Anyway, after landing at John Wayne (highly recommend this airport- clean, small, fast) we drove straight to The Bruery in Placentia. Can I say the name of the town really disturbs me? Even if it is said “plah-cinch-ah”. Whatever.

Recently, The Bruery decided to close its Provisions location to concentrate on their ever-expanding Reserve/Hoarders programs and of course, their beer. Although sad for Orange County, once you visit the tasting room you’ll understand why.

The Bruery- Placentia, CA.

The tap list was immense and for an out-of-towner from a state that doesn’t have Bruery distribution, it was mouth-watering. Melange 3 on tap, why the hell not?! You would be amazed to see the size of the system they are brewing on, considering they are so prolific. After deciding on my flight (okay, maybe two flights) I settled in at one of the tasting room’s beautiful wooden high-top tables to enjoy Bruery goodness. John and his brother were busy checking spreadsheets and taking the tour, so maybe it was more like three flights. Since there were 15 beers, I will just touch on what my favorites were, which is relative since I’ve yet to have a Bruery beer I didn’t like. Oh wait, their hoppy lager, Humulus Lager, didn’t really do it for me, (no surprise there) though it was well-constructed.

The standouts for me were, in no order: Nottenroth, Berazzled, Rueuze, Sour Rugbrod, Portola Rossa Gedeo Worka, Portola Rossa Casas de Lamina, 5 Golden Rings, and Melange 3. The first four are probably obvious to anyone that knows my palate. The Bruery surely knows how to make their sour/tart beers. Nottenroth was my favorite as I have an affinity with Berliner Weissebiers and this play on the original (Hottenroth) was just lovely with the addition of kumquats. The Worka and the Lamina were very interesting to me as a person that is generally not a coffee-drinker or a “red” ale fan.  A base red beer, Portola Rossa, was then blended with five different coffee beans picked by the Portola coffee and Bruery folks. They were both very coffee forward without being bitter or overpowering the beer. Then there was 5 Golden Rings and Melange 3, because you just have to have them on draught. Golden Rings is the only golden ale in the 12 Days of Christmas beers bunch (so far?) and is spiced with cinnamon, allspice and ginger with pineapple thrown in for a slight tanginess. Decadent and delicious, but nowhere near the level of lusciousness that is Melange 3. It is a “blend of three bourbon barrel aged strong ales. White Oak Sap, a wheat wine, our Anniversary Series old ale and our imperial stout, Black Tuesday, join forces in this luxurious strong ale that links some of the best characteristics of each of the contributing beers”. Just reading that makes my mouth water all over again. Booze, dark fruits, chocolate and the taste of the oak barrels combine in beautiful harmony at a mere 15.5% ABV.

After loading John’s brother’s Prius (hey, it’s California) down with a ridiculous amount of Bruery beers, we headed out to stash those babies in a safe place while we checked out some of the other breweries on our list. While the Los Angeles (and surrounding area) is no craft beer haven like Portland or San Diego, it is definitely on the right track. Before calling it a night we stopped by brand new Ritual Brewing and Hangar 24 in the Redlands area near where we were staying for the night. Ritual was first and we tried all four of their beers that were on draught.

Ritual Brewing- Redlands, CA.

Hellion, their Belgian Golden Ale, was my favorite. Their imperial oat stout, Big Deluxe, was also pretty unique, though not quite imperial.  It’s hard to fairly comment on their creations after having 15 exquisite beers at The Bruery, they were pale in comparison. Though, there is a time and a place for most beers, and Ritual’s beers belong in the every-day-drinking category, not the special occasion group with a lot of Bruery beers. This does bring up a great point though, are Bruery beers only special occasion because we don’t get them in Texas? Limited availability in general? Super high ABV (on some)? We’ll leave that for another discussion.

After trying a few of Hangar 24’s Barrel Roll series at home, I knew we definitely had to visit. Saturday night at Hangar 24 was packed! We ordered a flight and squeezed into a spot at the end of the bar while we peaked around at the brewing system and wished we could have a cool, local brewery to hangout at on the weekend. Sigh.

Hangar 24 Brewery- Redlands, CA.

Of the nine beers in the flight, I adored the Vinaceous and Chocolate Porter. Vinaceous is the first beer in their Local Fields series that highlights local wineries and is an English style Old Ale brewed with Mourvedre grapes from Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula. It was malty with a great dark berry and barrel taste, a great example of the combination of beer and wine. The Chocolate Porter had a unique flavor that I’ve loved in several other beers, marshmallows. A creamy mouthfeel, flavors of vanilla, nougat, chocolate, and a slight roastiness made for a rich, not overly-sweet beer that I wish I could have in my fridge year-round.

Sunday, we headed back out West into the Los Angeles area, in preparation of our visit to Ladyface Ale Companie that evening for dinner and beers. I’ve wanted to visit and try more Ladyface beers ever since our trip to Stone for their barrel-aged beer festival, Oakquinox, in 2011. At the festival, my favorite beer and certainly on my top-5-beers-ever-tried list, was their cabernet wine barrel aged barleywine, Bluebelly. A lovely acidic note from the wine combined with a barleywine? It’s like they knew I was coming. I’ll never forget that beer; I used two precious tokens on it just to have seconds. Before I completely fall off into beer memory lane, back to Sunday in LA. We took a trip to Venice beach because it’s California and the beaches are beautiful, unlike certain nearby beaches. Looking at you, Galveston. Afterward we headed to Lucky Baldwin’s, an Irish pub with a stellar draught and bottle list. We decided to do a flight of a local brewery, Craftsman Brewing, since the production brewery isn’t open for tours.

Craftsman Brewing flight at Lucky Baldwin’s- Pasadena, CA.

After leaving Lucky Baldwin’s, we had lunch at the cutest Vietnamese restaurant before heading to Eagle Rock Brewery. Our flight included: Populist IPA, Populist IPA on nitro, Revolution Imperial Pale Ale, Manifesto Wit, Solidarity English mild, and the guest tap, Acorn Saison from Craftsman Brewing. The witbier was nothing special, and I didn’t much care for the IPAs and Pale ale, but the English Mild was very tasty. It’s a perfect example of a “dark” session beer.

Eagle Rock Brewery- Los Angeles, CA.

Next stop was Golden Road Brewing before a hotel break and later, Ladyface. Even with the less-than-stellar customer service experience we had trying to order 5 tasters even though their flight trays only hold four glasses (yeah…) we were quite pleased with the main reason for visiting- their Berliner Weissebier.

Golden Road Brewing- Los Angeles, CA.

It was a packed house, filled with kids and dogs, so suffice to say our visit was quite short.

Finally, we headed to Ladyface. Shout-out to our hotel for having a shuttle service to and from! What an immaculate place. Every detail is thoughtful, and the Alfons Mucha-esque style is seamlessly woven throughout the brewpub. From the artwork, color scheme, and merchandise, to the beer styles and food menu. By far, the classiest brewpub I’ve been too.

Ladyface Companie Alehouse & Brasserie- Agoura Hills, CA.

Our Ladyface flight included: La Blonde Belgian Blonde, Blind Ambition Belgian Strong Pale Ale, Trois Filles Tripel, Chesebro IPA, Picture City Porter, Cataclysm Imperial Oatmeal IPA, Cherrie Brown Ale, Russian Lullaby RIS, La Trappistine Belgian Strong Dark ale, Midnight Special Scotch Ale, and the Ladyface Weizenbock. The Cherrie Brown, Blind Ambition, Picture City Porter and La Trappistine were probably my favorites, though the IPA wasn’t even offensive and the Imperial Oatmeal IPA was very interesting. The Cherrie Brown is a nice balanced brown ale with cherries added that gives it the most subtle sour note, delicate and approachable. Blind Ambition their Abbey ale was phenomenal with a great balance of caramel and belgian yeast esters. I loved the porter for its modest roast character and presentation. The bartender topped the beer with coffe grounds and it worked so perfectly with the creamy mouthfeel and medium body of the porter. La Trappistine, a dark Belgian brewed with local Syrah grapes is another great example of wine and beer coming together for the best of both worlds. Even with The Bruery experience, I’d have to say that Ladyface was definitely my favorite place we visited on the trip. I wish I had more reasons to get back to Los Angeles.

Monday, my actual birthday (though pretty much all of January is my birthday), I was most excited for our dinner reservations at Animal. Before dinner we had a few drinks at Mohawk Bend, a great craft beer bar in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, that also served spirits strictly produced in California. I started with a Gift of the Magi from Lost Abbey that didn’t quite do it for me. So naturally, in the spirit of California, I had to have an organic gin drink where partial proceeds were donated to a charity that plants trees, the Mildred Pierce. Quite delicious. I also had their super sweet version of a sidecar.

Mohawk Ben- Los Angeles, CA.

After having their vegan buffalo cauliflower (also very tasty) we headed out in search of a bottleshop, Red Carpet Wine, because we really didn’t have enough. It wasn’t the best bottle shop, but had a big selection of beers not distributed in Texas.

