porter on nitro, just to be nice. It MAY have been as an apology for telling me that I looked like I was sixteen. That could’ve been it too…
Grayson and I made a terrible mistake and stopped by Keg ‘n Bottle in Isla Vista. My wallet hurts. Those three in the middle would be the 08-10 Vertical Epic series. I have 11.11.11 waiting in my closet to join them in consumption at the end of the year. Black Xantus is simply an amazing robust barrel-aged Imperial Stout and Sucaba looked cool and got good reviews on BeerAdvocate. I repeat – my wallet hurts.
We finally buckled down and got to studying. Feel free to steal our supersecret study secrets.
I also got classy for dinner. Surprising discovery – Cup o’ Noodles pairs deliciously with Valkyrie California Alt!
After a night full of creating a syllabus, “tasting” delicious beers, mourning the sorry states of our respective wallets and studying the malt and hop profiles of different styles we kept it cheap and gourmet. Breakfast Burritos a la Grayson. Scrambled egg stuffed with sauteed bell peppers, onions and crispy bacon wrapped up in a warm tortilla with cheese. Simple and freakin’ delicious!
To restore some mental health after the busy night, we took a stroll along the beautiful Santa Barbara coastline.
Not too shabby of a place to live, Gray.
Not too shabby at all.

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by | August 30, 2012 · 4:19 pm

Brie’s Bridal Shower

Last weekend, Brie’s aunt hosted a beautiful bridal shower for her in San Pedro.
The party was on a gorgeous yacht in the middle of the harbor.
As soon as I stepped foot on the gangway, a hibiscus tea-infused drink found its way into my hand. Bride-sized on top, mine on the bottom. These were very easy drinkers… Magically, my glass was never empty thanks to the amazing Teresa Cusick who coordinated the daytime soiree.
Brie looked even more stunning than usual in her laced dress and a happy halo emanating from her radiant smile.
The Mauretania came fully stocked, prepared for any unfortunate soul who had the bad luck to get a little seasick on the gentle swells in the harbor.
We left the dock and tooled around for a good four hours with bottomless drinks, beautiful views, ocean air and warm weather.

The bridesmaids, Brie and her wonderful aunt who threw this beautiful shindig. Thank you again, AP!
Ridiculously beautiful girlies.
I wore a dress. Only for you, Brie. That’s how much I love you.

Possibly my favorite series from the day: Looking at puppies on iPhone.

No words needed.

Brie did an excellent job of putting up with me while I demanded that she pretend to be casual and sober. Good sport.

Soon-to-be mother-in-law, Kathy, matching the radiance of her soon-to-be daughter-in-law!

Missy went all out on the nautical theme. I’ll admit, I was impressed with her dedication.
Soon enough it was time for presents…
…and more drinks.
We found time for food as well. The array of options was out of this world – freshly grilled veggies, veggie sammiches, turkey and roast beef sammiches, mixed baby greens and cheese blintzes. Have you ever had a cheese blintz before? I hadn’t. It changed my life. Top one of those with blackberry preserves, hand it to me on a plate and I will be your best friend.
They also served a wide array of desserts – from brownies to lace cookies to Crumbs cupcakes. I was in sugar heaven.
The edibles were capped off with the most beautiful cappuccino I’ve ever seen. I may have taken more pictures of this drink than of the bride.

Everyone signed a sailor hat with well-wishes for the bride-to-be.
She was promptly forced to put it on and navigate our course for the rest of the day.
This is the point where those seasickness pills started to come in handy. Not that I’m saying Brie didn’t do a wonderful job or anything… It just happened to correspond with people starting to feel ill when she took the wheel.

The cocktails helped settle the stomachs. At least that’s what we all chose to believe.
It was an absolutely wonderful day, and perfectly suited for the future bride.
Congratulations, Brie and Chris. I’m so blessed to have met you both!

