Took a bit of tour to start off my stay in California and spent a day going north and hitting up some classic CA breweries. The day started furthest north to make the drive back easier. First stop was the Bear Republic brewpub (main office in Cloverdale) in Healdsburg which is nice little town with lots of small shops. The brewpub had a decent looking menu but we kept it simple since it was still fairly early in the morning and were planning on getting real food at Russian River. BR conveniently offered flights of their entire tap lineup, both house and specialty:
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The resulting spread was pretty impressive:
I only took notes (apparently very brief) on the beers that were new and interesting to me.
- Short Track: sweet caramel, cocoa bitter
- El Oso: fuller, ale-y (unreadable) lager
- Nor Cal: hoppy, amber froth without too much bitter
- Das Koma: hoppy wheat, double (?) lighter malty, fullness
- Apex: 100+ IBU fresh, crisp clean finish, not as bitter as expected but long finish
- Peter Brown: fruity, malty, rich, complex, muddy but smooth
- XP: decent for a pale ale
And down to Russian River for lunch where they had a variety of pizzas and such. Russian River was pretty noisy and crowded and full of curiously young folks. Apparently, it was some graduation weekend. The flight trays were pretty cool, and I would have liked to have filled it, but I focused on the most important beers.
RR is well-known for its IPAs so that's the lineup I went with along with whatever else caught my eye.
- Sanctification: 100% brett yeast, OG 1.059, sour, but refreshing.
- Perdition: malty roast bitter
- Blind Pig: OG 1.055, 72 IBU, mildest
- Russian River IPA: OG 1.062, 62 IBU, solid hop, got a growler
- Pliny the Elder: finally got to try this after hearing about the ranting and raving about it. Definitely the hoppiest. It's a tasty brew but overrated. Too much to deal with for a whole growler.
We barely made it onto the Lagunitas tour which had a pretty cool loft for VIPs. The tour was nothing particularly new but the attached brewpub was pretty crowded. On a nice day, it would have been a cool place to hangout with lots of outdoor tables. Alas, it was rainy and we ended up having to sit outside. They were having an oyster grill so that was pretty awesome. We got a couple of flights to check the draft list.
- Zephyr - New Zealand hops. I remember that Sierra Nevada also has a New Zealand hop harvest.
- Lucky 13: unusually unhoppy bitter
- Bourbon Barrel Aged: dirt, coffee, cappuccino
- Fusion 6: wort-y wheat
We rounded out the day with a stop at the Rogue Ales Public House in SF. The draft list was pretty good and managed to find a few to fill a flight. I also got an imperial IPA with my meal, a Kobe burger (pretty much all the beef used on their menu is Kobe).
- XS Imperial IPA: expectedly tasty
- Old Crustacean Barleywine: not really in season for me, but it was new to me. toasted malt, warmer, less sweet, hop bitter on finish.
- Morimoto Soba Ale: finally got to try this. I had read it was discontinued and never got around ot picking up a bottle at my local bottle shop. Tastes like soba, low carb. I guess it's interesting, if you've never eaten soba. Underwhelmed.
- Buckman Ginger: grassy but not in the hoppy way. Ginger was rather subdued.
- Chocolate Stout (cask): watery chocolate syrup, but in a good way.
I didn't pick up any swag this time around since I figured I'd be back during the summer anyway. No swag expect for the CASE of Double Mocha I got for $20 during their Garage Sale. Woop woop. I got the standard pint glass at Bear Republic. Russian River had sweet looking growlers so I had to get one of those. Lagunitas had mason jars for glasses which I can jive, and for only $2, it's an affordable, unique piece of swag. For just one day, it was a pretty good time and haul.
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