Stalking the Big Beers

Hanger 24 takes the crown at the EPIC 4

2011-06-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

The latest S.O.B.E.R. Group Epic had a little bit of a surprise winner when Hanger 24 Double IPA of Redlands California bested no less than 37 other brews from five different Western States to take the top Gold medal spot.

It was the second consecutive appearance for the three year old brewery (their 3rd Anniversary was June 11th) in an Epic competition but the first time it scored in the medal round of an Epic.

The Silver medal went to Truckee California's 50/50 Brewing's 'Rockslide' IPA and the Bronze to none other than the host of the event Auburn Ale House and their stellar flagship IPA 'Gold Digger'.

There were four judging panels with nine beers each. The top two qualifiers out of each panel would travel to the Best of Show round. Hanger 24 actually finished second in panel three behind Bear Republic Apex IPA but was a unanimous winner with the BOS Panel. Rockslide IPA and Gold Digger IPA both won their initial panels. Both beers from the fourth panel that transferred to the BOS were from Montana. FlatHead Lake IPA from Woods Bay and Carters Brewing IIIPA from Billings. The other two beers to make the final round of eight were Odell IPA and New Belgium Ranger IPA....both from Fort Collins Colorado. Ironically Hanger 24 was the only entry from Southern California in this years Epic.....thanks Mom!

Loomis Basin Brewing Company

2011-03-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

On Thursday March 24th 2011 Loomis Basin Brewing Company (LBB) opened it's tasting room to the Public. On Friday March 25th the misses and I, along with our good friends Bob and Michelle Silva, made our first visit.

Located at 3277 Swetzer Road in Loomis California 95650 the new brewery is the latest venture of seasoned brewer Jim Gowan who has built and worked in several other breweries in the region including most recently the popular Western Pacific Brewing in Oroville.

This time around Jim and his brewery is more of a family affair and includes his son Kenny, and vivacious wife and daughter in law Jodee and Linda whom happily poured our pints and gave us a run-down on their exciting new venture.

The beer board includes no less than seven beers but due to the constraints of time and fermentor space Jim only had two of his beers pouring. The Vindicator IPA and the Swetzer Pale Ale. After our usual three pint sampling session we concluded that the IPA was indeed growler worthy and bought one to take home. The IPA had a slight copper hue to it and was solid in everyway an IPA should be. Floral nose, more hops than malt and a very refreshing drinkability.

I only sampled the Swetzer Pale Ale but found it was crisp and clean and it also seemed to be the most popular beer in the place. I must be slipping because I failed to remember to ask Jim about the ABV and the IBU's of either beer.

Jim told me he had just brewed a batch of his Red Robin Ale that morning and next up was planning to brew a Bitter. His Beer Board also listed Golden Eagle Mandarin Wheat, BuXom Blond Pils and Old Route 40 Stout as future year round offerings.

The tasting room looks like it hold about 30 people or so and is very comfortable and clean with 6 tap handles and a bar that seats 6 or 7.

The tasting room hours are listed as Tuesday thru Saturday from 3:00pm to ?

The beer prices are the best that I know of in out region...$3.50 for a pint!

The growler refills are $12 and a new growler filled with beer is $15.00.

Regulars can also purchase a beer card which can render the price of a pint as low as $3.

Check out their web site to view photo's of construction.

What I really love is that the Hwy 80 corridor in my region now contains three great beer stops. Loomis Basin Brewing, Auburn Ale House and the New Owl Club in Roseville. Despite the economy our local beer scene is looking up and offering some great beers. All highly recommended by this hop traveler.

The Bistro's 11th Annual 2 IPA Festival

2011-02-18T16:05:00.000-08:00

Hayward California...the Bistro...Saturday February 12th 2011 was where and when I needed to be. I can think of no other place on earth....on that day...that I ever more assuredly belonged.

58 Double IPA's, a rare 70+ degree February summer like day, hanging out with my Mom and family and finishing with a spot-on Jimi Hendrix impersonator playing Stevie Ray Vaughn songs.

And oh ya...some mostly pale looking lavishly hoppy beer creations that at times carved out chunks of my palate, and left me masochistically searching for the next one on the menu.

The Beer of the day for me...well...beers of the day were ....uh....did I mention there was 58 Double IPA's listed on the program?

I can, I believe, narrow my favorites down by the amount of beer stains next to the little hand written stars next to the IBU listings.

I should start with Kern River Brewing Citra. Which coincidently was voted The Peoples Choice Award....unseating some little unhearalded triple IPA from Russian River Brewing called Pliny the Younger. The Younger has had a lock on that award for the past several years.

I see that I also have a star next to Lagunitas Fusion and Triple Rock IIMAXX....which doesn't surprise me because I am fans of both breweries.

Hopefully as you read through this you're not still searching and patiently waiting for some cleaver detailed beer descriptions because frankly I've given up trying to take those kinds of notes at this place years ago.

This yearly event just isn't about that for me anymore. I go for the inspirational collection of seasonal hop monsters and the absolute sensory in-your-face hop overload that this festival provides. If you've ever attended...well then you know what I mean.

One of the most important lessons to learn and always remember is to have a really good breakfast before even thinking of showing up. Good advice for any beer fest but doubly important on a day such as this.

OK, OK.... my grand hop memories started clouding my purpose here...which is...um...oh ya... my favorite selections.

Another couple of my personal podium finishers would have to be Drakes Brewing Hop Salad and Bear Republics Cafe Racer 15. According to my records I had multiple samples of these. I do remember going on and on about the Hop Salad during the event to most anyone that would listen. I think I remember at one point some dude that said he was from the midwest kept asking me if I was in the band so finally I said "Yes, ZZTop is going to play next" and he slurred out "No I thought you were Burl Ives".

After that I moved my chair away from the psycho ward and went and got some 21st Amendment Hop Crisis on my way to grab an Auburn Ale House PU240.

I had a lot of help sampling a wide variety of beers as Trog, Doctor Robert, Oralia and the rest of the crew continuely fetched full sampler glasses of whatever entries were catching their eye and sharing them with the group.

According to my list I still only managed to try 32 of the 58 entries.

I know...how pathetic. I will however continue at next years event to find the perfect balance of ...

well balancing... and walking... as well as trying as many of these spectacular hand crafted super Ales as I possibly can. I promise.

Oh..and the official winners were

Gold - Firestone Walker - Double Jack

Silver - Moylans - Moylander XX

Bronze - Drakes - Hopocalypse

Peoples Choice - Kern River Brewing - Citra

Beermen

2011-01-30T16:44:00.000-08:00

It might be the byproduct of having a fairly odd and unusual last name myself but I've always been drawn to and amused by other weird, different and humorous names and titles. Especially sports team mascot names.

I mean who among us are not fans of the 'Farts'.... a Norwegian womans Soccer team that was established in 1934. Or the Belgian Soccer Club 'Beerschot', or closer to home for me the UC Santa Cruz 'Fighting Banana Slugs'. Oh...and I really like that legendary Hockey team from Georgia 'The Macon Whoopee'.

I got another one for the list.....The Philippine Basketball Association (Yes, there is such a thing) San Miguel sponsored 'Beermen'.

Check it out..... I can't wait for my new San Miguel Beermen hat to arrive.

1-1-11 Notes

2011-01-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

It occurred to me this morning that it is only fitting that I start the year off right with a quick look at some on-line beer news. I didn't have to look far to find some interesting information.

Since we're pondering a trip to the San Luis Obispo area for our annual March anniversary brewery tour I figured I'd start with a detailed look at the beer mapping site. Before I even got to looking at any maps I noticed the Beer Mapping folks declared last month that December 17th was to be celebrated as National Growler Day!

Now, as anyone that knows me can attest, I'm all for having a day that promotes filling growlers with beer, but on this one occasion I had to wholeheartedly agree with the comment that was made by the good folks at Ladyface Alehouse & Brasserie in Agoura Hills CA.......that EVERY day is a great opportunity to go and fill growlers with the fresh local beer of your choice.

The very next thing that entered my hollow skull was "Why in the hell have I not already stopped at Ladyface on one of my growler gathering trips to So-Cal?" Well...I really have no worthy excuse and to be honest find it rather useless to even think that I really need one. The best part is .... the next time that we head down The I-5 for San Diego I know where our first stop will be. Checking out their website I see they have a number of interesting hop offerings as well as a few nice guest taps and a bottle list.

OK back to beer mapping and planning for that Southern Coast run that I know will likely begin and end in Paso Robles for Firestone Walker visits.

So as far as I'm concerned 2011 is growler filling year....so get on out there and get ya some Pilgrim.

Terri's Holidaze cookies

2010-12-19T16:09:00.000-08:00

Although I once heard from a fool (although he was not on a hill at the time) that it never rains in sunny California. Today and this week would certainly make that... uh... well... idiot seem even a bit more silly than usual. It's Nor-Cal monsoon... with no let up in sight.

Which of course is perfection in the making when it comes to baking. (Wow....food channel lyrics); or at least a great excuse for having the oven on all day in your kitchen.

Seasonal cookie master Terri choose a prime day to whip up her yearly doughy offerings.

Peanut Blossoms led off the show and when the dust finally settled there were in excess of 22 dozen (Top photo obviously).

A couple of Sierra Nevada Celebrations later the chocolate/butterscotch chip cookies started popping out of the oven at breakneck speeds followed by a healthy dose of something called Noodle Clusters At this point our focus has switched to a growler of Idiot double IPA from Coronado Brewing (How did that thing end up in my fridge?) But the damage is done. 300 cookies and who will sample them? Mine!!!! ha ha all mine!! In reality I'm sure my in house cookie monster will have more than a little to say about that distribution. Go Chiefs!

Epic II HopSoberFest gathering Part 1

2010-12-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

Once again the Gods of beer gathering summoned me from a restless night of sleeping and commanded me to travel about the lands and gather the finest hoppy nectars to be found and share them with the faithful.

Well....actually it was Terri that woke me up one morning and said "Screw all this working....lets go to San Diego and do some brewery hopping" and so we did.

Hopping was the key word and catalyst. Well....that and driving.

With 4 days to spend in San Diego prior to Thanksgiving we waisted no time getting out of Roseville on a Sunday morning....packed and on the road by 5am. First stop was Fullerton and Bootleggers Brewing. After hours of mindless due South driving on I-5 (and a bunch of Joni Mitchell CD's) we finally arrived at Bootleggers front door 10 minutes prior to opening and were the first customers of the day. They had one of their seasonal doubles on called Knuckle Sandwich which was very growler worthy but they refused to sell us any of it. Apparently supplies were low. We grabbed a couple of samples and a growler of their Rye IPA to share on Thanksgiving and jumped back on the road. It was a very frustrating yet efficient stop ....18 minutes.

Our next stop was The Bruery in Placenta just about 5 miles South of Bootleggers. The Bruery is another interesting gem, in a little tucked away commercial zone they had almost a dozen Belgian style beers but only one hoppy beer to sell. It was lite pale called Humulus and was actually quite tasty...but at less than 5% abv wasn't going to hold up to the beers we were looking for. It became another Thanksgiving day treat.

After sharing a pint of the Humulus we were getting hungry and so immediately got back on I-5 and set our sights on San Clemente Pizza Port.

That particular PP (there are 4) is home to the GABF medal winning (or so the sign said) Pseudo IPA which we really enjoyed so we helped ourselves to three growlers of it. The pizza was excellent and we wanted more pints but we were on a mission and tore ourselves away and resumed our Southern traveling in search of the thriving community of Vista.

Vista is home to one of our favorite breweries ...Green Flash...makers of West Coast IPA, Imperial and hopefully a batch of their seasonal Pallete Wrecker. Boy were we disappointed.....they were out of all three. Three empty GF growlers destined to return North with no more than dust in them. Well two anyway....ever aware of Thanksgiving consumption we filled up one growler with their excellent Hop Head Red.

Our mood was a little shaken but our resolve was merely stirred as we made our way East just a few miles to Port Brewing in San Marcos. Now then ...this was more like it....a bustling place (it's housed in the old Stone Brewing facility) full off numerous legends such as Hop 15 and Wipe Out IPA as well as lots of Hoppy and Belgian style seasonals. We grabbed a couple of stools and ordered pints of High Tide and Mongo 2IPA. We could have left with 6 growlers but decided to be a bit more conservative (room in the trunk was limited) and only left with two growlers of the Mongo Double IPA.

Finally our long day was starting to wear on our old bones but we still had one stop to go before heading to our sleeping quarters. That stop is the Disneyland of beer....Stone Brewing in Escondido. The place lived up to it's name and was packed with tourists...well beer tourists...so we fit right in. We sampled a couple of pints including Ruination and a beer from Temecula Brewing called Black Market Rye IPA. Very tasty.

We finally had to surf the crowd in the gift shop to get a couple of growlers of Ruination filled.

Back on the road South to Chula Vista and our home in a little log cabin at the Metro KOA.

DAY TWO:

Twas a bit chillier than usual for San Diego but the weather was fine for November so we set out on our long awaited bicycle ride around San Diego Bay after a breakfast of swine and chicken products. The ride was very interesting with Salt flats, ocean views and all manner of riding surfaces to keep our interest and maintain our motivation. Coronado was particularly interesting to ride through although half the time we just ignored the directions and more or less just aimed for the Coronado Bridge which we knew was near where the 'ferry boat docked'....sorry... all those Joni Mitchell lyrics are still bouncing around in my head. We made it to the Ferry launch just in time to wait for the next one an hour away. So we did just what beer cyclists would do in that situation...we rode off in search of Coronado Brewing to see if they were stocking their double IPA....Idiot...no not you...the beer.

Our hop radar did not let us down and we rode straight to it and verified that indeed they did have the beer we require in stock.

The final 10 miles of the 32 mile ride was the most hair raising...traveling the busy Harbor Blvd just as all the dock workers were getting off work and heading home. But luckily we rode over more of them than they ran into us and we ended the ride with a nice tailwind that had come up late in the day. Riding East when you are near The Specific Ocean is always good.

All that cycling is just what is needed to work up a proper beer thirst and that's just what I had as we headed North towards Ocean Beach. We found the Pizza Port and got lucky to nab a parking spot on the side street right near the entrance.

The Ocean Beach PP is typical of all the other PP's I've been in...lost of surf and ocean motif and a plethora of proper hoppy beers.

Although they didn't have their famed Cho Saiko Double IPA they did have copious amounts of their Jetty IPA which we put the screws to while watching the home town Chargers win their Monday Night NFL game. We walked out carrying 2 growlers of The Jetty IPA for our coffers.

One the way back to the cabin we took the Coronado Bridge exit and made our way to Coronado Brewing. The place was uber busy in the bar so we grabbed a table and ordered a pint of IPA and one pint of Idiot their tasty 2IPA. After sampling the Idiot I gave the beautiful wench my empty growler to fill and also ordered another. Epics require more than one growler.

After sharing a nice apple Cinnamon dessert thing we packed it in and headed 'back to the Cabin' (David Crosby lyrics this time) and found our bunks.

LAGUNITAS ROCKS the 101 CORRIDOR

2010-09-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

Taking a day off work to go trolling for hoppy beers up the gut of Highway 101 is always a good thing but definitely not for the weak livered.

Farmer Bob, Rick, Sheila and myself decided that it would be a good idea to kick Friday work to the Curb and meet that Highway 101 challenge head on. We started in Healdsburg at Bear Republic Brewing Company (home of Racer 5) and found the beer that was in the process of winning a Gold Medal at the GABF. It's name is Ryevalry and it's officially an American-Belgo style double IPA. It drinks lighter than 8.2% abv and seems every bit full of the listed 70 IBU's. We grabbed a growler of it. They also had a single Hop beer called Rebellion that featured all glacier hops...very tasty.

We knew we had a long day ahead of us so we finished off our couple of pints and headed for lunch in Santa Rosa.

Our first stop in Santa Rosa was at the upscale, well upscale for me anyway, looking place called FLAVOR. We stopped in because we heard they served Moonlight Brewing Beers. They did, and we did and then we moved on. If you are looking for Moonlight beers that is definitely the destination for you. Looks like a great place for lunch but we had other aspirations....destinations and expectations .

We were quite hungry so we headed over to this one place in Santa Rosa that has this great pizza...and my favorite one there is even sorta named like me...it's a Mikey and with added jalapeño's it's quite a thin crust delight. Although I am there primarily for the pizza I can never quite pass up a few pints of their pretty decent beers. If I remember right the place is called Russian River Brewing or something like that. Oh ya...we filled 11 growlers there of something called 'Blind Pig IPA' and Pliny the something or other. Anyway...hope that stuff is good....we sure seemed to need a lot of that medicine.

After a fairly lengthy lunch stay in Santa Rosa we finally got back on the road and headed South straight down the gut of 101 until we found the Petaluma offramp where Lagunitas brewing can be found.

One of the most interesting brewing companies in America, Lagunitas also boasts a really cool beer garden and an even cooler sorta private upstairs employee lounge/living room/bar kinda place that we were lucky enough to stumble into and not be thrown out of.

The bar was manned by none other than "Mr Nice Guy" himself Don Chartier a longtime Lagunitas employee who we quickly learned lives up to his nickname and then some. Don welcomed us and offered us spots at the nearly empty bar and asked us what we wanted to drink. We settled on some Hop Stoopid and Maximus and soon noticed that there wasn't even a cash register in the place. Don and his boss (I so wish I could remember the guy's name who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and referred to himself as one of the 'suits') regaled us with stories of undercover Government types and rumors of lame never to be forgotten pot busts. Mr Nice Guy even sent us home with a 6-pack of assorted goodies. I've added Lagunitas to my Xmas list.

By now we were really happy to have our sorta designated driver, a noted beer phiosopher who shall remain nameless and blameless. That driver took us immediately to Novato where we were quick to grab stools at the Moylans Brewing Bar where we naturally ordered copious amounts of Hopsickle...because of course we needed more really big beers at that point in our evening and Hopsickle is one of the biggest. Two more growlers filled, a plate of their excellent spicy chicken appetizer and we were off down the road again with visions of hop cones dancing in our heads..... was that U2 I heard in my dream? At least one of us can remember the chicken and Hopsickle.....right Bob?

Hanger 24 Craft Brewery

2010-09-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

On a trip down to my old stomping grounds over the Labor Day weekend I had the good fortune to hear about (Thanks CP)and visit a little gem of a brewery tucked away at the Redlands Municipal Airport.... not once but twice.

A mere 45 minute drive down the hill from the heart of the Cultural Wasteland this 2+year old brewery already boosts which could quite possibly be the entire Inland Empire's finest collection of craft brews.

It may be only a small, little, tiny coincidence that our visit coincided with the presence of one of their latest 2010 creations. The nearly 9% double IPA produced for this years American Craft Brew Week.

I suggest a visit to their website to see their full line of offerings for I can only tell you here about the Orange Wheat, The Pale Ale, IPA, Double IPA, Chocolate Porter. Oh wait... apparently I did try a few of their standards besides the Double IPA after all.

The Orange Wheat was as refreshing as anyone could dare expect with a big orange nostril bite and a clean unfiltered thirst quenching quality. The Pale Ale boasted a palate full of Amarillo hops and out did the IPA which was a bit too balanced for our weird tastes. Ours being myself and my old buddy Ralph who oddly was later in the weekend destined to embark on an unexpected sojourn into the murky realm of mixed gender martial arts body mass superiority demonstrations. Ya....you're right....don't ask.

But that's another story for some other blog because here we're all about the hops.....or in the case of the Porter.... chocolate.... and lots of it. A great beer for chicks if they'd get over the color of it....beautiful medium mouth feel with coffee and a slight vanilla presence.

So ya... a bunch of great beers.....uh..oh ya....and that West Coast style hop brute Double IPA that makes any trip to that airport well worth the occasional bumpy roads. All my favorite hops are in this baby...Columbus, Amarillo, Simco and Citra which just unleashes serious citrus and tropical fruit aromas. There is a lot going on in this beer.... apparently including some local honey.

The Hanger 24 growlers are unfortunately the expensive dumb kind that are difficult to haul and store but we bit the bullet and ended up walking out of there with four of them.

That was Saturday and on Monday we revisited with more of the Hop Hunter clan and refilled the empties with more excellent goodness for the long road home to Nor-Cal. A full growler rests quietly in my fridge at this very moment......

Now there is good reason to go to Redlands aside from the famous bicycle race.

HOPPIN TO BE PICKED SOON

2010-08-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

The most prolific of the three plants. Cascade. The other two plants are Centennial.

Not sure what the Red in photo 2 is all about...maybe the Cascades are cross breeding with the roses.

Expecting to harvest some cones in a week or so.

2010 Hops

2010-08-18T21:33:00.001-07:00

Rye IPA's

2010-06-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lately I've noticed a trend of more and more brewers experimenting with Rye in their ales and particularly in their IPA's. I find this trend most enjoyable and tasty.

Within the past year or so I have had the good fortune to stumble across a nice list of Rye's in bottles and in breweries I've visited.

Bear Republic - Hop Rod Rye......OK, OK I know.... this workhorse has been around a while and fortunately has become really easy to find. Available now in 4-packs as well as in the traditional 22oz bombers. A great 18% rye/80 IBU hop monster that is an all-time favorite in the garage fridge.

Alpine - Nelson .... This gem is yet another masterpiece from Pat McIlhenney's little mountain brewery East of San Diego. Brewed with Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand it appears impossibly light in color and equally as impossibly hoppy and smooth. I prefer the tap and growlered versions but the bottled version can be pretty darn good as well although perhaps a bit heavier if not fresh. An almost too delicate a beer for bottling.

Auburn Ale House - Rye Not? ..... This Remarkably refreshing Pale Ale has it's roots in an old recipe that I remember traveling to obtain for several years before Elk Grove Brewing closed it's doors. Brewmaster Brian Ford and Brewer Bill came up with another fantastically drinkable ale that frankly I hope will be a yearly seasonal in their lineup.

AAH also just released another Rye called Rye-Nocerous to mark their Third Anniversary. A bigger beer than the Rye Not it reportedly boasts a grain bill of over 30% rye....more than I've ever heard of in a rye recipe. It also has a huge hop flavor that meshes with the smooth crisp characteristics of the Rye perfectly. Slightly sweet with just mild carbonation. I believe it is still currently on tap in Auburn and I hope to get some more before it runs dry.

Bootleggers Brewing - Rustic Rye IPA .... this little Fullerton brewery brews and bottle one of the best of the bunch. I visited this hole in the wall Industrial Park location last year and was blown away by all their beers but predictably fell in love with their Rustic. They claim it's 85 IBU's...which seems a bit high considering the great balance of Rye and hops. I also just found it in Orange CA at Hollingshead Deli in 22oz bottles. If you are in Southern LA Basin and Orange County you should be able to find it

Ale Industries - Ryed Piper..... I found this inspirational rye beauty at the West Coast Brew Fest in early May. The brewer was himself pouring, and with a smirk, told me that there was merely 5.6% rye in the beer..... After I expressed my amazement he explained that they pulverized the rye which they felt extracted every bit of rye flavor without the inevitable gumming clean-up factor that most rye brews leave in their wake. I actually know very little about this brewery in Concord CA...but of course I plan to rectify that situation in the very near future.

Sequoia Brewing - Rye IPA..... I completely stumbled upon this beer like I always do.....stopping in Fresno on one of our trips down South to visit the parents in the Mojave Desert Cultural Wasteland. I always look forward to brewer Kevin Cox's seasonal creations and this year I was just so stoked I think my grin may have tripped Terri on her way in the door. I was really glad that I remembered a growler so I could bring a sample for my good buddies to try down that way. I'm sure they will comment here so you can see how great and drinkable this hoppy crisp Rye truly is.

OK...well...I guess that's all the rye I can think of at the moment. Kinda makes me feel like going to get a Reuben sandwich or some Pastrami or something. Maybe I can get Rick to drive me to Fresno for lunch tomorrow....it's only 3 hours away and the rye bread sandwiches must be as good as the beer right? Ya.....dream on.

FIRST STREET ALE HOUSE - A LIVERMORE GEM

2010-06-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

Traveling to Livermore California last weekend I looked forward to making my usual appearance at The First Street Ale House located at 2106 First Street in downtown. My last visit was in February so it was my first look since they finished their move into the more spacious building right next door. I was a little worried that the new place wouldn't have the great pub feel of the original but I needn't have worried.

Despite the fact that the place seemed to have quadrupled in size I still felt immediately comfortable...and of course thirsty. The bigger building also brought with it more tap handles...24 in all now I believe.

The Ale House has always had a nice eclectic mix of local and regional craft brew favorites along with excellent imports like Paulaner Hefewizen and Spaten Franziskaner. The day's line up when I was there included the Paulaner... two wheat beers from Pyramid, North Coast Skrimshaw Pilsner, Alaskan Amber, Stone Brewing IPA, Deschutes Black Butte Porter, Snowshoe Grizzley Brown, Snowshoe Stout, North Coast Old Rasputin, Russian River Pliny the Elder, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid and Port Brewings Wipeout IPA. If memory serves me well, which it rarely does anymore, I believe they also had an Anchor Brewing Beer, PBR and Woodchuck Pear Cider among others.

The beautiful thing is FSAH is on the 'A' list of pubs and always brings in the finest seasonals from all around Northern California and beyond. It's always a good time to check out the taps on First Street...you never know what you might find. Last year I just missed the tapping of one of their Russian River Pliny the Younger kegs.

The extensive pug menu is stellar as well and will keep your stomach happy after your fourth or fifth pint makes you wobbly...er I mean...your second pint.... and remember always drink responsibly....give some to me for safe keeping.

