US beer tour

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US beer tour

Postby Oliver » Sunday Jan 01, 2012 8:58 pm

The lady and I are heading to the US in February and intend to go to a few breweries.

Any ideas of breweries to visit would be very welcome.

So far, here's the plan:

Fly into LA and hightail it out of there ASAP. Head to Chico, which is about three hours north of San Francisco and home of Sierra Nevada Brewing. We want a stop for a night between LA and Chico. Any suggestions?

One night in Chico, then head to the Napa Valley, possibly via Anderson Valley Brewing in Bonville. Or somewhere else if anyone can suggest an alternative.

Four nights in Napa Valley visiting cheese factories, breweries and wineries. There are quite a few breweries in Napa Valley, but are there any good ones?

Four nights with rellies - including one who's a shareholder in Marin Brewing :-) - in San Francisco. I thought we'd visit Anchor Brewing, Rogue Ales and 21st Amendment Brewery, as well as Marin Brewing, of course.

Fly to Nashville then drive to Memphis and New Orleans. No idea about breweries there so would be happy to hear about anyone's experiences.

Train overnight to Washington DC where we spend two nights. Again, I have no idea about breweries in DC.

Train to New York City, where we will visit Brooklyn Brewery, maybe Heartland Brewery and ... ???

Then back to reality.

As I say, any suggestions at all about some good breweries to visit would be very gladly received.

Cheers,

Oliver

EDIT: Removed "Suggestions?" from the Subject because the tour has now begun.
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Re: US beer tour - suggestions?

Postby Bum » Sunday Jan 01, 2012 9:06 pm

Been to both Russian River and Firestone Walker, which are both between LA and Chico. Russian River is probably on a more direct driving route and the beers are better. Lagunitas are also somewhere between the bay area and Chico and would be on my to do list - ahead of SN, in fact.

I believe Rogue in SF is just a bar.

Never been further south than LA nor further north than the bay area, or inland at all, so that's probably the extent of the assistance I can offer.
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Oliver » Monday Feb 06, 2012 4:24 am

Well, the tour has begun. Updates will be posted when I am not otherwise engaged drinking beer and have internet access.

Day 1: Budweiser v Sierra Nevada
The 14-hour plane trip was eased by three James Squire Amber Ale then, when they ran out, a couple of brewed-in-Holland Heinekens (so different from the brewed-under-licence rubbish) followed by a good sleep.

An eight-hour drive north from LA landed us in Chico, home of Sierra Nevada Brewing. A pleasant surprise was in store where we are staying when we were told they had Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap in the hotel bar. A further pleasant surprise was the four drink vouchers we received, and a further four that another guest gave us because he wasn't going to use them. Oxford Suites in Chico is a good place to stay if you're ever in the area!

The bar also had Budweiser and Bud Light on tap alongside the Sierra Nevada. And there were takers for the Buds!

It was the first time I'd had the Pale Ale on tap, and it seems a bit crisper and more easy-drinking than in the bottle. Still a wonderful beer though.

After four free Pale Ales each it was off to dinner and some Samuel Adams Winter Lager, which has orange rind, cinnamon and ginger (US$5.95 per stubby). It's a very nice, flavour-packed beer and goes down surprisingly easily. A 16oz Sierra Nevada Pale (US$5.95) followed before it was back to the hotel bar and yet another free SNPA.

Today we're visiting the brewery. Normally it's open 11am to 10pm on Sundays but after we booked our accommodation they announced it was only open until 2pm today. It's going to be a busy three hours.

Gotta go. Heading to the brewery now, then to The Graduate, a bar with SNPA on tap, to watch Super Bowl.

Cheers,

Oliver
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US beer tour

Postby bullfrog » Monday Feb 06, 2012 5:36 am

I was in Chico 6 months ago and clearly stayed at the wrong hotel. No free drink vouchers where I was but it was dirt cheap and not a bad little spot to bunk (if you pass it, it was on the main drag in Chico and had a big neon eagle out the front.)

Whatever restaurant is charging you $6 a pop for beer is ripping you off. Head to the K-Mart (head away from the town centre towards the SN brewery, from memory) and you'll pay that per 6-pack.

