Category: Travel in North America

Travelogues from our North American trips

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In Chico: Flogging Molly and a Visit to Sierra Nevada

Sorry for the boring title… I tried to think of a clever title for this post… a play on “Chico and the Man”… but my normally clever mind failed me miserably this time.

We traveled this past weekend to Chico to see our favorite band Flogging Molly; a trip to Chico that also included a visit to one of my favorite breweries; Sierra Nevada.

It’s been a few years since we have been to Sierra… almost ten to be exact. And to make somewhat an understatement, things have changed a bit. While the huge, crowded restaurant lacks charm and warmth, we enjoyed conversation with locals who love their hometown brewery. And a visit to the brewery has its advantages; you get to drink beers that are only served there.

Our choices beyond the regular Sierra Nevada lineup included, among others, a Kölsch, a ‘brewery only’ version of the world famous Pale Ale and 20th Street Fresh Hop Ale, a beer made with hops grown on the brewery property.

However, the highlight beer was brewery fresh Celebration Ale; something that I have never before enjoyed. Words cannot describe the pleasure I had drinking this beer. It has much more hop character than the Celebration I am used to… I am not sure I will be able to go back to regular Celebration.

The only disappointment was that I wasn’t able to try any cask Sierra. Cask day is Thursday for those planning a visit.

For some reason, because Sierra has grown into a large craft brewery, there has been a backlash. But they grew in the right way… while some of their brethren from the early 80s disappeared and others have changed for not the better, Sierra Nevada continues to make some of the best beer in the world.They might not make the hop or alcohol bombs that are all the rage right now, but they make damn good beer. Oh… and they are eco-friendly too. (I’ll get down from my soapbox now.)

After the show (Flogging Molly was great as usual), we ended up at a pub called Duffy’s to meet up with a few Flogging Molly band members. Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice; our old friend English Paul. Merideth and Paul worked at Barclays together back in the day and just he happened to be in Chico the same weekend… in the same pub.

I guess the odd part of this story is that Paul lives only 15 miles from us and we never see him. When I had time to play golf (yes – you read it correctly – golf) I used to see him at the course, but that was it. You would think we would run into Paul at a pub but he frequents the Bulldog in New Monterey… a nice pub… just one that we rarely visit. So, it took a five hour drive to share a pint with Paul again.

The postscript to this weekend was that Merideth was hopefully going to get #350 on the trip but Butte Creek Brewing does not have tours/tastings on the weekend. Their loss I guess. To add to Merideth’s disappointment, on the way home, we had lunch at Kelley Brothers in Manteca; a brewery that Merideth already had but I didn’t. So now I am two ahead of her; 351 to 349.

There is a silver lining to her despair… Merideth will get #350 in London and it will be included in our London episode. It will be either Fullers or a place called the Horseshoe.

Sláinte

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New beergeek.TV and Beer Ramblings

Our latest and greatest episode of “One Pint at a Time” was posted a few hours ago. Called Beer Beyond Denver, the episode chronicles our beer adventures when we went out to Colorado for the Cal v. Colorado St. football game back in September.

Episode highlights include an interview with Chris Katechis, ‘Commander in Craft Beer’ of Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, CO, Merideth doing her best impersonation of Elaine Benes and my reaching 350 breweries.

For all the episodes of “One Pint at a Time” go to beergeekTV.

For those expecting a Pacific Northwest episode, I struggled with writing Merideth’s voice over for the past few weeks and finally decided that I needed to move on. In the end, that was a good decision because I was able to put this episode together in a day… it practically edited itself. Hopefully, I will get the Pacific Northwest episode posted before we leave for Europe on December 12th. Maybe a few beers will inspire me…

Speaking of beer… last time we were at City Beer in SF, I bought a bottle of St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, a 10.5% Belgian. On Thanksgiving Eve, I brought it down to Ol’ Factory Cafe to share with some friends and the consensus amongst us all was that the beer was amazing. If you can find this beer, I highly recommend that you buy it straight away. And good luck because it apparently was a limited release here in the States.

In more beer news, we’ll be up in Boulder Creek on Sunday for our annual Christmas Tree Hunt which means you will be able to find us at Boulder Creek Brewery around opening time (11:30am) enjoying a few pints and having some lunch.

Our Christmas Tree Hunt is a week earlier than usual (in fact, it has never been in November) because the following weekend we will be in Chico to see Flogging Molly.

Moreover, if I can get a hold of the people at Butte Creek Brewery and schedule a visit, Merideth will get her 350th brewery. We will also be going to Sierra Nevada… which is very exciting because we haven’t been there in almost 10 years.

Finally, and somewhat a pre-announcement, Merideth is going to have a beer article in the January issue of Carmel Valley Magazine. When the issue comes out January 1st, we will be sure to remind everyone.

Slainte… and if you are in Boulder Creek or Chico the same time we are, let us know.

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New Video, Harvest Ale and Upcoming Pint Opportunites

Our latest episode of “One Pint at a Time” is available for your viewing pleasure. Learn why the Oregon Brewers Festival is considered one of the best craft beer festivals in the world in the episode called 2007 Oregon Brewers Festival.

We are excited about this episode because we were able to use the lessons learned from our European trip when we were very much novices to shooting video. Namely, you can never have too much footage plus it is always nice to see us in the video. We are continually learning how to improve our videos and I hope you can see the difference.

