Last weekend Commander Matt and I went up to Kern Valley for a weekend of camping and mountain biking. It was a much needed getaway. The disposable camera decided to join us instead of my fancy camera. Old school!
We decided to camp at Alder Creek – a primitive campsite set three miles down a windy road with an elevation drop of 1,000 feet. It was secluded and FREE! It would have been quiet if there hadn’t been a huge family who brought their 30ft long trailer down and left the generator on the entire time.
We set up the campsite before the trailer arrived, then lifted my awesome lightweight tent and walked it down a ways to a site where we couldn’t hear the generator purring nonstop.
Ahhh, much better. As soon as the site was set up, we hopped on our mountain bikes and got to exploring.
We went from fire road to trail and got lost quite a few times.
We stumbled across the skeleton of either a deer or a cow. The national forest was stuffed with cows and steer. Afraid of bears? Nah, no big deal. Come across a herd of cattle? Um, let’s turn around and bike the other way… Seriously, those steer will STARE YOU DOWN! And after seeing/hearing/feeling a stampede, I wouldn’t want to take them on.
We rode for about two hours, uphill, with places so steep we had to hike with the bikes. It was wonderful and painful.
The views made all the pain worth it.
It was quite a dusty ride. That shoe tan is absolutely horrendous.
We grabbed some brews from the back of the truck, hiked down a ways and found a wide section of the creek where we washed the trail from our legs and enjoyed the last rays of sun.
Commander Matt decided to build a fire. We tried to go au natural before resorting to our purchased wood supply. Matt decided on a small tree…
Which he promptly “chopped” with a rock. Au natural.
I went gourmet and cooked up some sundried tomato chicken sausages and boiled some sundried tomato and goat cheese ravioli a la Trader Joe’s. The joys of being able to drive the truck directly to the campsite. We were prepared to trek the cooler all 3 miles in!
Quality disposable camera food shot. Lovely.
The next day after having coffee and breakfast by the creek, we headed out for another bike ride. Remember that 3 mile long drive in with the 1,000 foot elevation drop I told you about? We biked up it. The entire road.
Complete and utter stupidity. But man, did it feel good to get to the top and be able to cruise all the way back down!
We passed out quite early that evening, in extreme amounts of awesome pain.
Once we got back to real life, we decided that another bike ride would be a good idea.
We explored some more. We found an abandoned oil rig.
The end.
Camping!
Filed under vacation
Bravery Brewing
Bravery Brewing had its grand opening in Lancaster on Independence Day. After working the taproom at Enegren, we all headed over to check it out.
I was able to see the space a few months ago before they’d even begun brewing. It’s come quite a long way.
They’re a 3bbl system with two 3bbl fermentors and two 7bbls.
Instead of being hardpiped, the entire system is run with removable hoses for transferring and easy cleanup.
In the middle of the paint job back in April…
And during the grand opening. It’s too bad the turnout was so small…
The line for beer wrapped around the room, outside and around to the end of the building. Every single table was packed, as was the bar.
Luckily there were some cool hop plants to look at as we waited outside at the very end of the line.
And luckily since Enegren helped out with a lot of consulting with Bravery while they prepped to open, the owners brought some brews to tide us over during the long wait in line. Brighton ESB – a nice malty ESB, dry finish with just a hint of chocolate and toffee.
Randall: Citrus Bitter – their flagship bitter is run through a type of filter that contains freshly grated orange zest. This one was light and sweet with a heavy perfume of orange and a nice touch of sour rounding out the end.
Once we finally made it indoors, we got to enjoy the view of Gunnery SGT. R. Lee Ermey’s chopper. R. Lee Ermey is a co-owner of Bravery Brewing.
I also found a Chiver in the midst of the chaos! Bill Effin Murray! (Whoever can score me one of these would be the love of my life. Just sayin’)…
Once we finally made it to the bar (conveniently we had also just finished our “waiting in line” beers), Brewmaster Brian Avery served us up an array of tasters.
Ginger Witbier – thick wheat beer with a soft ginger aroma but a spicy kick of it at the end. Korova Sweet Stout – chocolatey stout that’s rich, but very light in ABV (5.6%). Honey Saison – a dry, crisp Saison brewed with honey, and Pineapple Boo (not pictured) – a wheat beer brewed with pineapple that has a surprisingly pleasant tropical aroma and flavor that ends with a noticeable pineapple zing.
No one was enjoying themselves at all. Especially while being encompassed by the soft leather couches with a perfect view of the brewery and tasting room in the “Brave Cave”. Try to sit on one of these couches and then try to get up. It’s nearly impossible except for the necessity of needing to refill your beer.