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by | August 21, 2012 · 9:38 pm

Brewery Hecticity

Life has been crazy busy lately. In addition to working at Wolf Creek Brewery, I’m also doing social media and writing their blog.
You can check out the purpose of this crazy photo over at the Wolf Creek blog. On top of real work, I also volunteer at Enegren Brewing Friday through Sunday.
I got a little refresher from Red Mango on my way over to Moorpark Friday afternoon.
And then I got another little refresher at Ladyface on the way. Sweet Cherry Porter on cask? How could I not?
Definitely glad I treated myself before this huge pallet arrived! Those would be 356 two liter growlers from Italy. The caps were in the same shipment. That’s right – caps were not attached to the bottles.
I spent Friday afternoon and all of Saturday assembling the tops and attaching them to the bottles – this time with help from the EBC crew. My hands and wrists still ache.
While I was there on Friday, the owner/brewmaster from Hangar 24 happened to swing by with about seven other employees/sales reps. Ben Cook recently had an article written about him in the New Brewer magazine which his coworkers made sure to point out, much to Ben’s dismay. I immediately jumped on the bandwagon and insisted on a personalized autograph and cheesy picture just to humiliate him a little more. The entire group of guys were a much needed fun breath of fresh air in between unloading and assembling growlers. Now I need to get to the Redlands and visit the brewery!

Friday night was brew night – Chris and Matt mashed in and brewed overnight and then Joe and I came in the morning to relieve them and finish up the brew. Saturday was a long one full of pain and growlers and cursing at growlers that created pain, but with this schedule we had all of Sunday free!
ADVENTURE TEAM!
We went on a 16.7 mile mountain bike ride on Sunday morning then ate back all of the calories we’d burned at the local greasy diner, Cactus Patch, before heading back to work.

And then the week started again. Normally this would be tragic (or at least it would be if I had a normal job and didn’t brew beer for a living), but I had the fifteenth gathering of Ladies at Ladyface: The Fermentables and Comestibles Education and Tippling Society to look forward to on Monday night!
We went “back to the basics” and had a brewery tour where we were walked through the brew process and got to munch on milled malts and sip Blind Ambition straight from the fermentor. There were many new faces, all eager to learn and imbibe and get tippled in the necessary fashion it takes to be a L@L.
We had a nice big group of ladies attending – not a single keg was left un-sat-upon. We spent the evening sipping homebrews and socializing before grabbing some foods to ward off the dizzying effects of beer on empty stomachs.
Sweet potato fries – suicide style. Could you need anything more in life?

For recaps of our past Ladies at Ladyface meetings, check out the links below:
Ladies at Ladyface: 1
Ladies at Ladyface: 2
Ladies at Ladyface: 3
Ladies at Ladyface: 4
Ladies at Ladyface: 5
Ladies at Ladyface: 6
Ladies at Ladyface: 7
Ladies at Ladyface: 8
Ladies at Ladyface: 9
Ladies at Ladyface: 10
Ladies at Ladyface: 11
Ladies at Ladyface: 12
Ladies at Ladyface: 13
Ladies at Ladyface: 14

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by | August 14, 2012 · 5:47 pm

City Tavern

Thursday night was Enegren Brewing Company’s flight and pint night at City Tavern in Culver City. The EBC crew headed down for an evening of meeting and greeting all the LA folks who stopped in to try their brews.
As the designated brewery photographer, I was dragged along and forced to drink craft brews and eat delicious foods. Bummer.
It was heavenly to get away from the 100+ degree weather we’ve been having up here in Valencia. Culver City was a good twenty degrees cooler with a nice ocean breeze.
The inside is industrial, yet cozy with exposed brick and chalkboards lining the walls and tall skylights that let the sun stream in.
We ordered the Enegren flight first, just for a little quality control.
As with the majority of the time, it passed.
City Tavern has a great selection of both draft beers and bottled beers. A large number of them were local which is always wonderful to see and imbibe upon.
I love being overwhelmed with a beer list!
The food selection isn’t too shabby, either!
We split the bacon and cheddar pretzel with mustard aioli – soft, gooey and overflowing with thick pieces of crispy bacon.
The appetizer special of the day was squash blossoms stuffed with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes and tempura fried. These were light and airy and ridiculously fresh and hot. The tangy goat cheese was a perfect balance with the sweet bits of sundried tomato and delicate blossom.
The night flew by with tasters from Cismontane, Lagunitas, Magnolia Brewery and Eagle Rock, to name a few.

For my grand finale beer order of the night I asked Susie, our wonderful server, to surprise me.
This surpassed all of my expectations and then some. A sour paleta, a sour beer and a Sourac made with rye whiskey, sour ale, bitters and simple syrup. Bite, sip, sip. Not a combination that I’d ever ordered or even tried before, but a delicious ending to a long evening!

