Category: Brew travel

A’s Beer Report 2013

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Sounds more grandiose that it is.  Actually, just a brief follow-up to last year’s post about the “State of the Taps” at the Coliseum.  Sadly, kind of a mixed bag this year.

You’ll recall my excitement over the new beer booth that took over for the former Pyramid spot.  Well, Pyramid nudged their way back in, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  However, since Lagunitas and Anchor were still both being poured there, that meant less taps for the really interesting stuff, like the Little Sumpin’ Wild Ale I found last year.

So, faced with not quite so many choices, I opted for the Pyramid Curve Ball Blonde, a very nice, serviceable, practical, sturdy, well-made if unremarkable ale.  Fine for sipping on a warm summer day.

For my next beverage, I decided to take a hike.  36,000 of my closest friends decided to show up for the game that day, so to avoid the crush and half-hour beer line, I opted to go upper-deck.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the Lagunitas Dogtown Pale Ale instead of the now-ubiquitous IPA (they say the IPA is the new Sierra Nevada Pale).

Dogtown is quintessential pale — hoppy, crisp, light-bodied in a substantial kind of way, smooth and refreshing, with a snappy finish.  A tremendous beer to sip as the A’s roared back from a 2-0 deficit for a tidy 10-2 victory.

I did notice one other newcomer to the ballpark this year, the result of a recent corporate takeover.  Goose Island is now available, literally joined at the hip with another booth pouring the usual suspects from A-B.  You’d think they’d maybe make it a bit less obvious?

In the State of Sunshine

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Oddly enough, the bartender’s name was Marco. We wondered if that was mandatory?
Oddly enough, the bartender’s name was Marco. We wondered if that was mandatory…

Recently returned from a destination wedding in beautiful Marco Island, Florida.  The wedding was perfect — on a beach, with gorgeous weather and spectacular scenery.  A great time was had by all.

My wife was kind enough to humor me (she always does, bless her) by stopping by the local brewpub — the Marco Island Brewery.  A nice place, if a bit hard to find, kind of tucked away deep inside a strip mall.  At least that means it’s not too touristy.

If you can’t find a bar seat here, you’re not tryin’.  The place has one long u-shaped bar inside, plus another that’s open to the front.  There are also several tables outside, along with plenty of monitors everywhere.  And we lucked out — the two directly in front of us had the Giants and Warriors games on.  Life was good.

As for the beer, well, I’ll just say they worked well in the humid Florida evening.  They brew four of their own, plus they have several more guest taps.  I ordered the sampler, and got pours of their hefeweizen, pilsner, red ale, and IPA.

Liquid sunshine. Doesn’t anyone make liquid shade?
Liquid sunshine. Doesn’t anyone make liquid shade?

To their credit, the beers were served quite cold.  While that may not always be optimum, they do warm quickly in the heat, so the colder the better when they first arrive (sorry, purists).  To be honest, I had a tough time distinguishing between the hefe and the pils, at least until they warmed a bit.  Then the cloviness of the hefe and the graininess of the pils emerged a bit.  Unspectacular overall, but again, nice to pound on a warm day.

The red was just plain odd.  It had a weird sort of maple-y, Capn’ Crunch-y kind of twang on the back end, and really not much else to speak of.  The IPA, however, managed to hit most of the right notes.  Appropriately hoppy, if not too assertive, well-balanced, and finished clean.  The hit of the lineup.

I switched to a guest brew after that, the Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale, out of Atlanta — a little wink to the Waldos back home.  The 420 here refers to the date it was first brewed, April 20, 1997.  It’s a nice pale ale, although the hops are, shall we say, a bit green.  Earlier on the trip I tried the Florida Avenue IPA from Cold Storage Craft Brewery in Tampa.  Another nice, serviceable, hoppy-enough-to-be-good ale.

While this is hardly a sampling of what the Sunshine State has to offer, I was left with the impression that beers were designed for thirst-quenchiness first, and character second.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as a thick, resinous, dank, sticky bomb of a beer might not be the ticket when you’re hanging out in state-sized sauna.

AT&T Park Gets Serious About Ballpark Brews

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I had a chance to catch a Giants game recently, which allowed me to scratch two entries off my “beer bucket list,” as it were.

The Public House recently took over the old Acme Chophouse space at AT&T Park, and although it is a stand-alone restaurant as Acme was, also open on non-game days, it has really upped the ante in terms of ballpark brews.  The tap selection is amazing – 20 total, plus a cask, the majority of which are dedicated to local brews.

The cask ale, which I had, is Billy Sunday Bitter, brewed specifically for Public House by Magnolia Brewing in the Haight.  This is a classic English-style bitter, which just enough hops to sit atop a rich malt backbone.  Served exclusively on cask, it is a smooth and flavorful drink, seamless on the palate.

Although the Public House looks like a great space, on game days it’s a zoo.  It takes patience and fortitude to place your order at the bar.  I’d love to come back when the Giants are away to really enjoy the experience.

a45df-anchorboothAlso new at AT&T Park is Anchor Plaza.  The Plaza consists of an Anchor booth, which has Steam, Liberty Ale, Porter, and Summer Ale on tap, as well as mixed drinks featuring Anchor Distilling’s Junipero Gin.  Other food and drink stands surround the plaza, which has plenty of picnic-style seating to enjoy your purchases.

