Russian River and Random Brewery Run In

After arriving in Cotati I did not waste anytime finding the breweries I added to my list. My first Stop ended up being Russian River... Yum. We were supposed to be meeting our Cousin there but she was running really late and I decided I was not going to wait any longer to experience the mind explosion waiting to happen.



A few people from Twitter were giving me a major break down on this brewery and what to do and what to order. Not that it would have been hard to figure out what I wanted to drink, I WANTED IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!



But one thing I did not know about this place that was brought to my attention was the New Albion sign that was right above the bar, (I did not get a picture of this. I tried to make a trip back in order to get it but it did not happen in the time that I was there. I will get back in order to get it now that I have learned so much about it. I don't think that parenthesis are supposed to go this long.)Apparently they were the first brewery to brew a stout after the end of Prohibition. The company went under but they still have a place in the brewing world today. Just last year Sierra Nevada released Jack and Kens 30th Anniversary BarleyWine, (have a bottle in the cellar), that is based off of the New Albion recipe from so long ago... man, I wish I would have snapped that picture... Oh well,... for now...

Anyway, drinking here was a delight, and the pizza was pretty damn good too. I remember I was looking forward so much to Consecration... and I was not really a fan. Let me know if you or anyone else had got these notes, but I swear I tasted Tobacco in this beer... It was very weird... Though, I did find and love Supplication! Highly recommend! I was in love with literally all of the beers here and I had some fun.



Finally my cousin showed up... well, kind of. She called us and asked where we were sitting because she was "here" and could not find us. Turned out that she was AT ANOTHER BREWERY RIGHT DOWN THE STREET!!!!!!!! I ordered my Growler of Pliny The Elder and guess where I went next!

Third Street Aleworks!



They gave me a massive flight of 13 4 ounce pours! They had pretty average beer overall but nothing was bad. They only sell their beer at that one location and not in stores so their mission is pretty straight forward. I was surprised with the Kolsch they brewed. Not many people make one, and not everyone should, but there should be more of them out there. Just saying.

I have several more stops here. So it is time to move on...

Good Bye Los Angeles Part Duex

Two days in a row I got together with people to give my last goodbyes and day two was almost just as busy as day one...

First stop, Eagle Rock Brewing. I have always wanted to come to this place but nobodies schedule ever worked out with mine. It is a very good thing that I was able to convince Louie, Monica, and his cousin Jorge to get out here :D

The building was very small and kind of hidden but that doesn't make a difference at all when it comes to good beer... and good art.



I figured that if I were coming to this brewery I was going to taste everything they had. I had a couple of their beers previously but those were hard to find and limited release brews. I talked to Jeremy, the owner, for a few minutes as he was on his way out. I have met him once before but figured now I am in his court so why not just talk a bit.



The beers of the night were Manifesto, Ginger Saison, Stimulus, Solidarity, Nitro Solidarity, Revolution, Populist, and Citrus Solidarity. It was hard to say which one of these were my favorite, but out of all the Eagle Rock beers I had Yearling is definitely my number 1. One thing that disappointed me about this place is that they had no more growlers when I showed up :'( I really wanted one to add to my collection. I do not know why I did not think to see if they had any other glassware I could purchase, like a pint glass or something but I just figured, oh well. Especially since I got a hold of Kyle and Rachel and we all decided to go to Beer Belly Again! (2 nights in a row)


Untapped Check in party.

We left here and headed to Beer Belly where HopHeadJim was waiting to try some of my homebrew. As soon as we got to the bar he popped open my Pirates Booty, an Oaked Rum Porter, that I brought to him the night before. This is every ones favorite of my homebrews and he loved it as well. I had another Black Butte XXIII and questioned if this was a good beer to start out the night after leaving a brewery...

Nikkee, Rachel, and Monica were tired of us boys and decided to get another table. Nikkee ordered the Root Beer Float Flight, Five Rootbeers Floats... Yum, and had fun adding her Ice Cream to the glasses to get some very interesting reactions...