West Coast Brew Fest

2010-05-18T20:01:00.001-07:00

I noticed in my beer notes that last Saturday marked the 6th consecutive year that I have attended the West Coast Brew Fest in Miller Park. I believe I read that the now iconic yearly event made it's start back at the turn of the century. The tree lined setting along the Sacramento River is one of the reasons I always come back...well....that and of course the beers.

This year was no exception. Although the number of breweries seemed to decline a bit from years previous (I would blame the recession and the fact that the Raley Field Beer Fest was held the evening prior) the quality of the beer was just as stellar as ever. I'm not going to list them all here...they have a website for that purpose. I will merely focus on the beers that stood out for me....in no particular order.

Rye'd Piper - Ale Industries is a new brewery out of Concord that just blew me away with their 5.8% hoppy Rye beer. Reminiscent of a lighter version of Bear Republic's Hop Rod Rye....co-brewer Stephen Lopas explained to me that they only 5.7% Rye but virtually pulverized it to get that big rye flavor.

Scarlet Harlot - Auburn Ale House. I've had this brew in Auburn at the source but when I seen it at the AAH booth I had to have some more. A very interesting and unusual red that is dominated by roasted malt, Simco hops and a beautiful dry finish.

Old Wire - Dust Bowl Brewing Company is another new California brewery. Located in Turlock CA they have only been in business since 2009. I was originally drawn over for their Hops of Wrath IPA but left with a better opinion of their Old Wire Pale Ale. Very fruity, light and perfect for this day out in the sun. Interestingly Brewmaster Don Oliver won the 2006 Samuel Adams Long Shot Award for his Old Ale.

Southern Harvest - Sierra Nevada's now yearly fresh hop ale made exclusively from New Zealand Hops. A spring favorite that seems to have raised the standard again this year. Very drinkable SN classic, balanced with a nice snappy hop spiciness.

Maibock - Primator. This genuine Czech Republic Maibock just hit the spot perfectly after a few hours of hoppy beers. That unique Maibock Grain profile was like the desert following a long lingering meal.

Anyway...that was few of the beers that stood out for me. Of course there were plenty of others like the AAH Gold Digger IPA and Deschutes Hop Henge...but mainly the hot late spring day was an occasion for the lighter beers. Long Board Lager and Sudwerks Pilsner were nice finds as well. Thanks to Dwight and the boys for once again putting on a great event. I suspect next year I will be making it a lucky seven in a row.

Mothers Day is for Killing Budweiser

2010-05-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

What better way to spend Mothers Day than taking your mother out to shoot the new 20 gauge shotgun she got for Christmas? Which is exactly what my kids did on Sunday May 9th. In fact the new Mossberg was merely one of the firearms that we used to kill off a 30-pack of The King of targets...er...uh.... I mean beer. In the mix was also a .22 semi-auto, a couple of 9mm's, a .38 special, one .357 magnum and one Super BlackHawk hog leg....or as Dirty Harry liked to call it " a .44 Magnum that can blow your head clean off.

Fortunately on this day we were safe in the woods of Foresthill and there was nary a bad guy to be found. We were happy with three paper targets and the ooh's and aah's of the nicely exploding yellow fizzy beer can geysers.

Not only was it Terri's first go around with the shotgun that my Dad gave to her just a couple weeks before he passed on; it was Oralia's first time every discharging a firearm. As you can see both ladies were eager to put some lead downrange. Here are a few of the great photos that Rick took that day.

Maybe if he's feeling generous he might add the link to the more than 100 photos he took.

And Just in case anyone is wondering...no beer was consumed prior to...or during the firing of the weapons despite the fact that the target area reeked of a college frat party. Oh I see Terri's photo made the line-up twice....well...she deserves it..it is mothers day after all..... I must also give many thanks to Breann's Mom Cina as well... after the shooting and all the rain that stopped it she and Jim still let us in the house and fed us a nice dinner and put up with our antics. Definitely one of the better Mothers Day's I've had this year.

Odonata Brewing

2010-04-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

I learned recently that Odonata Beer Co. was set to unleash it's long awaited Saison on the thirsty Northern California Beer Community.

Sacramento's newest brewery unveiled their Belgian Farm House Style Saison at The Shack at 5201 Folsom Blvd (near 52nd street) last night... Friday April 30th.

Opening night pints were going for $3.50.

They also had T-shirts, work shirts and cool Odonata glasses for sale.

And how about the beer? My word it was excellent. Classic Belgian Farm House style, unfiltered goodness with the complexity of three beers poured into one.

Destined to become a food pairing favorite with discriminating chefs everywhere.

Soon you will be finding this beer in everyone's refrigerators and in proper beer establishments from Sacramento to the Bay Area.

Additional release parties are also in the works and include....

5-06-10 - Pangaea - 2743 Franklin Blvd, Sacramento CA

5-07-10 - Samuel Horne - 719 Sutter St, Folsom CA

5-13-10 - The New Owl Club - 111 Church St, Roseville CA

5-14-10 - Raley Field Beer festival - West Sacramento

Highly recommended.

Alpine Duet out-duels IPA Legends

2010-03-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

Saturday night March 6th my hop world seemed to stand still for a moment when 'beer cellar boy for a day' Rick Sellers (no relation) announced the final Best of Show results for the first annual S.O.B.E.R.* Group Epic IPA tasting. Alpine Brewing's Duet stood alone above all the rest of the field. A field that included the Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of beer legend... Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger of Russian River fame .

To be honest and fair I must admit that any one of a half dozen of the beers collected could have been the winner, the offerings gathered for this event were that awe inspiring......and in reality the true winners were the folks that answered the call to attend.

Due to the number of beers involved Mark 'The Beer Geek' Zahn and I decided to split them up into single IPA and Double/Triple IPA categories. We utilized Marks modified 50 point judging system that only included four factors....Aroma, flavor, mouth feel and overall impression.

The Beers are listed in their finishing order: (The finishing order was revised a bit after a review of the data in a less blurry environment a couple days after the evening in question. But like I said....we're splinting hairs on a lot of these beers......the scoring was close and the top five or six in each category could have been a medal winner)

Single IPA

1. Duet - Alpine Brewing Company (Alpine CA)

2. Blind Pig - Russian River Brewing (Santa Rosa, CA)

3. Gold Digger IPA - Auburn Ale House (Auburn CA)

4. Sculpin - Ballast Point (San Diego CA)

5. Derek's IPA - Darek Smith (Home Brew)

6. Ichthyosaur IPA - Great Basin (Sparks NV)

7. RR IPA - Russian River

8. O'brien's IPA - Alpine Brewing

9. Nelson - Alpine Brewing

10. Rockslide IPA - Fifty/Fifty Brewing (Truckee, CA)

2IPA

1. Pliny The Younger - Russian River

2. Hop Sauce - Rubicon Brewing (Sacramento CA)

3. Bad Boy - Alpine

4. Uber Hoppy - Valley Brewing (Stockton CA)

5. Pliny The Elder - Russian River

6. Exponential Hoppiness - Alpine

7. PU240 - Auburn Ale House

8. Imperial - Green Flash (Vista CA). (An older growler sample, should have been excluded)

BEST of SHOW

1. Duet

2. Bad Boy

3. Pliny the Younger

The beers we choose were all personal favorites but still had everything to do with their seasonal availability. I was lucky enough to have a friend gather me 2 growlers of Pliny the Younger on that mad day in Santa Rosa (See previous blog entry). A few days later I learned from the Alpine Brewing Newsletter that their double IPA Bad Boy was coming out and going to be available just a week prior to the release their triple IPA Exponential Hoppiness.

An email to Alpine Brewer Pat McIlhenney confirmed my suspicions that both those beers would be available for a couple of overlapping days in mid February. In addition their Duet, O'Brien's IPA and Nelson were all also in stock at the brewery for growler fills.

Spurred on by a drunken evening at our local Owl Club with good buddy Bob Silva a plan was loosely hatched. We just HAD to have these beers for scientific testing purposes.

The wheels and deals were set in motion.

The Alpine growlers were going to be the key to the entire operation so naturally I immediately called up my old buddy Ralph...who fortunately lives a mere 2.5 hour drive from the Alpine Brewery and has 12 empty Alpine growers just sitting patiently on his garage shelves. Not enough for a proper growler expedition but a good start none the less.

After some quick math I figured we needed 20 full Alpine growlers in Roseville for the event.

Ralph set out two days later and secured 23 growlers of Alpine goodness (as well as some Sculpin from a quick Ballast Point stop)and now we were truly committed to the event both mentally and financially.

While Ralph kept the growlers on ice in So-Cal we went to work gathering the remaining items.

We begged a gallon of the Hop Sauce from brewer Scott Cramlet at Rubicon Brewing. Sponsored a ten growler weekday run to Russian River for their IPA's and used a going away party excuse to fill four growlers of Auburn Ale House Gold Digger IPA on a Tuesday evening.

The Uber Hoppy amazingly became available from our favorite local Beach Hut Deli in the 11th hour (thanks Nick). And kudos to the Frosts for making the trip across the mountains for the Great Basin and Fifty/Fifty growlers. New friend Derek Smith secretly supplied his home brew twenty minutes before the blind tasting began and also made the weekday RR run for us.

Of course there is a great many other big hoppy beers from San Diego and Northern California that we could have, should have and would have added to the mix but we gladly saved those for the next Epic event. There are always more comparisons and evaluations that must be done....In the name of science of course.

Seasonal availability and travel scenarios will likely dictate the next round as well. I would love to include another out of town brewery into the mix.....a little place called Walking Man from Stevenson Washington....another long time hoppy favorite of mine that I never get nearly enough of.

Special thanks must go out to my Mom for her great company and automobile that brought the Alpine and Ballast Point products North. To Ralph for making it all all a possible and remembering to add the Nelson to the list. To Rick and Bob for manning the cellar. And to Pat McIlhenney at Alpine who always responded to my emails so that we could finally include the Alpine beers in a head to head event with Russian River. And to Vinnie at RR for his state of the art hop legends. And of course Scott at Rubicon for allowing some Hop Sauce to leave Sacramento, and to Brian Ford for all that he always does for us and our local beer scene.

A big tip of the hop cap has to go out to foodies Tracy, Lisa, Jose and Todd for keeping our hunger at bay. Those jalapeno creations were particularly outstanding. And especially to all my friends (or people that somehow manage to put up with me) for attending and making it all great times.

So ya... I'm extremely fortunate that I have 30+ interested and beer knowledgeable friends to gather up and put on such a fun event. Friends that include commercial and home brewers, BJCP beer judges/writers and dedicated beer enthusiasts. I recommend that you make the effort to pick a beer style..... or a particular regions or breweries or whatever criteria that appeals to you and create your own Saturday night showdown. Because in the end with or without all the fancy names and titles all you really need are beer enthusiasts, a rough plan and of course good craft beers to evaluate and enjoy. The road trips for beer collecting should never be underestimated either and can easily be as much fun as the event itself.

Personally I can't wait to do it all again.

(*Sierra Organization of Beer Enthusiast Recruiters)

Pliny the Younger

2010-02-21T08:29:00.000-08:00

Considering the amount of time that Russian River's Pliny the Younger spends on tap I believe it to be aptly named. Nobody is getting old waiting for any keg of "The Younger" to become an empty casualty of thirsty hop heads dreams. This years batch proved that theory in the extreme.
I had entertained ideas of taking a day off of work on Friday February 6th to be present for the release of Vinnie's greatest Hop creation at the brewery/pub in Santa Rosa but after hearing the reports of people who were there I was happy to instead be slaving away in my fishbowl cubicle in Roseville.
The past few years the Younger's first appearance was always at The Bistro Double IPA Fest in Hayward. For some reason Vinnie and Natalie decided to mix things up and do a release party the day prior. My assumption was that the $36 price tag to fill a growler was to discourage a massive exodus of Younger from the Pub thus keeping the popular beer available on site for as long as possible.
It didn't work. The line of people and growlers twisted halfway down the block and the pub ran out of Younger that same day. I know several people that were eyewitnesses to the madness and they all told the same stories of over crowding, long waits for a beer and standing in lines.
Fortunately for me a thoughtful friend offered to take my growlers along with him that day and I scored two growlers without having to battle the thirsty hordes.
I wish I had a dozen.
The following weekend I was back in the East Bay and hoping that I would get lucky enough to find some Younger still on tap somewhere. (admittedly I did manage a three ounce sample at the Bistro 2IPA fest)
The first story I heard was The Dublin Sports Pub tapped a keg that lasted the last 4 business hours of one day and was drained the next day before closing.
My next clue came from a text message ....a keg at Toronado barely lasted a half and hour.
We stopped by 1st Street Ale House in Livermore. They had a keg but it didn't make it throught two business days.
Oh my this beer is popular. Not a bad problem to have if your in business to sell beer....and Vinnie has this problem big time. He can't make enough beer to satisfy the demand.
We finally did track some Younger down at the HopYard in San Ramon.
I got to do a head to head tasting with Blind Pig, Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger. What a treat. And we returned the next day to repeat the dream line up.
I know by the time I write this the Younger is long gone from most everywhere.
Obviously it's a fabulous creation and I highly recommend it...er I mean...no dammit...it sucks...you don't want it.... avoid it at all costs...it's too hoppy and expensive for you.
Please leavve the heavy lifting to me.....I'm a professional. Do not try this at home....images in your mirror are larger than they appear.......

Finally a really Super Bowl/Dublin Sports Pub

2010-02-15T17:25:00.000-08:00

Like most Americans I've been watching the Super Bowl for a great many years and frankly the game is more often than not anything but Super. This year was a welcomed exception. Both teams went deep into the regular season undefeated and were worthy franchises with exceptional and likable quarterbacks bent on carrying their respective teams to that elusive and highly coveted Super Bowl Title. You all know the story's....including the New Orleans Katrina angle and Peyton Manning growing up with a father struggling thru a frustrating career with one of the leagues sorriest teams in N'olins. OK ya....all that was cool ....and The Saints winning was just even more icing on the Cake.

Scheduling The Bistro's Double IPA festival on Super Bowl weekend was in on one hand brilliant and on another just freakin insane. I really have to give a shout out to my liver for carrying me through the entire affair....including a weekend that actually started on Friday with an afternoon spent on the back patio of Livermore's First Street Ale House drinking Paulaner Hefeweizen, Pliny the Elder and Old Rasputin.

Still recovering from the epic Imperial IPA event on Saturday we started a bit slowly on Sunday. We actually waited until nearly 2pm to have our first brew. We planned to watch the event from the friendly confines of The Dublin Sports Pub so we figured since we couldn't seem to get a proper reservation we better just show up early and see what we could get. Good thing we did because that place was rockin.

With something in the neighborhood of 50 taps, a full menu and too many to count flat screen TV's the PSP seemed like just the spot for the 12 of us. Did I mention they had 7 IPA's on tap?

We started off a bit slow but soon Rick was got hip to the beer bongs...ordering several of Russian River Blind Pig and Green Flash West Coast IPA. The bongs hold 11 pints of beer but they weren't lasting too long at our thirsty table.
I also squeezed in a blackened cajun chicken sandwich that was outstanding. My Mom had a French Dip sandwich that looked very tasty and when she offered me half of it I really had to dig deep into my resolve to decline it. After all there were plenty more pints on my schedule that were just not going to drink themselves.
My beverage of the weekend was the North Coast Old Rasputin on the nitro tap. Remarkable beer...so smooth, tasty, easy drinking and utterly dangerous in the 10% abv range.
The whole Dublin/Pleasanton/San Ramon/Livermore area has several excellent craft Brew pubs and the Dublin Sports Pub is certainly near the top of the list. Highly recommended.

10th Annual Double IPA Fest

2010-02-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

For the 10th year in a row The Bistro owner Vic Kralj closed the streets of Hayward California to bring thirsty Northern California Hop Heads a powerful collection of the elixirs they crave. Well, OK actually it's only one street but if you were there you know what an unparalleled and astonishing street it can be.

No less than 58 Imperial IPA's from across the land kicking off the second annual San Francisco Beer Week.

The announced winners, from the so called 'Professional Judging' (who are these guys anyway?)

Gold Medal - Pizza Port - Welcome Back Wipeout

Silver Medal - Rubicon - Hop Sauce

Bronze Medal - Triple Rock - IIMAXX Imperial IPA

Peoples choice Award - Russian River - Pliny the Younger

The three winners scored high marks on my sip card and all finished in my top ten. I must admit to being especially happy to see Scott from Rubicon get some recognition for his excellent revamped Hop Sauce recipe. We've been making regular pilgrimages lately down to Capital and 20th Street in Sacramento ever since it was released.

Reviewing my own abused judging sheet from the event I find that I have notes from everything I tried and of course my own list of favorites.

The Hop Hunters Bistro Imperial IPA winners list if you will. (I know it's a time of the Winter Olympics and all but I will dispense with the Medal ceremony and just list them alphabetically and roughly as I scored them).

Top Group

21st Amendment - Hop Crisis - I look forward to this beer every year. Clean..perfectly unbalanced with excellent Hop flavors and aroma.

Bear Republic - 11 - A favorite brewery of mine... I didn't get around to sampling the 11 until my 21st sample and still it earned the star of superior recognition.

Breakwater Brewing - Mavericks DIPA - All I know is that BWB is from Oceanside, undoubtedly on my list to visit on my next San Diego trip.

Green Flash - Pallet Wrecker - Another yearly favorite of mine. Properly named and even stands out in this group.

Kern River - Kern River Double - I like their 'Just Outstanding IPA' and their Double carries on that tradition. Excellent....I actually sampled it three separate occasions.

Port Brewing - Mongo IPA - My only comment was my star of excellence and 'nice' ...but I went back twice so that's a clue. I preferred it slightly to it's gold medal winning brother.

Rubicon - Hop Sauce - Once again ... just excellent.... a Sacramento treasure.

Group Two

Drakes - Hopocalypse

Fat Heads - Hop Juju - One of the best from our Eastern friends (Cleveland).

Moylans - Hopsickle Imperial XXX IPA - Always a favorite

Pizza Port - Welcome Back Wipeout - Very good...love to have this at my local pub.

Speakeasy - Speakeasy IIIPA - Solid offering

Triple Rock - IIMAXX Imperial IPA - Could be in the first group. Another yearly favorite.

Honorable Mentions:

Auburn AleHouse - PU240 - I list this because I know this to be a great beer from a gifted local brewer despite the fact that the keg at the Bistro seemed to be possibly mishandled and poured uncharacteristically cloudy and just weird.

Bear Republic - Five Zero

Deschutes - Hop Henge - Always recommended

Firestone Walker - Double Jack - Ditto

Lagunitas - Hop Stupid - Another staple in my fridge

Mad River Brewing - Steelhead Double

Russian River - Pliny the Elder - Truly the Elder in every sense

Strange and/or not favored:

Anderson Valley - 20th Anniversary Imp IPA - No

Blue Frog - The Big DIPA #3 - Good brewery generally just never been a fan of the DIPA

Flying Dog - Double Dog - Prefer the bottle version

Glacier Brewhouse - Double IPA - Unremarkable
Grand Teton - Lost Continent - More malt but where's the hops?

Lagunitas - Hop Porno - Love the name ... but too sweet.

Magnolia - Promised Land IPA - Not the correct name

Marin - White Knuckle - Unremarkable ... bottle version superior

New Belgium - Ranger IPA - No business being in this event.

Ninkasi - Tricerahops Double - Weird

Seabright - Double Wipe - Single Wide?

ShipYard - XXXXIPA - No Way.

Sierra Nevada - Hoptimum - Love the brewery...too much malt in this offering

Valley - Uberhoppy - Usually a favorite ... not this year

Widmer - Dead Lift - Just wrong.....My comment was censored.

Of course there were other beers I failed to mention, and I'm sure opinions will vary greatly from mine but that's half the fun. Of course a lot of the fun for me this year was being at the event with family and friends, including the new faces of my Mom Lola and her driver Hoke, er uh ... I mean Ralph (an over due returnee to the event) and my sister J.D. and her husband Dan. Of course Zack, Oralia and Kevin made their yearly appearance as did Rick and Tracy who got put to work pouring. The price they paid for being special and world famous beer folks.

At an event of this magnitude there just isn't a bad seat in the house.

Thanks to my sons

2010-02-14T08:33:00.000-08:00

Although I know all four of my regular readers are used to annoyingly long pauses in my postings......this time I have a legitimate reason for it. My computer has been down and out. Fortunately for me I have a couple of whiz kids that have helped me get back up and running again. Cody helped with some RAM increase and a much overdue cleaning. Zack wiped the hard drive, upgraded the video card and installed Windows 7.
So now once again I can charge along in my usual inconsistently and haphazardly way forgetting to report on interesting beer events and botching others with my weird, confusing and brief descriptions and tales. Ahhhhh......the good old days.
Kidding never aside I do have a few new events to report. So look for them as time goes on... maybe geologic time....but time none the less.
There is the Bistro Double IPA Event, Mom's Superbowl party, and the Pliny the Younger release. Not to mention Sacramento Beer week and Odonata Brewing.

Bootleggers Brewery

2010-01-26T18:12:00.000-08:00

Far far South of our home in Northern California there is a land widely known as the OC...and neatly tucked away in this land is a brewery with the obvious yet clever name of Bootleggers Brewery. Despite it's location smack dab in the middle of this massive swath of humanity BB is a bit off the well beaten path behind some old neighborhoods in a small industrial park backed up against the metro tracks.

Finding it wasn't that difficult.... it's just one of those breweries that you can barely believe really exists where you are nonetheless expecting to find it.

It's also one of those little gems of a place you are just happy as hell you spent the time and made the effort to seek out. Brewer/Owner Aaron Barkenhagen was on hand when we arrived and patiently answered all of my typical beer geek questions while patiently supplying us with an endless supply of tasty 2oz samples. My first sample from their extensive lineup was their Old World Hefeweizen which utilized traditional Bavarian yeast strains and just oozed clove and banana attributes. I immediately started my shopping by setting aside three 22oz bottles for the trip home. Next up was Golden Chaos a Belgian style Golden Ale ..... a nice crisp representation of the style and I couldn't stop with one sample.

I tried the Palomino American Pale Ale next. Once again...very well done version of a standard style .....and like all their beers I tried...very well crafted...fresh crisp and tasty.

I was already growing tired of the 2oz sample limitation but Aaron explained to me that in a couple of weeks their licence was scheduled to be adapted to allow full pint pours.

Due to the Brewery rapidly filling up with happy local patrons and their empty growlers I was unable to learn the name of the Plum beer they were all of a sudden sharing from their cold storage..but I did manage a taste and it was excellent. Obviously another Belgian style...most likely a double.....big and hearty with perfect Plum undertones and a controlled sweetness.

Perhaps the most interesting beer on the menu was the Black Phoenix.... a coffee and Chipotle Stout! The chipotle came through late in the finish and added a delightful little smokey kick.

Of course the entire time I was running through the house samples my beautiful wife Terri was jumping back and forth between their two Ipa's on tap.....trying to figure out which one to put in growlers for the trip home.

Her eventual favorite, as well as mine and daughter in law Oralia's, was a contract brew they did called Director's Cut IPA. I never learned who they brewed it for but I soon just humorously assumed it was for our visit and had them fill us up three growlers. The aroma told tales of Simco and Amarillo and Brewer Aaron assured me there was also some Columbus hops in there somewhere as well. Light in color and body it had a bit of a grassy finish but was just what the doctor ordered.

The other IPA was the one I'd read about and eventually got me radared in on Bootleggers in the first place... Rustic Rye IPA. The Rustic offered a more balanced and maltier profile than the Director's Cut .... finishing clean with a very pleasing hop and rye interplay. I added some bottles to my growing shopping cart.

Bootleggers also offers an German Alt style beer called Amber that I somehow failed to try. As well as a few other seasonals that you'll just have to show up to sample.

If you happen to live in Orange County, Fullerton, or the greater LA/So-Cal area you owe yourself a visit to 401 S. Richmond Avenue, Fullerton CA 92832. They even offer a growler club deal. Fill five growlers and the sixth one comes for just a buck.

Be there....or just go thirsty.

A fun tribute

2010-01-15T21:39:00.001-08:00

The evening of my fathers Memorial Service I decided that we really needed to do some kind of tribute to the old man. One befitting the ole gun slingers love of all things guns. A tribute aside from our consistent daily attempts at filling an entire recycle trash can with green and brown 12 oz containers.

The first couple of nights in town I slept in his gun room and every morning the first thing I'd see when I woke up (well, besides my beautiful bride of course) was an old can of black powder sitting on his book shelf next to one of his quick draw trophies and an old bayonet that he must have picked up at some gun show or found out in the desert.

At dusk I grabbed that can off the shelf...found his stash of other reloading powder to use for a fuse and set out to make a mushroom cloud in the street in front of the house. The fuse material proved to be a bit slower burning than I'd anticipated but that turned out to be a good thing as camera operators and the saluting toasts of the bystanders weren't quite as ready as they thought they were. We also burned up a few boxes of some old sparklers I found whilst looking for his powder supply. Judging by the age of the sparklers I think the old man must have gotten them from Poncho Villa.
After much anticipation the half pound conical tower of black powder did it's thing, mildly surprised a few skeptics and bringing a smile to everyone's face.

"That's gonna leave a mark" which just like my Dad ..... was an understatement.

Here's to you Dad

2010-01-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

On the first day of the year 2010 my Father, Chuck Lybarger, passed away in his own home ... in his own bed. He succeeded in his ardent desire to die at home and not in some hospital bed. He was 138 days shy of his 79th birthday.

Technically speaking Chuck was my step-father and I only mention that to explain the difference in our last names. Other wise it was never an issue. Considering that he became my Dad when I was just five days past my fourth birthday it's easy to understand why.