Interesting read about the SA winter brew - they had a Summer Wit going when I was there and it left a bit to be desired, in my opinion.
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Guru » Monday Feb 06, 2012 9:22 am

Looking forward to hearing the reports Oliver, make sure you post some pics.
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Oliver » Wednesday Feb 08, 2012 4:44 pm

Day 2: Sierra Nevada and Superbowl
We were out the front of Sierra Nevada Brewery at 11am waiting for the doors to open. (The guy at the hotel said it wasn't really walkable so we took a cab, which cost all of $4! We ended up walking back, and it took about seven minutes. Americans don't do walking.)

Here's me waiting outside for the doors to heaven to open:

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When the brewery did finally open (late) we propped ourselves at the copper bar and proceeded to taste their 19 tap beers in "flights", which is what we'd call tasting paddles. At $3 a pop for four glasses, plus another three glasses free when I asked to taste the three we hadn't already covered, it was pretty good value. And the burger made from beef fed on the spent grain and the pork-belly wrap were pretty tasty and cheap, too.

These are the 19 beers we tried:

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And four "flights" racked up:

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My favourites - aside from the Pale Ale - were the Torpedo Extra IPA (7.2% ABV and 65 IBU) and Ruthless Rye IPA (6.6% ABV, 55 IBU). The little lady enjoyed the Blonde Ale (4.5%, 32 IBU), Old Chico Brand Crystal Wheat (a clean beer brewed with 60% wheat; 4.7% ABV, 26 IBU) and Kellerweis Hefeweizen (4.8%, 15 IBU)

We also discovered why the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale we'd had on tap the previous night didn't taste like the stuff in bottles we were used to: Because it's a different beer. The tap version is made to a different recipe and is lower in alcohol than the bottled version (5.6% ABV, 38 IBU versus 5.0% ABV, 36 IBU). The only place in the world you can taste the bottled recipe on tap is the brewery.

One of the things that struck us was the number of "growlers" they were selling across the bar. They are two-litre bottles with swing tops that you buy for $11.99, then come into the brewery and fill up. Most are about $11 to refil, apart from the stronger beers, which are about $20. It's not a swap-and-go type affair, because they refill the growler that you bring in, so it's your responsibility to keep it clean.

Below are Jim and Larry, two lifelong friends that we talked to at the bar. They'd dropped in for a couple of pints and to fill up their growlers to take home to watch the Superbowl that afternoon. The guy on the left, who from memory is Jim, was one of quite a few people we have met who have said the Pale Ale was their least-favourite Sierra Nevada beer.

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Sierra Nevada only uses hop cones, not pellets. The hops that this guy is shovelling are Centennial. The two compartments to the left of him contain two as-yet-unnamed experimental hop that was in the very delicious Ruthless Rye IPA. The fresh hops have almost a mandarin or cumquat quality about them (yes, we were allowed to rub any of the hops between our hands). Our guide, Scott, says that because the hop resins aren't water-soluble the guys who work in the hop fridge get new clothes every two weeks because they can't wash their clothes to remove the hop resin!

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How'd you like a grain mill like this? In the foreground is the mash tun.

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This is one of the boilers at Sierra Nevada. They're stainless steel on the inside and copper on the outside, purely for looks. Apparently the owner wanted the copper covers to match some from the original, smaller brewery, so got the European coppersmiths out of retirement to build them four new ones for the lauter tun, boilers and whirlpool. The walls of the brewhouse are painted with artwork done by a friend of the owner and depict some of the staff who were working there at the time the paintings were done. The ceiling is pressed tin. In the foreground are hops and Irish moss waiting to be added to the boil.

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Here we are under the fermenters, outside the conditioning room.

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The staff notice board advertising jobs, and announcing the plans for a new brewery on the East Coast, in North Carolina. (Sorry if you can't see the whole thing but I posted this on a tiny screen so can't see if it actually works. If it doesn't here's the direct link to the pic: http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forumpic ... 2/SN10.jpg.)

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After the tour we (re)tasted eight of the beers and were shown the new SNPA that will be released in cans in the next week or so. Torpedo IPA is also going to be available in cans. Scott the guide said that until recently there were no linings for cans that were acceptable because they contained harmful chemicals. Bigfoot (of Barleywine-style Ale fame) is on the left and the brewhouse is behind.

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(Bullfrog, the Sierra Nevada gift shop sells 12-packs of 12oz SNPA for $14.20, which is a bit more reasonable than the $5.95 for 16oz in the restaurant the other night. Makes you wonder how it ends up costing close to $5 at Dan Murphy's.)