Get the Flash Player to see this content.

For all the episodes of “One Pint at a Time” go to beergeekTV.

As for the Sierra Nevada Harvest/Fresh Hop Ale, everyone can rest easier. I finally found some and have been enjoying it almost on a nightly basis this week. I really enjoy the oily, resiny bitterness from the wet hops.

Finally, for those who want to have a pint (or litre) with us, here are your upcoming opportunitues:
October 27: Oktoberfest at the Ol’ Factory Cafe in Sand City. This will be your last opportunity in 2007 to see Merideth in her dirndle and that, in itself, is worth the price of admission.
October 31: Halloween in Santa Cruz… We are going to be at the Catalyst for a Street Dogs show but beforehand, you will probably find us at the Poet and Patriot.
November 3rd: We will be in the Bay Area for the Cal game but prior to the game, we will be found first at City Beer (12:30/1pm-ish) and then at Barclays (3pm-ish) . Our friend Chris from Seattle (the Beer Retard) should be meeting us at Barclays.

For those who haven’t tried the Sierra Nevada Harvest/Fresh Hop Ale, I have a backup supply awaiting me at City Beer. I like to share…

Oh, and we’ll probably be hanging out at the Ol’ Factory Cafe tonight…

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Colorado Wrapup

We are recovering just fine from our trip to Colorado though Merideth is still disappointed that she didn’t reach 350 breweries.

We had a nice day at the game though Cal could have played better. The Colorado St. fans were very nice and we enjoyed talking with a number of them. We were amazed at the variations of washers (a drinking game) that we saw.

Tailgating, which we do not do at Berkeley, was great. In the few days prior to the game, we had accumulated about a case of various Colorado beer (on top of beer we are bringing back for the tasting) and had a nice party with our friends before and after the game.

Tailgating at Hughes Stadium was not without regulations… after having pleasant conversation with about 20 different police officers, the 21st informed us that you had to have wrist bands to be able to drink alcohol. Merideth got a wristband while I remained a rebel. The 30th police officer asked not where my wristband was; rather he wanted to let me know that glass was not allowed but he was just warning me for next time. Apparently there was some sort of riot before or after a CU game where bottles were thrown.

If glass was not allowed, why were the Colorado St. fans drinking crappy beer instead of cans of Oskar Blues?

My final thoughts on the trip… This was the first time in Colorado where we moved beyond Denver/Boulder and we were very impressed. Not only did we drink great beer, but the staff we met were very friendly, helpful and a joy to talk to. Plus, there was a real sense that the breweries were an integral part of their communities. We can’t wait to go back to Colorado to explore more of the beer scene beyond Denver.

Here are the eight breweries we visited:
Estes Park Brewery – Estes Park, CO
Pump House – Longmont, CO
Oskar Blues – Lyons, CO
C.B. & Potts/Big Horn – Fort Collins, CO
CooperSmith’s Pub & Brewing – Fort Collins, CO
New Belgium – Fort Collins, CO
Odell Brewing Co. – Fort Collins, CO
Fort Collins Brewery – Fort Collins, CO

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#350!!!

So, we made it to Fort Collins this morning… and the day ended with me reaching #350.

We started out at New Belgium at 10:45 am (45 minutes behind schedule!) and I have to say the chipper employees were a shock to the system. It kind of reminded me of my elementary school in Northern VA (Laurel Ridge in Fairfax) in the late ’70s… “happiness is spoken here”… Besides their regular lineup, we had the opportunity to taste “Lips of Faith”, a small batch brew. The version we tried, “Eric’s Ale” was a sour peach beer (I think). New Belgium makes a great product but it just isn’t my cup of beer. So we quickly moved on…

The nice thing about Fort Collins is that there are two other breweries well worth visiting within a few minutes of New Belgium.

Our second stop was Odells. Much more my cup of beer plus you could donate your tasting fee to charity. We had an enjoyable time talking to the staff while tasting their beer. I would recommend the 5 Barrel Pale Ale or the IPA.

After Odells, we hit Fort Collins Brewery just up the road. They had a rauchbier, while very tasty, was too much ham and not enough bacon (For more information on rauchbier, watch our Bamberg episode). They were also nice and let us try beers normally reserved for their beer club members. The highlight of Fort Collins Brewery, besides the good brews, was Merideth’s “Elaine Benes dance” which was caught on videotape and will be an integral part of the Beyond Denver episode.

After a short break, next came Big Horn Brewery… and despite my natural aversion to chains, I was pleasantly surprised by a couple of the beers that we tried. Depth and character are not something you normally associate with the chain breweries… it is just too bad that the good beer has to come with the rest of the package.

Finally… #350… we met our friends Andy and Monica and their kids at Coopersmith in Old Town Fort Collins. What a pleasant evening sitting outside… I could have done without the chili beer but their Pale Ale and IPA on cask were excellent. A very worthy #350.

In the end, I have to commend the staff of the 5 breweries we visited today. They were all really helpful and friendly which is something that is not always true… unfortunately.

The big disappointment of the day was that Merideth finished with only 349 breweries. I offered to do the Budweiser tour with her but she said that she heard that they had a brewery in St. Louis and she would wait to tour that one.