We made our way towards Animal, a tiny, nondescript (no really, there isn’t even any signage) restaurant that doesn’t adhere to the vegan/vegetarian/healthy/blah blah scene that defines much of an outsider’s view of Los Angeles. Not that healthy isn’t good, but it was my birthday. It reminded me of a mashup of Feast, Boucherie, and Barleyswine, and it was perfect. If there are Brussels sprouts on a menu, it is guaranteed we order it. So, we inhaled the fried brussels sprouts that were accompanied by a lovely soft egg, pancetta and parmesan. Simple, rich and delicious.  We also had the local burrata, escarole, katsuobushi, green garlic, leek and jalapeño dish that was light but packed with great flavor. John loves yellowtail, and the jerk spice collar with watermelon radish was divine. I now understand why people rave about the fish collar. To finish up we had the duck breast that was plated with cabbage, liptaeur and mustard with our final glass of wine and finally, a cappuccino. I just wish I could have tried more, especially a dessert but alas, vacation dieting means drawing the line somewhere.

Animal- Los Angeles, CA.

Although Los Angeles might not be on the top of every beer nerd’s travel list, save visiting The Bruery, there are definitely plenty of places to fill a mini-vacation with. We also missed out on a few places due to being there on Sunday and Monday, so if you are there for work or otherwise, there is definitely some craft beer refuge in an unlikely city.

In a whirlwind almost 3 days in Portland, Oregon, and the Columbia River Gorge area, we visited 16 breweries (and a distillery), saw a gorgeous waterfall, learned about the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery, and even managed to squeeze in some shopping. Portland has a new brewery or brewpub once a week, it seems like, so it’s impossible to do it all but we gave it our best shot. Our strategy was to visit certain “must-drink” places and then seek the advice of the locals. They live there, know the new places and what’s worth a visit.

The first stop was Cascade Barrel House, sort of like a pilgrimage for me, to try all the tasty sours and even a few of their other beers.

Cascade Barrel House from L to R: Bruin, Elderberry, Honey Ginger Lime, Black Cap Raspberry, Dark Storm, 2009 Old Bing, Summer Gose, Strawberry

Not pictured: Fresh Hop Porter and the Alt Haus Rauch beers John ordered that I tried and was kind of “meh” about. You’ll have to cut me some slack as I was geeking out on being AT Cascade drinking their sours. Check that off the beer bucket list. Standouts (they were all awesome, of course. but for science!) were the Honey Ginger Lime (aptly named), the Bruin, Summer Gose and the Black Cap Raspberry. I’ve not had many chances to taste goses, so that was particularly special. We had a local cheese and charcuterie plate, the first of several more during the course of the trip, and decided to grab lunch at Produce Row Cafe before heading to the St. John area of Portland to visit two places a friend highly recommended. I had a tasty Upright Brewing Yusef Lateef, a sour brown ale that is a blend of four beers with elderflower and lavender named after a legendary composer and multi-instrumentalist from Detroit, that solidified our plans to visit the brewery. It wasn’t overly sour and the elderflower and lavender additions gave it a floral, light note.

In St. John we checked out Plew’s Brews, an eclectic bar with an unashamedly hippie vibe. On the right are several coolers with glass fronts all in a row, with the kegs proudly displayed. On the left, across from the coolers,  is a wall filled with board games for your entertainment while drinking strictly local beers. There are event posters strewn all over the walls and ceiling, and the leftover space is covered with random artwork that looks like the artist was on something, in a good way I think. I had a Laurelwood Tree Hugger Porter, made with 100% organically grown malts. When in Rome! Like a good porter, it was roasty, had nice chocolate and coffee notes and even a hint of smoke. Next, we stopped in at Amnesia Brewing, another recommendation from a friend.

Beer Flight at Amnesia Brewing

We tasted our way through all of Amnesia’s beers: Dusty Trail pale ale, Alt, Slow Train Porter, Desolation IPA, Copacetic IPA, French Connection Saison, Dry Hopped Desolation IPA, and Mother Pucker fresh hop pale ale. My favorite was the fresh hop saison brewed with French hops- Tardis Bourgongne and Belgian yeast. The rest of the selection was pretty unmemorable for me, though to be fair most of it was hoppy.

After a lovely dinner at famed farm-to-table establishment, Clarklewis, we called it a day and retreated to our super hip and swanky hotel, Jupiter Hotel. Highly recommended if you’re staying in Portland.

Thursday morning we grabbed a quick cappuccino at locally recommended Heart Coffee & Roasters and wish I could have had about 3 more. One of the best cappuccinos I’ve ever had. We had breakfast at the requisite Voodoo Doughnuts and had the voodoo and maple bacon (MUCH better than the beer) and headed out toward Hood River.

We stopped at the beautiful Multnomah Falls before having a delicious pizza lunch at Solstice Cafe in Bingen, Washington. They also had a great local beer selection so I tried the Lazy Boy Porter, a nice light beer to start the day and accompany our roasted brussels sprouts and cherry/ chorizo/goat cheese pizza.

While on the Washington side of the Columbia river we visited Everbody’s Brewing in White Salmon. Of course we got a flight of everything, pictured below.

Beer Flight at Everybody’s Brewing

Local Logger, Hoedown Brown, Pucker Huddle Porter, Cash Oatmeal Stout, Law of Nature Pale Ale, Daily Bread Common Ale, Goodwill IPA, Country Boy IPA,  Common Law (the Country Boy IPA with lager yeast brewed for one of the owners’ wedding), and Head Stash Fresh Hop IPA. I really enjoyed the Cash Oatmeal Stout- notes of dark fruits, chocolate and coffee and a nice body at only 6% ABV. The Daily Bread was also interesting, a lager beer brewed warm and fast like an ale.

Back in Oregon, we headed to the largest brewery we visited by far, Full Sail. While we get most of their beers in Texas, there were a few on-tap that aren’t distributed to us.

Full Sail Brewery, Hood River, Oregon

Between the two of us we shared the LTD 06 limited edition Lager, Old Boardhead Barleywine, Wassail, and Wreck the Halls. The LTD 06 was excellent, light-bodied with great caramel flavor and a sneaky 7% ABV. The Wreck The Halls was interesting, I’ve never seen a winter warmer and an IPA meshed together, and while idea might please hopheads, the execution was a bit lacking for me. We took the tour and checked out their lightning speed bottling line and learned about the cool stuff they do to be more environmentally friendly.

Next we took a little trek south of Hood River into the mountains to visit Solera Brewery in Parkdale, Oregon, close to the base of Mt. Hood. Besides having an insanely gorgeous view Solera had some of the best beers I tried on the entire trip.

Solera Brewing- Parkdale, Oregon

First of all, they had two stellar Berliner Weisses and a Fresh Hop Double IPA that I could have drank all day. Yes, seriously, I loved it. The DIPA was fruity, slightly sweet, a nice big 9% ABV body, citrus hop notes and the best part- it didn’t have a bitter aftertaste that I loathe in most IPAs. John was stunned (and happy) to say the least when I requested a half pint in addition to the taster of the DIPA. The peach sour wheat had such great peach (local, of course!) flavor, a slight sour taste and wasn’t so light-bodied that it tasted watery. Their operation is less than a year old and their tiny 7 barrel system is pumping out some mighty tasty beers. Solera was definitely a treat, I’m so glad we went. I could have sat on their “patio” staring at the mountains all day, but there were more places to visit!

Next, we headed to Walking Man Brewery in Stevenson, Washington. I wasn’t really impressed with their offerings, though the idea of an India Session Ale was new to me. Though I think that’s probably a different way to say hoppy pale ale.

Beer Flight at Walking Man Brewery

The best of the bunch was the Sas-Squatch Pumpkin Ale, a medium-bodied, creamy, pumpkin beer. The Sas-Squatch also had a nice spice element, giving it some depth that none of the other beers seemed to have.

We didn’t finish the taster and made an executive decision to head out to Acadian Farms in Carson, Washington. Besides the normal farm elements like chickens, goats, homemade cheese and jams, and vegetables, they also brew beer. Their operation, as far as beer is concerned, is tiny. Like 10 gallons (1/3 barrel) small.

Acadian Farm & Brewery

There aren’t nicer or more welcoming people than the proprietors of this farm. They gave us homemade bread and would have given us cheese had they not run out. We bought some jam but unfortunately never tasted it because you apparently can’t carry-on a jar of jam. We walked around the farm at our leisure and unfortunately had to head out as it was getting dark. The smoked porter was my favorite, light and roasty with a nice hint of smoke. The English Mild was good too, and always fun to try this uncommon style.

Before heading back to Hood River, we stopped in at Backwoods Brewing, also in Carson, Washington, upon recommendation from the folks at Acadian Farms.

Backwoods Brewing, Carson, Washington

The standout for me was their Blueberry Wheat. The blueberry flavors complemented the wheat backbone without being too sweet or overpowering. The interesting thing about Backwoods was their brewing setup. While waiting for their 10 barrel system, they are (maybe it’s ‘were’ by now?) brewing one barrel at a time. It’s always neat to see a small-scale, successful operation as a community hangout with a friendly  atmosphere; you don’t feel like a tourist at these places. Maybe my romance for these tiny breweries stems from not having this kind of culture in Texas, and relying on the legislature for change. Sigh.