The incredible thing that we found about the brewery was how environmentally friendly it all is. There are more than 10,000 solar panels on the roof and they generate more than 80 per cent of their power. All the company cars are Toyota Priuses (admittedly it's debateable whether there are non-hyrbid alternatives that are more environmentally friendly) and you can charge your electric car from the solar array while you have some beers and something to eat. All the spent grain goes to local farms, lots of the other waste is composted (using a composter from NZ, which is the only one in the US) and they grow some of their own hops at the brewery for specialty beers, although only enough to keep the brewery going for a few hours!

After spending the first half of the Superbowl in the hotel on the phone to the bank in Australia about why they'd suspended our credit card it was off to The Graduate, which is a beer barn in Chico. I did my very best to get through the 50 beers they had on tap, but failed miserably.

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Next stop, Anderson Valley Brewing Co.

Cheers,

Oliver
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Re: US beer tour

Postby warra48 » Wednesday Feb 08, 2012 5:01 pm

One word only in response:

JEALOUS
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Guru » Wednesday Feb 08, 2012 5:05 pm

Excellent write up and pics, thanks Oliver. Looking forward to the next installment.
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US beer tour

Postby bullfrog » Wednesday Feb 08, 2012 5:25 pm

I have the very same pic of the grain mill. From memory the guide that we had said that they mill the grains wet. Didn't make much sense to me so I asked for clarification. The response was "well, water is added to the grain before it goes in the mill...now this over here, everybody, is called a mash tun..."

Still have little idea as to why they would wet the grains to mill them, but there you go.
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Bum » Wednesday Feb 08, 2012 5:57 pm

Much discussion about that technique over at AHB if you're interested, bullfrog. Lots of blokes do it. Not me, couldn't be arsed.
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Oliver » Wednesday Feb 08, 2012 6:33 pm

Day three: Anderson Valley Brewing
The morning after the visit to the The Graduate to watch the Superbowl I was, well, not very well.

From Chico we headed three hours south-west, mainly on back roads and winding mountain roads, to Boonville, which is possibly best known for Anderson Valley Brewing. Arguably, it's more famous as the home of Boontling, a language only spoken by residents of Boonville and which includes words from Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Pomoan (an American Indian language) and Spanish. The slogan of the Anderson Valley Brewing Co is bahl hornin, which means "good drinking" in Boontling.

We got there in time for the 3pm brewery tour, which was, shall we say, cursory. It was taken by a Miriam, who is also a homebrewer. She was nice enough but the amount of detail and insight into the brewing process when compared with the amazing, informative tour of Sierra Nevada the day before was like chalk and cheese. Having said that, we had left the camera in the car and she was good enough to take us back through to get the first two photos below.

The brewery was bought second-hand in Germany in the mid-1990s and installed in the current brewery that opened in 2000.

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The control panel was brought to the US from the German brewery and is now only there for show (note the computer screen that has apparently replaced the functions all the switches, valves and gauges).

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The innards of the German brewery were replaced with stainless steel, leaving only the copper covers. The copper innards were reincarnated into a sculpture in the forecourt and the bar in the visitor centre.

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This was the tap beer on offer:

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All the beers we tried -- barley wine, oatmeal stout, saison, weiss, porter and dark lager, made with blue corn -- were really good, but the standouts for me were the soured beers: barrel aged stout, flanders red ale and wheat. They were very unusual but amazing. The little lady looked like she'd sucked a lemon when she tried the sour stout, but really liked the sour wheat beer.

Next stop, Sonoma, which is on the fringe of the Napa Valley wine country.

Day 4: Napa Valley
Not much to report on the beer front today. Mostly it was taken with visits to a couple of wineries, including Duckhorn:

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... and eating pork ribs at Rutherford Grill:

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I amazed myself by eating all the ribs and "slaw" and most of the chips. I think the key to my success was some Bear Republic XPA and Langunitas IPA.

An Anderson Valley Pale Ale and Anderson Valley IPA capped off the night nicely.

Tomorrow: Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, and hopefully a taste of their legendary Pliny The Younger, which is out for two weeks a year and leads to chaos at the brewery, we're told.

Who is driving is TBD.

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US beer tour

Postby Marty » Wednesday Feb 08, 2012 10:38 pm

Sounds amazing so far. God, I'm jealous.....