That's not to say we always saw eye to eye and got along well .... in my teenage years and early adult life we were always at odds and tended to avoid each other. Despite our animosity and feuds I'm proud to say neither of us ever brought up our lack of matching DNA, not once ... ever. Sometimes it seemed it was the only thing we got right between us.

In my Little League years we actually got along famously..... he always made sure I had the best glove on the team and despite his lack of history playing sports always had time to play some catch with me, especially if I had a game to warm up for.

As I related during his memorial service on January 6th the only thing he ever held against me (and supposedly wouldn't forgive me for) was the fact that I hit my first Little League home run in the one and only game he ever missed. He joked and chided me about that until his last days.

I was also the first kid in my neighborhood to get a 10-speed bike that possessed some contraption called a derailleur that made the gears change. He spent nearly a half weeks wages putting that French bicycle under the Christmas tree for me.

So ya...he was a very generous and giving soul that truly enjoyed surprising his loved ones, going above and beyond the expected and making them happy. His yearly Christmas gifts to my Mother are legendary.

I realize now how unfortunate it was that he was never quite as generous with himself throughout his life. He had episodes of drinking and violence that he would later deeply regret. Yet despite these grey and turbulent times he never faltered in his mission of providing first and foremost for his family.

I used to joke that I learned from him a great many things NOT to do, but the fact of the matter he provided much of the framework that I live by and have passed to my own children. His absolute refusal in taking any unwarranted crap from anyone was instilled in me early on and has generally served me well over the years.

One of my favorite things he left with me is my understanding and appreciation of firearms. From and early age he set down some carved-in-stone safety and handling procedures that are as spot on and pertinent today as they were in 1958 when he started teaching them to me. I passed these learning's onto my own kids as well and fully expect they will do the same for their own offsprings when the time comes.

Over the years I have also come to realize the simple fact that kids need their parents to love each other no matter what happens between them. This was always the case with my parents despite the envelopes that we all pushed from time to time. I've always been grateful for that.

I suppose I could go on and on about my old man, especially about his 9 lives and all of his amazing array of health problems, family drama's and totalled vehicles but I will leave that for the spoken word stories and the retelling of his life....which I suspect will be going on for a long time to come.

Thanks Dad...... I miss you already.

Happy Birthday Rick ... Pub Crawl

2010-01-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

It was Rick's birthday on December 27th (amazingly like it seems to be most years) and so naturally all he wanted for turning 33 years old was a local Pub Crawl. With his Mom visiting from Oregon and willing to be the designated Driver it seemed like a natural excuse for some excessive drinking on a Holiday Sunday.
Rick, Tracy, Dave and Mom were joined for the opening 1pm salvo's at CONSTABLE JACK'S in Newcastle by Jeff Scammon and a few of the Sober's....MS, Terri, Zack and Oralia. After a quick couple of Chimay's and Schneiderweisse Dunkels we were off to Auburn to the newly opened WORLD PUB at the corner of HWY 49 and Bell Road. Once ensconced in the friendly confines of the WP the group grew ever larger as Cody and Breann Sober, Brewmaster Peter Hoey and beer guru Martin Loudall all joined in the celebration. Video Bowling, Darts and take-out Mexican food helped to enhance the festivities even further. The WP has a nice 20 tap selection as well as an impressive array of bottled beer to choose from. The Birthday Boy seemed to be doing pretty well at that point...still drinking from a pint glass and hardly spilling much beer on his shirt at all.
After a couple of enjoyable hours we had to finally bid WP owner Eric adieu and traveled the short distance to our next stop......PISTOL PETE'S BREW and CUE on Harrison Street near the Liquor Outlet.
At Pete's the Beer du jour turned out to be some very fresh Racer 5 which Rick decided tasted much better straight from the Pitcher. A few more of the the expanded S.O.B.E.R. group regulars showed up as well and the party continued on. Pizza, Pool and bad to marginal DJ music was the backdrop of the evening at Pete's and a splendid time was had by all.
Pete's was the end of the line for many of the crawlers ....but not for the Birthday lad who took the opportunity to hoof it from downtown to Old Town where we met up again for some final PU-240 double IPA's at the AUBURN ALE HOUSE.
I don't remember too much after that......and I'm not sure Rick does either. But one thing is certain...it was good times to remember...and maybe to be forgetting portions of...depending upon your perspective. I'm just glad I was there....and I doubt I am alone in that sentiment.
Happy Birthday Porno Boy.... Oh .... and sorry about the Rose Bowl.

Dick Dale Surfs into Auburn

2009-12-22T00:13:00.000-08:00

Well.....the legendary Dick Dale actually flew his private plane into Auburn to perform a show Saturday night at the Auburn Event Center; But to hear Dick tell it he almost actually did fly into Auburn having made his initial decent without remembering to put his landing gear down. Apparently an alert passenger/instructor saved the day by ordering him around for another pass to correct the situation thus avoiding the possible disaster. At 72 years old the "King of the Surf Guitar" is still going strong....but I doubt a belly landing on a cold Auburn morning would have done much to enrich his current West Coast tour.
It was the fourth or fifth time I've seen Dick, so to speak, and once again he didn't fail to thoroughly entertain me and all the other Dick Heads in attendance. Having never been a truly rabid Grateful Dead fan I could never really call myself a Dead Head...but I will admit to gladly being know as one of Mr. Dale's legions of Dick Heads....a term he lovingly throws around accompanied by his patented smirky grin.
Dick's show, for those of you who are uninitiated, is a loud and intense eclectic layered mixture of original heavy metal surf style guitar tunes and patented original cover versions of songs....the likes of wish you will never hear done in an even remotely similar fashion. "House of the Rising Sun" , Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" and a tribute to Ray Charles classic "Say What?" are a few that come to mind.
Dick's well oiled three piece band seldom even pauses between numbers...preferring to continue the upside down left handed Stratocaster onslaught in rapid fire order, save for the occasional personal story from Dick or to introduce the Drummer or bass player.
Dick's original instrument was the drums and he delves into that area a couple of times...assisting the drummer on one of his solos and also banging out a tune with drum sticks on the strings of the bass guitar...naturally as the bass player is playing it!
And of course he always remembers to play his signature tune Miserlou which never fails to turn the crowd into a frenzy bunch of pimply screaming adolescences for a couple of minutes. Dick even breaks out the trumpet for the occasion.
So ya....if you ever get a chance to see Dick in person I highly recommend it......he is an original...the likes of which we will likely never see again.

Home Sweat Home

2009-12-04T20:54:00.000-08:00

Well....actually getting home WAS a bit of a sweat....between the over extended stay at Pizza Port San Clemente on Monday and the unfortunate conversation with the CHP on Tuesday it took us about a day and a half to return North from our Southern excursion.
Somehow, despite all the drinking, traveling, drinking, visiting, drinking, Football games, tail- gating, drinking, Thanksgiving meals, coffee roasting and brewery visiting we managed to make it home with about eight growlers and a case of beer in 22oz bottles.
Terri and I visited Sequoia Brewing in Fresno as well as Ballast Point and Alpine in San Diego and of course Pizza Port San Clemente on the day we were originally scheduled to return home. Fortunately we DID stop in San Clemente because there were some bottles of Hop 15 and Port 3rd Anniversary Ale that had our names on them.
Another highlight of the trip for me was the pint of Coronado Brewing Red Devil Imperial Red I had at PP.... which at 10% abv reminded me of the legendary LogSpliter that Sequoia Brew Master Kevin Cox has produced in years past. Had I know about that beer I would have surely taken that off-ramp to Coronado Island that I bypassed earlier in the day. Oh well...so much beer and so little time available.
Our Ballast Point stop provided us with a case of scrumptious Sculin IPA and a high priced growler of Dorado Double IPA. I also had a sample of their Imperial Porter Victory at Sea but like some overspending cheap ass fool I failed to secure any bottles to bring home. Despite the $7.99 price tag I highly recommend it should anyone actually find any in Nor-Cal .... or anywhere else for that matter.
Naturally the biggest and most anticipated brewery visit of the entire trip was Alpine Brewing. We filled 20 growlers of their finest offerings including Pure Hoppiness, Duet, Nelson and O'Brien's IPA. While we were basking in the glow of Alpine Hops my sons Cody and Zack along with their beautiful brides Breann and Oralia were visiting Green Flash Brewing in Vista. They filled up 8 or so growlers and were treated like royalty by Brewer Chuck Silva's friendly crew who hooked them all up with custom Green Flash Brewing T-shirts. Along with growlers of Hop Head Red, West Coast IPA and Imperial they managed to secure some of the elusive Palette Wrecker that I had been hoping to try. It did not disappoint.
Somehow we also managed to squeeze in a visit to the legendary Hamilton's and the new Toronado of San Diego. Both places lived up to the hype and I could have spent a lot more time in each establishment. Both highly recommended.
Our late and unexpected stop at Red Shoe Roasting in Rancho Oak Hills was also a highlight of the trip and filled our trunk with a really obscene amount of mega quality fresh roasted beans from all over the globe. Thanks to some large Sasquatch type man who shall remain nameless we also were able to share in the sampling of a couple of bottles of Double IPA from Utah.
Since it Tis the Xmas season I suspect that these eight or so growlers I have left will be history before long.....now all I need is a sponsor and I'm ready to go on another round of growler gathering. A hearty thanks to all who housed, helped and joined us in any part of our great turkey weekend adventure ..... you certainly know who you are.

Time to "Go South young man"

2009-11-23T23:05:00.000-08:00

Yes it is once again that time of year, the leaves are turning, the air is gaining that crisp rine of early morning dewness and the trunk of my car is heavily weighted down with a couple of ice chests containing many ounces of quality Northern California Craft brew.
Yes of course that means it's time to head South for the annual Kansas City Chargers versus San Diego Chiefs football game. Hopefully you caught that name swapping there, just checking to see if you were awake or just skimming through...or maybe looking ahead to check out the inevitable growler and bottle list.
For convenience purposes we had the NFL once again schedule the game on the same weekend as Thanksgiving so we could just take a week off work and combine the two events into one giant family and friends free for all.
I know, I know... just list the beers and shut up.....OK here we go. listed in no particular order

Growlers;
6 - Pliny the Elder - Russian River
6 - Blind Pig - Russian River (oddly we filled up 16 growlers on our Santa Rosa visit but apparently only 12 are making the trip South)
4 - Gold Digger IPA - Auburn Ale House
2 - Fools Gold - Auburn Ale House
2 - Hop Rod Rye - Bear Republic (we hoped to find some Racer X on our visit to Healdsburg but were greeted with snarky laughter when asked if any was available)
1 - Hopsickle - Moylans
1 - General Sherman IPA - Sequoia Brewing

Bottles:
2 - Hop Stoopid - Lagunitas (one of the great bargains at a mere $3.79 for a 22oz bottle at Total Wine and More)
2 - A Little Sumpin Extra - Lagunitas
1 - Smoked Porter - Alaskin Brewing (OK ...not quite Nor Cal....but must have)
1 - Abyss - Deschutes
2 - Racer 5 - Bear Republic
1 - Rorie's Ale - Odonada Brewing
2 - Lost Continent - Grand Teton
2 - UberHoppy - Valley Brewing
1 - Harvest - Sierra Nevada Brewing
12 - Franziskaner - Spaten (well... hard to find a good Hefe down that way)

Seems like there might be a few more stashed in and among the growlers and ice.....but who's counting exactly anyway...... the main idea is to just share the good times with family and friends and it certainly doesn't suck if you can add a pint or four to the festivities right?

OK then... I'm off to bed to dream of rumours and promises of locally grown desert double IPA's saved and stashed away for the occasion.

This trip is dedicated to Dian Scammon....a very good friend who's sudden departure from this world on November 15th has left us all a bit shaken and feeling the void. We never did get to have those last Irish Car Bombs we talked about. Until Such Time my friend.

Iceland....the land of hops?

2009-11-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid I used to dream of visiting the geographic extremes of Greenland and Iceland, home of historical Viking adventures shrouded in foggy winds of Northern Seas mystery and myth.

Although my childhood fantasy of visiting those far flung icy lands has never wavered, my practical knowledge of those extreme Northern locals, specifically Iceland, has increased with the years and the notion that I will one day roam those cold shores of volcanic upheaval. I will definitely be bringing along my half liter mug.

Iceland, for those who may not be aware, is basically a huge chunk of volcanic excrement squeezed up from battling tectonic plates just South of the Arctic Circle between Europe and North America. The beauty of the place is that it sits directly in the path of the temperate flow of the Gulf Stream. It is basically where the Gulf stream goes to chill out.

Due to the relative warmth of the Gulf Stream Iceland is much more inhabitable and vibrant than any lands of it's latitude (65N) around the globe... like for instance Antarctica.

And while to my knowledge there are no hop farms on the Ross Ice Shelf there are great Hops to be found growing on the Southern edges of Iceland.

Prohibition in Iceland began in 1918 and survived in varying degrees until it's final removal on March 1st 1989. A date now known, and vigorously celebrated every year, as Beer Day.

Since that time the three major Icelandic brewers, as well as the small contingent of craft brew enthusiasts have utilized the locally grown hops in all their Pilsners and Lagers.

The relatively short cool summer growing season is enhanced by the long summer sunlight hours. It is believed that the hops thrive due to the Basalt low silica soil that is virtually a match for the lava type found halfway across the planet in the Hawaiian Islands. The hops are irrigated from the pristine waters of the Vatnajokull Ice Cap. The largest glacier in all of Europe.

The most commonly grow and heartiest of the Icelandic Lupulins is the Norse which weighs in with nice earthy and floral characteristics and a decent 7.5 alpha rating. Viking gold at 6.8 and the less produced but highly coveted Arnarson Hekla typically top out in the 6-6.5 alpha range. The Arnarson Hekla is the favorite bittering hop used in the production of the traditional Spring Porters that are a big part of the March 1st Beer Day celebrations.

To date no exportation of Icelandic Hops exists but I plan to continue my quest to get some samples drop shipped to me from one of the Reykjavik home brew shops so I can try out my Great Uncle Halldo'rs "Erik the Red" Strong Ale recipe

October

2009-10-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

Oh!......here it is...I knew that pesky blog of mine was around here somewhere. And ya...I know I can hear all the predictable mumbling ..."What...the monthly Hop Hunter entry, how quaint". And really I agree, it's been way to long between entries.
I guess I just don't have all that much to say lately or can't find anything to report about. OR...I just haven't had time to write because of all my activities and traveling. I'm sure the answer is somewhere in between lazy and lame .... so hmm lets see...did I do anything interesting this summer to finally report about?

MAMMOTH FESTIVAL of BEERS and BLUESAPALOOZA.
Mammoth Lakes California July 31st-August 1st
For the third year in a row we made my way over the Sierra's to hook up with my old friends Ralph and Penny from So-Cal to attend perhaps the best Beer /Musical event I have ever been to. Friday and Saturday music with an excellent beer fest in between. The setting is tremendous amongst the trees and the 7000+ altitude. This years musical headliner was Kenny Wayne Shepherd and the beer of the event was Sculpin from Ballast Point in San Diego. Seven musical acts over 2 days and 50+ breweries pretty much make this a yearly must go. It isn't officially an IPA event but there sure are a lot of hoppy beers to go around.
CALIFORNIA BREWERS FESTIVAL
Discovery Park, Sacramento California Sept 19th.
66 Breweries listed on the program but it seemed that many didn't show up or cancelled late. Blue Frog Brewing from Fairfield stood out as did Sacramento Brewing and North Coast Brewing from Fort Bragg. All three breweries brought along half a dozen or more entries and made the lack of vendors seem like a trivial matter. Mad River also did well and poured late into the event. The 100 degree heat made for a lighter beer style drinking day for me. Blue Frog Hefeweizen and the North Coast Prankster provided me with memories that still linger. A few of my favorite beers won medals. Sac Brew IPA and Lagunitas Imperial Red both won won Gold in their categories while Blue Frog's excellent Coffee Porter garnered the top spot as well.
Parchers Resort
South Lake, Bishop California
While both our lovely brides remained at home to work.... Zack and I spent the better part of Labor Day weekend hanging out and drinking near South Lake at 9000' in the Easter Sierra. My sister Tina and her husband Darryl rented a cabin, brought their kayaks and fishing poles, invited my parents along and they all made a week of it.
Zack and I packed one of my mid-sized ice chests with Hefeweizens and IPA's from .........
OK...sorry......this report has been interrupted by a bottles of Affligm tripel.....Sierra Nevada Anniversary IPA, Shipyard XXXX, Pliny the Elder, Mad River double IPA, Green Flash West Coast IPA, Green Flash Imperial, Avery HogHead and ...........

A proper early-mid-week sham

2009-09-21T17:52:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a birthday to bring out a sense of entitlement in people. Sooo ... since tomorrow is indeed a Hop Hunter day of counting the years long-gone-past ..... a quick trip to San Francisco seems in perfect harmony with a day not at work.
Terri and I will be getting out of Roseville by noon headed for the BART station in Dublin where we will hop onto the local mass transit luxury liner and head across the salty bay to The City. Speaking of the city our first stop will be the City Beer Store at 1168 Folsom St.
Since we will be meeting my son Zack and his brilliant Bride Oralia when we disembark at Civic Center station he suggested we stop in for a look around the shop before we head to the ultimate San Francisco Beer destination ....Toronado.
It is obvious that we will be doing a bit more than just looking around City Beer because a quick look a their web site reveals that they have Ballast Point Brewing Sculpin on tap. Last months trip to Mammoth Beer Festival was filled with many return trips to the BP booth for as much Sculpin as they'd let us get away with.
Since going to the Toronado on a Tuesday night is not the most advantageous plan for getting a lot of work related production done on Wednesday we just decided to go ahead and blow off work Wednesday too and do some midweek beer gettin. Hmmmm ... where is Santa Rosa?

Stoopid Racer

2009-08-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight at the Owl club in Roseville I accidentally (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) mixed up my pint glasses and added some Lagunitas Hop Stoopid to my Bear Republic Racer 5. I soon realized that I had just created the first know version of Stoopid Racer. After further experimentation (one must follow the quest of pure science) I came to realize the proper ratio for my taste buds on this evening was about 60% Racer 5 to 40% Hop Stoopid.
But of course that's just me, and this was but one day....one day of many more hop mixing experiments surely to come. Hmmmm ......I wonder what a 90 minute Pliny would taste like.

Hop drying

2009-08-22T16:09:00.001-07:00

Thanks to my good buddy and neighbor Bob Silva I currently have six pounds of Cascade hops drying on screens in my garage. (I knew those screens on my windows were good for something) Drying should take about two and a half to three days in this almost 100 degree weather. After drying I figure I should still come away with 3/4 of a pound of usable hops.
Bob's plants are still producing cones and perhaps we'll get another bag full in a couple/few weeks. Hmmmm.....seems like a time to brew up a batch of Harvest ale doesn't it? Terri just got home from work and suggested we sit in the garage to enjoy a beer and the view. One thing is for sure my garage has never smelled better.

Faria's to Blame

2009-07-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

Friday night July 24th 2009 the Southern California Speedway team beat the Northern squad 76 to 62 in the annual North vs South Civil War of Speedway at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn California.
And long time veteran Speedway icon "Flyin" Mike Faria is the reason why ....despite the fact that he never set foot on the track.
Faria, a former Richmond California and Reno Nevada resident who recently moved back down to the greater Los Angeles area, was a late no show prompting race promoter Dave Joiner to juggle the teams and insert "Bronco" Billy Janniro into the spot on the South team formerly occupied by Faria. Taking the place of Janniro on the Northern team was former junior rider Mark Carrillo.
The fact that Janniro is from Benicia and has never lived in Southern California seemed to make little difference to the Barnum and Bailey minded Speedway brain trust. Another Northern California rider...... Bryan Yarrow was already situated on the Southern team .....for the second straight year. Yarrow is from Vacaville and Citrus Heights!
What it boils down to is whichever team former British League rider Janniro was on was going to win the event. The evidence can be found in Janniro's predictable performance in his six heat rides and the Main Event. He won everyone of them for a combined score of 26 points. The South won by 14 points.
I have to admit it was a pretty fun evening watching old favorites like Janniro, Bart Bast, Tommy Hedden, Charlie Venegas and Jimmy Fishback compete...and I was even a little surprised at the emergence of former Junior riders Greg Hooton, Jason Ramirez, Bryce Starks and my friend Mark Carrillo.
My problem is with the decline of an event that has been one of the best Speedway nights since it's inception in 1991. Where was Faria? And where was Bobby Schwartz, who is still a successful Speedway rider in Southern California? How about Gary Hicks and Eddie Castro?
I know there are plenty of talented riders down South to return the annual North vs South battle to it's original glory....without robbing the North of it's best riders in the name of a predetermined Hollywood script. It deserves better.

A Beer Python - Revisited

2009-07-12T21:07:00.001-07:00

Some years ago, when the Hop hunter was merely a beer python and just starting to develop his hop legs (there were actually very few hops back then) he wrote a short story for an unnamed college newspaper describing one of his early beer related experiences. Having just recently found a copy of that story it became clear that perhaps a little look at that piece might be kinda fun and perhaps even shed some insight into the development of a full grown Hop Hunter. Beware...it's gonna be sloppy...in typical Hop hunter writing style... some things never change.

THE KERN RIVER BEER PYTHON - The Beaver Adventure (June 1984)

Once again I find myself cruising the Mighty Kern River in my quest for adventure and my search for beer. All that protrudes above the water are my eyes and forehead. I can move sly and slow picking off unguarded beer without rippling the water. Or I can boldly sweep in swift and fierce attacking cashes and be gone before a camper can mount any defensive action whatsoever. I am good at my task. I love my work. I am the #1 Kern River Beer Python.

This particular day was sunny, hot and dry; a perfect day for beer pilfering.As I headed down the trail from our camp to the Kern I told myself that this day would be different. Under my arm I carrier my black inner tube which I had named "Courage" years earlier. I often used courage to perform "soft reconnaissance" which consists of floating downriver a mile or two making mental notes on amounts, types and defense of beer. Up ahead the rapids loomed, once through I would start gathering information on the new crop of unsuspecting beer which year after year without fail was waiting for me cooling in the river. I did not want to disappoint them.
The rapids proved to be more than just an access to fortune. By the time I had finished battering my body on the rocks I was in no shape for even a look around. Courage was floating up ahead of me free from riders and glistening in the hot sun. The river was calm at this point so I swam over to my inner tube, corralled it, kicked up on top, then sat back to lick my wounds,
After studying the gash on my leg I noticed something floating in the little inlet that paralleled the shore and the rapids. It looked to me like a beaver. I paddled over near it and climbed onto a rock to get a better look. Sure enough it was a huge dead beaver. It was so puffed and flabulent it appeared to be without feet. At this time I had no idea how important this apparently useless beaver would turn out to be. I watched the beaver for a few moments before deciding it would be safe until I returned. The Kern River Beer Python was onto something big.
At camp I found both my good buddies doing mostly what I had expected them to be doing, nothing. I told them all about the beaver I found, and the plans I had for it. They remained mildly interested until I came to my intended plan, at which time they told me I was crazy as a loon. Beaver madness was shifting into first gear.
Although they thought I was crazed, they did indeed have every intention of helping me in this..my bicentennial salute. Never had a plan been conceived so quickly and completely by a Beer Python, or by mere humans for that matter. It would certainly be something to see.
We discussed the details at length and then unhesitatingly emptied our spare ice chest of its inhabitants. We carried the ice chest downstream until we came to the beaver which floated puffed and flabulent in the water, just where I had left it. We loaded the beaver into the ice chest and headed back to camp. There was great anticipation in the air and little talk. Everyone was occupied with his own ideas of what the reaction would be once the plan was carried out.
Night was approaching as we settle back into camp. The moon was glowing just above the trees. We did little more that evening aside from the initial actions that prelude a massive hangover.
The next morning we loaded the beaver laden ice chest into the back of our sputterford and headed towards the nearest large city. In this case it would be Bakersfield. Poor Bakersfield. Bakersfield, for those of you who might not realize, is a city of about a hundred thousand or so people located in the Southern part of California. Bakersfield is a typical hot desert town. Bakersfield is also a town soon to be invaded by crazed loons and a Beer Python with hideous bicentennial thought racing through their brains. In a year of bicentennial events no one would top the Beer Python and his buddies. We would see to that.
We arrived in Bakersfield at about 3:30 Pacific time and went looking for a Red Devil fireworks stand.
We found a fireworks stand on almost every other corner and had no trouble picking one that was just right for us. We bought up all the glitterers, exploders, gushers, geysers, flamers, smokers and whistlers that we could afford. We tied all of these onto one main fuse and stuffed them into the beaver.
If you can imagine what a three day old dead beaver smells like then you have some idea of what all of us smelled like. Another problem was starting to haunt us now. The beaver in all of its glory was becoming more puffed and flabulent and swollen than ever, due no doubt to the days high temperature. After loading the beaver back into the ice chest we went across the street to a service station to wash up. Obtaining the key from the attendant was a trial in itself. He gave me the key after some discussion and after that he muttered something about defecation, remaining all the while at a safe distance.
Driving down the street we were aided by a fifth of Black Velvet which was purchased by a fellow beaver explorer while the other two of us were washing the beaver germs off of us. He picked it up because of something he termed "Beaver Madness". From that point on the whiskey was know and referred to as 'serum'.
Soon we entered the parking lot that served a large department type store. We found a parking spot close to the entrance and got out to unload the beaver. We took the ice chest containing the beaver indoors getting only moderately inquisitive glances and no confrontations with store employees.
Upon reaching a suitable point near the middle of the store we hoisted the beaver out of the ice chest up onto a Desenex display stand that rose about seven feet above the floor. We lit the fuse.
Acting as inconspicuous as a python out of water I headed for the door with my cohorts right behind carrying the empty ice chest. By the time we reached the door the beaver had drawn a small gathering and was sputtering and oozing to some extent. We stood as the door majestically swaying back and forth singing the National anthem when all of a sudden the beaver exploded. Pieces of beaver flew all the way to the sporting goods section on the other side of the store. The crowd that had gathered around the beaver was dispersed, seeking cover wherever they might.
The whole store was ablaze with a fireworks display that would certainly have outdone even the LA Coliseum.
As we turned to go we saw what was left of the beaver stand up on it's side and explode. Finally sending it to that big dam in the sky, stopping off first in lady's lingerie. We left for the car at a trot, threw the ice chest into the back and headed straight out of town. By the time we reached our camp nightfall was approaching and drunkenness had been with us for some time. A Python requires water so I headed down to the mighty Kern to float, satisfied for awhile, and unaware of what lay ahead of me downstream in yet another unguarded inlet.