With 5,000 square feet, this place is spacious and airy, even with the masses of people that showed up for the opening.
The lights came on over the beer lists that were slowly dwindling as each beer was gulped into oblivion by the thirsty patrons.
And then R. Lee Ermey showed up. I was just trying to get a picture of the chalkboards but he kept getting in the way. Oh well. Creeper photo it is!
It was a perfect day for the opening and we had a delicious time! We grabbed a growler to go and headed back to Moorpark to enjoy the festivities.
I hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day! God bless America and craft beer!
Filed under brewery
Typical Insanity
It’s been an insane week. Even more than usual. I was up bright and early Saturday morning to do my shift brew for Enegren Brewing with Brew Chief Joe.
In between pH testing and hop additions, we found the time to do a little photo shoot for Captain’s Summer Session blonde ale. Joe was the designated “fluffer” of the beer…
I think it turned out pretty well. We had to drink the beer(s) at 7:30am after we’d poured it, but since it’s only 4.9% we fared well for the rest of the day.
Saturday night after brew day was spent grilling, drinking delicious beer and eating candy malt samples from the CBC.
I’ll eat malt plain, but when it’s covered in sugar, I’ll eat even MORE of it.
Yes, please!
Sunday ended with this deliciousness. That would be “The Mack” (mac and cheese in a grilled cheese sammich) from Custom Melt in Moorpark – a gourmet grilled cheese restaurant that recently opened. I have eaten there every weekend. I will continue to do so every weekend I am in town.
The Green-Go – roasted turkey, bacon, avocado and pesto wrapped up in a cheesy embrace. There will definitely be a blog about this place coming in the near future.
Sunday night puppies were played with, the movie Kick Ass was watched and I was prepared to face the oncoming week. Monday was spent cleaning kegs and Tuesday was a surprise day off. I got an oil change. I was told that my tires didn’t look so good. I went to the tire place. I replaced All. Four. Tires.
My wallet is weeping silent tears as I type.
I do have a PLANNED day off on Friday, though! I’ll be camping up in Kern Valley through the weekend: a much needed extended weekend spent mountain biking, hiking, exploring and drinking mass quantities of instant coffee from my Jetboil.
I think I’m all prepared. Only thing left to do is pick up some brews from Kern River Brewing before we head out into the wilderness!
That and somehow bid farewell to those beautiful eyes for three days. Once I do THAT I’ll be fully prepared.
Tomorrey is brew day, then getting in the car immediately after to head out for camping! Follow my brew day updates on my Facebook or my Twitter, OR on Wolf Creek Brewery’s Facebook and Twitter (I run all of the above)! Have a wonderful extended weekend!
Brewery Eats
On the weekends, brewers tend to get tired of ordering in delicious foods. Creativity begins.
Enegren has a mini grill that can fit the equivalent of half of a meal for a normal person. Brew chief Joe made it work.
Beef + green onions + creativity = Carne asada tacos!
Avocado and cilantro fancied them up. They were devoured.
Pairing is necessary with such brewery feasts. We had the Deviation Stout that had been aging in a barrel since February. This was definitely the worst beer in the world.
The EBC crew definitely should NOT have served it to customers. It should have been solely given to workers so they could truly appreciate what a terrible beer had been created. I may or may not have had multiple tasters of this heavenly delicious atrocious beer.
In all honestly, especially when served from a pump tap, this beer was out of this world amazing. Smooth, room temperature and full of oak and chocolate and roast and love. There is no love this great in the world. Besides God’s love.
And that of a baby husky. All wonderful things.
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Filed under Uncategorized
Ladies at Ladyface: 13
This month, the ladies planned a hike to the top of Ladyface Mountain! Unfortunately, I arrived too late to attend.
Definitely missed out a little bit, but instead I got to have an awesome 3 hour dinner with this lovely lady!
Janelle’s little one is due very soon!
I started off with the Spring Farm Salad – arugula, fresh blueberries, avocado, shaved parmesan and candied almond slivers tossed in a champagne vinaigrette. This monster of a salad took me almost an hour to complete, but I couldn’t stop – so delicious! I paired it with a taster of the Derailleur and a taster of the Reyes Adobe Red.
We had a tough time deciding what to get for dessert, so we got two dishes and split them. First up was the slow roasted stone fruits – white peaches, nectarines and black and red plums served with ricotta dulce and honey lavender. We probably should’ve gotten two the way we demolished the contents of the glass.
The Chocolate Porter Torte was next, with fresh vanilla gelato slowly melting atop. The drink pairing for this was obvious.
