Day 242, August 30 / Gubby's Pale Ale

Gubby's Pale Ale

21st Amendment Brewing Company / San Francisco, CA

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Gubby, Dammit!

Last night I met up with a former co-worker, and decided to track down a 21st Amendment beer in its natural environment, the 21st Amendment Brewery and Restaurant. The brewpub is located in the SOMA (south of Market) area of San Francisco, and has a cool, rustic decor. Lots of exposed beams and bricks, with large portraits of employees (brewers and wait staff) along one wall.

The food was pretty good - your standard selection of salads, sandwiches, burgers and entrees. The French onion soup was good (maybe a little too sweet), and the pot roast with mashed potatoes and root vegetables was also good (but maybe a little too fatty).

Now for the beer. The Gubby's Pale Ale was a nice copper color, with a thin head with nice lacing. It was mildly hoppy (40 IBUs), with a crisp taste. Decent beer, nothing too exceptional.

Tonight... Thirsty Bear!

Day 242, August 30 / Big Daddy IPA

Day 241, August 29, 2011

Big Daddy IPA

Speakeasy Ales and Lagers / San Francisco, CA

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A combination Irish bar, sports bar, piano bar.... and cafeteria!

So I got to my hotel last night, unpacked, struggled with blogging on my iPad for a while, and then went down to the lobby bar to find a local beer. While they had a couple other beers from the bay area, the only San Francisco beer they had was Anchor Steam - for 8 bucks a bottle. Pass. So I headed out to find a bar... and that wasn't too difficult.

Across the street was Lefty O'Doul's - there were people heading in, and music coming out... looked good to me. TV’s were playing the Giants / Cubs game. Irish decor was on the walls. In the front window, a dude was playing piano and taking requests. And along the wall across from the bar is what can only be described as a cafeteria line. Apparently, Lefty's claim to fame is their roasted and carved meats - roast beef, turkey, ham, corned beef -- served until 12 midnight. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to sample it, but I am here for 3 more nights!

Local beers on tap were Anchor Steam, Anchor Liberty Ale and Anchor Porter, plus Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA. I figured I'd save the other 2 Anchor beers for "safety beers", so at the bartender's recommendation, I got a Big Daddy. Good choice! This was a good, fresh IPA, but not an overly hoppy one. In contrast, my second beer was a Deschutes Inversion IPA, which was just a little hopper, but still not as hoppy as the 21st Amendment IPA. I'd say that this is a "sessionable" IPA - I have seen this on the shelves back home in Virginia, and it will be on my "go to" list next year.

While I was sipping my Deschutes IPA, I struck up a conversation with a guy who sat down next to me. As soon as he sat down, the bartender gave him a shot of some dark liquor, and a small glass of beer. Being a curious person, I asked him what the liquor was. He went on to explain the virtues of Frenet , a bitter, herbal, aromatic spirit, made from about 75 different ingredients. It's generally served as a digestive aid after a meal, but is said to also alleviate menstrual discomfort, hangovers and baby colic. The bartender poured me a small sample - whoa! Apparently, San Francisco accounts for 25% of the US consumption of Fernet. I'll give it a try while I'm out here and left you know if it cured my cramps.

Day 240, August 28 / Brew Free or Die IPA

Day 240, August 28, 2011

Brew Free or Die IPA

21st Amendment Brewing Company / San Francisco, CA

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Prelude to a Beer Run

Blogging from 35,000 feet over Pennsylvania (now Ohio) I will be spending the better part of this week in San Francisco, at the annual salesforce.com user conference. So this week, I'll have a chance to combine my beer geekery with my business geekery. And yes, I am officially declaring "geekery" a word.

Each of the 5 days I am in San Francisco this week (Monday thru Friday), I plan to have a beer made in San Francisco (or real close by). Now given the number of breweries and brewpubs in San Fran, this may not seem like a real challenge. The challenge will be fitting them into my schedule.

- I arrive at SFO around 7:30 pm Pacific time. By the time I get my bag and arrive at my hotel it will probably be around 9:30. Hopefully, the hotel bar has something local on tap.

- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are filled with conference sessions during the day, and networking events in the evening. Yeah, "networking" often involves a few adult beverages...but not necessarily of my own choosing.

- And my plane home Friday leaves SFO around 2:30 pm. That means I need to find a unique San Francisco beer before I board the plane.

Yes, I accept the challenge.

I prepared for the San Francisco Beer Run at home last night with a Brew Free or Die IPA from the 21st Amendment Brewing Company. Poured from a colorful can, it was a nice golden straw color. This was definitely on the hoppier end of the IPA scale, evoking a slight bitter beer taste as I sipped it.

So the 21A BFOD IPA is off my list of SF beer candidates, as is original Anchor Steam, which I had earlier this year. I am looking to forward to seeing if I can find some of their varieties that they don't export to Virginia.

Day 239, August 27 / Acme California Pale Ale

Day 239, August 27, 2011

Acme California Pale Ale

North Coast Brewing Company  /  Fort Bragg, CA

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Come on Irene!