2er de Frog

2009-07-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

OK .... I know,I know that Bob Roll has educated us all the past few years that the real pronunciation is The Tour DAY France.... but I sorta like the whole frog thing...being as it is the French and all.

Or as I understand it this year it's returned as the Tour de Lance once again.

Damn you moron Americans (Oh ya that includes me) the Tour de France is much more than just a venue for America's favorite Texan (but only because Stevie Ray died) to shine and show the world that Americans are always ready to kick ass on the rest of the planet wanna-be's.

My problem stems from the American Press' tendency to all but ignore the rest of the tours teams and riders.....even other American riders!

I mean...I get it..Lance is the man...he's cool...he's newsworthy....his cause is trendy and legitimately relevant plus he's the second greatest American rider of all time...but come on....It's the Tour de France......something I consider the greatest single race on the planet. A great spectacle in it's own right.

And 'I Know' Lance is synonymous with the tour and has been for most of this decade...damn it..I get it..please....quite slashing my bike tires.........

But there are other very interesting riders leaving their hearts on the road this year in THE tour as well. Just like there is every year. A lot of people that I'm acquainted with.... that have only a passing interest in the event know that I follow it passionately....and will take the opportunity to catch up on what's happening whenever they encounter me......I just wish that once someone...one of them...would ask me something more than "How did Lance do today" or "Is Lance in the yellow Jersey yet?"

But of course I blame the American media and the short attention span of the American public....a short attention span that the press created. It isn't Lance's fault.

Perhaps I should just be happy that cycling is getting any attention at all?

Why am I whining about it?

Because it is a great sport.... unique...complicated....full of interesting history and something everyone of us can do on our own level. Ride that is...which is hopefully what will eventually occur more often all over America once Lance has retired for good in a year or two. Lance himself is promoting that message as well.

So ya...I guess I'll just get out there and do 20 miles or so and pretend that I'm Jens Voigt, Levi Leipheimer, Edde Merckx, Fabian Cancellara or Fausto Coppi. Because you can take the kid off the bike but you'll never get the joker out of his spokes, or the visions of the tour out of his head.

And don't even get me started on where the hell Chris Horner is!

Deschutes Black Butte XXI

2009-07-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

Thursday is Owl Club day for us and today was certainly no exception. The beer of the day was the renowned Black Butte Porter XXI.
I gotta be frank (although I always think of Zappa when I say that) this beer is just the freakin bomb. When I finally ordered a pint (I had to try and dust the keg of Deschutes Cinder Cone Red first) I was just literally blown away and unprepared for the chocolate and coffee onslaught that I encountered. Oh my.
It's listed at 11% Abv and I suppose that's correct although the beers drink-ability (ha!) certainly hinted that it could be less which only increased my enjoyment and appreciation.
I'd like to say that I had examples of all the previous releases to compair but alas that would be a bold ass fabrication.
And as everyone knows...I would never fall to that level......
So.....I hope... for your own enjoyment that you find this beer in copious amounts.
And hey..speaking of copious amounts...Terri found Laugunita Hop Stoopid today for $3.29 a bottle........but no worries....we grabbed up 15 or so bottles....just in case......you come over and want some. Party on Garth.....

If this was that ...I'd be King

2009-07-07T22:35:00.000-07:00

My home was a long way off but a short ride ahead as I squinted through the haze of my long overdue windshield that bore little resemblance to the scene passing through the story of the ride that I was imagining.
Yes indeed...it was the unmistakable call of the retched jackrabbit virgin .... drunk on too much disco and wearing the night air like cascading crescendos of mocking Mojave River moonlight.
No time for even the thought of a breath as the headlights bobbed briefly on the asphalt moguls insidiously spaced in increasingly madding swaths across the desert tundra.
Faster I screamed at the driver I hoped was not me...faster I say...will this ride never end?
And so it did and did not .... simultaneously taking me and leaving me upon the far off doorstep of another bid to reach the beginning of my end.

Pete's Brass Rail & Car Wash

2009-05-31T18:41:00.000-07:00

Well...apparently the joke is pretty much on anyone and everyone that ever steps foot into Pete's Brass Rail and Car Wash located at 201 Hartz Avenue, Danville California. Pete's (there is no Pete) is a nice midsized neighborhood bar with 20 taps of all craft beer goodness and a full menu of typical and not so typical pub fare.

Terri and I stopped in at around noon on Sunday and found a couple seats at the bar. We pulled out our bar stools, she hung her purse on the conveniently placed hook under the bar top as I lifted my foot up to place it on the brass rail......nope....no brass rail either.....

The two bartenders were quick to throw us the food and beer menus claiming that "Looking at the tap handles won't tell you what's pouring".

They were right....The Stone IPA handle was actually hooked up to a Stone Pale Ale keg, The Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA was dispensing Speakeasy Untouchable Pale Ale and the Deschutes Mirror Pond handle filled a glass with Mirror Mirror Barleywine.

I stuck to reading the beer menu after that. Drakes IPA, Pliny the Elder, Red Rocket, Racer 5 stood out as did Pyramid's Imperial Hefeweizen, Russian River Damnation and surprisingly Rubicon's Purple Mia Bock. There were also tap handles for Tied House, Napa Smith, Widmer, Sierra Nevada and a couple more Drakes products.

I tried the Ale Smith Pale and Terri went straight for the Racer 5. As we sipped our first beers of the day we couldn't help notice how busy the place was becoming. The bartenders were trading jabs and insults between watching the A's and Giants games whilst simultaneously concocting some killer looking over-the-top spicy Bloody Marys. I asked if the place was always that busy and the bartender gave me a blank stare and said "It's slow so far".

We eventually had to nibble something and ordered a batch of garlic fries. The best part of those fries is that they're served with a little tub of Cayenne Mayonnaise which is apparently a house specialty. Creamy with a nice kick. Excellent.

After another couple of brews I finally found a little note on the bottom of the food menu that read "There is no Brass Rail, there is no car wash and who the hell is Pete?"

By then of course it seemed to all make at least as much sense as all the patron's names that were printed from top to bottom on the wall opposite our seats.

All the names represented customers that have tried at least 500 different pints of Pete's offerings over the years....... Deschutes Red Chair IPA was the latest beer to make the list...coming in at #1342. Only 496 more pints and I get my name on that wall. I wonder if there are any jobs and affordable housing available in the Danville area.

The lone Ranger

2009-05-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

Or should I say the lone sentinel ......or actually Centennial since that's the variety of the small hop plant in the photo. This plant is the sole surviving plant of my original plantings. Or at least the only one I actually see so far. I don't have a lot of hope for the other nine but hopefully I'm just being impatient. It has been just 2 weeks since they were planted. Getting a bit late in the year to plant more but I do know of a nursery that has a half dozen they don't know what to do with...I may have to wander over that way before long and make them an offer I can't refuse.

My lone hop here is the only one showing because when Rick and I went to the Jordan Family Farms to cut some Rhizomes Scott was kind enough to include one whole plant that was growing double in his hop acre.

It is the test plant to some degree...see if I can even keep one plant alive that was already established.

The Roots of the problem

2009-05-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

This is a just an example of the roots that I have been pulling out of the hop beds. Notice the piles of roots next to the tree behind the wheel barrel. That pile would grow to about 2 cubic yards before I was done. I believe this root system from that shade tree would have prevented the hops roots from getting properly established.

Slow Hopping

2009-04-12T10:55:00.001-07:00

A month since a blog entry? Well not exactly....I do have a thing or two on the Pacific Brew News blog. In the meantime I am still working on the miniature hop Farm in our postage stamp back yard ... which of course it's wrought with unforeseen obstacles and annoyances.

Would I have it any other way? Well...yes of course...sure I would.

For one I'd love to have some ground NOT riddled with roots from my favorite shade tree. The photo is from last Friday when we removed the sod to allow the hop roots to have a chance to establish themselves and not have to fight with all the other roots I'm busy trying to destroy.
Funny thing yesterday my local nursery tried to sell me several hop plants that they had in their back 40...I looked them over and read the tag...but with no information about what variety they were I had to pass...too bad too cause those suckers were almost 2 feet tall already....oh boy...I am sure late getting these things in the ground.......

I got a yard of 50/50 dirt compost mix in the back of my truck just waiting to be laid down ... now what did I do with that roto-tiller???

Barleywine Show

2009-03-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Mark, Rick, Tracy and Jim the Brewer joined Terri and I on Friday the 13th to record the much overdue Pacific Brew News Barley Wine show.

The line-up....in order of consumption....... or somewhere close to it....I highly recommend listening to the show for better details.

22oz - Bitter - Jim's Homebrew we used for a starter...or...calibration beer

22oz - Lollihop IPA - Rick's IPA recipe brewed here last year....more calibration

12oz - UINTA BREWING CO - Salt Lake City Utah. XV Fifteenth Anniversary Barley Wine. 10.4%. 2009 Release.

12oz - HALES'S ALES LTD - Seattle Washington. Rudyard's Rare. 9.2%. 2008 Release

12oz - SPEAKEASY - San Francisco, CA. Old Godfather. 10.2%. 2006 Release

12oz - BREW IT UP - Sacramento CA. Sky Diver. 10.5%. 2007 Release

12oz - VALLEY BREWING - Stockton CA. Rye Based Barley wine. 2006 California Brewers Festival entry

22oz - STONE BREWING - Escondido CA. Old Guardian. 11.26%. Early 2006 Release.

22oz - LAGUNITAS BREWING - Petaluma CA. GnarlyWine. 9.7%. 2006 Release.

750ML - ROGUE BREWING - Newport OR. Old Crustacean. 11.5%. 2006 Release.

22oz - MIDNIGHT SUN BREWING - Anchorage AK. Arctic Devil. 10%. 2006 Release.

12oz - SIERRA NEVADA BREWING - Chico CA. Big Foot. 9.6%. 2006 Release.

22oz - PUBLICAN PUB & BREWERY - Pacific City OR. The Perfect Storm. 13.5%. 2008 Release

After the show choices.

22oz - TREE BREWING COMPANY - Kelowna BC. Hop Head. 8% Double IPA

Growler - RUSSIAN RIVER BREWING - Santa Rosa CA. Blind Pig IPA. 6%. 3 months in the growler and still delicious (Thanks Bob)

12oz - GREEN FLASH BREWING - Vista, CA. HopHead Red.

The Lagunitas GnarleyWine and the Midnight Sun Arctic Devil were pretty much the run away winners on the night. They were both just a pure joy to drink and what I believe we would all agree is the state of the art in West Coast style Barley Wines. Big bold sweet malt flavors backed by prodigious hops throughout. Smooth, balanced and big. Highly recommended.

The Publican Pub The Perfect Storm is bourbon barrel aged and was quite the overpowering treat as well, big time Bourbon presence. The only two entry's that I don't think really measured up to the group we sampled was the Hale's Rudyard's and the Rogue Old Crustacean.

Hop Growing

2009-03-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

The rain has finally backed off a bit here in early March and the Hop Hunter is busy preparing (or as Terri might say) destroying our back yard.
My plan is to put in some hops before the window of opportunity closes this Spring. Of course I have no idea what I'm doing .....but with a little luck and a few gallons of sweat perhaps later this summer we may even have a little harvest of those beautiful lupulin cones to call our own.
It just seems to me that brewing at home with one's personally grown hops is something worthy to aspire to.

Bilco's Billiard's

2009-03-02T21:54:00.000-08:00

If you find yourself in Napa and need a beer....I suggest Billco's at 1234 3rd Street. They have no less than 60 taps and the day we showed up they sported 15 IPA's as well as other assorted goodies like Chimay (White), Lagunitas Brown Shugga, Old Rasputin, Red Rocket, Three Philosophers, Affligem Noel Affligem Blond and even Babycham.
The IPA's included RR Bling Pig and Pliny the Elder, Racer 5, Firestone Walker Union Jack, Hopsickle, Green Flash West Coast IPA, Dogfish Head 90 minute and Stone IPA. The new Napa Smith brewery was also well represented with 4 tap handles.
Bilco's also have a decent assortment of bottled offerings including all three Chimay's, Duvel and Budvar. Interestingly I convinced the Bartender to recommend the Budvar to a customer that was somewhat pissed that they were out of American Budweiser. The guy eventually relented and decided to give the Budvar a shot. By the time we pulled out and headed home the guy was on his fourth one and recommending it to a late arriving buddy.
Beer education slowly but surely...man..it's a beautiful thing.

Downtown Joes

2009-02-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

I've actually visited Downtown Joe's in Napa at least once per year for the past four cycling seasons (After the Cherry Pie event) and I must admit it is a destination worth pursuing.
The beer is more than adequate and the food has always been good.
This year we sampled the Ace High Pale Ale, the Tantric India Pale Ale, Golden Thistle Very Bitter Ale and the Double Secret Probation double IPA
The IPA is definitely the best beer I have tasted at DTJ's. The Pale is also well done but the Thistle, which is listed at 100+ IBU's just confuses me.
I have to admit we visited Joes just 26 hours or so after the Bistro's Double IPA fest (see the pacificbrewnewsblogspot) but still I just couldn't fathom even 50 IBU's in this beer despite the claim. Perhaps it's just me.
We also eventually sampled the Double Secret Probation IPA that claimed to have "An overwhelming balance of hops and malt" but in reality we felt an overwhelming urge to abandon our pints of that...concentrate on our very tasty burgers and Reuben and walk on down the road to Billco's. But then..that's another blog entry all together.
So in a nutshell I'd advise going to DTJ's for some food and decent beer and then walking three blocks to Bilco's billiards for some truly outstanding beer selections.

A long Sunday ride home

2009-01-04T20:48:00.000-08:00

After spending the last four days of the year in San Ramon ... we left Zack's house just after 10am Sunday morning with the full intention of beating the end-of-a-long-holiday weekend traffic home to Roseville to perform some much needed chores around the Soberment household.

We made it about 15 miles out of there before taking a detour through the Delta area for a recon of possible cycling routes for the coming summers pedaling opportunities.

We figured we should stop in Concord for a quick visit to EJ Phair...or in Antioch for a much over due return to Schooners Grille & Brewery. The problem was the time.....it was just too damn early and neither establishment would be open yet.

So we wondered around the Delta area checking out Rio Vista, Isleton and highways 12 and 113. Once we were on 113 and pretty distressed about finding few cycling worthy roads I figured we'd just head north until we came to I-80. By the time we were in the Davis area it was virtually lunch time and so we decided to make a stop at the Davis Graduate....a place I had previously avoided because I figured it was just some noisy college town dive full of Bud Light and Miller products.

Well I was right about the Bud and Miller products...It seemed they had every version of those taps imaginable...But.... Luckily the place is just swamped in tap handles (they advertise 50 but by my count it was closer to 64) and we were able to find several beers to our liking.

The biggest surprise we found was Pliny the Elder. The giant black bartender's eyes lit up when we ordered one. He explained that they just got their first keg of Pliny in and he wanted to tell us just how great a beer it was.

We smiled and listened patiently as he preached to the choir. Fortunately we had started with Sierra Nevada's spectacular Torpedo and still had some in our glasses as his sermon continued on.

I asked about whether Blind Pig was also coming to town but he was unaware of that possibility. I figured once the Pig showed up he would have plenty of ammo for yet another great beer speech.

The facility itself is pretty vast, with a fairly long impressive wood bar and a lot of tables centered around a multitude of TVs, including one really huge screen in the middle.

This place is clearly a sports bar.

The food court looked pretty impressive as well with all the menu items listed across the top of the ordering windows for easy reading.

So easy in fact that we tried an appetiser (Jalapeno poppers) and a spicy Cajun hot dog. The poppers typically lacked any heat and the hot dog was less than spicy...but hey...it was all tasty enough and the beer was cold so we weren't really complaining.

After our second and final Pliny the bartender came back and tried to sell us on returning in a week to participate in 'Stone Brewing night'. He figured if we liked Pliny then we were bound to enjoy a new discovery like Stone IPA!

I really enjoyed his enthusiasm for beer, and so we thanked him for the great service and headed on out the door into the bright sunshine wondering.........should we stop at Rubicon or go straight to Sacramento Brewing?.....decisions...decisions....decisions.

A nice Barclay visit

2009-01-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

Over the years I have been lucky enough to visit Barclay's in Oakland on several occasions. Their moniker "30 Beers on tap all the time" is very right on the money and frankly it even seems like more.
The place was jumpin on a Saturday Night, but we got lucky and a table was opening up as we entered the downstairs entrance. Not fully downstairs mind you, just kind of a half buried below street level that gives the place and interesting feel about it.
I settled down in the somewhat flimsy (for me anyway) chair and went straight for the beer menu as the rest of my cohorts scanned the food menu for some tasty treats. We both managed to come up with some nice choices. There was no less than eight IPA's on the menu including two doubles, Drakes Hopocalypse and the iconic Pliny the Elder.
I decided to start lighter and went straight to the Firestone Walker Union Jack. I know, I know...that's crazy talk but I just wasn't in the mood to start any lighter despite the presence of Racer 5, Lagunitas IPA, Rubicon IPA, and Green Flashes West Coast IPA. Anchor's Liberty Ale was the other
Curiously the menu does not mention the Brewers name...only the Beer name, the style and their Club ID designation. Naturally Guinness occupies the number 1 spot. Ballast Points Sea Monster Imperial Stout was the highest number on the list at 2031. All that means is that well over 2100 different beers have been offered at Barclay's since they opened in the mid 90's.
The kids reported that the Black Diamond Hefe was quite drinkable and rewarded their interest with proper Bavarian Hefeweizen characteristics. Good thing too since it was the only wheat beer on the menu. Not really sure why they ordered hot wings and quesadillas to go along with it but both appetizers were generous and tasty...at least with my Union Jack, Hop Rod Rye, Pliny the Elder and Hopocalypse.
I know I've said it here before .....but if you are in Oakland...or South Berkeley...stop in and check out Barclay's. I'm pretty sure they'll be something there for any beer palate. Never did get around to trying that Sea Monster though ....damn it.

Zappa plays Zappa

2009-01-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

Oh my god!!! As Moon Unit might say. Dweezil Zappa and the band was just a pair of knickers this side of freakin nirvana. Well.....nothing similar to Kurt Cobain and the fellas....but just about as awesome a show as a Frank Zappa lovin HopHunter could hope to encounter.
The scene was the New Years Eve 8pm show at the impressively ornate War Memorial Opera House in downtown San Francisco..... but earlier that same day...........
Terri and I finished off our 2008 work year by toiling a couple of morning hours and then headed out of town to meet up with Zack at the 1st Street Ale House in Livermore for some lunch...and of course maybe a couple three hop libations. The excellent Blue Cheese burger I had was only outdone by the outstanding IPA's the 1st street people had available. I started with the IPA from Schooners in Antioch which just seems to get better every time I have it. Excellent West Coast IPA style representation ....great aroma, huge hop bite and a nice clean finish. Next, of course I HAD to have a Pliny the Elder right? I would have saved the Pliny for my last beer except the beer menu also offered the Hopocalypse Imperial IPA from Drakes Brewing in San Leandro. Oh my. What a big hop monster that sucker is......If not for the show that evening I could have just stayed on 1st street and tried to demolish that keg of 11% sweetness.
After finishing up lunch and switching my bike onto Zack's transport we rode BART from Dublin to the Civic Center station in SF and immediately grabbed a cab with instructions to proceed to 547 Haight Street. With nearly three hours to spare before showtime it seemed only prudent to use the opportunity to polish some bar stools at Toronado. The Marin brewing Cask IPA, Russian River Blind Pig and Pliny the Elder went nicely between excursions into the beauty that is Port Brewing Hop-15 .....
After cabbing back to the show we made our way to our seats.....2nd row....dead center. Yes it IS worth spending 40% more for these kinds of seats. After a forgettable and useless opening act Dweezil, Ray White and the rest of cast came out and just nailed some FZ classics like INCA ROADS, COSMIC DEBRIS, MAGIC FINGERS (a 200 Motels song? Amazing) CAROLINA HARDCORE ECSTASY which feature some killer solos by everyone in the band. The middle of the show they did BILLY the MOUNTAIN which realllly surprised me. Not one of my favorites but impressive that they could pull off that nearly 25 minute piece of FZ musical history. They also did two of my favorites from way back WILLIE the PIMP (No, no Captain Beefheart sightings) and The MUFFIN MAN.
Keyboard/Flute/Saxophone player Scheila Gonzalez was particularly impressive; but what I enjoyed the most about the show was the sheer joy that was just oozing off all the players. They obviously enjoyed the show nearly as much as I did and their performance radiated it.
Unfortunately for Les Claypool, who is an incredible bass player, he had to try to follow up the FZ crew. It couldn't be done. Somewhere Frank was grinning and enjoying being the proud Papa of such a wonderful kid. We are all the better for it.
Our train ride home was uneventful ..... fortunately......because an hour and a half after we left town there was a shooting homicide in the BART station where we departed from.

Downtown Roseville

2008-12-29T21:25:00.000-08:00

Well...nothing like a stroll around the downtown area of one's own home town to reveal the obvious. I've always knew there was life beyond The Owl Club and The Main Street brewery- Bar-Dirty-Place but apparently I really had little or no idea of what all my downtown area had to offer in the way of alcoholic diversion.
Today was, and IS a Monday, a totally useless and beautiful work week day stranded between two big time holidays that generally have people totally distracted and oh-so-off their usual modes and intentions. Just my kind of a time.
So obviously it was time to explore.
First off we went to some newish Irish Pub called "The Boxing Donkey". WTF? OK I get the whole Irish pub kind of deal but what's with the bizarre name. Oh wait..that's right...I kinda like bizarre names so hey...ya I'm in.
Well... we went in and all I really see to order is a black and tan. (OK ya I pondered an Irish Car Bomb naturally) They have Guinness and Harp and little else that tells me it's an Irish Pub. I was really hoping for maybe some BelHaven or Beamish.
Bud Light, Newcastle and PBR do not a Irish Pub make.
So on to the next stop...the recently remodeled and seemingly improved Trocadero.....we walked in the door and I saw only two taps...Miller light and Budweiser. As I turned on my heel to flee in utter disgust I noticed on the wall next to the exit two Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale posters. I tentatively turned back and asked the bartender "Do you actually have some Celebration?" He assured me that he did and so we grabbed a nearby stool and ordered one. Turns out he had an entire 6-pack in stock!
The giant Bar keep tried to pour our beers for us but Terri literally ripped the bottle out of his hands when she realized he had tipped the glass and intended to present her with a perfect headless urine sample pour. Gotta love that girl. She made sure we enjoyed some head...er I mean crown.
Next we made our way to the always lovely and hop friendly Corner Bar, Main Street Brewery, Dirty Place ...I don't know what the hell to call it.
The owner/Barkeep informed us it was happy hour until we departed so we helped ourselves to $3 pints of Dale's Pale Ale, Celebration Ale and Racer 5. Sorta in that order. The Dale's from Oskar Blues in Lyon's Colorado is a rare find in these parts and was well received.
Well...I guess that was it....The previous week we stopped in to the new trendy 'BASIC' bar and had several pints of Lagunita IPA and a semi -strange paper thin East coast wanna-be pizza that was just weird enough to be interesting.
Apparently the only old town bar we haven't hit lately is the biggest kid on the block THE ONYX CLUB. But we've been thrown out of there before so it was no big deal omitting it. I go there when I need a boilermaker...which strangely I haven't really been craving lately..... maybe next year. That's next week right?

2008's IPA's of distinction

2008-12-28T16:50:00.000-08:00

The following is a list of some of the IPA's I found during 2008 that really stood out and were basically new to me. I plan to do a more in depth description of some of these beers on the Pacific Brew News blog sometime before the end of the year. But for now here are the ones I can remember without doing too much research. I would need more Hoppy beers to do that.

21st Amendment - San Francisco CA - Hop Crisis
Alpine Brewing - Alpine CA - Nelson IPA
Auburn Ale House - Auburn CA - Isotope, Weapons Grade Double IPA
Bear Republic - Healdsburg CA - Apex IPA
Big Dog Brewing - Las Vegas NV - Dirty Dog IPA
Blackfoot Brewing - Helena MT - Single Malt IPA
Firestone Walker - Paso Robles CA - Union Jack IPA
Flat Head Lake Brewing - Woods Bay MT - Roy's Imperial India Pale Ale
Kettlehouse Brewing - Missoula MT - Double Haul IPA
Rubicon Brewing - Sacramento CA - Hop Sauce
Sacramento Brewing - Sacramento CA - Independence IPA
Schooners Grill - Antioch CA - Alpha Avalanche
Sierra Nevada - Chico CA - Torpedo
Valley Brewing - Stockton CA - Uber Hoppiness

I should also do an honorable mention to Sierra Nevada for their wet and fresh hop Harvest series that start in the spring with the Southern Harvest. In late summer they came out with the Estate Harvest and finally ended with the traditional 12th release. Great beers all.

