First off, I would like to say that Stone is an AMAZING brewery. They are kind of what I imagined every brewery would be like but... as I found out... I was wrong.
Their tour guides are amazing. Jessica Wilson, did a great job with literally everything. Nikkee thought she may have been pregnant with the way she was "nursing" her beer and stuff but what do I know. I was more excited to be inside the actual brewery. I was literally having "beergasms" apparently... but what do I care? I saw pallets upon pallets of beer, grain, a whole closet full of hops, a test batch of 11-11-11 (I was spying), and the bottling line in motion. I was in heaven.
The best part of the tour, was the tasting at the end. The free beer was totally amazing. I have never tasted an Arrogant Bastard that was that damn good. I wish I would have gotten a growler of that, but I guess that is why they are refillable :D
Note: Do not order the Spud Buds. We did not like them at all, the waitress said no body liked them at all, and she did not like them at all. I guess some people must like them but you have been warned...
(sign meant for my mouth)
Here is a video of the bottling line. The first part is cool, but we were rushed at the end.
After leaving Stone, we went to The Lost Abbey/Port Brewing.
Apparently I was talking to The Owner of the Brewery... I wish I would have known that while I was there. I loved talking to him but I just thought he was a bartender (at this point I was NOT drunk, but we had just left Stone literally 5 minutes prior and I began drinking immediately). He was a really cool guy and had great beer suggestions. I did not like his female replacements that came just about as we were leaving... though, one was totally in fish nets... I love fish nets...
I wish I would have picked up on his clues that he ran the place. There were some good little conversations, but I would have went further if I knew who the hell I was talking to.
This place had a really nice environment. Not really a family place, like I thought Stone was, but a really cool place nonetheless. We were sitting on sand bags. Someone told me that this was the old location of Stone's brewery. I honestly cannot imagine that but I guess everyone has to get started somewhere.
This was the first location that I realized that a brewery did not have to be a fancy, "corporation" type of location in order to make a great product. It really opened my eyes to the world of brewers and the making of craft beer.
I left here with a Growler of 2009 Santa's Little Helper.
It was at this point that Nikkee wanted to go to Bootleggers... I did not want to go.. I know my limits and I know I would have passed them... Let me just say I did...
So I don't really want to talk bad about a place but there was only one brew here I liked... and that was Black Phoenix. I knew I liked that one before going, and that is the only one I liked after going...
This night did not end well. I will just leave you with that for now...
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