We headed back to Hood River to a place called Pfriem Family Brewers, recommended by a local. The owner/brewer, Josh Pfriem, used to brew at Full Sail which is sort of like, “I used to brew at Stone.” when visiting smaller breweries in California.

Beer Flight at Pfriem, Hood River, Oregon

Pfriem Brewing Tap List

Pfriem’s beer list was all Belgian style beers except for the IPA. Let’s be honest here, this was the next to last stop on a packed day of visiting breweries. We tasted all 8 beers they had on tap: wit, Belgian strong blonde, blonde IPA, IPA, Belgian strong dark ale, Belgian IPA, BElgian Stout, and a fresh hop Belgian. So, my notes say that I adored the Belgian Stout, we had a delicious cheese plate, and admired the reclaimed hop barn wood covered cold box.

Before heading in for the night at the historic Hood River Hotel, we had to stop at Double Mountain Brewing down the street. Not only did they have two fresh hop beers that John loved, but they also had two Krieks that had my name all over them. Even better than that (for John at least) was that they had just started bottling some of their beers including the fresh hop styles. The Rainier kriek (made with Rainier cherries from Washington, duh) was puh-ker-ing, to say the least, and the Double Mountain Kriek was sour, but not quite like the Rainier.

Flight and tap list at Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River, Oregon

Hood River is a neat little town with great breweries and even some shopping, of course. It’s also a gorgeous drive from Portland and back, with actual vibrant fall colors and mountains, a surreal experience for this Houston girl.

Friday morning we headed back to Portland, stopping by the Bonneville Fish Hatchery and Dam on the way. It was rainy and chilly (Texas-girl weather whine) but it was pretty neat, I’ve never seen anything like it. Plus, kitschy gift shop postcards and magnets!

Bonneville Fish Hatchery & Dam

Upon entry back into Portland we headed straight to Hair of the Dog, because who doesn’t like 10+% ABV beers for a late breakfast? For me, the Bourbon Fred from the Wood, aged with peaches, was a knock-out and the non-peach version came in second place, tied with our vintage selection. I can’t think of a HotD beer I’ve had and didn’t enjoy, even the IPA, though I much prefer their other offerings.  We had a “Brewers Plate” which was a selection of meats and cheeses as well as a plate of fresh, pan-roasted Brussels sprouts (these may be our two favorite things. ever). Then, we tried to decide which vintage bottle we had to have. Their vintage menu is accordingly (or maybe not?) pricier and has to be consumed on-site, an interesting move in the face of eBay, craigslist and the like, but I digress. We chose a 2009 Michael, their Flanders Red. One of the brewers was enjoying lunch at the end of the bar and sent us over a taster of this year’s vintage because, science! Tasting them back-to-back was such a treat, verticals are great learning experiences especially when it’s for a style you love.

Hair of the Dog, Portland, Oregon

There just so happened to be a distillery not too far away, and a flight of hard liquor seemed like the right thing to do on our last full day of vacation. If I’m not drinking beer, I love me some gin and tonics. Hendricks and cucumber, Tanqueray and lime, whatever. So obviously New Deal Distillery was the logical next stop. It’s a tiny operation in a corner warehouse spot on Distillery Row in Portland, filled with boxes and several tiny stills. They were filled with various concoctions from gin and vodka to whiskey and liqueurs, and we had a choice of five spirits out of about ten they had ready for tasting. We tried two of their gins, a chocolate vodka (which I was hesitant to at first), a chile vodka, and a coffee liqueur. Their New Deal Gin No. 1 was so smooth, almost a gin you could sip on. It was different from any gin I had tasted and I was forced to get a bottle in the interest of science (I really like science).

Spirits flight at New Deal Distillery, Portland, Oregon

Next, we headed to locally recommended Breakside Brewery. Their Aztec Ale, an American strong ale brewed with habaneros and serranos, was big-bodied, spicy, and flavorful without being regretful. The guest beer we tried, a fresh hop farmhouse beer from The Commons Brewery, enticed us enough to head there later in the evening.

Tap list & beer sampler at Breakside Brewery

Next, we headed to Lompoc Brewing  (5th quadrant) next to Hopworks Bike Bar, after the bartender at Breakside said it was worth a visit. Their sampler was really cheap and we ended up taking a bottle of their bourbon barrel aged porter, Monster Mash, for the journey back to Houston.

Beer sampler at Lompoc Brewing/5th Quadrant

Luckily, there was a swanky deli/bar/coffee shop around the corner from Lompoc,Kenny & Zuke’s, where we grabbed a “Jewcuterie” plate. No, seriously. Everything was kosher, and delicious. I haven’t had pastrami rillettes before, that was definitely a treat.

“Jewcuterie” plate at Kenny and Zuke’s

After our quick, kosher snack, we headed next door to the Hopworks Bike Bar, a pub serving Hopworks Urban Brewery beers, for a flight. The only beer on the flight that wasn’t a pale ale, IPA, or hoppy-something-or-other, was their Survival 7-grain Stout that was decent. It’s brewed with Quinoa, Barley, Wheat, Oats, Amaranth, Spelt, and Kamut and then finished with local cold-brewed coffee.

Tap list & beer flight at Hopworks Bike Bar

Next, we headed to Upright Brewing, one I was particularly excited to visit. They focus on Belgian and French farmhouse beers and use open fermentation for everything. Hopefully you’ll have an easier time finding the place than we did! It’s in the basement of a building that hosts a coffee shop, businesses and a brewery. Crazy Portland. Anyway, it was cool to see their set-up in a basement with limited space producing such great beers. The place is cash only and they let visitors just roam around and check out their place. There’s limited seating so we shared a table with a random guy who happened to be on a guided tour of select Portland breweries. They were playing trivia for prizes and I blurted out an answer to some hop-related questions and scored a sticker. Back to the beer, it gets difficult to discern subtle nuances in similar beers all of the same basic style (especially after our day) but the Biere de Garde and the Bird Calls brown were standouts for me in the Upright line-up.

Upright Brewing

Our last brewery for the trip was The Commons Brewery, also recommended to us by locals. It also happened to be one of my favorites of our trip. The people were so welcoming and the beers were fantastic. Turns out one of the employees had lived in Texas, so we quickly got him up-to-speed on how much the craft beer scene has blown up and lamented over our arcane laws that hold things back. He gave us a tour of the equipment, but I was more focused on all of their barrels. There had to be at least fifty barrels filled with all kinds of beer, intriguing to say the least.

Tap list & beer flight at The Commons Brewery

They had three beers that I thought were excellent: Bene Tibi, a cherry Berliner Weisse, a regular Berliner Weisse, and a walnut Belgian porter. Their other beers were great too, though I kept returning to the mini snifters of the Berliners and the porter. We bought a few bottles to take home and headed to Caffe Mingo, a loud, but somehow still romantic, dimly lit Italian place for dinner to finish off our time in Portland.

Before heading to the airport on Saturday we made a quick stop at Belmont Station, a bottle shop/bar that had an amazing selection of local beers and European imports as well, to fill up the suitcase. And finally, just because we had time, we stopped at Saraveza, a Packers bar/restaurant/ bottle shop, where I scored a Hair of the Dog 2009 Cherry Adam from the Wood and a 2011 Pelican Mother of all Storms. They frequently release beers out of their cellar to sell in the shop, at an elevated price of course. The pasty was great comfort food for the weather and the bartender chatted with us like we were regulars.

Needless to say, after three days of conquering Portland, both of us slept the entire plane ride home.

Tutored Beer Dinner Menu

Appetizer: Sesame Popcorn & Duvel Green Devil Cocktail
Absinthe, gin and Duvel

Sesame Popcorn & Duvel Green Devil

Beer cocktails are a relatively new phenomenon in the beer world, and apparently we have Stephen Beaumont to thank for them. After his time in France, where beer cocktails are commonplace, he exported the idea back to his restaurant where they quickly caught on. Green Devil is another name for absinthe, and this cocktail definitely smelled of absinthe (licorice) with a touch of carbonation in the taste from the Duvel and an herbal note from the gin that I enjoyed. Gin and tonic is my go-to cocktail when no good beer is available or when I need a break from beer. The popcorn had a nutty quality from the sesame and was a nice way to get the dinner started.

Amuse Bouche: Carrot and Lindemans Cuvée René
Carrot cooked in soy powder, Mirin and lime

Carrot & Lindemans Cuvée René

When the servers started bringing out large chopping boards with carrots on them, I wasn’t sure what to think. Tim was going on about lambics, as we were all sipping on the Cuvé René and I drifted off into thoughts about visiting Belgium next year (hopefully) while chomping on my carrot, much like my childhood pet rabbit did. The soy powder and lime balanced out the sweetness of the carrot quite nicely. In a room of unfamiliar beer nerds, I wondered what people who had never ventured into the crazy world of lambics/gueuzes/ etc. thought about this beer. It has quite a pungent horse-blanket, barnyard smell followed by a very tart shock to the palate. Obviously, right up my alley. The pairing was interesting, sweet and salty paired with a foul-smelling and tart, bubbly beer.