CHILI LASAGNA

2008-12-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

After cooking no less than 4 turkeys over the holiday season I just couldn't face another fowl day; so I decided to create my own variation on this classic holiday dish to serve at the Official Sober Family Xmas gathering.
OK, so maybe lasagna isn't really a traditional holiday dish but since when was The Hop Hunter ever accused of being very traditional. An American Barbarian perhaps...but rarely traditional in any sense of the word.
I'm going to list the ingredients here in the opposite order that I layered them into my official sized non-stick 11"x14" lasagna pan.
The Chili I used was my own recipe but you could use whatever chili you happen to like. The fact that I had a large bowl of chili left over in my freezer from last month weighed heavy on my decision to create this new dish. New to me anyway. That and my continuing love of green Chile's, cilantro and all things cheesy.

TOP
Parmesan Cheese - covering the entire top, essentially sealing in all the other ingredients.
Chili and Mozzarella cheese
Lasagna noodles - solid across the entire pan, tight together
Chili and Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Lasagna noodles
The white layer - A mixture of ricotta/cream cheese/sour cream seasoned with Chipotle
Lasagna noodles
Chili, Mozzarella Cheese and Cilantro
Lasagna noodles
Green Chile's and Pepper jack Cheese
Lasagna noodles
Chili and Mozzarella Cheese
BOTTOM

That's it, five layers of noodles, or go six if they'll fit. Six types of cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or so...until you can see sauce bubbling up
or the top Parmesan cheese is starting to brown.
Let it rest a minimum of 40 minutes. Do NOT cheat on the resting time....have another beer or three and wait........it'll be worth it. You won't burn off the roof of your mouth and the layers will form back together and present properly on the plate. Serve it too soon and you'll have lasagna sliding soup.

As Alton Brown would say "It's just good Eats"

Wednesday night at the OWL CLUB

2008-12-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

Although the Deschutes 'Abyss' keg was a thing of the past... Terri and I showed up at the Owl tonight prompted by the "Help Kill the Keg" email that Bianca and Ellia sent out midday. The keg they wanted to kill was the great Mexican beer 'Tecate' .....but the important part was the 2 free tacos that came with that pint of swill...er..I mean Tecate.
So...ya...we showed up ...and got our taco's....sucked down a urine sample pint of Tecate and fielded a few text messages from Rick who was at Manderas.
So ya life was good. Especially good when we downed 4 pints of Racer 5 to clear that god awful stench of a bitch roast that the Tecate left in it's wake.
OK ya..maybe it isn't THAT bad ....but not nearly the beer that I'm swilling at the moment.......

What?......I gotta tell you what it is?....OK OK....2008 Big Foot from...well you know where it's from ..and if you don't you truly have no business reading this lame blog.
Party on Garth........

Another fine Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T22:02:00.000-08:00

Saturday November 29th we staged our fifth annual 'Turkey Saturday' Soberment Friends and family holiday gathering. As usual Jeff BBQ'd a 16 pound turkey (as well as a ham) and per tradition we also oven baked a 22 pound monster bird. My Mom Lola did her usual impeccable co-ordination of all the side dishes with considerable help from Terri, Trish and Oralia.

On the rear veranda Rick, Jim and assorted other folk constructed what appears to be a fine batch of Barleywine. Thanks to Rory, Jimbo, Todd for lending a hand there. Todd was especially instrumental in keeping Tracy occupied answering his questions. Or maybe I made that part up just now ......I dunno... because I was merely an innocent (or was that insolent?) bystander sneaking off to refill my seemingly always empty pint glass with that fine Auburn Ale House IPA that Brian Ford hooked us up with. And thanks to Lisa for the worlds greatest salsa and the always entertaining Beer Geek for keeping everyone tasting three more beer varieties than they ever imagined they could.

Thanks to all that showed up and contributed...once again it was one of those days where I just know it sucked to be anywhere else.

Time wounds all heals

2008-11-06T22:47:00.000-08:00

Well...I just seen it and heard it...and I gotta tell ya....it rocks. Thanks John....We always loved ya. And Happy Birthday Ralphie.
Oh...OK...ya...tonight Deschutes Hop Trip was the pint night offering at the Owl Club and that just didn't suck at all. Fun times with Terri, Tracy, Dan Rae, The Beer Geek, The Frosts, Porno Brian, Bianca, Megaphone, Hoppy Brewing Terri, The Deschutes dude, the taco tart, Jeff Scammon and all those that shall remain unexposed.
No idea why we didn't end up going to the Toronado.

FIRESTONE WALKER IPA DOESN'T SUCK

2008-11-05T18:56:00.000-08:00

Sitting around the campfire this evening at the Soberment....OK....well.... more accurately on the stools around the central dining and beer business structure next to the kitchen proper.... Terri and I delved into a few bottles of Firestone Walker IPA that Rick thoughtfully brought over last weekend. Or was it the weekend before?
I have been aware that FW has won several awards the past year or so with this Union Jack IPA but this is really the first time that I've sat down and hammered a few and really got into appreciating just how good this beer is.
For the record this is the beer that took home the gold metal at the 2008 GABF in the IPA category. A category that included no less than 104 bloody entries!
Or should I say the first time WE have fully enjoyed this beer. Terri really prompted this blog entry with her glowing account of this beer. Basically she says that the hop taste is really nice and hoppy and the dryness is exceptional in it's great hoppiness. Did she mention that she liked the hop in this beer?
I have heard vague comparative references to Vinnies Blind Pig with the FW IPA; and although I can relate to the similarities considering the unmistakable presence of my beloved Simco hops, but this is a beer that stands alone in it's greatness. So yes....go buy a case of it....buy it now...and ya ... bring some over...I still need another one.
And Terri?...well I hear her giggling in the living room so I'd say ya......she'd be up for another.
I'm already planning a trip to Paso Robles as we sip. Or in Terri's case...guzzle.

Why oh why.....

2008-10-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

.....Do I go day to day, week to week and now seemingly month to month without writing about my great hop hunting adventures. Sadly the economy has somewhat stranded this hop slut and left him without much to report lately.

Although...yesterday we PacificBrewNews types got together and braved the furthest back reaches of my fridge and managed to unearth a few interesting nuggets.

We started out with a couple of brews Mark The Beer Geek brought over, a can of IPA from 21st Amendment and a bottle of Irish Red from Sam Adams.

After that Terri insisted on un-screwing the top to a growler of Auburn Ale House IPA AND a growler of Sac Brewing IPA. Now we were talking.

I also brought forth an old growler of Beermann's 'Green Acres' IPA...but I'd waited too long on that one and it was without much carbonation or pleasant features.

After awhile Rick went digging through the fridge and came up with a 2005 bottle of Moylan's Hopsickle that he'd given me a few months prior. It was still in pretty good shape..typically gaining sweetness and losing a lot of the hop character.

Mark went in again and came out with a bottle each of Mad River Double IPA and El Toro Deuce. I had no idea I had a couple of those in there.

Not to be outdone I rummaged through the rutabagas (well not really but it was fun to type) and found the first bottle of Blue Frog double IPA I ever purchased. I believe it was from their original batch a couple years ago. It's a corked beer and Tracy noticed that the cork was barely in the bottle. But no worries ...the beer was fine..as fine as that Double ever is.

Suddenly I noticed that it was getting tougher and tougher to come up with many more hop monsters so I did what any honest beer drinker would do under the circumstances......I drug out some Sierra Nevada Big Foots from the drawer archives.

Fortunately there were still some bottles from 2001, 2003 and 2005 that Brewer Steve had given us back in 2006 (or was it 2005?) when we took the tour at the Chico plant.

All the samples were well received and enjoyed..... but the consensus was that the 2003 was in the best drinking shape. Or was it the 2005? The 2001 showed signs of it's age...it was obvious from it's great mellowness.

This led us to grab out a bottle of the 2008....just for historic comparisons mind you. It had to be done..... Frankly all the Big Foot samples aged like you would expect them too...picking up smoothness and sweet character with ever passing year while surrendering some of it's bountiful hop backbone in the process.

I'm already looking forward to the 2009 batch, which Rick tells me is due out in late January this year. Indeed I am ready, although first I must hustle on down to one of the local beer marts and grab me some of the 2008 Celebration which hit town recently.

A couple of Vegas Breweries

2008-09-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

If you are forced to go to Vegas for a wedding (although I'm told no one ever doesn't want to go to Vegas for any reason) it is a really nice to discover some decent hops in places that you least expect.

Having family members in the Vegas area means that I visit the town typically once a year or so. In years past I have made the effort to visit as many Breweries I could in the greater Las Vegas area, but with the exception of Triple 777 at the train depot downtown near Fremont Street I have been pretty disappointed with the generally mild offerings.

My latest trip in mid September happily changed all that. Traveling South into town on Interstate 95 we opted to stop at one of Big Dog Brewing Company's locations on Rancho Drive in North Western Las Vegas. With fermentors visible from the street I immediately experienced a minor wave of excitement at perhaps finding a hop beverage worthy of washing away the 550 mile road dust I had accumulated that day. Turns out my instincts were pretty good.....their Dirty Dog IPA was infused with a bit of Simco hops and was simply outstanding. A session IPA in the Blind Pig tradition. They also serve an outstandingly refreshing Bavarian style Hefeweizen just bursting with banana and clove. I bought a growler full of the IPA but by the time we left town it was already empty. Big Dog has three locations in town. I highly recommend checking them out.

Our second night in town we found Chicago

Brewing Company near our hotel and made a

point to try it out for dinner. We were not disappointed. We sat in their outdoor beer garden

that's next to Fort Apache Road but doesn't really suffer from the big roads proximity.

Once again pleased to see that they offered a very nice and hoppy west coast style IPA. Light in body and straw colored the Hardway IPA was very drinkable and well balanced. The menu was full of other styles as well....several wheat beers, a brown Ale and an amber. Our very friendly and knowledgeable server brought us out an interesting sample of a seasonal beer that wasn't quite ready for prime time. He claimed it was 12% or more and was eventually going to be served in 8 oz glasses. It appeared to be a Belgian style honey flavored beer with huge sweetness and an undeniable alcohol warmth. Very huge beer.

Nice to see that some of the Vegas brewers are ramping up their styles. I look forward to my next trip to that desert oasis... I might even find time to visit some relatives.

PICKIN on HOPS

2008-08-31T23:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday August 30th I was fortunate enough to join a few beer enthusiast friends in picking the first annual Hop Harvest at the Jordan Family Farms in Penryn California. Here are a few photos of what took place.....

The Owl Club was Torpedoed

2008-08-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

We regular patrons of the Owl Clubs Thursday Pint Night in Old Town Roseville were grandly rewarded for our loyalty this week when new Owl owner Bianca brought us in a keg of Sierra Nevada's seasonal IPA 'Torpedo'. The Torpedo is named after the device used in brewing that infuses additional hop flavor and aroma into the beer at it travels from the fermentor to the bright tank. A torpedo shaped unit filled with hops? What could possibly be more cool than that I ask you.

I would like to say I had a bit of a hand in lighting the fire that started the simmering blaze that got the Torpedo rolling....and certainly my good buddy and Pacific Brew News partner Rick truly DID get the deal signed off on.......but I still want to recognise that the proper credit should go to Bianca who has been listening to all our beer blather these last few months and has done a real good job resurrecting the great tradition of the Owl Club Thursday Pint night.

After a summer of hit and miss offerings that included several big brewers like Sapporo, Amstel Light and Moosehead it finally felt like the Owl Club of old, filled virtually to capacity with all the happy Pint Nighters consuming copious amounts of Sierra Nevada's fresh seasonal nectar.

It was the third time this summer I was lucky enough to encounter this nicely hopped IPA that occasionally sends reminders through my palate that one of the worlds greatest beers ...the SD Celebration Ale is just around the corner. This IPA is not quite as big as the Celebration but just really hits the spot as a nice summer hop head delight. This is definitely an IPA session beer...which was proven last night by a number of people. (Really good to see you Pierre!)

In fact even before the Celebration Ale hits the stores later this year there should be a batch of the Harvest Ale available...and if I'm not mistaken this years batch will be brewed with hops grown on Sierra Nevada's grounds in Chico.

Hopefully our Thursday Nights the rest of the year will be dotted with these outstanding Sierra Nevada offerings. I can't wait.

Day Three - The Rhino Deck

2008-08-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

Day three dawned perfect with a high Montana sky as blue as Paul Newman's eyes; Who's birthday is oddly the same as my father-in-laws . . . William A. Bohn . . . or as he would become know on the Ramp project as "Inspector Detector".

THE OUTSIDE DECK PRIOR TO THE RAMP.

We managed to get a good nights sleep, a nice breakfast from my mother-in-law Maude and a fairly early start digging holes for the post footing piers. That's her in the background pulling weeds on Rhino's 'Front Yard'. I also had to spend a bit of time in the early morning at Rhino's laptop trying to create a simple yet effective ramp design. Seeing as how I'd never built one and really hadn't built much of anything in the past few years aside from a nice closet full of XXX-Beer Fest T-shirts.

As you can see from the photo I'm finally figuring out that these boards are just not going to cut themselves. Once I got my mind wrapped around that obvious reality the project took off like a drunk turtle with arthritis. I sighted the treated 2x8's, broke out a few tools, mumbled to no one in particular and checked my cell phone for word of lunch. By the time lunch finally did roll around I'd already consumed so many 'preventative' Advil's that when I shuffled around the ground digging holes for the piers I sounded like a box of Hot Tamales and my liver was silently screaming to be laid to rest with alcohol instead of America's finest cheap pharmaceuticals.
Fortunately I was able to find a flat piece of uncluttered garage floor to layout the 5x5 ramp landing on. Rhino came out in his wheel chair and after I cut a piece of plywood and attached it to his furniture dolly he moved onto that and finished fastening the landing pieces together whilst I wandered around the ramp site looking at my pencil and tape measure pretending that I was putting together my next plan of attack. Is it lunch time yet?

Once I got the basic landing screwed together my outstanding wife/helper Terri and Inspector detector assisted me in moving the frame to a position in front of the existing porch. It was at about this time in the proceedings that I noticed a shadow lurking over my shoulder at almost every turn. Although he rarely voiced an opinion either way the inspector continuing to monitor my progress as apparently he had done since the beginning.

I was just now becoming acutely aware of it. Although my pace was fairly slow and undoubtedly inspired very little confidence he seemed content to stay just out of way....yet offering any help that I might require along the way.

On we rolled through the afternoon, cutting board three times and still they ended up too short. In reality we did OK as the day changed from morning to afternoon although I was trying not to run the Skil-saw too much because it was disturbing Rhino and Maude's naps. That loud ass tool also panicked a doe that had wandered into the thicket next to the driveway. Although somewhat spooked the bitch appeared so relatively tame that she only jumped and moved maybe 20 feet before she resumed her previous munching posture. I reminded myself that this was indeed Montana and I took a little Advil break to enjoy the local Fauna.
I suppose by now the photos of the inspector have clued you into what I was enjoying all day. At one time I'd wished I'd remembered my official looking 3 compartment aluminum clip board to give him to carry around...but then WAIT...I did remember to bring it.......but no way I'm taking all my brewery notes out of it at this point in the journey. After all he was doing a great job of making me check my work over and over and over.

The inspectors daughter...my esteemed bride Terri is enjoying the ramp progress in the next shot...or perhaps just out in the yard wondering why I have the camera in my hand instead of my hammer or the screw gun.

After awhile I eventualy got up the nerve to cut the 48" long scarf cuts on the joists and amazingly they were "good enough for who it's for" right off the bat

so I cleaned up the pattern and cut all five of them.

After working most of the day we decided we'd made enough progress for the day and retired to the porch and a nicely chilled six pack of Missoula's own Big Sky Brewing IPA. It was very welcomed and soon gave way to one of the Flat Head Lake growlers of Roy's Imperial. We wrestled with the notion of burning one of the Roy's earmarked for a return to Roseville but figured it was just too important to sample some at that moment. Of course we could always fill it up again..Hell..it was only about 35 miles away after all. After a nearly 1200 mile drive just to get here it didn't really seem that far away at all. Nope...not that far at all. Terri and I slept in Rhino's office on the floor on our new airbeds and it was a welcome sight after a day in perfect Montana weather.

What a weekend

2008-07-29T17:05:00.001-07:00

I know I have yet to finish up all my Montana reports but in the meantime we had us one hell of a long weekend here and around the area.
THURSDAY - My good buddy Ralph decided to accept my invitation to make the short drive up (ya, only 430 miles) from Southern Cal for some good brews, Speedway racing, concert and BBQ.
Things started out on Thursday just an hour or so after Ralph and his sidekick Chris finally survived the greater Sacramento traffic and landed in Roseville. I got off work at about the same time so we met at the house and started the evenings proceedings with a couple of Hoegaarden's before driving the 20 minute trip up to the Auburn Ale House.
Every so often when any of my beer buddies or I have gathered sufficient growlers of beers to share we all like to gather on the VIP deck of Brian Fords Auburn Ale House and make a grand attempt to consume them. Aside from being a truly fine Brewer Brian is, like most of my friends, most happy when pouring, consuming, observing or talking about all things beer. The occasion arose when it was discovered by Brian that I'd been to Idaho, Montana and Oregon and collected several interesting samples along the way. I also had in my fridge growlers of Sacramento Brewing's new 2IPA Independence as well as a jug of Rubicon's 2IPA seasonal 'Hop Sauce'.
Brian threw in a very nice red (Woody's hop head Red Ale) from Elk Grove Brewing, a couple bottle of Rubicon IPA (along with all his fine house brews) and we were off to the races. Thanks for the endless appetiser's Brian...that was impressive.
FRIDAY - Well...Friday wasn't a very long work day for me....Thursday nights ordeal continued after we came home. After sitting in the garage drinking Green Flash 'Imperial', Moylans 'Hopsickle' and some Speakeasy 'Double Daddy' we finally decided to get some sleep at nearly 3am. Nope....I wasn't much good at work and so decided to cut my losses and come home for a nap instead. After all we had tickets to round two of the US National AMA speedway Championship series in Auburn and we didn't want to be anything but at our best for that event.
Naturally we began our night back at the AAH for some Pilsners and IPA's. We also made a stop at old favorite Auburn watering hole Pistol Pete's, for some Anderson Valley double IPA. The Fast Fridays races were all-in-all some pretty good examples of competitive Speedway motorcycle championship format competition. 'Bronco' Billy Janniro, who came home from his usual duties of riding in England for a top professional team, dominated the proceedings and will likely win his first National Championship come September. Unfortunately for us hop hunter types the Sierra Nevada Pale ale was the only drinkable and worthy beer available but after all the IPA's came up a little short.
SATURDAY - Could it be Saturday already? Indeed it was and since we had 8:30pm tickets to see James McMurtry at the Palms Playhouse in Winters California we figured we better get an early start and headed out to Rubicon Brewing on Capitol Avenue in downtown Sacramento. Well....most everyone drove down...Zack and I braved the 106 degree heat and rode the 20 miles down on our bikes. We were planing on riding the full 50 miles to Winters but the heat was playing havoc with my old lard ass Heart rate so we called it good and loaded the bikes on Ralph's Bus-sized hand me down SUV.
The Rube had their usual stellar lineup of Pilsner/Hefewiezen/Pale Ale/IPA and stout along with the 'Hop Sauce' and guest taps of Sierra Nevada's Southern Harvest, Moylans 'Hopsickle' and Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA.
After sampling most all of brewer Scott's' beer varieties the 8 of us (including Ralph, Chris, Terri, Zack, Oralia, Rory, Carlee and myself) decided we really had enough time to make a stop at Sac Brewing prior to making the final 20+ mile push to Winters. Brewer Peter Hoey's IPA is simply marvelous but his new 'Independence' became an instant favorite of Oralia's in particular and she tried to horde all the glasses for herself. Naturally she soon relented to our begging, we finished off glasses and we off to the show.
McMurtry never ceases to amaze and entertain me and the nights show was no exception. We also met my good Wild West Radio buddy Jeff and his beautiful bride-to-be Dian at the show (Thanks for the ticket securing Jeff) and managed to hold on to some choice 7th row seats.
The ride home? Well of course I don't remember much of it except my bike didn't fall off the back so I was happy.
SUNDAY - Sunday of course was for BBQing and we did it up right. Tri-tip, chipotle chicken and Lemon Pepper Chicken and some awesome baked Salmon. Cody and Breann, the entire Zahn family and everyone from the previous nights McMurtry gig showed up and we had us a time.
Chris showed up on Thursday spouting some crap about not being a beer drinker...but by the time he left he was singing the praises of the hop.
It was actually a good thing that Monday came along when it did.....I needed to get to work so I could rest. Whoa.......because of course at the end of the week we were due in Mammoth for the Bluesapalooza Festival of Beers.

Day 2...In Montana

2008-07-21T21:56:00.001-07:00

THE RAVEN - WOODS BAY - MONTANA

Initially we planned to drive non stop to West Glacier but found ourselves in need of a bed by the time we made Butte. We did just that and continued North in the morning. By mid day we were in need of lunch...and as Todd Snyder would say "pretty thirsty too" so we just happened to find ourselves on the East shore of Flathead Lake on route 35 in the vicinity of Flathead Lake Brewing Company. Coincidence? Perhaps. The tasting room at FLB didn't open till noon and it was barely 11:30 so we quickly moved our stop across the street to The Raven Bar and Grill. The sign out front said it was a brewery but that was old news as explained to us by David the excellent, friendly and knowledgeable local barkeep. The exceedingly inviting interior of the bar sported spectacular views of the lake and the surrounding shoreline. What an awesome place to sit and have a beer; which is exactly what we did of course....along with some lunch as we waited for the FLB tasting room to unlock their doors. The first truly excellent beer of the trip was on tap in the Raven. It was from Blackfoot Brewing in Helena and simply called 'Single Malt IPA'. I noted the Simco hop aroma right off and from my grin Terri knew we were on to something good. If I hadn't known better I would have thought I was in San Diego instead of an outpost in Western Montana. After having one more Blackfoot than I probably should have we ventured across the way to the Brewery.

FLATHEAD LAKE BREWING COMPANY

I was a bit surprised when we walked into the tasting room and found ourselves nearly alone in the place. It was a nice tidy little area with about a dozen bar stools and a really impressive chunk of driftwood serving as the bar top. Our beer server Kayla explained to us that it was pulled out of the lake nearby and fashioned specifically for the purpose it was serving. I must admit that I had done some research on Flathead Brewing and knew going in that their signature big -time go-to beer was a double IPA named 'Roy's Imperial'. It was the only double IPA I could find in the state of Montana on any website and I'm here to tell you it was worth the effort. This my friends is what being the hop hunter is all about. The Roy's was very well balanced, with a pretty hefty aroma and not overly sweet. This is what I'd call a session Imperial. We had an hour or so to kill before rhino returned home from the doctor so naturally we spent it talking with Kayla (pictured), sampling their other fine beers andwatching the place fill up. Naturally we also filled three growlers to take back to California with us. We figured the S.O.B.E.R. Group was never gonna believe what we found unless they had some to sample. Highly recommended stop for those just traveling along North through Western Montana. I had a feeling we were not done with the place before we left town.

THE RHINO RAMP JOURNEY BREWERY REPORT

2008-07-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

TRAIL CREEK BREWING COMPANY - TWIN FALLS IDAHO

We began our trip from Roseville California to West Glacier Montana on July 9th at 4:20am and stopped for an early afternoon lunch at Trail Creek Brewing in Twin Falls Idaho. New restaurateur Kurt Handley explained to us that up until two years ago the site was occupied by Twin Falls Brewing. We stopped in specifically to try the Spin Drift IPA but were a bit disappointed to discover that, although it was a decent beer, the Spin Drift was merely a Pale Ale moonlighting as an IPA. I kinda stuck my foot in my mouth (imagine that) and suggested that perhaps we had been mistakenly poured the False Peak Pale Ale by mistake but was informed that the Pale Ale was not on tap at the moment. Oops. We also tried their Uncle Dunkle (Munich Style lager), The Alchemy Amber and the Dry Irish Stout. Although I thought the Amber was pretty solid the Stout was clearly their best beer by my account....far far better than their Lavender Beer ...which reportedly was the Pale Ale infused with Lavender essence. We did a growler trade with Kurt, shared a calzone and then jumped back on the Highway (thanks for the excellent local short cut tip Kurt) North towards......

BROWNSTONE BREWING COMPANY - IDAHO FALLS IDAHO

Our stop at Brownstone was brief..we did a sampler, filled a growler of their IPA, skipped across the street to view the impressively extensive falls, fueled up the Crown Vic and resumed our trip North on Interstate 84. Brownstone Brewing is housed in an impressive building of brick, wood and glass. The sampler platter was fairly typical with a wheat beer that they called a Hefeweizen, a nut Brown (I kinda liked that one), a Czech Pils, Pale Ale, an Amber Bock and a Raspberry lager. A regionally solid beer place that appeared to have decent food from what we could ascertain from the plates being carried by. It turns out that the growler of IPA we procured went bad on us (listen to pacificbrewnews show number 69) which I'm not that surprised by considering the beer wench didn't rinse out the growler before filled it. I must learn to insist upon that in the future.