Thanks for the great updates and pics.
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Tipsy » Thursday Feb 09, 2012 4:57 am

Wow great stuff Oliver. Thanks for taking the time out to post.
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Re: US beer tour

Postby barrelboy » Thursday Feb 09, 2012 5:48 am

Top reporting Oliver. Very interesting and informative.
Ta BB
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Re: US beer tour

Postby big dave » Thursday Feb 09, 2012 8:57 am

Jeezus Oliver

You having fun? Can you have a word to my darlin wife, so I can do what you are doing?
Currently drinking: BIAB DrS GA, BIAB Californian lager, doppelbock of sorts
In the Pipeline: landlord?
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Oliver » Thursday Feb 09, 2012 4:18 pm

Day 5: Russian River Brewing, Santa Rosa
They say that a picture tells a thousand words, so today's report on the three-hour adventure at Russian River Brewing is going to be told mainly by photos.

Russian River is in the middle of its "Fourteen Days of Younger 2012". These two weeks are the only time their legendary 10.7% triple IPA Pliny the Younger is available -- only on tap, only at the brewery and only in glasses no bigger than half-pints. Beer-lovers come from far and wide to be part of the legend. In fact, we talked to a guy who had organised a "business trip" from Colorado just so that he could visit Russian River and taste the Younger. And while they were checking our ID at the door the bouncer said that six fellow Melburnians had visited the previous day. The place was pumping even when we got there at 11.30am, and just got busier with a very eclectic mix of clientele.

Here's me looking ike the cat who got the cream with the Younger 2012.

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Probably not surprisingly I reckon I would have struggled to drink any more than the half-pint.

Then we got a table inside and ordered a tasting flight of each of their beers. This is the left of the beer menu:

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And the right.

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Then the flight of 18 beers arrived.

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Just when we thought they'd forgotten some beers, the missing three turned up. Twenty-one beers for $15. Nice!

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All the beers were great, although I found three of the soured beers a little bit too much in the tart department.

Here are a couple of good old boys who were passing time sitting at the bar the whole time we were there.

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The day ended on a bit of a low note, with a Steelhead Extra Pale Ale (a hoppy but so-so beer) over some Thai for dinner, and an Anderson Valley Brewing Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema (the "Cerveza" alone should have been warning enough that it would be sweet and that I'd hate it).

More wine action awaits tomorrow in the Napa Valley.

Cheers,

Oliver

Edit: I came across this picture of Steel Head Extra Pale Ale. I wasn't much of a fan. It was all right but not a great beer.

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Re: US beer tour

Postby emnpaul » Thursday Feb 09, 2012 7:52 pm

You are one lucky dude.

I don't suppose you'll get time to check out Mariposa Grove and Yosemite while your over there? It ranks along side Sierra Nevada Brewing on my bucket list.

Cheers! :D
2000 light beers from home.
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Bum » Thursday Feb 09, 2012 7:53 pm

Oliver wrote:All the beers were great, although I found three of the soured beers a little bit too much in the tart department.

Funny, the sours were the only ones of the belgian side of the flight I liked. Not a big belgian fan, of course (they share a border with the Dutch).

Very jealous of the Younger.
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Oliver » Friday Feb 10, 2012 3:25 am

big dave wrote:Can you have a word to my darlin wife, so I can do what you are doing?

Yeah, I guess I'm pretty lucky. 'Er indoors is having a good time too and has tasted all the beers (hasn't liked all those that I have been keen on, mind you, but she's been trying them at least). Perhaps if you mix it up with some wineries and other activities (like the Charles M Schulz/Peanuts museum that we visited yesterday after Russian River) you might sway her. Perhaps :-)

emnpaul wrote:You are one lucky dude.

Yep :-)

emnpaul wrote:I don't suppose you'll get time to check out Mariposa Grove and Yosemite while your over there? It ranks along side Sierra Nevada Brewing on my bucket list.

Sadly not, although more breweries await when we get to San Francisco. Did I mention SF Beer Week starts tomorrow? We have a "beerunch" booked for Sunday, where beer and food is paired.

Bum wrote:
Oliver wrote:All the beers were great, although I found three of the soured beers a little bit too much in the tart department.

Funny, the sours were the only ones of the belgian side of the flight I liked.

They were just far too sour for me. I really, really liked the sours at Anderson Valley, but those at Russin River were just waaaay too sour for me.

Bum wrote:Very jealous of the Younger.

I got a Pliny the Younger shirt!
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Re: US beer tour

Postby Bum » Friday Feb 10, 2012 10:40 am

Oliver wrote:They were just far too sour for me. I really, really liked the sours at Anderson Valley, but those at Russin River were just waaaay too sour for me.

Just had a better read of the chalkboard and see that Sanctification was not on when I was there - I can see that that one might be heavy going.
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