First Course: Little Neck Clams and Jester King Commercial Suicide
Little Neck clams marinated and cooked in white wine, butter, and clam juices with pickled potato and locally foraged (in the Brazos river area) golden chanterelle mushrooms, capers and garnished with purselane

Little Neck Clams & Jester King Commercial Suicide

I was pretty surprised to see this beer at the dinner, after a long hiatus, Jester King has begun brewing this beer again (I think?) and it really is the definition of session beer.With an ABV of just 3.3% it packs a lot of flavor, a common misconception about “lighter” beers. The clams were also lightly prepared, not doused in butter or some heavy cream sauce and I think the beer was paired perfectly. I have slowly come around to the idea of mushrooms, they have never been my favorite, but these gave the dish an earthy element that worked very well.

Second Course: Octopus and Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Charred octopus with avocado leaf cream, sour grass, wood sorrel, crisp masa, and pistachio

Octopus & Deschtes Black Butte Porter

I haven’t had a Black Butte Porter in such a long time that I was excited to revisit this classic beer. Black Butte porter embodies the porter style, it’s dark color, light body and roasty flavor, without being bitter. The salt of the octopus paired very well with this toasty porter. I wish our plates would have had the crisp masa cracker that was supposed to be there, it would have been nice to have juxtaposition in regards to textures. The octopus had been charred and it wasn’t chewy, which has been my experience in the past. The (smuggled) avocado leaf cream was a unique accompaniment to the other flavors of the dish.

Third Course: Antelope Heart Tartar and Rodenbach Grand Cru
Raw South Texas Antelope heart with mint and dehydrated red onion and jalapeño

South Texas Antelope Heart Tartare & Rodenbach Grand Cru

I was definitely most excited about this dish, finally some meat! I have had heart recently, at Oxheart (go figure) and absolutely loved it. The Ox heart had been lightly cooked, so having a tartar version was a new experience for me. The dehydrated jalapeño was HOT, and made a good match for the slightly sweet dehydrated red onions and mint. The South Texas Antelope heart meat is rich, succulent and tender, a perfect partner for the Rodenbach Grand Cru, another favorite of mine. The Grand Cru is acidic, sweet, fruity with a nice brown ale backbone that complemented the heart very well. This was my favorite dish of the evening.

Fourth Course: Malted Pork Shoulder and Ayinger Celebrator
Vienna malt, herb and spice marinated pork shoulder vacuum-cooked for 12 hours, plated with roasted pumpkin puree and a garlic flower garnish

Malted Pork Shoulder & Ayinger Celebrator

Ayinger makes nothing I don’t enjoy. All of their beers are stellar and usually represent a benchmark for the particular style. Oktoberfest definitely comes to mind here. I was pleased to have this beer as part of the dinner because I don’t usually revisit a lot of beers from the past, there is just too much in the way of new beer! It’s nice to be reminded of classics. Celebrator is a Dopplebock, known for their big malt profiles and higher alcohol content, which happened to be perfect for the huge hunk of pork shoulder we were served. The pork had been marinated with herbs, spices and Vienna malt, a nice touch to bring the pairing together. The barley risotto and pumpkin puree were also excellent ties to the beer and the garlic flower gave it that little something extra the dish needed flavor-wise and a nice pop of color as well. This dish was presented by Mr. Will Sandifer (who also helped to prepare it), whom I had no idea dabbled in the cooking arena. Very well done, Will!

Cheese Course: Selected Cheeses and Karbach Rodeo Clown
Cabot clothbound cheddar and Roth Case buttermilk blue with honey, red and green grapes and crackers

Cheese & Karbach Rodeo Clown

Irrationally, I judge restaurants on their cheese plates or lack thereof. There’s nothing better to me than a nice cheese plate accompanied by fig jam or honey, nuts, crackers, and grapes or apples (both, please!). This cheese plate featured Cabot Cheddar and Roth buttermilk blue, both excellent choices and very accessible to most. What was most surprising was my actual liking of the beer paired with the cheese. Karbach’s Rodeo Clown. A double IPA. Yes, that’s right, I enjoyed an IPA. Though it’s technically a double, or imperial, so maybe that’s cheating. Rodeo Clown has a heavier malt profile which helps balance out the hop bitterness. This was a great segue course from heavy pork into dessert.

Dessert: Pecan “something” and Unibroue Don de Dieu
Mark Clayton of famed Oxheart prepared a creamy white chocolate pudding with a preserved citrus layer and preserved citrus cream topping garnished with pecans and toasted rye bread croutons

Pecan “Something” & Unibroue Don de Dieu (Photo Courtesy of Matt Chow, mattchow.com)

When the participating chefs first told Stephen and Tim about the menu, they said dessert would be a pecan ”something”, well that something was absolutely delicious. A great balance of tart from the preserved citrus and rich, creamy sweetness of the white chocolate pudding. The garnish of pecans and toasted rye bread was a nice texture change, even though I’m not a fan of most nuts. The pairing was a bit off, admittedly by Stephen. I’m not a big Unibroue fan, their beers all seem to be very one-note. It didn’t matter though, I was busy emptying out mine and John’s jars of pudding, citrus deliciousness.

I’m so glad we made the out-of-the-loop adventure to Sugar Land (my hometown) for this beer dinner. It’s not always about that rare or super limited beer, but about what the chefs pair with it, that makes the meal. I hope to see more dinners like this at the Saucer, especially so reasonably priced. Thanks to Tim Webb and Stephen Beaumont for coming out and chatting with everyone, and a huge thanks and congratulations to the Saucer staff and guest chefs for such a successful dinner. Cheers!

I’m always excited to hear about a new craft beer bar in Houston and Cottonwood in the Garden Oaks area is no exception. Brought to thirsty Houstonians by the people behind Liberty Station, we can expect a few things to carry over from Liberty and some new features that really take advantage of their huge new space at 3422 N. Shepherd. Their tentative opening is October 16th, with an Oktoberfest bash to welcome them to the ‘hood shortly after.

First, while I’ll miss the awesome variety of rotating food trucks that Liberty features, Cottonwood will feature a full menu of great food like burgers and mussels crafted by chef Daniel Ajtai, a dedicated beer nerd as well. I can just imagine the pairing possibilities as I’ve met Daniel a few times and he is pretty serious about beer and food. We can also expect beer dinners after the dust settles and they get situated in their new space. There will be bar and table service, though Charles Bishop (one of the Liberty Station owners) really stressed to me how casual they want it to stay, just like at Liberty.

Second, an expanded beer program. There will be 30 taps inside featuring 1-2 nitro taps that will host a stout and an ESB regularly, 12-15 local beers from our favorites like Karbach, Saint Arnold, Southern Star, Buffalo Bayou, and No Label and the rest (another 12-15) will be rotating taps for whatever is available at the time. They plan to expand shortly after opening by installing a container bar at their patio with another 5-10 taps. They also plan to have 2 beer engines and a wine tap that will rotate between a red and a white. Another cool feature will be their ”table growler” program (like pitchers for beer nerds!), though they won’t be for take-home since they have a mixed liquor license.

A few things will feel very familiar though, like a huge (2,000 square foot!) patio complete with washers, bags (cornhole, or whatever else people call this game now), TV’s and a stage for live music.

I also heard there will be a special cask of something from St. Arnold for their Oktoberfest party, slated for the first saturday after they open! Thanks to Charles for taking the time to chat with me and I cannot wait to check out the new place!

Follow Cottonwood on your favorite social media: Facebook & Twitter.

What made you decide to make the jump to start your own place/why did you leave Ranger Creek?

We have been talking about doing our own thing since before we got married 5 years ago. Ranger Creek has been a great experience, and a real honor to be the head brewer there. Leaving wasn’t an easy choice, but we have been wanting to do this long before I started here and now that I have a few years of professional experience under me, and before our 2 sons get much older, we felt like now was the time.

How long have you been working on the idea of & recipes for Woodland Empire?

As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been talking about opening our own brewery for quite a while. When Keely and I first started dating we homebrewed together often, and that has continued since. The beer ideas and recipes have evolved over time, but originated from those brews.

Why Boise, Idaho?

Boise is just an awesome town all around. I grew up in Idaho in a very small town, but I have missed it ever since we moved away. I always loved driving through Boise when I lived there. It is the perfect city- not too big, not too small, lots of trees and parks, a river, mountains…. It is really bike friendly, the cost of living is great, it has a great music scene and a vibrant beer culture. I would say more but I don’t want to convince too many people to move there or the rent will go up! The biggest question was always ‘Where?,’ and the “where” involved two important things: weather and beer laws. We want seasons (4 of them, not 2!), and the ability to distribute our beer and sell it directly to consumers. In Idaho it’s all there waiting for us.

What is the current craft beer scene like in Boise? Do you think they will embrace your beers/philosophy?