Montana Update

2008-07-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Well....it's Sunday and we're still here in the Big Sky Country and to tell the truth....if there is better weather, and a more scenic locale than this in all of the world I would like to know where it is. Simply outstanding and pleasant.
We just wrapped up construction on the Rhino Ramp. Lots of photo's were taken during the building phase as well after completion. Rhino himself was able to get out and helped greatly in securing all the plywood to the joists.
He is doing better now and has a hard case cover for the end of his 'stump' as he calls it. Considering he lost his entire foot and lower calf to a diabetes caused amputation he is in pretty good spirits and is already working with the prosthesis doctors.
Considering it is only early afternoon Terri and I decided we will let Padre, Maude and Rhino take their afternoon naps in peace. We're heading off to check out Tamarack Brewing Company and Moose's Tavern. Several people in the area have clued us into Moose's and it's 24 or so taps. We might even get back to Flat Head Lake Brewing to refill the growler of Roy's Imperial IPA we drained last night.
In building this ramp I have re-found several muscle's groups that I obviously don't use much when I cycle. Oh ya, I'm also reminded about how much I miss my Bianchi. Man I hope that smoke clears out of Roseville before we get back.

Headed North

2008-07-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning Terri and I left Roseville (and all the smoke from the hundreds of California wildfires) at 4:20am and started our journey North to West Glacier Montana. We're on a family mission to help out a loved one that has ran into some poor luck and needs some help around the farm. On the way up we made quick stops in three breweries and managed to collect five growlers.
We will be up here in the Big Sky country over the weekend completing the construction project and hopefully return home by midweek. Our journey home will be on an alternate route and we will be sure to optimise our growler collecting on that leg of the trip as well..........stay tuned for that report.

ROLL ME SOME DOUBLES

2008-07-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

In less than a weeks time both Rubicon Brewing on Capitol Street in downtown Sacramento AND Sacramento Brewing (2 locations in the greater Sacramento metropolis area) have released their seasonal double IPA's.

This is of course, for us folks that enjoy the occasional hoppy beer, the best beer news that we could hope to receive.

I believe it was just five or so days ago on Friday last that Terri and I made our way down to the Rube to sample Scott's "Hop Sauce"; which by the way is reportedly the 3000th batch of beer brewed at that location. The propaganda on the menu says that he uses no less than 10 varieties of the green plants in his nectar and it sure tastes like it. Plus Scott verified that fact in person, something that he has done on many occasions during our visits. Probably because the dude is one hard working brewer and seems to always be around the brewery and as far as I know never actually leaves the place. Nicely done Scott.......pitchers of the flagship IPA and 10 oz glasses of the Hop Sauce in front of me? Hell...I'm surprised I ever left the place.

A couple of days later Rick informs me that another one of my favorite brewers, Peter Hoey from Sacramento Brewing, also brewed a double and it was going to released the week of July 4th. Oh my...this is clearly not the time to save money or lose weight.

On Monday Rick, Tracy, Terri and I got our workouts done early and hustled over to the Sac Brewing 'Oasis' location in Citrus Heights to line up at the hop trough.

In my opinion what Peter has done with the Sac Brew IPA is virtual genius. It has quickly grown into one of my favorites and seems to get better with every batch. As for his new double...or Imperial....or as the chalk board calls it "The Independence IPA"......oh my oh my.

Frankly it has got to be one of the three or four best beers I've had this year. It is that good....smooth...bursting with Hop aroma and deep balanced hop flavor. I'm a real slut for Simco hops anyway and they are just bursting at the seams in this seemingly flawless beverage.

And today I hear that there was still some dry hopping to do before this bad boy was done. Unbelievable.

The Oasis sight also has Dog Fish Head 90 minute IPA on as a guest tap. I'm really happy to see that but as long as the Independence is pouring I'll probably stick pretty close to that. As good as the 90 minute is Peter's double is just that much better. Dare I say it's a Vinnie quality beer?

So it looks as if the road between The Rube and The SacBrewing locations are gonna be getting quite the work out in the next few weeks.

So...well done boys....the brewing scene in Sacramento is in good hands indeed . . . . . a Hop Hunters dream. Thanks.

BUTTE CREEK REVOLUTION XI

2008-06-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

Tonight, for the third time in as many weeks, I have purchased and opened a bottle of Butte Creek Brewing Company's Imperial India Pale Ale Revolution XI. Genuinely certified Organic this is one fine easy drinking Hop Colossus.
Typically, in previous years anyway, I have steered clear of organic beers but this is the best of it's kind that I have ever tasted.
According to the propaganda on the bottle Butte Creek uses New Zealand Hallertau Hops as well as Magnum, Chinook, Amarillo and Simcoe Hops in this brew that celebrates the 11th Anniversary of the Brewery.
I have seen the XI available in a few places around Nor-Cal and if you can get it I highly recommend you pick some up. It's claim to 8.6 abv seems believable, but only because you know it's an Imperial IPA and that goes with the territory.
It isn't overly sweet, just enough to hold it's own against the onslaught of all those high alpha hops it's lugging around. So ya...go get it...the Hop Hunter insists.

NASCAR Saturday

2008-06-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

In the true spirit of the phrase "It's not WHAT you know...but WHO you know".... Rick, Tracy, Terri and I had an interesting time taking in the sights, sounds and flavors of Infinion Raceway SaveMart 300; as well as that of Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa.
All on one long and hot Saturday in June.
Our day started out at 7am in Roseville when Terri and I wheeled the Crown Vic into Rick and Tracy's cul-de-sac to pick them up. The previous evening I dutifully loaded up my #2 ice chest with 11 empty Russian River Brewing growlers and a little bit of ice to keep them chilly.
After a quick and uneventful ride west on Highway's 80 and 37 the "WHO you know" part of the day began when we arrived at Gate Number One and spotted my dear old friend James Daniels walking towards us carrying 4 very seriously official looking all-access pass packets affixed to Infinion Raceway neck straps.
James, or JD as he is referred to as everywhere in the world besides my house, is in charge of the race day fueling station management and crews for Sunoco and absolutely hooked us up with the aforementioned passes that even included a VIP parking pass.
We spent the morning and early afternoon walking through the garage, watching practice, happy hour and the beginning of the Legends car race (There was an extensive Red flag stoppage for a nasty three car pileup in the front straight). We were also able to spend a bit of time near the Sunoco Fueling area hanging out with old friends James, Butch, John, and Rick, as well as my Son Zack who also works occasional race weekends throughout the NASCAR season.
After leaving the track we made our way to "Ernie's Tin Bar" which is on the way North to the hotel rooms in Rohnert Park.
A favorite yearly hangout of the Sunoco crew, I have personally driven past the little rundown out of the way establishment on no less than 2 dozen occasions but never gave the corner Tin building a second look. Like Rick said...we always thought the name there was 'COLD Beer' and suspected it was likely frequented by local farmers with missing digits and teeth .... swilling Budweiser from dusty long neck bottles. Once again of course we were dead wrong and learned another lesson....... Ernie it turns out is a pleasant chap who is actual the third generation of Ernie's to run the place. He knows his beers too and served us up fresh pints of Speakeasy 'Big Daddy' IPA.
It was difficult to pry ourselves away from Ernie's but the beckoning siren calls of Blind Pig and Pliny the Elder from Santa Rosa were just too strong and we hit the road in search of supreme Hop satisfaction.
Russian River was not quite as busy as I'd expected it to be and we were lucky enough to secure and area near the stage to accommodate all of us including the entire Sonoco Fuel crew of 8.
Vinnie had an interesting new light brew on the board that is based on the Aud Blond but with more hops (imagine that) called Happy Hops. The name is in honor of a beer once produced by the original Sonoma brewery know as New Albion Brewery.
After downing countless pitches of Blind Pig, a beer sampler for the curious out of town Fuel guys and at least 6 pizzas the guys retired to the hotel for a game of cards whilst Rick and I enjoyed the opening tunes of the nights musical guest "Lansville Station".
The card game was still in progress when Rick and I finally arrived and the call went out to us for a growler of Blind Pig which we quickly supplied. Among the card players was the gas can dude for the 28 car... Bobby Grant. Not only did Bobby luck out and take home all the card game money he also managed to fill Rick and I with enough genuine Southern good ole boy Charlotte NC livin, Dale Earnhardt knowin rhetoric to persuade ourselves into offering up not one...but two growlers of Pliny the Elder for him to take back to Dale Juniors hauler for eventual transport to Dale's all things beer interested lips.
Actually Bobby was quite the interesting and genuine fellow and of course having supplied him with plenty of email info for pacificbrewnews and the hophunter we still hope for some sort of indication about what the NASCAR community, and Dale Jr. in particular, think about Vinnie's wunderkind double IPA.
The next morning Rick, Tracy, Oralia, Terri and I returned to Russian River Brewing and managed to burn up a few midday hours consuming breakfast Pizza's, sour beers and several pints of all things hoppy.
All in all it was a fabulous weekend which was only dampened by the extremely poor air quality from the hundreds of wild fires burning in Northern California that weekend. I would have loved to be able to send a few growlers to those firefighters up on the line fighting those wars.

Post Ride line-up

2008-06-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

It has been nearly a week since the conclusion of the Epic Redwood Ride but before I get into the massive reporting chore of trying to document that nearly indescribably adventure I wanted to share the line-up of brews that Terri and I shared the night after my return.
It started innocently enough with a bottle of Racer 5 (actually two) and soon escalated as these sessions sometimes have a way of doing. The Racer 5 was Terri's idea so once the second bottle was nearly evaporated I ventured towards the garage to see what else was available. I was surprised to see that beers had actually been added in the time I was gone and there were several that I'd previously never laid eyes upon. Naturally I grabbed the one that said DOUBLE IPA on it. Aptly named Tricerahops it was a exceedingly smooth and drinkable offering from Ninkasi Brewing Company in Eugene Oregon. I was pretty sure that the only way that sucker made it to my fridge was by way of fellow SOBER Group member Rick Sellers. To say I liked the Tricerahops was an understatement. I found it very balanced and not overly sweet for an 8.8% beer. I'd definitely like to see our local beer outlets start stocking it.
The bottle of Hop Stoopid that we consumed was purchased during the ERR and has been documented several times here prior and is well known as a HopHunter favorite. I found 22oz bottles of Hop Stoopid all along the Northern California coastline during our ride, tucked away in the back corners of every little Mom and Pop grocery that I steeped into.
We were on a roll now and my next visit to the fridge I couldn't resist the temptation of Avery's Hog Heaven Barley Wine style ale. I consider it an Imperial IPA but it has also been entered into judging as a red. Suffice to say it is just one of the hoppist and satisfying beers that I know of.
By this time in the evening there was really only one beer in my ice box that was going to measure up to this line-up so I cut straight to the Moylans Hopsickle. A perfect name for a perfect wrap up beer. I resisted the urge to grab one last Sierra Nevada Big Foot just for dessert....that would have to wait for another day. It was good to be home.

Brew Fest reports

2008-05-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

Although I did indeed attend the West Coast Brew Fest AND the Raley Field Beer Fest on consecutive weekends I have failed to report it properly here on the hop hunter sight. Oh...you noticed...ya me too. All I can do is blame the ERR and my Bianchi for distracting me.
I rode to both events which was definitely the preferred mode of transportation to any brew fest, although the 100+ degree temperature at Miller Park the first Saturday were ridiculous and totally in conflict with the 60 miles we were barely able to finish in time.
I suggest reading S.O.B.E.R. Group charter member Jeff Barbers report on the Pacific Brew News site for the full WCBF rundown.
The highlight at Raley Field (even better than Vinnie sending some Pliny the Elder) was our good buddy Brian Ford and Auburn Ale House winning the peoples choice award for his absolutely stellar IPA.
I also have to take my hat off to Rubicon's head brewer Scott Cramlet for plying us with untold back room treats at the after gathering downtown. I surely wish I could even remember more of that episode. Oh my.
Amazingly we had Buzzcutt as our designated driver........an occurance that is as unlikely as the Pistons winning the NBA Championship in 2008.

Epic Redwood Ride commences June 1st

2008-05-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

It has been nine months in planning, preparation, scheming, scheduling and countless BS emails (thanks Jimbo) but the great Epic Redwood Ride from Brooking's to San Francisco is finally within sight.
I will be keeping as much information as possible in my head (so ya, don't count on much) so that I don't ruin my great time with tedious note taking. But I do actually hope to make some Hophunter entries throughout the week and will endeavor to join up with Zack to do one of our combined ride reports that have proved to be somewhat popular in the past.
So Saturday we drive to Brookings and Sunday morning we pedal South in search of fun, adventure and Northern California Coast breweries.
And of course, yes...there's a 60% probability of scattered showers. Perfect.
Would we have it any other way?

The Bike/The Heat/The Beer

2008-05-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

The annual West Coast Brew Fest was scheduled to kick off at 1pm at Miller Park on Saturday May 17th so naturally it seemed like a good time to schedule the classic ole 'Bike Ride to a Brewery destination'.

The past three years I have shown up at the Miller Park site, which is along the river just South of Old Town Sacramento, parked my car near the entrance and then ridden my bike on the American River Bike Trail out and back towards Folsom with the intent to ride 50-60 miles and arrive back at my car just in time to enter the festival.

This year I finally talked Darek into doing the pre-beer-fest ride with me. Having all but destroyed another of his Scott frames (don't ask) he had just taken possession of a shiny new Giant all carbon frame Shimano Ulterga SL the day before and it very much needed an extended experimental ride to test the set up and overall feel.

It all seemed to be just another great day of cycling and beer drinking and I looked forward to it all week long. There was just one little glitch...that actually wasn't so little...by 11pm the temperature had seemingly already soared to over 100 degrees.

Rick Sellers joined us for the first 12 or so miles out but then wisely turned around and headed back to the fest. Only just recently picking back up on biking he was doing excellent to go that far, especially since I was ignorantly setting a pace that was a bit on the rapid side. Sorry Rick.

Darek and I managed to make it to the 30 mile turnaround point alright but the return trip, which also sported a nice little headwind, eventually took it's toll on us.

We actually seemed to doing alright until we finally arrived back at the car just after the event had started. Once off the bike we realized that the heat had really done a job on us.

No amount of water, Gatorade, fresh clothes and eventually beer and food seemed to be able to snap us out of it.

Once in the fest we soon discovered that the opressively heat was indeed a huge conversation piece for everyone in attendance, complaints that frankly we had little sympathy for. Rick did everything he could to make things go easier for us including getting us checked into the event without having to wait in the ridiculously long line and even fetching us beers from inside the pouring tents.

And there were some really good beers to be had including the Blue Frog Hefeweizen, The Trumer Pilsner and a couple surprise kegs of Celebration Ale that Sierra Nevada Brewing was kind enough to include in their lineup.

It was the kind of a day when the hop hunter was looking for hops in all the light places. Pilsners, Pale Ales and only the occasional IPA's. In fact the best IPA's of the day were to be found at The Auburn Ale House pouring station and at Sequoia Brewing who brought four beers including Brewer master Kevin Cox's excellent 'General Sherman IPA'. Kevin was even on hand pouring his beers himself and showing off all the medals his beer won in this years competition.

Somehow Hoppy Brewing won the Gold Medal in the IPA category but for the life of me I will never understand how or why that happened. Vague rumours of judging snafus or perhaps sample mis-identification and/or beer mis-handling circulated among the knowingly curious.

So ya..overall it was a good day off the couch and out doing something worthy. Bringing to mind that old over used adage of "What doesn't kill ya, makes you stronger". So now my cycling, sweating and beer skills are somehow a little better? Well maybe....I'm just hopping that the Raley Field event next weekend is not quite so hot. Because...ya..I'll be biking there.

The Tour de Lincoln

2008-05-10T23:20:00.000-07:00

Yep...another post about another pretty cool bike ride. This time it was the Tour de Lincoln. 100k and 3700' of climbing in the foothills between Auburn and Lincoln.
It was a great day to ride and except for the pathetic fare at the first rest stop the day was a true gem.
Springtime in the foothills is just about as beautiful as it gets...even when you're sweating bullets on some of the 10-15% pitches that punctuate the days 63 miles.
The only real negative aspects were Derek's three flats, the first of which pitched him onto the pavement at the top of one of the early climbs, and the lack of proper food at he aforementioned rest stop. Oddly the final rest stop was a mere 6 miles from the finish (with a decent BBQ'd meal) and sported all manner of nourishing supplements.
Next Saturday it is the self guided "West Coast Brew Fest Double". That's the one where we drive to the fest site in Miller Park approximately 4 hours prior to the start; ride out to Folsom on the American River Trail (60 miles) and try to make it back to the car just prior to the event's noon starting time.
Truly there is no better way to rehydrate after a long ride than Hop Hunting at a local beer fest, Stay tuned for that report next week.

It was a century day

2008-05-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

OK...ya I know.....man....I've been badly lagging on my duties here on the blog but perhaps today entry will shed some rays on how I've been spending my time of late.
Today, in my quest to be as ready as possible for the June 1st Epic Redwood Ride, I actually completed my first full Century ride. Ya...not another wimpy metric Century but a full fledged 100 frickin mile ride. The Stockton Bicycle Club supported DELTA CENTURY that starts and ends at Jessies Grove Winery on Turner Road in Lodi CA.
Darek and I completed the 101 miles in a time of roughly 6:31:00. But now I'm spent and we just drained a growler of Alpine Brewing Pure Hoppiness to commemorate the event. Terri and I are now on to some Ale Smith IPA and I've been eyeing that bottle of 2003 Sierra Nevada Big Foot that been lying around the garage fridge since.....well for 5 years now. Ya...it feels just like that kind of a day.
It is a rare day in the neighborhood when I can a actually say that I feel like I did all that I could. A hundred miles is just a long damn way my friends........I'm hoping someday to look back on this as just the stepping stone to some truly Epic rolling adventures. Party on Garth!
Next Saturday we're signed up for the Tour of Lincoln.

Blend Me

2008-04-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

For a couple years now I have been blending beers together and have generally really enjoyed what has been produced. For me it all kinda started with the Speakeasy beers Big Daddy IPA and the now readily available Double Daddy.

Tonight I decided to introduce a Double Daddy into a glass already half filled with Avery Brewing's India Pale Ale. It was really a no brainer and I would have been shocked if it wasn't really good. Of course I wasn't shocked and I'm currently on my second one.

I really like the mix of a double IPA with a suitable single IPA for the balance it creates. Typically the doubles have that added sweetness that can be a bit overbearing at times and the mix always seems to smooth all of that out. Plus (naturally) the added BU's from the double mesh so well with the single it just all good. An IPA and a half if you will. Or IPA+ ..or sure it even really needs a handle.....and despite the photo.....just a proper glass will do.

I'm usually careful to blend beers of a very similar style but in the future who knows...maybe a little adventure is in store and I'll go for a blend that may not seem such a natural on the first look.

Anyway... I believe that experimentation is almost always a worthy adventure...it may not always work out but it's usually pretty entertaining to give er a go and see what develops.

It seems more and more brewers are on to blending as well.

Oh ya...I recently read that Bear Republic is has developed a Racer 5/Red Rocket Ale blend called 'SuperFreak'. That is definitely on my list of things to hopefully try soon.

And like one of my friends noted yesterday during one of the quieter moments in our 60 mile bike ride....wines have been blended forever...so why not beer? I agree and I personally think it is the wave of the future. I just love those Surf metaphors.

And he's off...

2008-04-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

Well....Rick is anyway...that dapper Pacific Brew News/DRAFT magazine Beer director stopped by my humble abode this evening to get fitted up with a few growlers for his greatly over due trip to the Beer paradise that is San Diego. It was all I could do to watch him drive away with some of my favorite growlers..... but without me! Man... working for a living just sucks. And yes,,,that's Rick checking out the hatch of my Mini Cooper at the 2006 Oregon Brewers Festival

He'll be all set for visits to Alpine Brewing, San Diego Brewing ,Green Flash, and Pizza Port. I know he has several other stops in mind as well as some other sorta official duties that will also take him to the Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo.

I fully suspect he'll also find his way to Obriens which refers to itself as the hoppiest place on earth. And now that the Liars club has moved to Alpine I could imagine him stopping in there to check out the new facility. Wait a minute.....how long is gonna be down there? Oh ya...just a few days...until Saturday I think. I guess he'll need to travel down there again soon to even scratch the surface of all the great beer places to visit.

If I know Rick he's got his own list of other stops that will likely include Ale Houses, Pubs, Eateries as well as bottle shops and liquor outlets. He is a man that will seek out and find different and interesting beers where ever they might be.

And I see San Diego Brewing has the Hopnotic IPA featured on their web site as their beer of the month. Hmmmmm.

But of course the new Kriek and Exponential Hoppiness coming out at Alpine on the 16th is cause for major celebration.

So ya....looking forward to Rick returning with some Hoppy Southern Cal treats...and stories of all his good times. Check out the blog on the Pacific Brew News site for his reports...they never fail to include lots of interesting facts, observations, news and good beer information.

Ya sure..I'm here..sorta

2008-04-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

Obviously I have little to say lately. Just bikin along getting ready for the Epic Redwood Ride and pondering some drives down South to visit my Dad. He's pretty much the nitro man now and just hanging on to life for us all.
This whole death thing hangs kinda heavy on me and I don't really deal with it all that well. It just seems so final and done. I know CP and Ralph have a much different perspective of it all but the reality of it all is ....well...I just don't.
Ever since my Grandfather unexpectedly died in 1965 (he was younger than I am now) the whole death deal has been unfathomable, mysterious and epically painful for me.
So ya.. I guess I gotta get with the reality program and take it like a man and all that BS...but still it's just not coming easy. Face up to it I weakly remind myself.
After all these many years of hardly getting along we're finally kinda on the same page and dammed if he ain't about to cash it all in. But then I know that has also been a motivating factor to our samepageness.
The finality of it all just reeks. Wish I coulda...woulda...things to say....blah blah fuckin blah
Oh well...that's just humans for ya.....Finally once in a while they (me) might miraculously figure something out when it's virtually too late.
Like the Frank Zappa song 'Dumb all Over'
or Canned Heats 'Human Condition'
I guess life is just a song....or just a beast...or as I prefer to think of it as....it is what it is and it's all it ever shall be.
Man.....I hope there's a beer in my fridge strong enough to offset this BS.......
Although obviously at this point all these friggin beers I've already consummed haven't been enough to offset my usual writing, and life......deficiencies.

IN HESPERIA THE WIND DOESN'T BLOW.....IT SUCKS

2008-04-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

No trip down to our old Hesperia stomping grounds in the Mojave Desert is complete without at least one completely windblown day; and this last trip we got a couple of them. But first a little traveling explanation.

Terri and I picked up Oralia in San Ramon at about noon:30 Thursday March 27th and arrived in Hesperia at approximately 11pm. Zack, Dan and Kevin had to work and were delayed getting out of town until nearly 5pm. They all were scheduled to open up the San Dimas Stage Race on Friday with a Time Trial that rolled out Cat3's and Cat2's mid-day.

The bike racers were driving hard straight through down Interstate 5 while the three of us were meandeering across California on several highways because of a required stop in Fresno at Sequoia brewing. Due to several of Zack's races in the area recently Oralia is becoming quite a regular in the Tower District wateringhole and I think she may even be thinking of joining the Pint Club! We filled a couple growlers with IPA and their wonderful pale Ale.
We had all our bikes mounted to Darek's deluxe bike rack which was itself securely attached to Terri's cop car Crown Vic 's receiver hitch. We planned to ride during our four day stay in the cultural wasteland.
Our plan was to ride early in the day and get done in time to attend Zack and Kevins CAT2 races as well as Dan's CAT3 heats; most of which were scheduled at roughly 1pm each day.

Friday morning Terri, Oralia and I made it out by 9am and did a nice 15 mile loop that included nearly 600' of climbing. The girls were cussing me at the time on the hills but by the time we were done they really enjoyed the fact that they pulled through it all pretty well. After eating lunch I went out again and rode to Oggies Brewery in Apple Valley. What a nice day.

Saturday we made it out on time again despite the fact that the Oggies Brewing, Sequoia Brewing and Russian River Brewing products were flowing freely in nice accompaniment to my Moms Friday night gringo taco feed.
This time virtual family member and great friend Ralph joined us on his "Too small for his beer proportioned 6'6" body" Raleigh aluminum framed road bike. To be fair Ralph hasn't ridden in some time and so the plan was to take it as easy on him as his ample ego would allow. But despite our well intentioned plans the local winds had other ideas. By 9am the winds out of the South were all wickin along at what seemed to be in the 15-20mph range.
We all managed to clock 10+ miles that included a brutal slog home into a beast of a head wind on an exposed 1% grade for 3 miles. It wouldn't seem like too much to the seasoned racers we had in the house but to Terri, Oralia and especially Ralph it was a daunting task. They all pushed on through it without so much as a single complaint and frankly I was quite proud of them.

On Sunday it was a whole new ball game. The winds continued to grow in intensity with gusts that the news reported as being in the 40mph range. Terri and Oralia were not interested in riding in those severe wind conditions and frankly I didn't blame them. Ralph and I on the other hand are just a couple old fools dumb enough to give her a go. Especially since Oggies Brewing in Apple Valley is located almost purely downhill and downwind from our starting spot. Mercy.

