Scoring a Century

After completing our trip to Canada this past July, I did some math in my head. I quickly realized that we had the chance to add 100 breweries to the List, something we had never done before. Even in our intensive Year in Beer, chronicled in Merideth’s book Teachings from the Tap, we only added 90. Scoring a century seemed like a worthy goal for 2012.

December rolled around and we were at 96. A planned trip to Los Angeles, where we would reach 100, fell through. We resigned ourselves to coming up just short. In telling friends our tale of woe, they disagreed with us giving up so we decided to give it one more try. Doing some research, we chose Sacramento, home to a number of new breweries, to accomplish our goal.

Piling Porter, Stout and their favorite blankie into the car on Saturday morning, we began the three hour drive to the State Capitol. Our first stop, Black Dragon Brewing, wasn’t in Sacramento but just to the west in historic Woodland.

Black Dragon was in the not-so-historic section of town set off the street behind a pizza parlor. Its nondescript exterior didn’t do justice to its roomy, bright interior. The bar and dining area were flanked on each side by the brewery  and the homebrew shop.

Joining a few other customers, we sat down to sample the four beer flight. Merideth really enjoyed the light and refreshing Gypsy Blonde, done with what we assumed was a Belgian yeast. The Araya IPA was solid example of the West Coast style. The star for me was Dragon’s Eye Porter, a 6.5% ABV roasty dark brew with nice notes of chocolate. It was the perfect beer for a chilly December day.

After the first long stretch in the car from our house, it seemed like a short drive to our second stop, Roseville Brewing, in a town of the same name. Located in the last business park in a stretch of business parks, we made a slightly-embarrassing mistake that did not do justice to our reputations as seasoned beer travelers.

Walking in the front door, we stood in the tiny front room waiting for someone to help us. Not seeing any taps or beer, I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to taste beer at Roseville. After what seemed like a minute, a man came out front and asked if we needed help. Somewhat meekly I inquired was it possible to try the beers. Surprised by the question, he led us down a very short hallway into the tasting room.

We had seven beers to sample at Roseville ranging from two American-style wheats to a seasonal Stout. Another solid lineup of the beers with the two hoppy offerings, Iron Mule IPA and Spike Driver Double IPA, being the two shining lights for me. Merideth’s favorite was the seasonal Cinnamon Coffee Stout. At 8% ABV, this brew was big on chocolate flavor with a hint of the spice on the finish.

One of the benefits of beer travel is that the journey brings us to places we probably would have never visited. Despite having driven the I-80 corridor northeast of Sacramento on a number of occasions, we had never stopped or probably even noticed the city of Loomis. But this tiny town on the way to the Sierras now had a brewery, Loomis Basin Brewing.

Arriving a few minutes before opening time, the industrial park lot was full of cars, occupants still inside. We thought that this was somewhat odd given it was Saturday afternoon. Turns out all those people were waiting for the tasting room to open. We must have stumbled on to something good.

The small tasting room bustled as Merideth and I went through the six beer sampler. The seasonal 8.4% ABV Recession Ale, a robust Porter, was a big on the coffee and chocolate notes. If there was a beer that I would take home, it would have been the Vindicator IPA, a fine example of the West Coast style. Unfortunately, it was being bottled a few days later. Merideth liked the Swetzer Pale Ale, a light-bodied, easy-drinking brew.

The fourth stop of the day finally brought us to our capitol city. Track 7 Brewing, in an rough-looking industrial part of Sacramento, was very Portland with its large roll up doors and picnic table-filled, dog-friendly tasting room. It was quite crowded on a chilly Sacramento evening attesting to Track 7’s popularity in the community.

Ordering a five beer sample flight, Merideth and I joined a few friends who were already there. Focusing on chatting with them, I have to admit I don’t remember too much about the beers. The presence of another wiener dog didn’t help either with our beer concentration. However, I do recall really enjoying their Panic IPA.

That was it! We both hit 100 breweries for the year. Actually, Merideth hit 101, as she went to an extra brewery in Portland in order to catch up on the List count. Congratulations to us!

 View all the images from our day…

Thanks to all our friends who not only met up with us in the Sacramento area but those of you who made beer travel in 2012 a special year. We finished 2012 with 773 breweries… on to 800!