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by | August 9, 2012 · 2:26 pm

Bluesapalooza!

Last weekend I worked with Wolf Creek Brewery up in Mammoth for the Bluesapalooza music and beer fest.
The drive up was absolutely gorgeous. I got to see the flat grid of Palmdale, the flat grid of Lancaster…
And Mt. Whitney. That part actually was beautiful.
Friday night was the brewers’ reception. Every brewery brought different house brews and shared them with the masses. I sampled everything from Ladyface Bluebelly Barleywine to Lagunitas Alt to Noble Ale Works brews to quite a few others that seem to have slipped my mind for some odd reason…
It was quite an enjoyable two hours and seemed to pass rather quickly as I bounced around from group to group, meeting brewers I haven’t met like Beachwood BBQ and the Noble Ale Works folks, and hanging out with some favorites I’ve known for quite some time – Ladyface, the LAB crew and Stone to name a few.
The music was in full swing by the time the reception was over, so we danced along and danced our way over to Clocktower Cellar to hang with the brewers some more. We needed to be up early Saturday to set up the booth so we called it a night at a nice early 1am. Oops.
I got into my fancy girlesque zone (very difficult to do, honestly) and decorated the table. I made pretty decor stuffs out of fabric! No one who knows me would’ve guessed I did this.
At noon the crowds came swarming in, armed with taster glasses and ready to hydrate.
It was a warm day, so I tried my best to keep everyone’s glasses full and kept hydrated myself with tasters from Kinetic Brewing, Hess Brewing and Eagle Rock Brewery.
I also ran into quite a few friends – three of the members from the Thousand Oaked Homebrew Club I belong to.
Courtney repping both the TOaked club and Enegren!
Beer.
Another TOaked member was out celebrating his bachelor party – a beer festival is definitely the best way to do it!
Speaks for itself…
Right here is the instant before the black clouds burped and vomited rain over the city. Good visual, huh? Every drunkard in the area shrieked and cheered and took cover under the closet brewery tent. We made many a new overly tipsy friend during that downpour.

At 5pm we shut down our CO2 tanks, disconnected the kegs and packed everything into our van. To cap off the weekend and celebrate Laina’s birthday, we went out for fancy wine and delicious foods and then went back to our little condo and passed out.
Sunday morning we had to head back home, but first we celebrated a Wolf Creek tradition. We went back to listen to a little music…
And supported the Mammoth Lakes Fire Department. Gotta support them. They work so hard, it wouldn’t be right not to obey her sign.
Bloody Mary it is! This is the first one I’ve ever had. Took me a while to finish, but I did eventually finish to fully show my support.
On our way out, I saw a shirt I recognized.
It’s a small world!

And now I’m off to City Tavern to attend a “meet the brewers night” with those on the shirt above! Cheers!

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by | August 6, 2012 · 4:43 pm

Coronado Brewing Company

During the San Diego trip, we hit up Coronado Brewing Company on Coronado Island before heading to an outdoor concert.
We were lucky enough to snag a parking spot directly out front and emerged into air heavily scented with the delicious aroma of hops that had just been added to the boil. It permeated the atmosphere. I melted with happiness.
The building is only a block away from the water and shrouded in lush greenery and aromatic flowers.
Not a terrible view to have to deal with. I could probably live there and be happy. Completely broke, but happy.
After perusing the shores, we headed inside and got down to business.
I ordered my typical choice at any brewery – the taster flight. Out of the five I walked away with a mini growler of the Idiot IPA – extremely citrusy on the nose, sweet grapefruit flavor ending with a brutal kick of hop bitterness that almost immediately fades into a whisper. Dangerously drinkable at 8.5% ABV!
Absorption was also necessary. Nachos covered in spicy filet mignon chili, real cheese and generous towers of guacamole and sour cream. I barely finished a quarter of this monster.
I poked my head into the brewery to have a look around and saw what looked like the same system as Wolf Creek! I asked the assistant brewer who was in the middle of the boil if it was a 10bbl system and was immediately invited in to take some pictures and got a small tour of the place. Using key phrases like barrel and parts per million will get you invited into any brewery, I’ve found.Coronado is in the midst of setting up their 30bbl system over on the mainland, so the brewpub functions as a small batch experimental system on the side of regular production. They brew in a separate building and then transfer the multiple brews all the way into the fermentation area about 200 feet away.
I also checked out their bottling system to get some ideas for Wolf Creek’s upcoming expansion. I think we’ll need more than a six-up bottler, however…
After the tour I grabbed my growler and headed out with the family to the outdoor concert in the middle of the island. People started arriving four hours early in order to get good seats! Luckily, we had a team of people who’d set up in advance so we could fully enjoy the brewery beforehand.
We spent the night drinking craft brews, eating an assortment of random deliciousness procured by each individual who chipped in a dish for the picnic and danced the night away.
A good time was had by all.And then more beer was consumed, as is tradition in my life.