Despite Boise’s small-town status and the notion that it’s beer scene is just starting to emerge, I think the city has had a vibrant love of craft beer for quite some time.  There is a lot of support for the brew pubs and breweries and excitement for new ones to open. It is a very close-knit city and we’re excited to be part of the community. We want what we brew to have a distinctly Idahoan persona, and so many of our beers focus heavily on supporting local agriculture by using ingredients that are locally available and only when in season.  Our philosophy  embraces the creativity of art, food, music, books, and imagination and since those things are fundamentals of the culture of Boise we believe the people there will embrace us.

Where did you come up with the name “Woodland Empire Ale Craft”? What is the message you want to convey about Woodland Empire to the public?

The nickname for Boise is “The City of Trees.” Woodland Empire is our whimsical exaggeration of that. We chose to use “Ale Craft” rather than “brewing company’ because we felt it embodied our spirit more- creative, imaginative, homespun. We want people to see those things in our imagery, our beer names, and in the ingredients we use. We aren’t about gimmickery. This is just an honest representation of who we are even when beer isn’t involved. We love laughing and having fun, we love creating things together and expounding on old ideas in an effort to make something that is exciting to the two of us. What we hope to convey through Woodland Empire is just that. We don’t want to come across as arrogant, this is just the way that we live and the way that we brew. If an idea comes to us, we don’t see any reason not to give it our best shot!

There are great breweries in Boise already, and we are excited to add to what they are already doing.

How big is the system you’ll be brewing on?

In sticking with the original dream we had of opening a family-run brewery, we have decided on a 10 barrel system. It’s small in terms of your typical micro brewery but will allow us to maintain a core year-round line-up and also focus on lots of special, limited releases.

Can you tell me about the different beers you have planned? Why did you choose the different styles/additions you did?

Our 5 year round beers will be:

‘Til Death- a dark and hoppy NW ale brewed with juniper berries. Keely originally brewed this for our wedding, and the name is both a nod to that and our favorite Richard Brautigan book, Willard and His Bowling Trophies: A Perverse Mystery.

In The Morning- a traditional low abv English Dark Mild brewed with locally roasted coffee from DOMA in Post Falls, Idaho. (Awesome coffee!) There’s a really great band from Boise called Built To Spill that has a song we borrowed the name for this beer from. The folks at DOMA have been very supportive of us, and we have been using their coffee in our test batches.

Rabbit Fighter- a traditional ESB brewed with Bramling Cross hops. We love ESB’s, and it is a style you don’t see much of. The name came from a T. Rex song we love.

Meek Warrior- our take on a Belgian witbier. Instead of citrus we use Idaho grown lavender and have been working with Silver Fox Lavender farm outside of Boise to use their lavender. We also use raw wheat and raw spelt, both of which come from Hi-Stakes Spelt in Idaho. We named this beer after an album and song from the band Akron/Family.

Faux Paw- I love a good pilsner. Though I’m not really into the whole idea of, “You’ve gotta have something light in your lineup,” we decided to do this just because a pilsner is a beer you can drink anytime. Being that this is a “Bohemian-ish” Pilsner, the faux pas is that we use Pacific NW Cascade hops rather than the ubiquitous Czech Saaz.

Beyond that we plan to do as many different beers as we can per year, most of them one-offs and a select few as reoccurring seasonals. We’ll brew wherever our imagination takes us, but we want to revisit some classic styles at the same time. Some others we have planned are a gruit that will involve community herb growing that we will call W.E. Grew It!; a Scotch Ale brewed with heather and sweet gale rather than hops we will name Gayle, after Keely’s mom; Let The Wind Blow- a stout with wild harvested mushrooms named after a Beach Boys song; and a cherrywood smoked Imperial stout with locally grown cherries called Beast Moans after the band Swan Lake’s album, plus tons more we won’t list here.

How is the process of opening a brewery different in Idaho than Texas?

For all intents and purposes it’s pretty similar. The regulating alcohol body is the state police rather than a separate entity like TABC. All in all, the time frame and licensing is pretty much the same. It’s once we’re open that it’s totally different.

What is your timeline for being in Idaho/brewing/selling?

We are raising funds right now and have an optimistic timeline to be open within a year. In reality things always take longer than you want them to, but we will keep on truckin’ until we’re open.  Regardless of where we are at on the business end we will be relocating to Boise the first part of 2013.

Will you develop relationships with local farmers in Idaho for a barter system, like at Ranger Creek? (spent grains for beef/etc.) 

Absolutely. Since what we want to do is based on the idea of a small farmhouse brewery, using ingredients from the local agriculture and giving back to local farmers and growers closes that circle.

Will we ever see your beers in Texas?

Hopefully. We are still working out our goals for future growth and distribution. Time will tell, but we certainly hope so!

Why did you decide to use Kickstarter? What will the money be used for?

We chose Kickstarter because it embodies this community spirit where people help each other creatively as well as financially. It allows anyone to make a go of their dreams. If our project is successful, the money we raise will be used to secure a building and order a pilot system. The downside is that if we don’t get 100% funded we don’t get any of the money we raise. We urge people to help us spread the word and to back our project.

What will you miss most about Texas?

I will miss the extremely supportive craft beer community here. People have been very supportive of me since I started brewing at Ranger Creek, and it has been awesome to meet and collaborate with them.

Anything else about Woodland Empire you would like to share?

We’re starting this brewery because craft beer is a way of life to us. We love to brew because it is artistic and creative, something that brings joy to people and something we can share with those around us. We want what we brew to make people happy and able to just enjoy the beer for what it is and why it was created, what went into making it rather than the style guidelines it does or doesn’t fit into. Not only is beer a huge part of our lives, but it’s also a perfect accompaniment to good food, laughter, music and friends.

Thanks to Rob for giving me the low-dow on his new, super-cool brewery plans. I’ll have to put Idaho on the travel list!

Firestone Walker 13th Anniversary- Definitely a big start to Stoutapalooza, though I wouldn’t expect anything less! Technically, this is considered an American Strong Ale (coming in at 12% ABV). This is a very unique series of beers from Firestone Walker, they take some of the beer from barrels in the current and previous years’ barrel programs and blend them together; 53 different barrels made it into the 13^th anniversary beer. Beers like Parabola, Velvet Merkin, Bravo Brown, Rufus, Opal, Double Double Barrel Ale and Saucerful of Secrets compose the Thirteen. Thirteen is such a rich blend of roast, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, dark fruit and booze flavors that are very well balanced.

Firestone Walker Sucaba: Sucuba, formerly called Abacus, is a 12.5% English Barleywine that has an almost port characteristic. The aroma is full of raisins, caramel and definitely alcohol. The alcohol taste wasn’t as strong as in the nose but there was some heat on the finish. It is balanced with caramel, vanilla, raisin and fig flavors. I am a Barleywine lover and this is definitely one of the best.

Firestone Walker Parabola: Hate to say it, but this Russian Imperial Stout has too much roasted bitter malt taste for my liking. The chocolate and toffee notes couldn’t compete.

New Glarus Thumbprint Cherry Stout- Besides the 13^th anniversary from Firestone Walker, this was my favorite beer of the day. The slightly tart and sweet cherry taste balanced so well in the malty stout. Stouts that have a heavy roasted malt-bitter flavor don’t balance well with fruit like cherry, in my opinion, and this was done very well. Though, no surprise, New Glarus beers are some of my favorites.

Founders 2010 Nemesis- After having Nemesis, Parabola was hardly bitter at all. The tannin bitter finish and roasty, boozy flavors just didn’t work well together for me.The nose is quite nice, though, with vanilla, raisins and a nice touch of alcohol dominating.

Hoppin’ Frog BORIS The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout: Boris is a mix of an oatmeal stout and a Russian imperial stout with a good balance of booze, chocolate, and oat flavors. Though there was a slight burnt coffee flavor that was a little unsavory to me. The nose was wonderful- vanilla, chocolate and some alcohol notes.

Hoppin’ Frog BORIS Royale: The Royale was more my style, though aging anything in whiskey barrels is bound to do that. The aroma was boozy and a toasted barrel characteristic was very prominent.

Odell Cutthroat Porter- Not a stout, but was nice to try this porter in the midst of such huge beers for a change of pace. However, I do think its subtleties were lost on most of our palates. It was a bit watery to me at this point in the tasting, so I’d love to try it when its not competing against 10 other monster beers.

Odell Bourbon Barrel Stout- This beer threw everyone for a loop. It didn’t taste barrel aged and the aroma was slightly medicinal and cheesy. It was over-carbonated and slightly disappointing as most special Odell releases I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Great Divide Whiskey Barrel Aged Yeti- This beer had ‘turned’, as they say, and most people didn’t enjoy it. Needless to say, I got to have extra of this beer!

As this Camp Beer was the second to last one, we all lucked out as Cathy needed help clearing out some of her cellar. We had Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 10, Deschutes Jubel 2010, Sierra Nevada & Dogfish Head’s Life & Limb 2, and the original bottling of Jester King’s Black Metal- a treat for sure- as break beers!

See everyone in December!