The very first challenge Ralph and I faced was a 20+% downhill that I went 40+mph on at the start of my solo Friday afternoon ride. I figured there would be a big cross wind about half way down so I kept my speed in check and all the paramedics in Hesperia were glad I did. A gust nearly cleaned me off the bike completely and blew me four feet across the road. Ralph took quick note of it and slowed his speed as well. After that sphincter testing jolt we more carefully picked our way across the old potato lands of the mesa and decided to cross the Mojave river on Rock Springs Road. The generous looking riding shoulder turned out to a hellishly grooved tire shredding mess so we were forced to ride the edge of the well traveled road instead. Just about that time we noticed that the wind was picking up the grit off of the river bed and sandblasting everything that passed that way. Ralph had it in his ears and I swear I was still noticing granules 2 days later sifting around the inside of my helmet. Yes indeed...this was the life...livin the dream. Ultimately of course we made into the Jess Ranch area where we met Terri, loaded the bikes onto the car rack and might have slipped into Oggies for a pitcher or three of Green Flash Imperial.
So ya...it's one of my old favorite sayings but it's so spot on. The wind doesn't blow....it sucks!

BREWBAKERS

2008-04-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

On our return trip from the desert on Monday April Fools Day Eve we made our way East off Highway 99 a few miles and found Brewbakers in downtown Visalia.
The brewery is housed in a really cool old building that used to have ridiculously high ceilings that have wisely been turned into space for fermentors and a beer garden/patio. As you walk in the front door you are warmly greeted by the copper and stainless steel brewing equipment that immediately lets you know you are in the right place.
It was early in the afternoon when we arrived so the bar was uncrowded and we found a nice spot at the bar nearest the bronze tap handles. Having already visited their website I knew they didn't have their IPA on..... but the Pale Ale was a fresh batch and I really wanted to try their Sequoia Red which they refer to as their flagship beer.
The Pale Ale was quite drinkable and so we ordered a pitcher. Very clean, reasonably hoppy and just a fine session beer. The Red on the other hand was quite annoying...since they ran out of it an hour before we arrived. Yep..that's right....I missed it by an hour.
Steve the bartender felt my pain and fed me a couple of samples of their Schwarzbier to try to keep me from crying. The Black German Lager was solid but I really yearned for the subtle hoppiness and roasted malt backbone that I figured their Red likely possessed. A couple of the regulars wandered through while we were eating our Reuben and French dip lunch and they all groaned at the loss of their favorite local libation.
The rest of their beer menu was filled with Apple, Apple Raspberry and a Honey Wheat. I guess I should have sampled them but just didn't. Not really typical Hop Hunter fare although considering the top quality of their Pale Ale and Schwartz it wouldn't surprise me if they were highly drinkable for those that enjoy those sort of .......a......light summer beers.
We took a growler of the Pale Ale home.
Glad we stopped...

I feel so special

2008-03-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

And no it's not because sometimes I feel like I could qualify for the special Olympics...it's just that crazy things seems to be happening to me some days when I ride my bike. I won't go to into endless details like I seem to do at times...... because I have a lot to do to get ready for our trip down to the High Desert tomorrow.
Yesterday was another one of those days though. The wind was blowing in the 20mph range out of the South and after slogging South about five miles or so I finally hit my Southern turn around point and was pegging along at +30mph with a cross/tailwind. I was in a particularly trafficy area on a sweeping turn trapped between a stream of 50mph cars and a grass covered 4 foot deep drainage ditch.
You like how I'm avoiding the details so far?
And so don't ya know right then was the perfect time to get a quick leaking flat rear tire. My rear rim was immediately on the asphalt and the back of the bike was starting to swap out towards the traffic side of the 12" wide bike lane. I really didn't want to jam on the brakes, especially the rear brake...so I applied some pressure to the front brake and tried to keep the bike from following it's natural momentum (and the wind) into the expressway. Once I got some of the speed scruffed off I decided I'd rather end up in the ditch that under a car so I forced my body right and rode the sucker into the ditch. Fortunately it was a fairly friendly ditch..as far as ditches go..pretty soft wetish material covered with a thick layer of spring grass. I stayed upright the whole time and going down the 4 foot bank seemed to slow me considerably. The cars seemed unfazed. All except one motorist that is..... she stopped her car at the earliest safe spot ahead, which had to be almost a quarter mile down the road or so, and started back to see if I was OK.
I checked things out and saw that all I really had to do was change the tube and I think I could just carry on with my ride. Despite the rude treatment my almost new tire seemed to be OK. (Later on I would find that actually it was cut in a couple places)
I indicated to her that I was OK but she walked the entire distance just to make sure. Something that impressed me no end. Glad to see people like this still exist I thought.
So I continued on my ride and three miles later an old couple in the Del Webb senior community decided to fake me out by aiming left before turning right into their driveway and I had to grab a piece of sidewalk and part of their driveway to avoid their bumper. Whew.....I wonder if they had a heart attack.
A couple miles later I witnessed a 7 year old Evil Knievel wannabe do a face plant on a bike trail. I stopped and checked him out while his panicked parents caught up to the scene and frantically made sure he was OK.
Knievel's Mother told me as I started to leave "Thanks for stopping, good to know some decent people still exist". The rest of my ride I hardly noticed the gale force winds at all.

Stumptown

2008-03-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Terri and I did our second annual Healdsburg Dry Creek loop bicycle ride on Easter day. We actually headed out of Roseville Saturday afternoon and spent the evening at Russian River Brewing. We had 10 growlers to fill for our expedition South this coming weekend so we decided to get a room within walking distance (good heads up Rick) and get those puppies re energized with Blind Pig IPA and Pliny the Elder. It was a typical Russian River experience, which is to say exceptional...it's just a place we enjoy being at. The next day we headed North to Healdsburg and parked in the free public lot directly behind Bear Republic Brewing. Typically we would do the 22 mile loop and then crash the brewery for some good eats, Racer 5, Hop Rod Rye and hopefully some tasty Racer X.

The sign on the door was somewhat unbelievable and really disappointing. Closed on Easter Sunday. So we went on our ride and decided that since BRB was closed it was time to make the trek out to Stumptown Brewery & Smokehouse on River Road in Guerneville.

We got a call from Tracy, who was out on a day tour enjoying the spring wildflowers, during our ride and she agreed to meet us at Stumps for a beer. I really liked the look and feel of the Stumptown tavern as we walked through the front double doors...I call it a tavern because that's the term that popped into my head as I strolled below the low heavy beamed wooden ceiling and made my way to the bar stools in the back. The bar was also accessible from the large rear patio that over looked Russian River and the forest surrounding it. What a great spot, the smell of the smokehouse was in the air and Terri was already eyeing a platter of ribs that was being carried out the back door to some lucky patron on the patio.

There were three house beers on the menu, a surprisingly good raspberry Red, a very light American style wheat and their flag ship the 'Rat Bastard' Pale Ale. I tasted all three and eventually requested a pint of the Bastard. They advertise it as a 'session pale' and I guess I could see that, although it was a bit grassy for my tastes upon my initial tasting. I opted for the Russian River IPA for my next beer and kicked myself for not starting with a pint of Beamish that I failed to notice before ordering the Pale Ale. Somehow Beamish Stout and myself have not been in the same location all year long and I was definitely in the mood for one.

We eventually made our way to the patio once Tracy arrived and enjoyed some sun and a Stumptown burger with Cheddar and bleu cheese. It was quite tasty and I would recommend it...although if you don't prefer your burgers on the rare side I'd remind them to cook it medium or more.

I was glad we finally made to Stumptown for a visit, if you're ever off the beaten path you should stop. The food, beer and service was excellent.

So where did we go from there on a Sunday afternoon?......we'll back to Vinnie's Russian River Brewing of course....that fresh Pliny and Blind Pig wasn't gonna drink itself. And oh ya...the Compunction...which I believe is a sour Belgian style golden ale.....didn't suck either. Tracy bought a growler of it.....lucky Rick.

BAXTER GRADE

2008-03-22T06:37:00.001-07:00

Yesterday the powers that be at work decided that it would be a fine and honorable gesture to let all their minions off at noon to observe Good Friday. When I heard the news I naturally started thinking what I might do with the extra daylight hours of freedom and predictably started scheming on where I might go on an extended ride. The first thing that jumped into my head was that nasty little 1.5 mile climb just out of Auburn called Baxter Grade. The fact that after five days without a fermented beverage I was starting into some noticeable hop deprivation may have factored in as well considering Auburn is home to one of my favorite breweries and IPA's.
I called up my good buddy Darek who lives in Auburn and we devised a plan to meet half way and then climb Baxter together. As soon as I started North out of my garage on the boulevard I realized that I had seriously underestimated the winds on this 60 degree late March day. The ride to Lincoln would be a total slog for 12 or so miles against a 12-15mph (estimated) headwind.
The previous day the winds were from the South and would have made for a much better warm up before reaching the foothills. Fewer matches burned anyway. This section of the ride took me nearly an hour instead of the usual 40-45 minutes.
Meanwhile Darek was flying off the mountain and nearly got hit by a clueless hillbilly pick-up truck driver whilst riding DOWN Baxter Grade. Darek's near miss, and my lateness in arriving at our designated meeting point apparently discombobulated him a bit and he just kept traveling West on Wise Road until he was five miles past the rendezvous spot. Moments after I turned that corner my cell phone rang. "Where are you" He says. "I'm already crossed over HWY 65 and still I don't see you". "Uhhhh....I'm five miles behind you my friend". Or ahead..which is how Darek now had to view the situation.
He turned around and just hammered it to the tune of 150 Average HR/20+mph and finally caught me two thirds of the way up Baxter. He had a long way to come but considering I was able to set a new low speed record on some of the 15% pitches I was easy prey for someone who rides as well as he does. Somehow I managed to stay upright despite a one time reading 2.8mph and several 2.9's. During the climb I even got a call from long time friend CP who has this amazing knack for calling me at the most perplexing and compromised moments.
But I made it and I was pretty happy about it...knowing that Darek's wife Carrie was at their house with Terri cooking spaghetti and sipping on one of their 3 growlers full of AAH's fine IPA.
My overall stats were.......... another day of preparation for June 1st and especially June 4th when the Redwood Ride goes over Leggett Pass.
2:41:02
30.3 miles
144 ave HR
168 max HR
1621' Ascent
Sitting in the spa afterwards didn't suck either......a special thanks to the Borba's for a fine evening in Auburn.

A great 35th Anniversary

2008-03-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

Well.....just so ya know...my wife is pretty awesome. Today was our 35th wedding anniversary and all she wanted was to hang out with me and drink some hoppy beers. We gathered Rick up just shy of 2pm and headed to Manderas in Folsom. Brent Whited the Owner/Manager of the place treated us like royalty and brought us some beers from his private reserve. To top off the festivities Rick paid for the whole affair and told us "Happy Anniversary".
And it was a happy one indeed...after leaving Manderas we made a quick stop at the Bev-mo in Citrus Heights and bought some Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA, Green Flash West Coast IPA and Alaskan Brewing Smoked Porter. Rick also grabbed a few items and called them "Things that were cold and I haven't tried". Fair enough...and we jumped back into the car in time to make dinner at Cody and Breann's house.
The Corned beef and fixings were just excellent. A great evening was had by all ...including Foxy the cat who can chase a beam of red light like no other.
Thanks one and all for the great evening...and like Terri said...."I'm hoping for 35 more!!!"

Odd Saturday ride

2008-03-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

The day dawned rather chilly with a breeze out of the South and since typically I prefer to go against the wind in the first half of my ride I decided to head South towards Sacramento County. That route takes me through some neighborhoods before I get to the bigger boulevards and Highways. My intent was to take it kinda easy since I had a pretty good week on the bike and I'm only just now feeling like my bout with Bronchial-Pneumonia is truly behind me.
So there I was pushing the wind along at about 16 mph and noticed there was a person sitting in the parked truck just ahead of me, instinctively I veered slightly towards the center of the street in case he opened his truck door and boom...sure enough the door flung open and the dude jumped out without even looking around. I was still on a line that would take me rather close to him but I held my line as he slammed the door and rather purposefully made his way towards the rear of his truck. As I passed him I realized "Oh, I know this guy"..It was my good Buddy Jeff Scammon....creator of Wild West Radio and former owner of the Owl Club in old town Roseville out working his Real Estate gig. So I said "Hey there" as I rolled past him. No response. I hit the brakes a bit and circled back to say hi. As I approached Jeff was already into his Salesman BS mode with the bespectacled woman standing in the front doorway of a house he was apparently involved with. This time I slowed in front of the house and half yelled "Hey Jeff". Still no response although the woman of the house was now looking at me. Once again I did a 180 degree turn and this time rolled slowely past the house on the sidewalk and called his name again. The woman kinda half-waved at me and looked at Jeff who was apparently just INTO some seriously heavy spiel. Obviously, despite all that, he never knew I was there. After that last attempt I just got back on the hoods and continued trudging in a Southerly direction.
After making my way around and past the decommissioned McClellan Air Force Base I got a call from Zack about whether or not he should run the disk wheel in the 10+mph winds during his time Trial in Exetor. Soon after hanging up I turned West on Elkhorn road and noticed that there were a few local bicyclists clogging the bike lane ahead of me. I managed to get around a couple of the rude bastards but was now gaining on one that was towing a trailer. The funky ill-designed trailer was bobbing and weaving up and down as well as side to side. I looked behind me to check on traffic because I knew I was gonna need to go out into the traffic lane to get around him. Unfortunately there were a dozen or so cars rapidly approaching on the four lane boulevard. Even more unfortunately as I turned back around I watched in amazement as the guys trailer came loose from his bike and was now rolling diagonally across the road into the path of the oncoming vehicles.
I immediately slowed and turned back to the traffic and started quickly waving my arm to help alert them to the hazard in their path. Luckily the two cars leading the way were on top of it and were already slowing down. As I rolled up to the now panicked man that was frantically trying to remove his garbage from the middle of the highway I asked "Do you need any help".....which prompted him to scream at me "Fuck You...leave me alone Asshole". So once again I put my hands back on the hoods and went back to my pedaling. I must report that one of the cars did roll past me kinda slow and the driver gave me thumbs up sign...apparently appreciating my efforts to warn my fellow travelers about the moron at work zone.
The next 18 or so miles of my 37 mile jaunt were thankfully uneventful and I started thinking of lunch which was now less than a half hour away. As I approached within a mile of my home I passed the final traffic light of the day and noticed a rather large human walking in the middle of the bike lane directly towards me. As we drew closer to each other I noticed that the traffic off my left shoulder was very heavy and there was no room to move over.
By now we were 20 feet apart and I could see that he was completely drunk/stoned and intently talking on a cell phone. Just as I thought we were about to collide I yelled at him and he suddenly lunged to the side just enough for me to slide past him as a truck was flying past by what seemed inches to my left. As I regained a line to the right side of the bike lane I heard him yell back at me that sounded like "You Moron biker WTF?".
And that my friends is what I call The Saturday Tri-fecta.........if true weirdness, oddities and mishaps come in threes....well I'm just glad those are over.

25 GREATEST ATHLETES??

2008-03-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

I was recently blogging around and I came across some cyclist's list of the 25 greatest athletes of all time. In fact I think it was my son that sent me a link to this guys site...somebody that Zack finds interesting, I read a few things that seemed clever and amusing but then I happened upon his list of 25 in his archives. Apparently it was in response to something ESPN did in 2006 or so.
Anyway...his list just really blew me away and started me to thinking. I really expected to find Wilt Chamberlain in the top five but couldn't find his name at all. Ditto with Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Maurice Richard, Cy Young, Secretariat, or Eddy Merckx. Which were just a few I thought of right off the top of my head.
Now I know he listed his criteria for determining his 25 and really I'm not trying to give him a hard time here....I'm just a bit perplexed and like I said........it got me thinking.
Given the time to do a proper job.......who would you choose? And why?
My list starts with Wilt.....and so I shall begin this....a work in progress....with the Big Dipper.
In no particular order......
Wilt Chamberlain - The most dominate basketball player of all time. The Babe Ruth of Basketball. A man who was bigger than life in many ways. He excelled in Track and Field, Volleyball and most any sport or activity that he participated in. Even Bowling were he has been credited with recording a perfect 300 game on several occasions.
Babe Ruth - Do I really need to put anything here? All George Herman Ruth did was usher in the modern baseball era....first as a pitcher that still holds World Series records and of course as the greatest Home Run hitter of all time..That's right...It isn't Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron or Mark McGwire...it's Ruth. Can you imagine what he would have done if he took care of himself?
Pud Galvin - The first major league pitcher to win 300+ games. This 5'8" dynamo started 689 games in a 15 year major league career and completed an astonishing 646 of them. He even had back to back seasons of 46 wins. Did I mention that he pitched 6003 innings in his career? Yep that's right an average of 400 innings a season!
Richard Petty - 200 NASCAR Wins. Some might say that these drivers aren't athletes...that's as wrong as it could be....hey..these things aren't going to turn left by themselves. And yes..it's much more work than steering your mini van around the Wal-Mart parking lot. You truly have no idea.
Mildred 'Babe' Didrikson Zaharias - Voted Woman athlete of the year 6 times....Babe won three metals in track and field at the 1932 Olympics, 17 consecutive golf tournaments (and 82 lifetime) and started out her career as an all-American Basketball player. Legend has it that she also excelled at swimming, billiards and archery as well. She was born in Port Arthur Texas...later on the birth place of Janis Joplin as well. What does that have to do with it? I dunno....just a fun fact.
Reinhold Messner - The first man to climb all 14 of the worlds 8000+ meter peaks, and without supplemental oxygen....which was considered insane at the time. He has also climbed all the seven continents highest mountains. This Tyrolean is a major huge stud that in many ways puts all these stick and ball wanna-be's to major shame. And yes....mountaineers and rock climbers belong on this list...although I could see where some might want them left off...their feats are sometimes beyond impressive.
Edwin Moses - Won 122 consecutive 400m hurdles races including a total domination of the 1976 1984 Olympics. In 1988 he won the Bronze. During that time he set the world record 4 times. In 1983 and 1987 he won gold at the World Championships. I even seen the dude run in person once in 1984 in the LA coliseum. He torched the field handily.
Pele - I know, I know...It's soccer, but hey this Brazilian dude ruled his time, is internationally know (you heard of him right?) and he scored over 1000 goals in his long career. He's also the only person to own 3 World Cup Metals.
Goran Kropp - In 1995 all this guy did was cycle his bike from Sweden to Katmandu and then go and climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. He stopped 300m short in his first solo attempt but tried again 3 weeks later and summited. In 1997 he returned with his girlfriend to do some mountain clean-up (they removed 25 empty oxygen canister's) and then they summitted together.
Eddy Merckx - Do I ever spell that right? The Cannibal is a no brainer for this list. Any cycling fan can name off any number of Eddy's impressive achievements including 5 Giro AND 5 Tour de France Wins, the hour record in 1972, the 3 World Championships or 525 career wins. He also sports a dizzying array of Classics Victories. But possibly the most telling tale of his career came in 1973 when the Tour de France organizers reportedly asked him not to compete for fear the fans were losing interest in the race as he had won 4 in a row. He apparently agreed, won the Giro again and then came back to win the TdF in 1974. So no...Lance isn't the greatest cyclist of all time...in fact it isn't really close.
Maurice Richard - "The Rocket" was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games. He was also the first man to score 500 lifetime goals. He played for the Montreal Canadians who won 8 Stanley Cups during his 18 year career. His record of 6 overtime playoff goals still stands. He led the league in goals five times. There was a riot in Montreal in 1955 when he was suspended for the rest of the season for knocking out an official, his second such infraction that season. Damage around that neighborhood was estimated at half a million dollars. In the regular seasons final game a teammate scored a point that put him one point ahead of Richard for the season......The fans booed him.
Red Rock - The Tiger striped Brahma-Hereford mix bull from Sisters Oregon finished his pro-Rodeo career unridden in 309 tries. The 1987 PRCA World Champion was inducted in the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1990. Red Rock was finally ridden by Lane Frost in the 1988 Challenge of the Champions after his pro career had ended the year prior. Red Rock had previously prevented Frost from winning the 1986 by bucking him off in the finals. Red Rock was unusual in that he seemed to do a 'victory lap' after every win and rarely if ever went after the rider that he had just beaten.
Jim Thorpe - Another individual that simply cannot be left off the list...1912 Olympic Decathlon and Pentathlon gold medalist. Same year he led the Carlisle Indian School to the College Football Championship. He also won three Pro football titles with the Canton Bulldogs between 1916-1919. After which he played 6 seasons of Major League baseball with Giants, Reds and Braves.
Scott Parker - "Scotty's" 94 career US National Class C Flat Track wins are more than double the total of runner-up Jay Springsteen who has 41. His 9 US National Championships, including five in a row from 1994 to 1998 and four in a row from 1988 to 1991 are the most ever. Parker, who won the rookie of the year honors in 1979 won nearly 25% of the races he finished in his career. In the 1989 and 1995 racing seasons he won an amazing 10 races. From 1985 to 1998 he never finished worse than 3rd place in the Championship points.
Jim Brown - Perhaps the greatest running back the NFL has ever seen. He won the rushing title all but one season in his 9 year career. His 5.2 rushing average is still the best ever. He is a member of the NFL Hall of Fame AND the Lacrosse Hall of Fame. As a High School basketball forward he averaged 38 points a game. He played in 118 NFL games, never missing one and rushed for over 100 yards in 58 of them. He also kicked his teams extra points in College Football at Syracuse. As a senior he was an All American in Football and Lacrosse, where he won the national scoring title by scoring 43 goals in 10 games. And on and on and on.

Wayne Gretzky - Aptly named "The Great One" Gretzky held 61 NHL records the day he retired after the 1998-1999 season. His career total of 1963 assists is more than the TOTAL career points of the next highest scorers, Gordie Howe and Mark Messier. Gretzky is the only player to ever reach 200 points in a season and he did it four times. Gordie Howe set the original career scoring record of 1850 points in 26 seasons....Wayne broke it in his 10th season. If you didn't count Gretzky's goals at all he would have still won the scoring title 4 times. The 100 assist barrier has only been passed 13 times in NFL history.....Gretzky did it 11 times.

Secretariat - Won the triple Crown in 1973. Set track records in two of the three events. This horse won 16 of it's 21 career races and finished in the money in 20 of them. In the Belmont Stakes, the last leg of the triple crown, the sucker won by 31 lengths and set a track record that still stands. Secretariat also set the track record in the Kentucky derby, which also still stands. In fact, in the Derby run every successive 1/4 mile interval was faster than the previous one and the finishing time of under 2 minutes was not equaled again for 18 years. Secretariat is the only horse to be named Horse of the Year as both a two year old and a three year old.

Kelly Stater - Although perhaps a bit overshadowed by the legendery feats of the big wave surfers like Greg Noll, Mark Foo and Laird Hamilton, Slater has none the less nearly completed a pro surfing career second to none. His 36 WCT victories are the most ever, as is his 8 World Surfing Titles. Slater was also the youngest to win the crown, taking the 1992 top spot at age 20.

Michael Jordan - Well....I guess I gotta put this brutish and over-rated sports icon on the list to be fair. Of course he was a great basket baller...one of the greats who's will to win was the stuff of legends. Everyone knows all about the Bulls Championships, the scoring titles, MVP awards and the slam dunk contests....but what I can't get out of my head is the absurd and criminal Jordan rules...and of course the offensive foul push off on Bryon Russell before the game winning shot in the 1998 playoffs against Utah. I loath that so called highlight replay.

Martina Navritlova - Tennis great Billy Jean King once said of Martina..."She is the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player that ever lived". She won 18 majors in her career, 31 doubles and 10 mixed doubles titles. She still holds the record for consecutive match wins with 74 and total wins with 167. She also has the career record in doubles with 177. During one stretch she reached 11 straight Grand Slam finals.

An unexpected development

2008-03-06T18:35:00.000-08:00

This past year has brought with it a number of interesting beer developments and discoveries but none more surprising and unexpected as all the new Double IPA converts I have observed first hand.
And by new I refer to individuals, mostly female in fact, with very little beer background in general who in a short period of time have come to truly enjoy the attributes of a proper Imperial IPA. Or is that San Diego style IPA or West Coast IPA? Whatever you wish to call them. Personally I don't care what the hell you call them as long as you call me up when you have some to share.
Anyway..... lets start with my own Mother. Since that's where I started it seemed the natural place to begin. In her entire life (prior to the past 18 months or so) I think it would be a stretch to say that she has consumed a total of maybe a couple cases worth of beer. In fact she never really drank much at all, preferring to leave that activity to most everyone else in the family.
In the past year and a half she has discovered Pliny the Elder and to everyones amazement she just loves the stuff. Now on every visit up here to Nor-Cal she looks forward to sharing some with us. Or if I travel South for a visit she expects me to bring some along.
When I originally met my newest daughter in law Oralia she told me she never ever got drunk....and considering her choices of beverages it was easy to see why. Bottled mix drinks, fruit flavored wanna be ciders and even some odd blue concoctions. In less than a year she has become a certified hop head and recently called The Bistro's Double IPA fest possibly her favorite ever drinking experience. Her favorite beers (among others)........Pliny the Elder, Sierra Nevada Celebration, Moylan's Hopsickle and even Pliny the Younger. WTF?
It took me years of sampling and wandering the western states to come to the level of hop appreciation that I have achieved. These women, young and old, have donned the moniker of hop aficionado in mere months.
Then there is my sister in law Nona...a Coors Light drinker from wayyyy back. Her last two visits to our gatherings she has joined into the IPA pourings and is the first to thrust her glass forward when another growler is tapped. She lives in San Diego and naturally now calls Alpine's Pure Hoppiness her friendly home town brew.
I hardly know what to make of it, as wonderful as it is it just leaves me scratching my head. I finally decided it must be the inherent sweetness of these big beers that attracts and satisfies them. At least initially, but then it must be the hops that keeps em coming back for more.
I guess I'm just going to have to continue to produce beers for them to try and study their reactions....ya ....that's the ticket...it's all in the name of research. And I better hide that growler of Pliny the Younger I have stashed away as well, one of them might be coming to town soon.....