French press coffee! Not what you were expecting?
We were serenaded by the peaceful voice of Masha McSorley as the sky began to darken.
The ladies who had attended the hike came back burdened with a huge bouquet of mountaintop gatherings which they promptly presented to us and then immediately ordered their refreshments for proper rehydration after their strenuous exercise.
More french press was foolishly consumed by myself, and I spent the rest of the evening/night buzzing around in an overstuffed bliss.
Next time I’ll be joining in on the hike and then eating even more to refuel after!
Filed under beer pairing, beer tasting
Submersed in Beer
If you’d asked me three years ago if I would ever imagine myself completely submersed in the world of beer, I would’ve laughed my ass off as I popped the top off of a Fat Tire or Blue Moon and drank it straight from the bottle.
My goodness how things change. This entire week has been nothing but brewing, beer, cleaning and more brewing. And beer.
Scrubbed out faucets and cleaned tap lines in the beginning of the week. My hands have healed from the scrub brushes just in time to scrub out some more tomorrey!
Keg delivery is tomorrey as well! Gotta replenish those taps with fresh brews! And hopefully replenish myself with a new experiment by head chef, Chuy? Hint hint, Chuy, if you’re reading this, hehe. We’ll also be dropping off kegs at The LAB Brewing for a local tap takeover for Father’s Day! If you’re in town, head over there on Saturday and sample some of the amazing brews the Agoura Hills/Moorpark/Ventura County has!
The brew days have only contained slight injuries. Tuesday’s consisted of 175 degree spent grain falling into my boot. Today, I somehow have bruised lines across the tops of my knees as well as a blister on my finger from a hot water burn. Not bad for a double brew week!
Today, the grain mill jammed on our last 20lbs of malted wheat. Luckily it was an easy fix – scoop everything out, find the small stone that had gotten lodged between the gears, then reassemble and finish milling.
Once in a while we get spoiled during these early mornings and are surprised with bacon from the kitchen. These mornings are my favorite.
This morning, unfortunately, was not one of those mornings. Three cups of coffee and crunching on the grain before we mashed in made do.
We also had some quality control to do – Surfin’ Monks was transferred yesterday and carbonated today. It passed the test.
Luckily, I won’t be doing what I was last weekend – an overnight brew at Enegren. We mashed in at 7:30pm and worked until 6am. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
…Unless your 3am meal consists of flamin’ hot Cheetos, M&Ms and Gatorade from a late run to 7-11. Sometimes you just get desperate.
Luckily, coffee heals all. Apparently it works faster when you snort it.
Working for the Weekend
Side note – I thought for 25 years that “working for the weekend” meant working ON the weekend. I was enlightened a month ago. This blog title is based on my previous assumption.
My weekend:
Commander Matt and I brewed at Enegren Brewing from 7:30pm on Friday night until we were relieved by Joe and Chris at 6am on Saturday morning. Then I was able to sleep for three hours before heading back to work the tasting room. Zombie Saturday.
Plenty of caffeine was consumed. Beer may also have been consumed…
During the short breaks in between customers, I played with settings on my camera.
Oh, I fancy, huh?
More photography as I tried not to fall asleep whilst holding my camera.
The EBC crew kegged their Golden Spur Saison that’s been aging in a Syrah barrel for three months.
We sampled it, just to make sure it was up to par. Heavenly with hints of vanilla, Syrah and a bold touch of oak.
Kegging for the tasting room!
Christoph takes his job of blanketing the keg with CO2 seriously.
Very seriously, as you can see.
After the long weekend, Commander Matt helped me move to a new place that’s within biking distance of Wolf Creek Brewery. After returning, we picked up the most amazing, delicious dinner known to wo/man. At least for this week.
That would be chili over mac ‘n cheese. I could tell you where we got this from… but then I would actually have to kill you.
Post Brew Foods
Just got done with an eleven hour brew day! This would be no big deal if it weren’t for that fact that it was about 98 degrees in Valencia today. That and I got only three hours of sleep after a late night of helping Enegren Brewing deliver kegs to Mohawk’s Bend in LA, Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank and Short Order at the Farmers’ Market in West Hollywood. Them boys and their brews be popular!
After a long day like that, I wanted something incredibly simple for fooding. I had these coupons given to me a few months ago by Foodbuzz and Van de Kamp’s (even though I received coupons for free, all reviews are my own opinion, yada yada yada, you know the spiel) and after all of the hassle of moving, finally picked up these frozen fish packet thingies.
After 24 minutes in the oven, all puffed up!
