San Francisco beer trip

A specialized task force of beer nerds from Sweden visits the San Francisco Beer Week 2011.

Michaels reflections - Day 3 of the SF Beer week. The fabulous Sour and Barrel-age festival in Berkeley

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Oh man...
 
2 days (or 3 if you count the arrival day with a night at 21st Amendment eating and drinking) at the SF beer week and anyone would start thinking of "hey man, how about a day in bed to recover". The normal swedish guy though has another mind. He seems to think "Oh. only 2 days of the beer week finished, we have another zillion days to go before we have to head home to the cold snowy Sweden".
 
After 2 days of drinking world-class beer (opening gala and the double-ipa festival) I woke up at the hotel at sunday morning feeling a bit... tired?.... hungover? jet-lagged? not-wanting-to-drink-beer?.... or just "hey man, this is another chance to drink even more world-class beer!". I quickly decided the last option was the one to aim for.
 
Too early we got down to the BART (awesome name of a train system btw) and got on the train to Berkeley. Once there it seemed like Triple Rock had some difficulties to get everthing ready in time. We had to stand in a long line even after the opening time. This gets me a bit annoyed but hey the sun was shining so I could stand it.
 
Anyhow. Once we got inside there was plenty of things to choose from if you like beer. Unfortunately the organization was not too good and several brews listed as "on tap" was actually served "on bottle" and vice versa. I could live with this though considering the amount of sheer joy in terms of beer we faced at both Triple Rock and Jupiter. As I mentioned we started off at Triple Rock and the very first brew I got turned out to be one of the brews that everyone else wanted as well. Lost Abbey Veritas 008. World-class sour and this ran out quite fast. Glad I got to taste it as it was one of my favourites today.
 
Triple Rock was crowded, overly-crowded to say the least. After a while we decided to head to Jupiter instead and man this was not a bad choice. Although they didnt have as much to choose from as Triple Rock they sure had some wonderful world-class beers both on tap and on bottle. We even got a table and to sit down was a bless.
 
After a full day of tasting a bunch of wonderful beers (as noted below) we felt a bit hungry and decided to go for a bit of food. The choice was to go to a local pizzeria in Berkeley, Bobby G:s pizzeria, and we even got a full table for all of us.
 
Before I get to the list of beers tasted this day, I just want to highlight the receipt attached as a photo. I still rue the fact that we were sitting in a local pizzeria (I am now thinking about Lijlebaren Uppsala) where we got Pliny the Elder on a regular TAP for only 6$. I mean ... come on... a local pizzeria with pliny on tap...
 
Anyhow, on to the beer goodness we actually got to do. I cannot speak for anyone else but myself me and I got to try these wonderful brews during the daily festival
 
1) Lost Abbey Veritas 008 - A wonderful sour. Light-bodied, sour and just awesome. 8-9/10
2) Cascade Kriek - SOUR! CHERRIES! Wonderful. I got a bottle of this to go home for about 30 bucks
3) Lost Abbey Red Poppy. I do have a bottle of this at home, but after drinking the first 2 this seems like an average beer :) (i know its worldclass though, just kidding)
4) Deschutes The Abyss. Coffee! Vanilla! Some smokiness there to finish it off. Ok. The clock was now surely around noon-1-ish and after 3 awesome sour ales i had to get an imp stout. This is just an awesome beer and I am glad I got one to go from Toronado for 17 bucks later in the week.
5) Cascade "The Vine". kind of a "rotten" smell to it, more taste though. Not very sour, and not as good as the other Cascades I tried. Still a good 7-8/10
6) Eclipse "Black" Imp stout. 9/10. We had some trouble to define which version this was until we got to buy it directly from the brewer. It is the Ewan Willians-version.
7) Old Stock BA Bourbon. Intense bourbon-flavours, very good 8-9/10
8) 21 Year Old Ale from Marin Brewing. My notes say "Old Dishmachine-water" which is generally not a good sign. Although in this case i have to admit it was quite ok, good and nice tone to it. 8/10
9) De Prouf and Terrapin Monstre Rogue. Nothing special, no real sourness, more like a b-wine. 6/10
10) Deschutes Mirror Mirro 09 Reserve. MALT NUKE! Extremely good taste. Althought my beer nerd friends tell me it is infected, and this gives a bit of a sourness to it. I just say - give me more infected bottles of this, it tastes awesome when "wrong" 9/10
11) New Belgium and Allagash "Vrienden Lips of Faith". Noted as a sour but i cant sense any of that. Nothing special 6/10
12) Allagash Curieux - Oak aged Belgian strong. A lot of wood in the taste, probably better without the aging in a barrel. 6/10
13) Midnight Sun XXX Black IPA. Complex, nice but nothing extreme. 8/10
14) Bear Republic Sour Ivan Crazy. Good! Alot of sourness and cherries. Oak aged? 8/10
15) Moonlight Brewing Left For Dead. Dry Stout nothing particular 6/10
16) Midnight Brewing Bar Fly. Smoked Imp Stout? Bourbon Barrel? Black Currants? Wow, this is good shit, where can i get a bottle? 9-10/10!
17) Hanssens Oudbeitje. Lambic with strawberries. Todays most extreme sourness. As Emil said "det här är magsyra". I got a distinct feeling of old cheese. 9-10/10
18) Blue Frog 10th Anniversary. Imp stout aged on red-wine barrels. This seems a bit infected also as it has a bit of a sourness. 8/10
19) Triple Rock Reunion Tour Sour. "aceton". bad. no sour. todays worst beer 4/10
20) Triple Rock 25th Anniversary Sour. This one is better, and i got this one for free instead of teh Tour Sour just because i was shouting so bad about it being so bad.
21) Cantillon Gueuze on tap... Classic beer, and it was just wonderful in the spring sun from a nice keg.
22) Midnight Sun "The new Black" Ok beer nothing else 7/10.
 