Good Saturday

2008-03-02T10:10:00.000-08:00

After weeks of illness which spawned a mild bout of cabin fever I decided to get out of the house and go watch Zack race the Merco Classic in Merced. Saturday also marked my third day in a row of being back on the bike, a very good and inspiring factor in itself. I got up early and was out in the chilly morning by 8:30 and didn't stop until I'd done 2 hours and 31 miles. Which by the feel of my calves was enough at this stage of my return to real life and the pursuit of fitness for The Epic Redwood Ride.

Zack has raced the Merco classic the past couple years and has even won a criterium on those streets when he was a Cat3 so he knows the course pretty well. He sat fourth wheel with 2 laps to go but the swarm and riding with new teammates ultimately ended his chances at a victory he could well have taken. For a better more detailed discription of how it went down I highly recommend checking out his race reports on his blog A Sobering View.

After Zack's race I watched the start of the Pro/Cat1 (a field that included Chris Horner, Freddie Rodriquez, Ben Jacques-Mayne and dozens of other great American racers) and then worked my way to Big Bubba's Bad BBQ which sits on the final corner of the course. Ribs were not my motivation for the visit but Rascal Creek Brewing certainly was. Previously the building was the home of Firehouse Brewing.

If you were out looking for a brewery in Merced (which without my yearly visits to enjoy watching Zack races I never would have) you would have no reason to even check out Big Bubba's establishment save for one little sign on the parking lot side of the building that says "House brewed beers" or something along those lines. Even inside there is only one sign stencilled across the back of the tap handle riser that indicates the presence of a brewery. Well....that and the fact that once you sit at the bar you can see the fermentors inside a glassed in enclosure.

Rascal Creek offers half a dozen house beers including "Bull Rider Light", "Golden BobCat Wheat", Rascal Creek Red", "Yosemite Beer IPA" and Rascal Creek Irish Stout". Since I didn't have a lot of time I naturally opted to try the IPA and after about a 8 minute wait I finally got one. Even after re-pouring it wasn't very lively but the aroma and taste made it worthy of consuming. Not remarkable by any means but a nice drinkability with decent citrus IPA attributes. To my surprise they also offered growlers which I naturally purchased one of filled with IPA for our ever growing collection.

After watching the end of the race in which Horner and 2 others amazingly lapped the field I joined Zack, his teammate Aaron and Zack's extended in-law family for some Pizza and beer at a nearby eatery who's best beer was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It was good to hang out with all them, not so great to observe the poor beer selection of the pizzeria. It shall remain unnamed....especially since I've already forgotten it.

After visiting Zack's brother-in-law Senobio's impressive 2-story mansion in Atwater I took my leave and headed North on Highway 99 for the two hour return trip to Roseville. After 70 miles or so I hit the outskirts of Stockton and realized that there was just no way I was passing up a quick visit to Valley Brewing when there was a chance that they might have the "UberHoppiness" double IPA on tap. We'd sampled it just three weeks before at the Bistro's Double IPA fest in Hayward and found it to be fairly impressive. After finding my way to the area of town where I knew the brewery was I finally asked directions from a pedestrian and made the three block u-turn to find the brewery abuzz with happy Saturday night partiers.

I got lucky to find a seat at the bar and quickly ordered a pint. The sweetness of this aptly named hop monster is a bit off the hook but the overall drinkability and taste were worth the effort. To my surprise they had no problem filling my growler with this seasonal nectar and only charged me $9.50 to do so. I was glad I made the effort to stop even though the lateness of the hour and the miles I still had to travel forced me outta there after only the one pint. They had a 4 piece jazz band stuffed into a corner that was actually quite interesting and I would have liked to stick around for another few pints and tunes.

Terri should be home Monday from her visit to Hesperia with Oralia to visit her parents and specifically her Dad who was recently released from the hospital. She stopped at Sequoia Brewing on the way down but I'm sure that beer has already been consumed. However, I understand that she filled some growlers at the new Oggies Brewing in Apple Valley. That Torrey Pines IPA and Hop Juice will be a nice treat next weekend.

Rebounding

2008-02-29T22:49:00.000-08:00

Finally I think I may have turned the corner on this dirty illness business. I went out intending to spin real easy around the neighborhood yesterday and ended up getting nearly 16 miles in 61 minutes. My lungs were still a bit underachieving but my legs were screaming for more. I Had to reel them in a couple of times. At one point an HP bike commuter timed the traffic light perfectly and drove past me as I got myself underway. I immediately had to remind myself not to give chase as I was trying to keep my Heart Rate under 150 and not do too much my first day out in nearly two weeks.
Today I snuck out of work a bit early and managed to fit in 93 minutes and added another 24 miles to February's meager total (221 miles). Felt good again and rewarded myself with a Franzenkaner when I got back. I also added a couple Avery IPA's and the world felt better than it had in weeks.
Tomorrow I plan to put in a slow two hours and hopefully at least 30 miles. Baby steps I have to remind myself......although June 1st seems likes it's sooooo close.
Part of my legs motivation is the fact that I've lost approx 25 pounds since January 1st. However, there is no time to sit back and enjoy that decent progress. Another 30 pounds still needs to be misplaced before our departure in Brookings. And that's 30 pounds that will become increasingly more difficult to shed. I can't wait.

The Sucking continues

2008-02-25T20:32:00.000-08:00

Not too much to report so far this week....after the visit to the doctor I have now concluded taking the five $150.00 dollar LEVAQUIN tablets and I am yet to feel nearly good enough to get back on the bike.
I did return to work today and despite thoughts otherwise...I managed to make it through the entire day which finally ended at 4:30pm.
With the weather clearing up I'm thinking so too perhaps will these weeks of persistent illness. I have never been so sick for so long. I am now approaching 10 days without a hop beverage of any type, which, it has been suggested is an illness in of itself. And off the bike for 8 days.
I'm setting my sights on March....the month of renewal....or so I hope. Spring time springs eternal or some such loopy cornball calendar quote I thought I read somewhere.
I mean...is a little 40 mile bicycle ride and a few double IPA's really that much to ask for?
I got my fingers crossed.

This does suck

2008-02-21T00:41:00.000-08:00

OK....it's now official..from the doctor his-self...I got Bronchopneumonia. The 02-23-08 S.O.B.E.R. Group Barleywine event has been rescheduled (to an as yet unknown date) and I'm just not too happy about it. Nope...just not too happy at all.
This little bout with a bug also cost me my day watching the Tour of California in downtown Sacramento....not to mention untold number of miles in preperation for the Epic Redwood Ride that is scheduled to start June 1st.
No...this just isn't fitting my schedule what so ever.
Looks like I will also miss out on any kind of visit to 21st Amendment and Magnolia BIG BEER MONTH. Although I have to wonder why my favorite new beer from the Bistro's 8th annual Double IPA fest (21st Amendments "Hop Crisis?", in case you haven't read my previous entries) isn't a part of the official beer list.
Hopefully it isn't just a one-off deal..... which this illness damned well better be!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

2008-02-14T22:50:00.000-08:00

Over the years riding my bicycle on the paved roads of America I've had my fair share of odd ball occurances...but today's episode opens up a whole new chapter of weirdness.
It was nearing 5pm and I was traveling North on Fiddyment at about 17 mph when I noticed that the last car that passed me quickly swirved into the bike lane and was slowing to a stop. I looked back over my shoulder to see if there was a significant break in the traffic that would allow me to go around this new obstacle but due to the hour all I saw was an endless stream of vehicles. Dispite my irritation I was going to have to stop or stop and get up onto the sidewalk to get around this annoying car. After I stopped I noticed there was a lone elderly woman in the car and she seemed to be signaling me. Being the reasonably responsible individual that I am I thought she might be in distress so I moved up to her passenger side window to see what was up.
Welllll....apparently I had a sign on my back that said "Local Tour Guide" because the woman immediately explained that she forced me to stop because she was lost and wanted to find out how she could get to Lincoln.
Despite my amazement at her astonishingly arrogant, self serving and dangerous act I answered her questions and pointed her in the right direction. But apparently my directions weren't simple or clear enough for her and she chastised me for being vauge and demanded I tell her again.
Despite the fact that I know she must be someone's dear old grandmother...I told her exactly where to go.

The BISTRO'S 8th Annual Double IPA Festival

2008-02-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

Saturday February 9th was a good day to die. Or at least once The Bistro's big time mega killer doozie of all IPA fests was in the books it would have been....and frankly I would have not even noticed. Ok, OK..that's about as dumb as those lines in the movies about "Waking up in the morning with my throat cut"...but you get the idea.
Fortunately Zack and I got a nice 2 hour ride around San Ramon completed prior to heading over to the Bistro so we were primed and thirsty. The event was in full swing by the time Terri, Zack, Oralia and I arrived which was just after noon thirty. We quickly paid the 25 dollar entrance fee and with our small fluted sample glasses in hand we dove into the hoppy fray.
This was the third time I had attended this event and I immediately recognized that it had grown a bit since my last visit three years ago. Literally grown out onto the street West of the bar proper. This new tent addition was a good thing, my three year lapse in attendance was mainly due to my shear inability to get to the beers on my last visit. Sardine packed beer sipping just isn't my favorite thing don't cha know.
And yes..this event is definately a beer sipping experience. No pints are poured during the event which runs from 11am to 8pm. Which considering the abv of most of these hop monsters is a pretty logical rule.
Anyway....I made my way outside and went straight for the Seabright brewing "DoubleWide"....why??..because it was on the end and easy to get to of course. Before I began my sampling I consulted the official event beer guide and noticed there were 34 beers listed. I also heard that there were some omissions and that the actual number was closer to 40.
It was at that moment that I realised I wasn't going to be able to do any personal judging in this cramped and crowded environment so I just decided I would keep track of the beers I sampled...in the order I sampled them. And wing it when I got to this point.
My good Buddy Rick was fortunate enough to get an invite to be one of the official judges for the event so I figured he could fill me in later on what happened with all the ultra secret downstairs goings on...should there be anything of interest besides some massively overworked tastebuds. This is how it went.....
1. SeaBright "Double Wide" - solid but unremarkable.
2. 21st Amendment "Hop Crisis?" - Probably my favorite new beer of the day.
3. Green Flash "5th Aniversary Double IPA - Along the lines of the Imperial.....not a bad thing
4. Great Divide "Hercules Double IPA" - No recollection here
5. 21st Amendment "Hop Crisis? - Yep...already back again
6. Avery "Uber-Schwein Imperial Red" - I think this is the Hog Heaven incognito
7. Flying Dog "Double Dog" - This stuff won? Hard to believe. Too light in body.
8. Pizza Port "Hop 15" - Couldn't stay away from that for long
9. Russian River "Pliny the Younger" - see above
10. Valley Brewing "Uberhoppy" - Excellent beer from the Stockton brewery....surprised me
11. Schooners Grill "Alpha Avalanche" - Wow...Schooners nailed it. Nice.
12. 21st Amendment "Hop Crisis?" - Hey...the line was short!
13. Anderson Valley "20th Anniversary Imperial IPA" - Disappointing.
14. Firestone Walker "Union Jack" - Good brew from Paso Robles
15. Russian River "Pliny the Elder" - Had to have some
16. Pizza Port "Doheny Double IPA" - Was a lot better last time I was in San Clemente
17. Speakeasy "Double Daddy" - Solid beer...usually in my fridge
18. Mad River Brewing "Steelhead Double" - See above
19. Bear Republic "Racer X" - I 've always really liked this beer (Silver Metal winner)
20. Butte Creek "Revolution II Organic Imperial IPA" - Definately the best Organic I've tried
21. Drakes "Denoginizer" - uhhh what?
22. 21st Amendment "Double Trouble IPA" - Not nearly as tasty as the Crisis.
23. Jupiter "Quasar" - help me
24. Moylans "Hopsickle" - why? (Bronze Metal winner)
25. uhhhhhhhhhh.......time for a burrito yet?

'Only' 25 samples and yet Rick's breathalizer had a reading of .32 on it at one point. Or was that for Terri? Either way it was a grand time that ended with Super Burritos at La Imperial (how perfect is that name after a day of Imperial IPA's) just around the corner.
Fortunately Zack kept himself in check and was performing the designator driving duties due to the fact that he was signed up to race in the "Cherry Pie" crit in Napa the next day.
Naturally you should check out the pacificbrewnews site for addition Double IPA fest information and definately for Rick and Tracy's photo's.
Oh ya...who won the event? As of now the only info I have on that is Flying Dog "Double Dog" won the Gold Metal and Russian Rivers "Pliny the Younger" won the peoples choice award.
Incidently "The Younger" was not allowed to compete in the compitition due to it being billed as a "Triple IPA". Bogus politics if you ask me...but justice was served as Vinnie still took home the popular vote.

Congrads...it's a growler!

2008-02-07T18:56:00.000-08:00

Got a call today while I was at work....from a couple of incorrigible suspicious types I know from Southern California. It seems these shady characters were off on a bit of a hop hunting mission of their own somewhere in the Newport Beach area. I'm led to believe they were actually in the bay itself waddling around in under-inflated flatulent-propelled bath tub kayaks undoubtedly playing battleship or staging short winded jousting runs using their paddles and yelling vulgar Hunter S. Thompson quotes at the top of their lungs.

Well...maybe CP and Ralph aren't quite that crazy anymore...but I imagine they had a good time floating around Newport Bay knowing that they would finish their day with a stop at the Newport Beach Brewing Company.

They reported that the beer was pretty good and they also managed to grab a couple of growlers before tying the kayaks back on to their vehicle and making the 100 mile trip back up to the cultural wasteland.

Ralph and I sampled NBBC's products last year at the Mammoth Mountain Bluesapalooza but amongst the talent of that beer fest I don't recall their beers making an impression. Which isn't neccessarily a knock on them.

We also met the owner of the place at Green Flash Brewing last year on a growler stop. He and I were wearing matching Russian River IPA shirts. I recall quizzing him about the possibility of whether his Mom had dressed him that morning as well.

Ralph says one of the growlers is for my growing collection here in Roseville but may or may not actually have any liquid left in it by the time it makes it up here for the annual Pacific Brew News/S.O.B.E.R Group Barlewine session on Saturday February 23rd. I'm certainly hoping it does, but the best part of the bargain is Ralph is driving my parents up here for the occasion. They also get to watch Zack race in Merced on Sunday before returning home.

Just gonna be another fine weekend here at the Soberment...looking forward to it.......just like I am that Newport Beach Hoppy beer......or growler....whichever the case may be.

Big Daddy

2008-02-03T22:06:00.000-08:00

No....it's not a post about the fine IPA from Speakeasy... it's just a few comments about my Dad who has once again flirted with the bastards of doom and death and come away with another few, or hopefully plentyfew, days left on Gods Grey earth.
Frank Zappa may have coined the phrase of God's Gey Earth but it's my Dad Charles B. Lybarger who has looked fate in the eye and declared "Not until I'm ready" and dared to skate away into weeks and even years of existence beyond anything that any Doctor has ever dreamed him possible. 20 years ago they gave him four years to live. And so on and so forth up until this past year when four heart surgerys were labeled the maximum doable dose of carving any human could reasonably endure. Yet...he lives on.
In fact in three weeks we here at the SOBER Group will be hosting the third annual BarleyWine tasting/podcast for Pacific Brew News and my old man has made it a point to attend the proceedings.
Obviously I am hoping and even willing him to actual make the 430 mile journey north to join us in this years epic event. And even obviously more so in his attempt to look the grim reaper in the eye and say "fuck you bitch....not till I'm ready".
I don't care who ya are.........Ya gotta love that.
OK then...well..there's that......and good night.

BIG FOOT

2008-02-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

Finally....Sierra Nevada's legendary Barleywine 'Big Foot' is available to us here in the Sacramento region. Darek and I were forced to cut short our usual Saturday bicycle ride by some really foul and rainy weather so we decided why not go in search of Big Foot instead.
Rick mentioned that he found the stuff in Phoenix last week whilst he was down there on a DRAFT magazine headquarters visit...and also read that you could get it in Oregon, Washington and even back East in someplaces. Obviously this was very annoying news for those of us that have been patiently awating the arrival of this otherworldly nectar.
We learned from a S.O.B.E.R. group member Friday that it could be found at the Local Beverages and More for $9.99 a sixer. High priced for other beers but seemingly typical for one of the worlds great Barleywines.
Well I'm here to tell you you want to skip that trap and go straight to Total Wines instead. Darek and I walked out of there with a case each and spent less than 33 bucks for it. That's right $7.49 a six pack!
I almost hesitate to report it but considering they had cases stacked in huge piles in several store locations I believe there's enough to go around.
They also had 12 packs of Sierra Nevada ESB in huge quantities.
I'm already thinking I need to go back and get another case...before they figure out what they're doing.... and also because I think I need one in the closet to open next year. And maybe in each and every closet I got in my house.

CP and Hop Hunter Down Time

2008-02-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

No trip to the So-Cal desert is complete without some time visiting some of my favorite peoples...The Beardsley's of Oak Hills. The famous CP, Mealticket and their two bodachious offsprings daughter Jillian and Son John Paul George and Ringo.
Unfortunately on this trip we didn't get to hook up with Laurin (Mealticket) or the kids but were fortunate to spend a couple hours with David...or CP which he is more commonly known as around the likes of us.
CP is much celebrated far and wide as the coffee roasting guru of Oak Hills. His purple bags of 'Red Shoe Roasting' beans are coveted and horded around the Soberment like gold currancy. CP is known for many other attributes as well, but none moreso with me than his deep affection for all things hoppy. He is the first person I ever knew that appreciated a lot of hops in their ales and for that I am forever thankful to be witness to.
Being a big fan of Stone Brewing he has been pleased to find that in the past year their products, as well as other assorted hop drinks, have begun to become available in the High Desert area. Formerly known as the 'Cultural wasteland' for the lagging of proper beer in the region in the midst of the craft beer revolution, the desert now finally has a brewery of it's own....Oggies Pizza & Brewing Company in Apple Valley. Which is presisely where CP found us on the Sunday of our Desert visit.
Typically my luck precluded Oggies having any 'Hop Juice' on tap that particular day, but I did find their 'Torrey Pines' IPA to fit my requirements.
Considering that we still had several growlers of Auburn Ale House IPA and Sequoia products in the cooler at home we ventured there so as to minimize driving whilst feeling the effects of the hop beverages.
After a fine evening of my Mom's great cooking, the dusting off of nearly all the remaining hop supplies and more great time spent with friends and family we finally had to bid CP adu and we parted after trading fresh roasted coffee and a bottle of Port Brewing Hop 15.
When I got home late the next day I realized that CP had named his recent batch 'Hop Hunter Down Time' apparently in response to my latest nut case idea of getting into shape for our one week 500 mile bicycle ride in June.
And let me tell ya... just like all his special roasted blends .....that coffee just doesn't suck.
Thanks again CP........now where in the world did I leave that grinder.........

FAMILY....MATTERS

2008-02-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

As I indicated in my last entry we had family matters to contend with in the Southern California High Desert ...OK, OK ...we needed to put Grandma's ash remains into the ground in San Pedro next to Grandpa's. He died way back in 1965 and has been patiently waiting for her to be put to rest next to him ever since. Although I'm not sure he'll ever have another minute of rest from now on.
But that was their wish ....and they are my family....so yes, it matters.
Prior to that Monday responsibility we spent Saturday night and Sunday celebrating my father-in-laws 83rd birthday and sampling one of the finest gathering of hops I've ever had the good fortune to be a part of.
My good buddy Ralph, who lives in the area only a couple of miles away right between Terri and I's parents, has been enjoying the opening of Oggies Pizza & Brewing Company in nearby Apple Valley. He collected growlers of their double IPA 'Hop Juice' and their guest tap of Green Flash's renouned 'Imperial IPA'.
Also in attendance was my brother-in-law Jimbo who made the trip up from San Diego for the weekend to celebrate the birthday and the Hop gathering. He brought growlers of Alpine Brewings 'Nelson IPA' and 'Duet'; along with a few 22oz bottles of Port Brewing 'HOP 15'.
From the North I managed to bring down growlers of Russian River 'Pliny the Elder', Moylans 'Hopsickle', Auburn Ale House IPA and the growlers of Hop Fest and General Sherman IPA I picked up at Sequoia that morning. I also threw in a few bottles of Avery's 'Hog Heaven' and Mendocino Brewing 'Imperial'.
It was a great opportunity for me since I had yet to try either the Alpine 'Nelson' or Oggies 'Hop Juice'. In fact I have been reading about the Nelson since it's creation more than a year ago and have silently been clammering to get my hands on some ever since.
Just let me tell you right here.... it lived up and exceeded every expectaion I could even imagine having. Despite the 18% rye it's kinda pale golden straw in color and carries an aroma that just slaps you directly in the face and could literely wake the dead (sorry Grandma). It gets's it's name from it's primary Hop which is from New Zealand, the Nelson Sauvin. According to the Alpine website another Kiwi hop 'Southern Cross' is utilized as well. The Nelson is the high alpha ingredient while the Cross lends a more milder and earthy style European hop character.
The Hop Juice on the other hand was a bit of a disapointment sitting amongst that line-up of beers. But don't get me wrong, it is worthy of seeking out and I am fortunate to have a growler of it sitting in the back of my beer fridge as we speak. I just won't be asking it to stand up to my thrashed taste buds after pints of all the other beers I've mentioned here. It just wouldn't be fair.
What a pleasant evening it was indeed, Jimbo, Nona (Terri's sister), Ralph, Terri and myself sitting around the fire trading off pint fills and BS stories...it just rarely gets better than that. Zack also got in on the sampling although he spent most of the evening playing cards with his grandparents in the next room. It was what the birthday boy wanted...and yep...that mattered.

SEQUOIA BREWING

2008-01-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

Family matters required our presence in Southern California over the weekend of January 26th and 27th so we decided to make the most of it and started our trip off with a much anticipated stop at Sequoia Brewing. Terri and I have been making stops at this outstanding brewery in Fresno for over four years now, virtually every time we drive down to Southern California to attend bicycle races or visit friends and relatives.

Sequoia's fine brewmaster Kevin Cox has been working at the Olive Street facility since the 1980's when it was known as Butterfield Brewing. Kevin is a bit of a legend to us having brewed two of my favorite all time beers. Both, of course, are seasonal beers.... Log splitter, which is a big smooth Imperial Red that runs over 10abv and a double IPA called Buzz Saw that is also so big, hoppy and drinkable that you'll need to get a motel room in Fresno's tower district for the night if you have as many as your taste buds will demand. Although you may have trouble finding it if you indulge in either of these immaculate hop monsters. Unfortunately neither beer was available which I suspect is at least partually due to the hop shortage and Sequoia's huge commitment to their Moto-Brew bottling line requirements.

The standard beer menu is naturally stellar as well topped by an exceptional Pale Ale that our server told us began life as "Hop Fest", which I had previosly thought was merely a seasonal fresh hop offering. Learning that they had adopted the Hop Fest as one of their house beers was good news indeed. Only 5.5 in abv with an outstanding floral aroma this beer is a perfect session beer to be enjoyed year round.

Terri went straight for the General Sherman IPA while I ordered the Pale and an IPA so I could do a proper comparison. Our server explained to me that the General Sherman IPA was created when Kevin tweaked the old Mineral King IPA to better suit the bottling line.

My brewing and/or bottling expertese, which is to say my total lack of knowledge leaves me wondering about that significance... but it is really of little matter to me because both are outstanding West Coast style IPA's.

We had only an hour to spend in Fresno and had to soon be on our way after a sandwich and a couple more IPA's. We also tried sample of the seasonal Imperial Stout (which if we were fortunate enough to be staying one of those Fresno motel rooms I would have had a pint of) and filled our growler with the Hop Fest. I also couldn't resist purchasing a one gallon growler of the IPA since I knew the demand for good beer would be high in the desert where we were headed.

Total Wine?

2008-01-25T22:38:00.000-08:00

I took Rick's advice and stopped in this evening to check out the new alcohol mega store on Fairway Drive in Roseville. The place is huge and impersonal to be sure but doesn't really feel much differently to me than our local Bev-Mo's. Until of course you look at the beer's sticker prices.
Rick indicated to me that he thought the prices must be low due to some grand opening introductory gimmick but that idea was shot down by the friendly alcohol matron that seemed desperate to quiz me in the single beer aisle. I told her "With these prices your going to smoke Bev-Mo" and she just smiled and said "That's the Plan". She assured me that the tags reflected their typical, normal, everyday, run-of-the-mill, stock pricing.
I was starting to like this store more by the minute.
She also showed me the generic six-pack carriers on the wall that could be custom mixed and matched with any of the beers on the shelves. Most all the beers I saw in six-packs in another aisle were available individually in that area.
I gotta admit I kinda liked that idea.
I've often wanted to try beers from unknown (to me anyway) brewers but lacked the fortitude and the cash to splurge for an entire 6 pack of beer of unknown quality.
I didn't have a lot of time to spend looking over the place...but then that's no real worry...The Hop Hunter can always find time in the future to seek out cheaply priced quality hop beverages.
2.69 for a 22oz bottle of Racer 5? A 6-pack of Big Daddy IPA for 6.99? Or how about Green Flash Imperial for 3.69? That's what I'm talkin about.
I suspect that the elevated grain and hop costs this year will eventually drive the cost up....but then that's going to be happening to every brewer across the board.
Well...we're off to have lunch in Fresno tomorrow....at sequoiabrewing of course....a mere three hour drive.......