With the recent boom in craft breweries and bars in Houston it was only a matter of time before a new, boutique retail store to buy all of that beer popped up. Since our beverage laws don’t allow breweries to sell their beer on-premise, places like Specs, Kroger, HEB, Central Market, and Whole Foods fill the gap for us. But what about those special one-off, keg-only beers that breweries like Buffalo Bayou and No Label Brewing are making? How can you enjoy those at home, as opposed to hunting down a bar in town that may have it on tap the night you want to go out? Enter Premium Draught, a new, soon-to-open specialty retail store featuring 20-24 taps for growler fills and 4 doors of coolers that will be filled with bottles for purchase, organized by style of course. Premium Draught is located in the cozy strip center at 733 Studewood by Antidote coffee, taking the space once home to Kaboom Books.

After fellow beer nerd and blogger Jose tweeted about Premium Draught, I immediately had to know more, especially with the confusion around whether or not they would actually sell you a pint to drink in store while shopping. Unfortunately, this will not be the case as I found out after sitting with Johnny Orr, the proprietor of Premium Draught, over a few beers at Petrol Station. After spending ten plus years as a bartender at a few of Houston’s good beer bars, Orr decided that he wanted to open a place that made it easier to enjoy good craft beer at home. As an admitted homebody, Orr grew tired of having to hassle with finding parking (a notorious problem in this town), fighting crowds, and the general bar scene, thus the idea of Premium Draught was born.

Having worked in the industry for so long, Orr developed crucial relationships with distributors and an in-depth understanding into consumer spending and habits. Having watched people’s palates evolve through the years gives Orr behind the scenes insights that will guide his purchasing when Premium Draught opens. The saying “the customer is always right” means something completely different to Orr. No longer is it about getting your appetizer comped because it wasn’t warm enough, rather it is about listening to what customers want. If someone comes into Premium Draught and asks for a beer that he doesn’t stock, Orr wants to have the flexibility to adapt to requests and the evolution of the Houston beer scene in general. The advantage of a place like Premium Draught, over the other retailers in town, is being able to carry beers that aren’t packaged in bottles or cans. Sometimes, driving across town to a bar for that one special beer isn’t an option, but filling up a growler and taking it home to drink while you catch up on your favorite show, cook dinner or whatever, certainly is.

This concept is pretty unique to Houston with the exception of D&Q, who is having issues getting licensed to fill growlers, which leaves mainly big box stores to buy your craft beer from. Definitely a welcome addition to the burgeoning craft beer scene in Houston. A few other points of interest from our chat include plans to sanitize their growlers on-premise, though customers will be allowed to bring in clean, non-Premium Draught growlers, and probably the most important tidbit is his timeline for opening. Orr hopes to be open in two to three months barring issues with city permitting. The appropriate TABC permits have been acquired, so now the hold-up is the myriad of city permits and finishing construction. As the space gets developed I hope to visit again and report back with pictures!

I want to thank Johnny for taking the time to meet with me and a special thanks to Roby Fitzhenry at Always Creative (the people behind the new Open The Taps logo and Premium Draught’s website) for facilitating the introduction!

After a quick breakfast Friday morning, we visited the historical Reading Terminal Market to peruse. All of the shops weren’t quite open yet, but it was cool to see all the fresh seafood, produce, local cheeses and meats getting setup for the day. There were a few retail shops open that featured homemade honey, jams, and anything pickled you could ever want. I would have liked to go back later in the day for lunch and more shopping, but we had beer to drink!

We headed out to Victory Brewing in Downingtown, PA for beer flights and lunch. The drive from Philly to Downingtown was about an hour which isn’t too bad considering our longest beer road trip been the 6 hour NOLA trip for Zwanze Day last year.

Victory is located in a big industrial park, sort of out of the way of the main part of town. There were 10+ beers on tap that we don’t get down in Texas, so picking out five for a flight was just a matter of which styles I wanted to try. I went with, from left to right in the picture below:

Flight at Victory Brewing Co.

St. Boisterous: A hellerbock style lager that was pretty unassuming and easy drinking. At 7.5% ABV, a few of these would definitely sneak up on you.

Saison du Buff: This is one of the three Saison du Buffs- Victory, Dogfish Head, and Stone each brewed their own versions. To be quite honest, I haven’t liked the other two versions, but I was willing to give it a chance. It was lemony, grassy, and too bitter for me.

Donnybrook Stout: Victory’s Irish dry stout- at 3.7% ABV it was a bit thin, but it didn’t surprise me. I enjoy the dryness in this style and the roasted malt profile, though thin, was nice and not too bitter.

Feistbier: It seems a bit early for a Märzen style beer, but what the heck. The aroma was toasty, with a touch of sweet malts and a little bready. It was crisp and refreshing.

We asked some of the people at Victory if there were any other local breweries to check out before we headed back into Philly, and the closest option factoring in traffic was Boxcar Brewing in West Chester. They weren’t technically open, but one of the owners showed up at the same time as us to get set-up for an event that evening. He let us in and showed us around the small brewhouse; it was ingeniously put together with a 1963 bottling machine from Crown, two dairy tanks used for fermenting and as a mash tun, and the brew kettle that previously made barbecue sauce. We tried five of their beers: Original Ale, an IPA, Mango Ginger IPA, a red ale and their Brown Ale. Their IPA was hardly what anyone would consider as an IPA in a world full of hop-bombs, so I liked it as there was hardly any bite to it. The Mango Ginger IPA was sweet on the front with a ginger bite in the back, without being overpowering. Boxcar’s brown ale was toasty throughout with a nice chocolate flavor. The Original Ale is an English Mild, of which I’ve only had Jester King’s version, Commercial Suicide. It was enjoyable and light, especially in a hot warehouse brewery.

Boxcar Brewing Co. bottle line-up

After visiting for a bit and comparing silly beer laws in our respective states, we headed back into Philly to check out Yard’s Brewing. I am a total sucker for the Independence/USA/historical vibe in Philly, and Yard’s definitely played on that with their beer names and logo. John and I each oredered a flight plus we shared the other four offerings on tap afterwards, a selection of their root beer, cask beer, and two one-offs.

The Signature and Ales of the Revolution flights at Yard’s Brewing

Bourbon Barrel Tavern Porter, Vanilla Love Stout, Saison, Root Beer- Yard’s Brewing

Signature Series, in order as pictured above: Brawler- Pugilist style ale, ESA- an English style ale, Philadelphia pale ale and the IPA. This was John’s flight, obviously, since I am admittedly not an IPA/pale ale lover. The Brawler was very tasty as it was malt forward with a nice caramel bready flavor. The others didn’t really do it for me. In my flight however, I had some interesting styles. In order of the picture above, I had: Poor Richard’s Tavern Spruce Ale, Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale, General Washington’s Tavern Porter and the Love Stout (actually part of the Signature Ales). My notes became a little skimpy at this point, unsurprisingly, but the Spruce Ale tasted like a christms tree, piney, in a way that wasn’t off-putting. I had the Love Stout the night before and definitely enjoyed it again. I liked the Tavern Porter as well, very solid representation of the style, but the bourbon barrel aged version I had next was better, also unsurprisingly. How do you make an oyster stout even better? Add a little vanilla and put it in a cask. Though it was a bit flat, as expected, it was still very tasty. I liked the play between the slight brinyness of the oyster stout with the sweetness of the vanilla. The root beer was very enjoyable, if not just for a change of pace. It was nicely carbonated and had a good balance of sweet molasses and spices.

As our friends were landing in Philly we made a quick trip over to the Standard Tap, recommended to us by several people. There just so happened to be a bottle shop next door, the Foodery, that had an awesome selection. At Standard Tap, I had a Johnny Berliner Weisse that was a collaboration between Standard Tap’s and Johnny Brenda’s owner, Scott Morrison and Dock Street Brewery, that we didn’t have a chance to visit. The beer was made for Philly Beer Week and was a really nice Berliner. It was light, crisp, and had a slight tartness. We really lucked out coming into Philly so close after their awesome beer week.

Johnny Berliner Weisse at the Standard Tap- Philadelphia, PA

After buying beer at the Foodery, we headed back to Yard’s to meet our friends (it’s on the way in from the airport) for a beer before heading out to dinner and a few more bars in Philly. I had another bourbon barrel porter, because duh.

We took a walk past the Betsy Ross house and dined at Philadelphia Bar & Restaurant, a dimly lit, laid back place with a great craft beer list. I started off with a Left Hand Ambidextrous, a cross between a barleywine and a milk stout. That sounds weird, but it really worked. Don’t ask me how…. Next, I went with the Dagger Stout from Bell’s that was also enjoyable. It was a big, but balanced imperial stout. Afterwards I had to give it a twist and have Merry Monk’s Ale by Weyerbacher, a Tripel that was deceptively light at 9.3%. Maybe that was the earlier beers talking.

Lefthand Ambidextrous at Philadelphia Bar & Restaurant

After dinner we headed to Eulogy Belgian Tavern, where I had Sixpoint’s Sweet Action. It’s a cream stout, but it was unexpectedly too bitter for me. We stayed to watch the 10,000 meter Women’s Olympic qualifier race, though I am still not sure why. It became strangely engrossing.