I ordered the Liberty Ale, which was great as always, but I was a bit disappointed they didn’t have something a bit more unusual available (like maybe something from their new Zymaster Series which, oddly enough, was available at the Public House).  In any event, it’s a nice addition to the park, and since it’s tucked behind the centerfield scoreboard, a less crowded place to pick up provisions for the game.

The Coolest Ballpark Brew Ever?

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The new Anchor/Lagunitas booth at the Oakland Coliseum.
The new Anchor/Lagunitas booth at the Oakland Coliseum.
I’ve been an A’s fan since I can remember being a person.  One of my most valued possessions is a World Champions pennant from the great teams of the ‘70s.  It only has 1972 and 1973 listed.  They hadn’t yet won the ’74 Series.

A must stop whenever I attend an A’s game is the Pyramid Brewing booth.  They would usually have something interesting on tap, although you could never go wrong with their IPA or DPA.  Alas, this year the booth is no more.  However, there’s something possibly even better in its place.

It’s a shared booth now, with Anchor Brewing, Lagunitas Brewing, and some other mega-brewer that doesn’t need mentioning.  In an inspired move, one of the Lagunitas taps is dedicated to a seasonal selection.  Anyone who’s familiar with Lagunitas knows they come up with some rather esoteric seasonal brews, and the offering I had at a recent game may be the coolest beer I’ve ever had at a ballpark.

Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Wild Ale is a variation of their Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale.  They describe the Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ as a summer wheat ale, although with the use of “every hop that begins with the letter ‘C’” it can easily be a Pale Ale.  The Wild Ale varies the recipe by using a Belgian yeast, which gives it a floral, almost perfume-like nose, along with the typical banana and clove flavors found in a lot of Belgian ales.  You can almost call it a Belgian Pale Ale, if there were such a thing, although that oversimplifies things a bit.

Whatever you call it, it’s fantastic, and it’s absolutely amazing to find it at a ballpark.  Kudos to the A’s!

Beer 39, A Welcome Refuge for the Weary Tourist (and Host)

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Photo courtesy of Beer 39's Facebook page.
Photo courtesy of Beer 39’s Facebook page.

So, say you live in the Bay Area and have family visiting from out of state.  And as much as you try avoiding it, inevitably part of the itinerary for their visit involves fighting through a sea of fanny packs and bad hats in one of San Francisco’s many price-gouging tourist traps.

One of the activities we booked for my in-laws’ recent visit was a catamaran cruise on the bay.  Sounds great, except that the cruise embarked from Pier 39.  We left early to be on the safe side, as traffic getting in to the City can be a nightmare.  However, we got there fairly quickly, which meant we had some time to kill before getting on the boat.  Great, nothing more fun than wandering the ubiquitous tchotchke shops and chain restaurants.  (“Look, honey, a Bubba Gumps, just like the movie!”)  One can only look at so many “I Left My ♥ In San Francisco” shirts and Cable Car key chains before one starts to go a bit bonkers.

But as we review the directory to locate the boat dock, I see an oasis — Beer 39.  I cannot believe my eyes.  And best of all, the family humors me and we stop in for a drink and a snack before we set sail.

Beer 39 is a nice blend of tasting bar (they offer several flights, each with a different theme) and paraphernalia shop, selling all sorts of beer-related what-not from shirts to bar ware to games.  Granted, this is not the end-all, be-all of beer destinations, especially in this city.  But it was a very nice surprise, and for a tasting room smack in the middle of one of the biggest tourist spots on Earth, they do a great job of appealing to a lot of tastes.

I settled in with a Big Daddy IPA from San Francisco’s own Speakeasy, and some calamari.  Both hit the spot, and set a nice tone for what was to be a very enjoyable day.  If entertaining guests requires a visit to Pier 39, this is a required stop, for your sanity if nothing else.

Greetings from Reno!

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Every now and then I get a chance to get out of the house.  Whenever I do, I make it a point to seek out the local brews.  That’s yet another charm of craft beers — you can try something different just about anywhere you go.

I was recently in Reno visiting family and I got the chance to sample a few local brews.

Brew Brothers is a brewpub in the El Dorado casino.  They usually offer six of their own brews on tap (no guest taps).  They also had a couple of seasonal selections, which are always my favorite.  These rotating selections usually let the brewers get a little creative and have some fun.  I chose the Cascade Pale Ale, which is their regular Gold Dollar Pale Ale with some extra Cascade hops thrown in.  Light bodied, very crisp, finishes clean, and the extra hops give it a bit more punch.  Nicely done.  A great alternative if you want something a bit lighter than an IPA.

I also enjoy checking out the tap selections whenever I go to sporting events.  The Reno Aces ballpark (the AAA affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks) gets an A+ in this regard.  The Great Basin Ichthyosaur “Icky” IPA is a great brew that hits all the right IPA notes — great hop profile, decent malt backbone to provide balance, medium body, smooth drinking.  A great ballpark brew.

Mammoth Brewing‘s Epic IPA is a robust brew that uses three malts to give it a richness and expansive mouthfeel.  That big of a foundation more than handles the spiciness of the hops.  A solid brew to carry you the late innings. Tip:  they package this beer in cans as well.  I’m not sure where they distribute in the Bay Area, but look for it.