Pretty similar to the picture on the box. I shared these with my cousin and uncle. He sauteed up some fresh broccoli with garlic and olive oil to balance out the meal.
My uncle chose the classic grilled version. A bit more photogenic than the lemon pepper. Overall, the fish was actually good! Legit pieces of fish – not some compressed combination of randomness, but they were a little overwhelmed with the sauce. A good grab if you’re lazy like me and don’t want to put effort into your meal.
Sometimes though, you just need something a little heartier, as delicious as tilapia is… I paired two day old pasta with some Shift Pale Lager from New Belgium. Classy on the pasta, I know. Shift really surprised me! I wasn’t expecting to like a lager so much, but this is crisp and refreshing for this hot evening, with a sweet and bready malt backbone. A VERY easy drinker at 5% ABV. I could see taking this along on a camping trip in the near future…
Brewer injuries. I have no idea how this happened, but it did. I also learned today that there’s no possible way to take a good picture of one’s knee.
Tomorrey promises a day of keg deliveries followed by an overnight brew at Enegren Brewing. Basically, I’ll be awake from 7am on Friday until at least 7am on Saturday. And THEN I’m moving AGAIN. This should be a fun weekend…
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Filed under free sample
Zoo Brew 2012
On Saturday I went up to Santa Barbara with the Wolf Creek crew to serve at the 3rd annual Santa Barbara Zoo Brew.
We packed up the pickup truck with kegs and the jockeybox and headed north.
I was the designated “foofer” of the day. Foofer is a scientific term. Basically, I tried to make the table look pretty and make the jockeybox look invisible. Designing pretty things is not in my nature, but I gave it a go…
After we’d set up, I wandered around the little park to check it out.
The calm before the storm.
And so it begins! The first hour was for VIP only and was nice and mellow. Then everyone else piled in.
We poured taster after taster with no rest for the entire five hours!
The majority of the crowd was made up of UCSB students and the majority of them knew absolutely nothing about beer. I can’t recall how many times someone tripped up to the table and slurringly asked, “Can I have the light one?” One girl and I had a very serious conversation about how just because a beer is called “pale ale”, it doesn’t mean that it tastes light. I got a high five for my explanation. Hooray.
Luckily, I was able to Keep Calm and Chive On through all of this.
I spotted four Chivers at the event! I was only able to grab a few pics with these two though.
Dang, I really need one of these shirts. That and a BFM…
There was a mad rush for beer when the last half hour was announced. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one guy sprint across the little park, stop to take his flip flops off, leave them perfectly placed and punch some guy in the face for looking at his girlfriend wrong. Lovely.
After everyone stopped pouring beer and the attendees stopped trying to bribe us to pour them “just one last taster”, the park emptied out very quickly.
We packed up our fancy setup and waited for the carts to come and shuttle us back down to the parking lot.
Enjoying the peace after the crazy day.
Definitely not the worst view to be stuck with.
We drove back to Valencia, enjoying the ocean views while we had them, and wrapped up the thirteen hour day with a brew at Dargan’s Irish Pub in Ventura.
We work so very hard…
Filed under beer, beer festival
Easing Into Real Life
I’m slowly reverting back into reality after my amazing weekend in Colorado.
That drive to the airport was just too short. I miss Colorado already.
Back to work on Tuesday! Lots of brewing, coffee and more coffee.
I run Wolf Creek’s social media. You can follow all my updates for them on Facebook or on Twitter! We had to take a picture of a full pint of Wolf Pack to show everyone it was going up on tap that day. You can’t waste beer, even if it’s 7am. It was a good start to the day.
Rob, Wolf Creek’s brewmaster, found this in the latest edition of Celebrator magazine! I’m so very proud to be part of both Enegren and Wolf Creek!
We took a little trip up to our new brewery site! This is what will soon be our tasting room! I’m so very excited!
We dropped off our new kegs into the grain area of the brewery. They look pretty good there, methinks.
I had the chance to go use one of my Groupons and get a massage yesterday. Passed by this little gem on the way. Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell! Anyone who gets that reference is now my best friend.
Tomorrey I’ll be working at the Zoo Brew in Santa Barbara with Wolf Creek Brewery, then perfecting my Black Stripe at Enegren. Although, I’m not sure it could get much better than that!
I do have one favor to ask you… Wolf Creek Brewery has applied for a grant to help us get the bottling line so we can start distributing our beers in Southern California! It’d mean the world to me if you would go vote for us. We only need 137 more votes! I’ll love you forever 🙂
Mission Small Business – Click to register, log in through your Facebook, type Wolf Creek into the search and vote! Thanks so much!
Filed under Daily Life