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by | July 30, 2012 · 10:19 pm

Pantless Prom?

My second morning in San Diego was devoured after an hour scouring Yelp for the best review. By “best” I don’t mean the top rated. I mean the most interesting, awkward review available.Four stars after a Pantless Prom? Okay, Mitch. You’ve hooked me.
An adorable little cottage on the sea transformed into a delicious restaurant. I’m seeing a theme in La Jolla…
With a view to die for. Already this place was a winner in my mind. Now on to the most important part – the food!
When I go for breakfast, I will almost always order either the corned beef hash or the eggs benedict. The Brockton Villa had a beer braised corned beef hash. Immediate yes. Strangely enough, I prefer the hash that comes out of a can, but for housemade, this ale-marinated, shredded deliciousness topped with yet another perfectly poached egg did the job.
COAST TOAST. I have no idea what wizard came up with this recipe, but it is To. Die. For. More like a heavenly souffle/custard spiked with orange zest, this french toast is absolutely out of this world. Unfortunately I’m not talented enough to describe what this is like. If anyone is in La Jolla and wants to invite me here to enjoy this dish, I will sing you a serenade at the table to explain my true feelings about Coast Toast. It’s that awesome.
After your exquisite brunch, you can waddle across the street and gaze at the La Jolla Cave. The cliff is adorned with pelicans, and the smell is quite potent. (Side note: This odor is completely unnoticeable from the Brockton Villa, at least in my experience, contrary to many Yelpers reviews.)
The view more than makes up for the aroma.

After yet another delicious breakfast, we made our way back to the hotel and stumbled across another wedding.
Okey, Jenn and Dan, I’m really happy for you, but where was your elephant??
All of the brunch and elephants got us thirsty, so we wandered over to Iron Fist for the grand opening of their new tasting room. They recently busted through the wall to the unit next door and expanded the size of both the brewery and the brewery-imbing-enjoyment center.
The space was beyond packed. Doe-eyes were given in order to obtain a third stool for our group.
Luckily everyone had plenty of beer and were in wonderfully joyful moods.
The amazing offerings of food may have had something to do with it. Brisket and fries from Mr. Pig’s BBQ. Tender, perfectly seasoned, wonderfully soft bun and perfect for an afternoon with beer.
Sushi Bus was also there. I honestly have no idea what this roll was called. I asked for painfully spicy and the two awesomely tatted guys running the place surprised me with this nose-running, eye-watering roll of perfection. Whatever sauce on top of the spicy tuna is God-given and needs to be used even more liberally for an even more intense and wonderful spicy pain.
And now I’m just showing off with another gift I got in exchange for beer. I give you (minus the brew chief) the Enegren Brewing Company, Keeping Calm and Chiving On.
We keep it real.

And then we ran caustic and phosphoric acid through the entire system after this picture. Totally worth it.

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by | July 26, 2012 · 3:51 pm

Visiting the Chive!