So... a full day of sour and barrelaged beer-tastings would make any men go numb. Not the swedes though. We headed directly to Bobby G:s where we as per stated above bot Pliny and some awesome pizzas. I also had a few others (Lagunitas IPA and Green Flash Imperial IPA). Please, if there is a god, give me this kind of Pizzeria in Fålhagen, Uppsala, Sweden.
 
A bit of a train-trip later (about 15-20 minutes or so) we come back to SF quite full both food-wise and beer-wise and decide to split up. A wonderful day has come to an end and I just hope next year will be as awesome in Berkeley as this year.
 
Stay tuned for day 4 of the week :)
 
/Michael

Michaels imported goodness

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Before jumping in to day 3 of the beer week i had to un-pack my suitcase and found a few bottles of hopefully drinkable beers.
1) Russian River Supplication x3 bottles
2) Firestone Walker Double Jack
3) Ballast Point Sea Monster
4) FiftyFifty Eclipse Ewan Williams edition 2010 (black)
5) FiftyFifty Eclipse Four Roses edition 2010 (red)
6) Cascade Apricot Ale 2009
7 Cascade Kriek 2009
8) Firestone Walker 14th Anniversary Ale
9) Russian River Concecration
10) Russian River Temptation
11) Nectar Ales Black Xantus Imperial Stout
12) Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
13) Deschutes The Abyss 2010
14) Jolly Jumpkin La Roja Blend 11
15) Russian River Pliny the Elder
16) Alesmith Wee Heavy
17) Russian River Blind Pig
18) North Coast Old Stock Ale 2009
19) Ballast Point Victory at Sea Imperial Porter
20) Lagunitas Brown Shuggah
21) North Coast Old Rasputin 12th Anniversary Imperial Stout
22) Buckbean Brewing Black Adder IBA
23) Lagunitas Hop Stoopid
24) 21st Amendment Fireside chat (this was an infected batch which made it turn sour. Fun to have a few cans and see if it develops more in the "wrong" way :) )x 3 cans
25) Maui Brewing Coconut Porter x2 cans - this is mainly to use for Beer Floats.
 
I think i will need some help with these, anyone up for it? :) 

Michaels reflections - day 2 of SF Beer Week: Double-IPA festival at the Bistro in Hayward

So, finally (sadly) back in the cold Sweden and time to start reflecting on the beer week.

 

The second day of the week (after being somewhat tired attending the opening gala) we had planned to make a visit to Hayward and The Bistro for their Double IPA Festival. We were blessed with some wonderful weather (sunshine and the sun was all warming and cosy) when we arrived after a train trip from SF. 