Here are the 101 breweries we added to the List in 2012…

1	Fearless Brewing	Estacada	OR	USA
2	Sandy River Brewing	Sandy	OR	USA
3	Surf Brewery	Ventura	CA	USA
4	Enegren Brewing	Moorpark	CA	USA
5	The Lab Brewing Co	Agoura Hills	CA	USA
6	Holgate Brewing	Woodend	Vic	Australia
7	Otway Winery and Brewery	Barongarook	Vic	Australia
8	Hix Beer	Dromona	Vic	Australia
9	Mornington Peninsula Brewery	Mornington	Vic	Australia
10	Last Drop Brewery	Canning Vale	WA	Australia
11	Cowaramup Brewing	Cowaramup	WA	Australia
12	The Grove Vineyard	Wilyabrup	WA	Australia
13	Bush Shack Brewery	Yallingup	WA	Australia
14	Eagle Bay Brewing	Eagle Bay	WA	Australia
15	Colonial Brewing	Margaret River	WA	Australia
16	Occy’s Brewery	Vasse	WA	Australia
17	Bootleg Brewery	Wilyabrup	WA	Australia
18	Duckstein Brewery	Wilyabrup	WA	Australia
19	Moody Cow Brewery	Dardanup	WA	Australia
20	Wild Bull Brewery	Ferguson	WA	Australia
21	Old Coast Road Brewery	Myalup	WA	Australia
22	The Old Brewery	Perth	WA	Australia
23	Monk Brew Cafe	Fremantle	WA	Australia
24	Little Creatures	Fremantle	WA	Australia
25	Blackwater Brewery	Fremantle	WA	Australia
26	Feral Brewing	Baskerville	WA	Australia
27	Swan Brewery	Canning Vale	WA	Australia
28	Indian Ocean Brewing	Mindarie	WA	Australia
29	Ironbark Brewery	Caversham	WA	Australia
30	Elmar’s in the Valley	Henley Brook	WA	Australia
31	Mash Brewing	Henley Brook	WA	Australia
32	Southern Pacific Brewing	San Francisco	CA	USA
33	Yards Brewing	Philadelphia	PA	USA
34	Manayunk Brewery	Philadelphia	PA	USA
35	Victory Brewing	Downingtown	PA	USA
36	Dogfish Head	Milton	DE	USA
37	16 Mile Brewing	Georgetown	DE	USA
38	Evolution Craft Brewing	Salisbury	MD	USA
39	Burley Oak Brewing	Berlin	MD	USA
40	Stewart Brewing	Bear	DE	USA
41	Argilla Brewing	Newark	DE	USA
42	Dock Street Brewing	Philadelphia	PA	USA
43	Boxcar Brewing	West Chester	PA	USA
44	Stoudts Brewing	Adamstown	PA	USA
45	Lancaster Brewing	Lancaster	PA	USA
46	Mckenzie Brewhouse	Chadds Ford	PA	USA
47	Twin Lakes Brewing	Greenville	DE	USA
48	Sante Adairius Rustic Ales	Capitola	CA	USA
49	Dust Bowl Brewing	Turlock	CA	USA
50	Gigantic Brewing	Portland	OR	USA
51	Moon Under Water	Victoria	BC	Canada
52	Hoyne Brewing	Victoria	BC	Canada
53	Phillips Brewing	Victoria	BC	Canada
54	Craig Street Brew Pub	Duncan	BC	Canada
55	Longwood Brewpub	Nanaimo	BC	Canada
56	High Mountain Brewing	Whistler	BC	Canada
57	Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Co.	Squamish	BC	Canada
58	R and B Brewing	Vancouver	BC	Canada
59	Storm Brewing	Vancouver	BC	Canada
60	Coal Harbour Brewing	Vancouver	BC	Canada
61	Parallel 49 Brewing	Vancouver	BC	Canada
62	Dockside Brewing	Vancouver	BC	Canada
63	Big River Brewpub	Richmond	BC	Canada
64	Central City Brewing	Surrey	BC	Canada
65	Big Ridge Brewing	Surrey	BC	Canada
66	Marine Pub & Brewhouse	Burnaby	BC	Canada
67	Kulshan Brewery	Bellingham	WA	USA
68	Fire on the Mountain	Portland	OR	USA
69	Lucky Bucket Brewing	La Vista	NE	USA
70	Nebraska Brewing	Papillion	NE	USA
71	Granite City Brewing	Omaha	NE	USA
72	Soaring Wings	Springfield	NE	USA
73	Upstream Brewing	Omaha	NE	USA
74	Mosbacher Brauhaus	Mosbach		Germany
75	Weldebrau	Plankstadt		Germany
76	Brauhaus Weisses Haus’l	Ludwigshafen		Germany
77	Wormser Hagenbrau	Worms		Germany
78	Eichbaum	Mannheim		Germany
79	Brauhaus Neustadt	Neustadt		Germany
80	Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe	Weissenohe		Germany
81	Brauerei Friedmann	Grafenberg		Germany
82	Brauerei Hoffman	Grafenberg		Germany
83	Lindenbrau	Grafenberg		Germany
84	Brauerei Spezial	Bamberg		Germany
85	Brauerei Kundmuller	Viereth-Trunstadt		Germany
86	Familienbrauerei Beck Brau	Trabelsdorf		Germany
87	Kaiserdom	Bamberg		Germany
88	Tolzer Muhlfeldbrau	Bad Tolz		Germany
89	Maxbrau	Oberammergau		Germany
90	Stadl-brau	Berwang		Austria
91	Mariahilfer Sudhaus	Eisenberg		Germany
92	Brauerei Mittenwald	Mittenwald		Germany
93	Klosterbrauerei Reutberg	Sachsenkam		Germany
94	Cambria Brewing	Cambria	CA	USA
95	Molly Pitcher Brewing	Atascadero	CA	USA
96	Hollister Hills Taproom & Brewery	Hollister	CA	USA
97	Black Dragon Brewing	Woodland	CA	USA
98	Roseville Brewing	Roseville	CA	USA
99	Loomis Basin Brewing	Loomis	CA	USA
100	Track 7 Brewing	Sacramento	CA	USA
101	New Helvetia Brewing	Sacramento	CA	USA