Author: Chris

I have always had views on beer (some would say “strong” views) but I guess I never thought my thoughts would be quote-worthy. But it has happened. My blog quote on the Ol’ Factory Cafe (“The Ol’ Factory Cafe is the best beer bar on the Monterey Peninsula…”) has appeared in one of their adverts (Monterey County Weekly, August 30, 2007)… and I am flattered and proud.

I guess this is just part of my continuing education that began with the Chief Beer Officer experience. What I have to say about beer actually matters to people.

So how do we follow up a Saturday evening of tasting big beers at Ol’ Factory Cafe? On Sunday, we went to the local homebrew club’s annual tasting party at the house of our friend Steve.

As we know, the homebrewer has been the backbone of the craft beer movement in the United States and continues to provide the industry with great brewers who move up to the professional ranks. So it was with great pleasure and anticipation that we attended Keg Lube 2007.

And we were not disappointed. We had a great afternoon talking beer, travel and sampling some pretty good beers. And it was actually sunny and warm in Marina!

Kudos to Dave for his pale ale, Steve for his dark lager and Nate for his Belgian tripel… they were certainly the highlights of a beer filled afternoon.

We look forward to our next Keg Lube…

→ Next weekend kicks off Cal football season so before and after every home game you will find us at Barclays in Rockridge. Look for us at the bar. The first couple of games, we will be filming for a upcoming “One Pint at a Time” episode called “Our Fall Passion”.

→ The Berg episode is not up yet but I couldn’t resist posting More from the “Berg Band”.

We had the pleasure yesterday to drive up to Santa Cruz and see one of our favorite bands, Flogging Molly, perform as well as spending a nice evening in Santa Cruz looking for a few pints.

We started out at 99 Bottles which, I have to admit, I am not sure how much I really like… but we always end up there. Maybe it is because we like correcting their little beer list pamphlet.

It all started several years ago when we were at 99 Bottles and in their beer pamphlet they listed “Anchor Steam Amber”. Merideth was in one of her uppity ‘girls are beergeeks too…‘ moods so she told the bartender that actually Anchor Steam wasn’t an amber style beer; in fact it was it’s own style. The bartender’s reaction was disinterest at best; though the pamphlet no longer says “Anchor Steam Amber”.

Back to last night… so when we go there now, I take out a pen and correct mistakes in the beer lists that are in my general vicinity. The mistake that has been around for quite some time that I was working on last night… in their glossary of beer terms, they say a Pilsner originated in the town of “Pilsner” in “Czechoslovakia”. As we all know, the town is Plzen (or Pilsen) and Czechoslovakia split up into the Czech and Slovak republics.

After 99 Bottles, we headed to our favorite Irish bar in Santa Cruz… the Poet and Patriot. The Poet and Patriot’s claim to fame, besides being a great Irish bar, is that up until recently they allowed smoking despite the law. We were somewhat surprised to see that they had sign outside explaining that they no longer allowed smoking. It hasn’t had any effect on business… it was packed last night. Somewhat hard to find, the Poet and Patriot is well worth the stop.

After that, we headed to the Catalyst and hung out waiting for the show to start. I like the Catalyst not only for their good beer selection but they don’t charge $9 for a Sierra Nevada like some concert venues.

Oh… and Flogging Molly was amazing as always.

→ More beergeekTV news… One more episode plus some bonus footage is now available for your viewing pleasure. Visit the beergeekTV page to watch “The Making of Beer Tasting” and Merideth’s interview with Craig Wathen, the owner of City Beer in San Francisco. Next episode of One Pint at a Time… “the Berg”… the second largest beer festival in Germany.

I will be the first to admit the Monterey Peninsula is not a beer mecca – definitely not a place that people would expect passionate beer lovers like us to live. But this is where we grew up; it’s home and we have to take the good with the bad. In the end, when you go to a pub and have to settle for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, one of the world’s classic beers, things are not too bad.

Every now and then, there are adverts in the paper for establishments claiming to be the new craft beer heaven on the Peninsula, but in the end they pretty much have the same beer as every other establishment… what the major distributors push on them.

So, when I saw an advert for the Ol’ Factory Cafe in Sand City, I was skeptical and not just because it was in Sand City; I had seen the claim too many times before.

Well…. I was wrong being skeptical. The Ol’ Factory Cafe is the best beer bar on the Monterey Peninsula… in fact, the best beer bar I have ever seen on the Monterey Peninsula. They are really trying to build a world class beer list with plans to rotate beers on draught and longer term plans to expand the number of tap handles. Kudos to Adam and Morgan for having the vision to open such a great beer destination on the Monterey Peninsula.

I have a new place where a lot of my beer dollars will be going and more importantly, I have a place to bring out of town beer friends that I can be proud of. Speaking of beer dollars, Ol’ Factory Cafe is cash/local check only… no credit cards.

So, it is time to spread the word… the Ol’ Factory Cafe is THE place for beer on the Monterey Peninsula.

→ Our latest episode of “One Pint at a Time” is now up. Visit the beergeekTV page to watch “Beer in Italy?” and our other episodes.