 

Pay the entrance, get some tasting tickets and off we go. In total there were 58 beers to choose from and I can assure you the choices were not easy. However, something has to be the first beer of the day (at 11 am!) and I quickly went to get a taste of this years Pliny the Younger. It tasted of course awesome, loads of hops and just a wonderful start of a wonderful day.

 

Tried beers during the festival in order:

1)      Pliny the Younger – world class and definitely top 3 today 9/10

2)      Ballast Point Dorado Double. Nothing special, sweet and not so hoppy 7/10

3)      Highwater Brewing Retribution Imperial IPA. A superb brew, quite a lot of hops in this. 8-9/10

4)      Midnight Sun Brewing XXX Black Double IPA. Chocolate! Nothing extremely special though. 6-7/10

5)      Green Flash Palate Wrecker. Sweetness in the hops, almost like a barleywine. 7-8/10

6)      Firestone Walker Double Jack. A bit of sweetness to the hops, unbelievable nice. Pours down the throat like few others. This is pure world class, I am lucky to get a bottle with me back home J definitely atleast 9/10 and one of todays top 3!

7)      Kern River Citra DIPA. A lot of taste and a wonderful hop character. 9/10. Also on top 3. Most other of the crew had this ranked as number 1, I think I would go for the double jack though J

8)      Sierra Nevada Hoptimum. An ok beer, quite bitterness to it. 7/10

9)      Beach Chalet Dark Passenger Imperial. Well hopped dark IPA. 8/10

10)   Port Brewing Mongo IPA. Sweet, almost barleywine-like, not too much hops in the smell. 7-8/10

11)   Bear Republic Café Racer 15. Lots of hops, a top 5 beer for me. 8-9/10

12)   Auburn Alehouse PU240. Apricots, quite sweet. Nice taste to it though! 8-9/10

13)   Third Street Aleworks 15th Anniversary DIPA. Nothing special 7/10

14)   Bear Republic Racer X. Good, not as good as the Café Racer though. 7/10

15)   Marin Brass Knuckle Imperial IPA. Sweet, almost to a barleywine. Ok. 8/10

16)   Fifty Fifty Rye IPA. Nothing special 6-7/10.

 

That’s all. 16 heavily hopped and strong DIPAs during a few sunny hours. This left the mouth trashed with hops and it was time to go back to SF and have some food. We split up, some went back to the hotels, some went to sleep but me and Emil went up to the Haight for some more niceness. We tried to get some tables at Magnolia but it was all full so we resorted back to Hobsons for a few beers and food. I tried the Fat Tire but that was a mistake after the hop bombs earlier. We then instead had a few glasses of their famous Rum Punches which was a nice thing at that point J

 

Finally we headed to Magnolia and tried a few beers.

1)      Old Thunderpussy

2)      Smokestack Lightning Imperial Stout

3)      Spud Boys IPA – cask

 

At this point of day it was time to leave the beer heaven for a while and get some sleep for the next days wonderful event; the Sour –and Barrelaged combined festival at Triple Rock and Jupiter in Berkeley. More of this in another post!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recap of a random day in San Francisco

First of all, let me say I am really sorry for not updating each day as promised. It has been a very hectic week and I have had limited amount of time to actually sit down and write my reflections. Just wait though, in due time it will all be officially here. I want to start with the last (which of course leaves out the Double IPA festival, the sour/barrelage-sunday, the wonderful Beer n Nosh 7 course-dinner, the insane trip to Russian River and Lagunitas (with the 5 course-dinner and vertical-tastings of awesome brews and even the random beer-day in San Francisco with a vertical of Sculpin; regular, nitro, cask, habanero, or god forgive the meeting with the brewer of Fifty-Fifty Brewing and the signing of the ever-so-sought-after bottles of Eclipse with a golden signature from the brewer. All this will be posted in due tiime).