Sixpoint Sweet Action at Eulogy Belgian Tavern- Philadelphia, PA

Even though they had a great beer list, we were all anxious to check out Monk’s Cafe, and it was definitely the right call. Immediately I saw almost a half page of just Cantillon beers, I was in heaven. We decided we had to get the one that we may never see again- a bottle of the Zwanze 2010, a rare sour that makes an appearance in select bars around the country for one day only. 2010 was the last bottling year as the brewery was unhappy with seeing their beers on Ebay. I’m pretty sure angels sang when I took my first sip. Or, I just love sours, either way.

Cantillion Zwanze 2010 at Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia, PA

After that, where exactly do you go? We decided on the Allagash Old HLT, an American wild ale. The cherries dominated this beer, with a tart note at the very end.

Since we were headed out the next morning to Dogfish Head in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, we decided it was a must for the rest of the group to visit Farmers’ Cabinet. When we arrived, we scored a prime seat in the middle of their two bars at a big barrel table. There was an awesome jazz band playing, and the doors were open, but the warmth didn’t bother us. After seeing the beer-inspired cocktails on the menu the night before, I had to have the gueuze cocktail, because I didn’t think it could even come close. I was right, but it was for science, of course. The cocktail comprised of cognac, strawberry shrub, blended orange bitters, sugar, and sparkling wine. It was good, and not knowing too much about cocktails (I prefer a gin and tonic, mostly) I would think recreating both sour and funky in a cocktail would be difficult.

Beer-Inspired Gueuze Cocktail at Farmers’ Cabinet

It was time to go big or go home, so we ordered a bottle of Beersel Mattina, from Italian brewery Birrificio de Ducato. It is considered a farmhouse/saison style beer, and is a blend of Nuova Mattina and 18 month ld Drie Fonteinen lambic, then it is bottle aged for at least 18 months. I am running out of ways to say how much I love sours. Not just sour beer either, I love chamoy, sour patch kids, and pickles (anything pickled really). All things sour, I can’t explain it.

Birrificio du Ducato- Beersel Mattina, Farmers’ Cabinet

For the last beer of the night we obviously had to combine my love of sours with our collective love of whiskey and barrel aged beers and get Fraoch 20th Anniversary Ale. It’s a heather ale aged in “ex-sherry casks previously used to mature single malt Speyside whiskey for 20 years”. This was a real treat, as my appreciation for scotch grows, I enjoy these types of beers better. Definitely an appropriate way to end our time in Philly.

Fraoch 20th Anniversary Ale, Farmers’ Cabinet

Saturday morning we woke up and drove to Rehoboth Beach to visit the Dogfish Head Brewpub. We had a ferry to New Jersey to catch, so our visit was brief, but I was able to try several limited beers (or unavailable in our market). Rehoboth Beach is a small town, with a laid-back atmosphere, I definitely want to visit again and go to the beach. From left to right in the picture below, I had:

Flight at Dogfish Head Brewpub, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

Positive Contact: This is brewed with Fuji cider, farro, cayenne, and cilantro. I didn’t pick up on all of the spices, but what I did get, mixed with the cider was good. I like cider to be more tart (go figure), so it wasn’t my style.

Saison des Fraises: A saison brewed with strawberries and rhubarb, giving it a fruity and nice, soft tart flavor. This was my favorite beer of the flight.

Shelter Pale Ale: This is a draft only selection that (obviously) doesn’t make it down to Texas, so it was obligatory to try.

Black & Red: I’ve had some of the other iterations of this- Red & White, Black & Blue, but never this version. It was by far the weirdest tasting beer of the trip, starting out like cough syrup and ends with a big hit of fruity chocolate. There was a bit of medicinal astringency throughout, probably from being dry-minted (as opposed to dry-hopped), that made it pretty unenjoyable for me.

Chicory Stout: This beer isn’t available in Texas (though I think it used to be?), and we’ve always wanted to try it. If you like chicory flavor, it’s a great, solid stout that isn’t over the top.

As far as the rest of the weekend goes, I enjoyed many gin & tonics at Bally’s casino while learning craps. We lucked out and there were two bars that had a decent craft beer list. One of them was underground at Bally’s- Firewater, and the other on the boardwalk- Harry’s Oyster Bar. The group ended up splitting two Lost Abbey Deliverances before heading out to the second day of the festival. Deliverance is A blend of brandy barrel Angel’s Share and bourbon barrel Serpent’s Stout. Of course we ordered two, it was fantastic. I’ve had both of the beers that were blended and loved the opportunity to drink them both again, in barrel-aged form no less. Otherwise, I really didn’t drink much [good] beer.

It was a completely amazing time everywhere we visited. I think I’ve expressed how much fun the beer part of our trip was. Admittedly, I am not as hard-core of a Metallica fan as the rest of the group. The shows were intense, but really fun. Still waiting on my hearing to get back to normal.

Geno’s Philly Cheesesteaks

Pat’s King of Steaks

After two cheesesteaks, it was definitely time for a beer. Originally we had planned on hitting some of the breweries outside of Philadelphia, like Weyerbacher, Fegley’s BrewWorks, and Troëgs, but on our way out to Weyerbacher we discovered they weren’t open until Friday afternoon. The guy at Weybacher suggested we go to Iron Abbey in Horsham for a beer, since we were already on the way out there. So we took his advice and had a few beers and watched part of the Czech-Italy match while we reassessed our plan. I ordered a flight of a few beers that stood out on their draft list, and even tried Magner’s Hard Cider. From left to right in the picture below:

Flight at Iron Abbey (Horsham, PA)

Voodoo Cowbell: this was definitely my favorite beer at Iron Abbey. An imperial oatmeal milk stout that tastes like its on nitro- creamy and smooth. I love the mouthfeel of nitro beers, and this one was no different. Milk chocolate, lacto sweetness, and roasted malts dominate the taste. This is a stout you could drink almost everyday, solid and not over the top.

Southampton Biere de Mars: I’ve had a thing for Bière de Gardes ever since a few of our Texas breweries started making their own versions. The aroma was fruity and bready, a familiar smell for this style. The taste started out sweet and slightly fruity then ended with a spicy bread flavor. Not my favorite I’ve tried of this style, but I am biased toward the sour end of the style spectrum, like Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien.

Stone/Elysian/Bruery La Celeste: I’ve had this before and didn’t really love it, but everything else on the board I had either had before or were IPAs/Pale Ales that John ordered. The beer has a weird (to me) mix of spices, citrus notes and too light of a body. Per usual Dogfish style, there are like 15+ ingredients and in this case- I don’t think it really worked.

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout: This is one of the Dogfish beers that we don’t get in Texas, so seeing it on draft was a nice treat. The beer is rich and boozy, an 18% stout tends to be like that. It was sweet and sticky, like molasses. A taster of this is the perfect amount, I don’t think I’d want to finish a whole snifter of this.

After our bartender gave us the lowdown on Philly bars and breweries, and a traffic warning, we decided to head back into Philly.

Oyster House, Philadelphia, PA

John and I stumbled upon Oyster House while killing time before dinner at Farmers’ Cabinet, so we grabbed a quick dozen of Delaware Bay oysters and a beer. They were no gulf oysters, but they hit the spot. Their oyster crackers were also not what I’m used to, they were spherical crackers, making it hard to use with the oysters. Apparently, nobody in Philly carries saltines.  To wash those babies down I wanted something local and different so I chose the Love Stout from Yard’s, an oyster stout. It was so delicious, and would have benefitted tremendously from a nitro tap. It was creamy and roasty with just the slightest briny flavor.

A Dozen Delaware Bay Oysters at Oyster House, Philadelphia, PA

Yard’s Oyster Love Stout at Oyster House, Philadelphia, PA

While planning the trip we did some research to find a place where could have a nice dinner and good craft beer, and all signs pointed to Farmers’ Cabinet. I am so glad they did, what an incredible food and drink experience. The interior is both romantic but still cool for a group. One wall is lined with beer bottles and cabinets full of more beer (maybe wine, too) on the adjacent wall. Scattered around were a few choice taxidermy pieces, and they also had a rack of barrels, that I hope are full of their beer. It is very dimly lit with mason jar candles and we sat in the middle of a big community table that filled up very quickly by the end of our meal.

I could live off of cured meats, cheese, and pickles, so imagine my glee at seeing the menu featuring local and housemade selections. We hade their house-cured coppa, sopressata, genoa, and duck prosciutto along with their house pickles and a few local cheese selections. The board also had a tapioca powder that was a nice sweet touch to the plate. The rest of the menu seemed unimportant at the time, but we ended up picking the bone marrow and foie gras dishes. It is vacation!

Meat, Cheese & Pickle Plate at Farmers’ Cabinet, Philadelphia, PA

Bone Marrow- Farmers’ Cabinet- Philadelphia, PA

Foie Gras, Caramelized Figs, Anise Shortbread- Farmers’ Cabinet- Philadelphia, PA

Then, there was the  beer list. Sigh, I can’t even start to explain how outstanding the beer list was. After studying it, I think we saw only two or three beers that we get in Texas. They focus on European imports but they also brew their own beer at another location, and have collaborations with other breweries.

