Living in NorCal makes it easy to enjoy locally crafted beers brewed in a whole range of styles and for the most part we each tried something new everywhere we went. It's awesome to find something new and experience each brewery's take on the different styles of beer.
Our first stop was the 21st Amendment Brewery for brunch. I ordered a burger off of the lunch menu because I wanted to peep some meat and secure the #1 V.I.Peeper position on www.peepmeat.com. This burger was worthy of being the one that put me on top and really set my day off on the right direction. I was also excited to try the Spring Tweet beer while I was there, after all that was the point of our adventure. I remember enjoying this light, wheat, floral scented beer but wishing it were a warmer day so that I would have appreciated it more, if that makes sense.
Peepage done right!I really dug the layout and construction of the restaurant section of the brew pub, except for one creepy painting they had hanging on the wall, seriously, gave me the jibblies. I really liked the way they designed their menus and cans, whoever designs their stuff deserves a raise. Along with Lagunitas, 21st amendment makes me excited to design brewery related stuff. I like the all over the can styling & hope to come up with something just as cool someday.
Our second stop was City Beer Store. This is a very unique location, its like a mini-mart that only sells beer and also has draught beer available. Everything you purchase can be consumed on the premises (for a fee) or taken home to enjoy.
This is a cool place to find something new and try some beers that you won't find anywhere else. Seating was only something like 3 or 4 tall tables, 3 or 4 chairs at the 'bar', two 8 x10's laid across some kegs or the stoop (which I choose). I am very ok with all of those options and could picture many scenarios in which I would like to enjoy them all. While at this stop I enjoyed a Duschutes Green Lake Organic Ale, for some reason this didn't surprise anyone. I like to support organic producers whenever I can & this was one of those rare cases where a high quality organic product cost as much as or in this case, less than the conventional offerings, double awesome! I did some research on this brewery and I'm happy to report that they are very awesome. Not that I enjoy salmon but the hops used in this beer are cultivated to preserve spawning streams, triple awesome!
Our third stop was Zeitgeist, which is billed as the premiere beer garden in The City. I can see why, it's got a great selection of craft beers on tap, a nice location, a really cool logo, lots of picnic tables outside, an outdoor grill that fills the air with the delicious scent of hamburgers and that 'x' factor that draws an interesting crowd. It's a great place to explore some new beers and people watch, as hipsters are always entertaining.
While we were there I got a pint of Midnight Brewing Company's Death and Taxes black lager. I mostly hate death and I mostly hate taxes but if you brew them together and put em in a pint glass I'll be all about it. Midnight Brewing Co's beers are only available on tap at a few locations, if you're ever lucky enough to be somewhere serving them do yourself a favor and give em a shot.
Our forth stop was Monk's Kettle which is another neat place to hang if your interested in exploring beers. Similar to City Beer Store in that it carries lots of hard to find beers, Monk's Kettle boasts The City's largest selection. They have a large selection available on tap and a larger selection available in bottles. Despite the fact that the word 'pretentious' got thrown around a lot afterward, I'd like to go back and chat with the bartender. The dude that served us was really knowledgeable and I'd like to learn more about some of the styles of beer they serve. The bar book was awesome, I enjoyed reading the basic descriptions they provided and think I could find a few new favorites.
Also worth noting is the bottle of Hopf Helle Weisse that my brother in law ordered. The bartender served it up with all the flair that it deserves, slow steady pour into the correct shape glass, than a quick roll in between his palms, as if he were making a Play-Doh snake, to mix the yeast sediment, finished with the ever popular, but seldom successful, raising of the bottle as the remainder is poured into the glass. True to German Hefe Weizens this beer had a strong banana aroma. Oh, and apparently Russian River's Pliny The Elder IPA is marijuana flavored, who knew? A quick internet search disagrees with this opinion & so do we.
Our fifth and final stop was Pi Bar. I was syked for Sicilian Slice Sunday, but since I was dining with a group & I'm currently competing in a Biggest Loser competition at work, I had to pass. I really enjoyed the pizza here, great ingredients & flavor combinations. One thing that caught me by surprise was how sweet the pizza tasted. Maybe it was something in the sauce or the malted barley used in the dough (I think I remember reading that), but this pizza had less of a salty/acidic taste than I would have expected.
The sweeter than expected pizza was may be to blame but the beer I ordered, Alaskan Brewing Company's Summer Ale, tasted more bitter than I expected. It's probably because I don't really think bitter flavors when I think about summer beers, usually citrus or wheat flavors are what I expect. Apparently Alaskan Brewing Company's take on summer beer is based on the German Kolsch style
Another observation that I had while at Pi Bar was that I really miss East Coast pizza. Seriously, I didn't know how good I had it over there. I'm kinda bummed about the lack of East Coast style pizza & sub shops. I'm sure that there is some mom and pop type place that I haven't heard about yet but I'm not gonna hold my breath as I track it down. Pi Bar's pizza was amazing & I would like to have it more often, I'll gladly stop there again for a slice some day.
Well, that wraps up our beer marathon, 5 bars, 5 beers, 5 miles. Awesome!
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