But to start off this boring post i want to give a recap of a random, cold, rainy but ever so wonderful day of the week. Myself, Peo, Christer and his family (Kristy and little Charlie) decided to start off early with a lunch at Magnolia celebrating the start of their Festival of Firkins(all cask brews). A horrible stormy rain surrounded the town once we wanted to go, and after an interesting bus-tour we managed to get to Magnolia all cold and wet. Christer and family were already seated in the brewery pub and once we got in the wonderful smells of the brewery was the first that hit us. Steam kept coming from the cellar and a warm and fussy feeling surrounded us once we got our first brews. Before i got my first order i managed to taste some of my brothers first cask brew though the Dogfish Head 75 min ipa. I quickly ordered a porter from Marin Brewing on cask, Point Reyes Porter which was nice, smooth and a nice touch of chocolate. We had a bunch of starters and enjoyed a good meal of lunch. I had their burger as main course, and the brews I got through was in no particular order:
1) Dogfish Head 75 min IPA on Cask
2) Marin Brewing Point Reyes Porter on Cask
3) Speakeasy Prohibition ale on Cask
4) Triple Rock IIMAXX Double IPA on Cask - wonderful !
5) Magnolia Promised Land Imperial IPA on regular tap. a bit darker than regular, malty and hoppy.
6) Magnolia Rye Rye Rocco. Strong beer month. was better when it started to cool off and the choco flavours came through
7) Firestone Walker (one of my new fav breweries!) Union Jack Cask. Pretty nice IPA on cask.
8) Magnolia Tweezer - one of the samplers Christer had. a really good belgian triple on strong beer month. Alot of sweet flavours and taste.

Once the lunch and all the tasters ended me and Peo went off to Toronado. At a first glance i was a bit disapointed, as they mostly had Russian River on tap. A variety of different brews and i would take this any day, except the fact that we went to the brewery a few days ago and got most on tap already. So, what to do... We had a bunch of different beers and these are the once i managed to get through (pleaase note that i chose to not drink too many RR :) )
1) Lagunitas Bourbon Double Imperial Stout - ALOT of bourbon flavours, Peo hated it I loved it. This would probably be awesome in a few years when the barrel sinks in and gives the beer a bit more rounded edges. Still a very nice beer though
2) Casey Jones Double IPA. Bitterness from hell. Not too much hops. 
3) Russian River Supplication - ah well, cant get enough of this on tap :)
4) Russian River Damnation batch 23 from 2007. WOW. This oak aged special batch they made as a triple and it is a lot sweeter and leaner than the original. Give me a bottle of this any day and i will buy it!
5) Pliny the Elder (Peo just cant get enough of this and keeps order it despite me telling him not to!)
6) Drakes Hop Salad - i wanted to try this despite not liking it at the opening gala. Unforunately it was still not good, and this is todays worst beer. 

A fun note is that we got the last 2 for free just due to the fact we are from Sweden!

I tried to get a bottle of Dogfish Head Bitches Brew but they were all out of those bottles. Peo got a nice bottle of Abyss to go though.

What to do when in San Francisco at 16.30? Of course head to Citybeer to see whats going on. To my surprise we got in the middle of an event (as usual on Citybeer). This time the wonderful brewery of Ballast Point was the main focus. Peo managed to slip out and i got stuck with a bunch of nice people from San Francisco, Los Angeles and other places. Thanks guys for the fun time. Beers tasted at citybeer (got a few nice bottles to go also)
1) Ballast Point Tounge Buckler - a nice imperial red with dark and sweet flavours. a bit heavy on alcohol in the beginning, but smoothened up once it warmed up. Got the feeling of a barleywine after a while
2) Upright Brewring co "City Beer Blend" - a sour i never tasted (specially made for the beer week as i understood it?). had a nice sourness to it, although i would have prefereed more!
3) Ballast Point Bourbon Barrel Aged Piper Down Scottish Ale from 2008. Barrelaged in Heaven Hill barrels, the brewers gave us this. Just a fantastic wonderful beer, the best sofar today. Insanely good, just too sad this is not available on bottle. Got a regular bottle to go though, expect a tasting back home :)
4) Ballast Point Victory at Sea porter. very good imp porter, lots of vanilla and coco, and of course i had to get a bottle of this also :)
5) Firestone Walker Double Jack - a perfect finish to a perfect day. Time to go get some food and perhaps a few more good brews before the sandman comes to visit. 

Stay tuned for a backtrack in time to recap more wonderful days in the now rainy city of beer. 
(pictures will of course be added later on also)

/michael

Weine invents the hop-scanner

(download)

Two really easy steps to record the hop aroma from, let's just take an example like Sculpin on cask, and then have it in your nose whenever you want. 1) record the hop aroma using the mobile and the HopRecorder(tm) software (coming soon). 2) Replay the aroma and smell it away!
Posterous theme by Cory Watilo