I sent John from the Chive an email the other day telling him I had lots of free beer and wondering if the guys at the office wanted any. Shockingly enough, I got an immediate response with an invite to the Chive offices.
I headed to Venice loaded down with six liters of beer.
I brought Captain’s Summer Session, Captain’s Dry-Hopped Summer Session and Valkyrie California Alt from Enegren Brewing as well as Midnight Howl from Wolf Creek Brewery. Valkyrie was the clear favorite of the group – partly because of the heavy-duty awesomeness of the growler, I’m sure.
That thing is a deadly weapon filled with happiness.
Luckily their work day was winding down around the time I arrived, so everyone was able to partake.
I filled up a glass myself and John took me for a tour of the offices.
One of the original/first Banksy street art.
Everyone’s (now abandoned for beer) work stations looking out over Venice beach.
The mediocre, front-seat view of the ocean.
The necessities of life.
A tragically empty beer fridge (they made up for that with a kegerator next door) and the new golf video game they smartly combined with beer to de-stress after the long day.
BFM boards! The office to the left in the picture is where The Berry works out of. I got to yell a quick hello to Emily as we passed.
Cornhole boards handcrafted by John and Leo Resig’s dad.
Patrick was setting up for the KCCO Canadian shirt shoot.
John had to mentally prepare for his time as a model. I think the Midnight Howl helped him relax into his photogenic state.
Yep, that did it.
You guys saw the finished version of the shoot this afternoon, followed by all the shirts selling out in a few minutes per usual.
Another monotonous view from Chive Drive. I have a feeling they’ll be going through that beer rather quickly if they haven’t finished it already. And I recall that the keg in the kegerator was half empty as well… I may need to head back and help remedy that in the near future.
Especially if I get one of these in exchange!

On another note, the Chive is helping to raise money for one of those wounded in shooting in Aurora. Click here and here to donate to two of the victims! Spread the love to all the others who suffered as well!

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by | July 24, 2012 · 9:35 pm

White Wedding

My parentals moved to Colorado in April. I got the chance to visit them in May, and last weekend they came out to San Diego to attend the wedding of their best friends’ daughter! I moseyed on down to visit with them and attend the wedding as well.

My mumsie and I went out for a nice lazy breakfast on our first morning.
We visited The Cottage in La Jolla – a cute little house with a large patio and white picket fence.
The most important meal of the day – COFFEE.
My mumsie ordered the chicken hash over warm corn tortillas.
I went for my typical greasy diner/breakfast out meal – Eggs Benedict! Nothing too special about this one…
Except for the perfectly poached egg and fresh avocado slices. It’s quite a feat to poach an egg just right. It’s the little things in life that matter.
It definitely made it a lot harder to squeeze into that dress for the wedding, but totally worth it!
I also purchased my very first pair of flats ever. I hate shopping. This was a big deal for me.
My beautiful parental unit.
Parents of the bride.
Such a beautiful, happy couple! Now time for celebrating!
Champagne mojito? Yes, please!
And the feasting and dancing begins.
Steak, shrimp and mac ‘n cheese! Best wedding food I’ve eaten to date.
Build your own dessert.
Father-daughter dance being beautifully interrupted by grandpa.

It was an absolutely perfect wedding. The recap of the rest of the trip coming soon!

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by | July 17, 2012 · 8:43 pm

Ladies at Ladyface: 14

Last night was our fourteenth meeting of Ladies at Ladyface: The Fermentables and Comestibles Education and Tippling Society! Time really flies! Meetings ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen on the links!
My craft beer girl Janelle (picture from our first visit ever to Enegren Brewing Company) brought something extra special to last night’s meeting.
World, meet little Avery – Janelle and Andrew’s five day old, perfectly adorable creation.
Everyone else just brought food for the potluck. Not as adorable, but quite delicious. Our meeting was a field trip to Enegren Brewing Company to try all the beers, get a brewery tour and do the usual socializing and eating. Enegren’s four taster limit was recently lifted, so we took full advantage (everyone had designated drivers). I love these meetings!
One liter growlers gracing the shelves.
Taps in the sunset. Such a beautiful sight.
We had a great showing and demolished almost all of the comestibles. I failed at food blogging and consumed everything before I remembered that pictures would’ve been a nice addition… Yum. Oops.
Cyrena brought dessert – Blue Belly Barleywine! Wonderfully rich, sweet and full of subtle vanilla notes from the whiskey barrels it’s aged in. There was some leftover at the end of the night. I may or may not have snuck it home with me and polished it off last night (I did).

Next meeting we’ll be going “back to the basics”. Our group has come quite a long way in the year and two months we’ve been up and running, and unfortunately that has become intimidating to potential new craft beer lovers. No need to be scared, ladies! Come drink wonderful craft beer, learn about why it’s so delectable, eat delicious foods and socialize! That’s what the root of the group is truly about.

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