Hanging out at the house, waiting to see if Irene packs a punch, hoping she doesn’t, and catching up on Entourage on demand, and the beer blog.

I grabbed an Acme California Pale Ale at the store the other day, the one with the redhead (not the blonde, not the brunette).  As I sipped the beer this afternoon, I did some research on Acme – and there’s quite a history there.  The brewery was in existence from 1906 to 1954.  The North Coast Brewery bought the rights to the Acme brand, has been brewing Acme branded beers, but not the orginal recipes, since 1996.

Both North Coast’s website and Brewery Gems have extensive histories of Acme Brewing on their websites.

Acme California Pale Ale is a pretty straight forward pale ale, milder and less hoppy than most pales.  I’d say it’s a decent, sessionable pale ale, but nothing particulary memorable.

Oh, and one more thing.  With credit to my high school friend PJ, and drinkphilly.com, here’s a map of breweries in the path of Hurricane Irene.  Let’s pray to the beer gods that they don’t sustain any damage!

Day 238, August 26 / Newcastle Werewolf

Day 238, August 26, 2011

Newcastle Werewolf

Caledonian Brewing Co. Ltd.  /  Edinburgh, UK

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Kinda like shellac…

For years, the only Newcastle beer I’ve seen on the shelves was the classic Newcastle Brown Ale.  Now this year, I’ve seen Newcastle Summer Ale and now Newcastle Werewolf “Blood Red” Ale.

I’d call it “reddish”, not blood red.  It looks like Newcastle is positioning this beer as a Halloween seasonal, complete with werewolf claw marks across the label.  This one’s kind of hard to describe – it’s a red ale, brewed with rye, and tastes a bit sweet.  It’s malty, buttery, but not heavy or hoppy.

My advice, for this beer, and in life in general – “avoid the werewolf.”

And 2 points if you can identify the significance of the sub-head of today's post.

Day 237, August 25, 2011 / Exit 4 American Trippel

Day 237, August 25, 2011

Exit 4 American Trippel

Flying Fish Brewing Company  /  Cherry Hill, NJ

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What’s a Trippel?

The name "Tripel" actually comes from part of the brewing process, in which brewers use up to three times the amount of malt than a standard Trappist "Simple" ale.

Tripels are actually notoriously alcoholic, yet the best crafted ones hide this character quite evil-like and deceivingly, making them sipping beers.

Now I didn’t read the description above until after I finished tonight’s beer.  True to form, Flying Fish’s Exit 4 is a high alcohol (9.5%), sweet beer, and I found myself slowly sipping it, mostly because of the sweetness.  And as I type this, I realized that the beer I just drank packed a little punch… hmmm… feeling sleepy….zzzzz

Day 236, August 24 / Hoptober Golden Ale

Day 236, August 24, 2011

Hoptober Golden Ale

New Belgium Brewing Company  /  Fort Collins, CO

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It’s Here!  It’s Here!

New Belgium beers have finally made their way to the DC area.  RFD in downtown DC had a keep-the-glass event on Wednesday to introduce New Belgium beers, and I saw a case full of 22 ounce bomber bottles today at a local Harris Teeter store.

If you’ve been following this blog, or if you’re a fan of craft beer, you know that New Belgium has been what I call a “Holy Grail” beer – beers that people will go to great lengths to find.  As of now, that great length will be about a 3 mile drive to the grocery store!  And New Belgium beer made up my first Beer Run back in January – it seems so long ago!

At RFD, I split a bomber bottle of NB’s Hoptober with a friend.  Despite the name, Hoptoberfest is not a hoppy Octoberfest beer.  Rather, it is a blonde or golden ale, with a lighter, slightly creamy feel and taste.  It’s good, but I would say Victory Summer Love is a bit better in this category.

Day 235, August 23 / Chipotle Ale

Day 235, August 23, 2011

Chipotle Ale

Rogue Brewery  /  Newport, OR

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Whoa!

I'd gone 47 years without having a Chipotle beer, and now I've had two in one month!  Granted, 18 of those years I was not legally allowed to drink, and the next 20 or more of those years Chipotle beers didn't even exist.

Last month it was Sweetwater's Chipotle Porter, and this week I finished up the Rogue's Gallery Beer Run with a Rogue Chipotle Ale.  Obviously, an ale is a bit lighter than a porter, so the mix of flavors was quite different between the two beers.  The Sweetwater Chipotle Porter was a much fuller beer, so the chipotle taste was much more subtle.  The base Rogue Ale was a much more mild pale ale, so the chipotle taste was more prominent.

In fact, I had a bit of a “Whoa” reaction when I had the first sip, but in a good way.  The chipotle taste is front and center, but blends very well with the ale.  I’d recommend picking up a bottle and see what you think.

	Bitterness	Alcohol by Volume	Jeff’s Rating
Saint Rogue Red Ale	44 IBU	5.10%	G
Captain Sig’s Northwestern Ale	80 IBU	6.20%	G
Double Dead Guy	60 IBU	9.00%	P
American Amber Ale	53 IBU	5.60%	VG
Juniper Pale Ale	34 IBU	5.30%	O
Chipotle Ale	35 IBU	5.5%	VG