To get things kicked off, after much discussion on how to attack the monster beer list to get the most out of it we possibly could, we decided to stick to their draught selections. John and I could have spent hours trying to pick a bottle. Half pints were the way to go, we got to try more beers and if a random choice doesn’t pay off, you aren’t committed to a full pint of something you don’t like. But they did.

We started with two beers that were brewed especially for Philly Beer Week, earlier in June, during an event at Farmers’ Cabinet. They introduced 25(!) one-offs that three breweries, Stillwater Artisanal Ales, Evil Twin, and Cabinet Artisinal made, in a series called 3×8. Each brewery took one of the Cabinet beers and created their own version, 8 different ways. EIGHT. Stillwater’s called their series Raritea, a brett-fermented saison brewed with eight different teas. Thanks to In Search of Beer‘s post for the details on the event.

Lichi Noir: Made with Lichi Noir tea. The nose and taste had a distinct tea flavor. It was so light and crisp, and very tart. There were distinct lemon notes that paired well with the spices from the saison. I was so enamored with this beer, drinkable, full of flavor and enough sour to satisfy my sour needs.

Stillwater Raritea: Lichi Noir

Freak of Nature Oolong: This one wasn’t quite as tart, but the tea flavor was more pronounced than the Lichi Noir. It had nice citrus and spice notes, but not as enjoyable to me as the Lichi Noir was. Maybe its the kind of tea used as I am not much of a tea drinker, but most of it doesn’t do it for me.

Stillwater Raritea: Freak of Nature Oolong

Picobrouwerij Alvinne Kerasus: This beer is brewed with wild Morpheus yeast and then aged on “a boatload of cherries”, which is very prominent on the nose. The beer wasn’t sweet, which is a risk with fruit beers, and it was quite sour. Definitely my style.

Picobrouwerij Alvinne Kerasus

Birrificio Barley Toccadibo: One of the other interesting draught selections was an Italian Belgian stronge pale ale aged in Zinfandel barrels. It was dry, fruity without being too sweet, light and had a really nice spice aroma in the nose and on the front of the taste. It finished with a very subtle tart note, which was perfect to complement the spice and dry mouthfeel.

Birrificio Barley Toccadibo

I really didn’t want to leave Farmers’ Cabinet and if I am in Philly again, I will be returning. Luckily, Friday night included another visit with the whole group.

After leaving, we headed over to Nodding Head, a brewery we scouted out while having oysters earlier. It is an appropriate name, as you walk up the stairs there is a huge cabinet filled with bobbleheads of all kinds. I spotted a Berliner Weisse on the menu and really didn’t have to look any further.

Ich Bin Ein Berliner: was a great example of the style, light but full of flavor. They even served a shot of Woodruff syrup on the side, as the custom is in Berlin. It is an interesting green color and sweet, for people who want to balance out the tartness that is common in the style. I did try it, but I didn’t like the sweet. Plus, why would I ever want to tone down the tart factor?

Ich Bin Ein Berliner Weisse- Nodding Head Brewery

To end our night we ordered Nodding Head’s cherry ale, Picnic, which was dubbed as “dangerously drinkable” at 7% ABV. The beer is a very deep, gorgeous ruby color and the cherry is very prominent in the nose and taste. It was a bit too sweet for me, but the big dark malt profile helped balance it out a little.

Picnic Cherry Ale- Nodding Head Brewery

We headed in for the night as we were going to have just as full of a beer day Friday, visiting some of the other well-known Philly establishments like Monk’s cafe and Eulogy, and of course more breweries!

Crispin Cho-Tokkyu: We started our venture into ciders with a rather traditional style cider, but with a funky twist- they used Sake yeast instead of a traditional English cider yeast. There was no mistaking the apple flavor and our host, Wes Mickel of Argus Cidery out of Austin, Texas, called it “lightning bolt apple” flavor. It was clean and crisp but too sweet for my tastes.

Crispin Honey Crisp: While the name would make you think they used Honey Crisp Apples, they do not; instead, they use a blend of 3 to 5 apples and add organic honey. This was less sweet than the Cho-Tokkyu, and a bit drier. I felt like it was missing the “bite” you get from apple cider, probably because of the added honey.

Crispin The Saint: This was less sweet still, but since they primed the cider for bottling with maple syrup, there was a different kind of sweetness when combined with the Belgian Trappist beer yeast they used. The Saint was a bit funkier because of the yeast and definitely more my style.

Fox Barrel Pacific Pear: This cider’s aroma was unmistakably pear with a hint of booze and funk. The taste wasn’t overly sweet or tart, but had a great dry finish. Maybe I liked this one so much because it was a break from apple and I’ve never had a pear cider.

Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouche Brut de Normandie: The aroma on this one was great, slightly tart and funky, like it wants to be a sour when it grows up. There was plenty of pectin sediment, as this cider is unfiltered.

Isastegi Sagardo Naturala: The aroma of this Basque cider was funky, almost like cheese. It was tart, very dry and had an off-putting, slightly medicinal taste. It also seemed to be lacking carbonation. This was definitely one of the more unique ciders, being a Basque cider the funky taste and aroma are the rule, not the exception.

Tieton Cider Works Harmony Reserve: This cider is a special blend from both Yarlington Mill and Golden Russet apples. The taste was a bit watery to me, with a slightly funky and tart finish. It is dry and not sweet at all.

New Glarus Apple Ale: Finally a beer!! And a great one, at that. The aroma is like apple and pear candy, but thankfully the beer isn’t too sweet, but has a great apple taste. It’s light, has nice carbonation and is a little dry. This beer isn’t brewed regularly and certainly isn’t available in our market, so it was a special treat for the already-hot-as-hell June we are having.

Leprechaun Pomegranate Seasonal: I have had this cider before, one of the few of the day that were repeats for me, as they are our hometown cider makers, recently coming into the market. The pomegranate seasonal is fruity, a little tart, and a little sweetness that isn’t cloying. It’s also a beautiful red color, which Wes told us happens when you add fruit juice after the primary fermentation.

New Glarus Raspberry Tart: As my friend Nena said about this beer, “share it or mix it!”. This beer is very sweet, I like raspberries and all but it was too sweet for me. It wasn’t an artificial sweetness or anything, but like raspberries on steroids. Nena prefers to mix her Raspberry Tart with Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti, which I’ve yet to try, but sounds delicious- like eating dark raspberry chocolate. Forgot to snap a picture of this one, but I’ll give you a hint- it’s red.

New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red: I am familiar with this beer, and like the Raspberry tart, it is too sweet for me. This one has an interesting Christmas-y spice in the aroma and taste, sort of like gingerbread, but not overpowering. The mouthfeel is very creamy and the cherry is definitely the star of the show.

Tieton Cider Works Cherry: This cherry cider was definitely a change from the sweet beers, it was dry, a bit watery and not tart or sweet. Besides cherry, there was definitely a nice apple presence. May have also forgot to take a picture of this one….

Julian Hard Cider Cherry Bomb: This cider is the Cathy’s favorite cider, she apparently buys it by the case! It isn’t sweet and has a nice, tart cherry taste.  It’s very crisp and refreshing to have the cherry flavor present without it being too sweet, and it has a nice dry finish. Julian Hard Cider uses Montmorency cherries blended with their hard cider to make their Cherry Bomb.

Westcott Bay Traditional Very Dry Cider: This cider was my lest favorite of the day, besides being watery it was just sort of there. No tart, no sweet, not even “very dry” as the name would suggest. Apparently, I was too disgusted to take a picture of this one.

Argus Cidery Bandera Brut: After a recommendation from Gun and Taco Connoisseur, Jay Rascoe, I really can’t get enough of this cider. The price point is a bit high ($20/bottle) but it is very worth it! It is tart, dry, and a little funky from the wild yeast they use. It has great carbonation, almost edging out champagne as a celebratory-toast-drink. Definitely great for special occasions. It is a blend of four apples that have been aged on American and French oak.

Buffalo Bayou Brewing Blackberry Special: Rasul and Ryan, owner and brewer, respectively, at Buffalo Bayou made this beer just for Camp Beer. They took a base blonde at 6% ABV, pitched lactobacillus and blackberries from John’s bramble! I sacrificed at least 3 cobblers for this beer! ;) The blackberry flavor was there, but very subtle. It almost had a wit beer profile, with some banana notes going on. It was light and refreshing and the lacto definitely gave it some nice funk.

This Camp Beer was definitely one of the more unique tastings that Cathy has put together, and it was fun that the majority of the cider selection was new to me. The next Camp Beer will be Stoutapalooza III, guaranteed to be a good time. And Cathy is planning something special for December where the beer lists should include Cantillon and Drie Fonteinen, surely not to be missed! Special thanks to Wes Mickel of Argus for hosting and teaching us all about the Cider world. He said his tasting room (nearby the Jester King Brewery) should open in October.