I ordered myself a Twilight ale, (another from the Deschutes event but a summer seasonal not rare release), since I had never had it before and always wanted to try it. I was not disappointed. HopHeadJim then brought us a few flights of Craftsman Triple White Sage and Batch 300. Top Notch Beers.

It was finally time to say goodbye. We were hitting the road the next day for Santa Rosa and still had a lot to do in the way of packing. It was a sad moment but it was a great night. Thank You All.

Goodbye Los Angeles

The time is nearing and I figured I have to do everything I wanted to get done before I headed out. I know I would regret it otherwise. My first trip was City Tavern, I know I was just there, but I wanted to go again HAHA!) This may be a long post... I may break it into several.



This time the choices were a bit different. I had a Le Merle, (a Saison that I was trying to have a week before at Eureka Burger but they SOLD out as I was ordering it... O well. I was damn well worth the wait.), a Blonde and a Triple by Brouwerij West, (never heard of the company but they made a pretty good triple.) and then Witch's Wit, (a Lost Abbey beer that I did not know existed when I went to the Brewery).

Besides that though, I always forget to snap some pictures before I dig into my food! We were brought a very sweet tray with a grilled cheese sandwich on it :D and stuffed and fried squash, and an heirloom tomato. I really wish I got a picture of it. Again, I suck.

I had the City Tavern Brew Burger! for dinner. It is one of their signature burgers that is built on a Pretzel Bun, with an onion ring, a special pub cheese, and a mustard aioli... This burger was seriously a delight, I would honestly think so even if I were not obsessed with stuffing beef in my mouth and pretzels.... Maybe bacon and jalepenos would make this better but this would not be the same burger that they sell :p That would be my dream burger. Especailly if the Jalepenos were stuffed with cream cheese.......... YUM!



This was also my time to say goodbye to Bierkast :'( I hope all goes well for them in the future and that I can soon come back and drink their beer in a bar somewhere in LA. I am really looking forward to the future of LA Aleworks and hoping that I can come visit them and brew with them one day in the brewery. That would be awesome.

The next night my buddy Kyle wanted to go to 38 Degrees Alehouse and since this is one of the last time I knew I would see him in a while I could not say no ;p I am damn glad I did go too.

I was just being a doof and I called the restaurant to see if they had Cabernale on tap for Nikkee, which they did, and the guy who answered the phone was none other than the owner... Clay. I was pretty damn excited being I had always wanted to meet him since he ran a number of events around the city and owned this place, DUH! so as soon as we got there I started asking around for him.


Got a little excited and drank before the picture :p

In the meantime, I drank a few beers I knew I liked, one I wanted to try, and one that just fell into my lap... Not really a fan of the Blue House Citra Pale. For some reason everyone wants Citra hops right now (at least that is what they tell me) but after having this beer I would not want to go out and buy any hops that had a similar taste to this. Heritage by Bear Republic, always a good choice. Not my favorite brew from this company, but then again I've only had four HAH!

Another brew that I had before that I knew I loved was the Abbey Grand Cru from New Belgium. The thing that sucked about this beer on this night is that, the server had entered all the beers for both mine and Kyles flights, but the bartenders did not process or print them seperatly... I HAD TO GUESS WHAT BEER WAS WHAT BASED ON COLOR!!!!!!!!!!! So, it was the Abbey or Cuvee Des Jacobins Rouge that I was down to and I had to drink...

I figured it out pretty quick but still... If I have never had either one of those beers before I would not know which one I loved and which one I do not know if I could drink more than just a taster of...

Pretty much about the time we were ready to leave, Clay finally showed up and Kyle talked his ear off ;) it was a good time and after he heard that I was heading out he gave me a bottle of the brand new Stone Collaboration brew, Cherry Chocolate Stout, (That I was obsessing over and trying to find a place that sold it since it was only 3 days old at the time). Oh My GEEEZZZ!!! I have yet to crack it open, but I will give it a special review. Believe that. I hope it lives up to the high hopes that I gave it knowing nothing about it.



Once again, I blame this on Kyle and his lack of visiting any bars in LA... I told him that Beer Belly was an awesome spot and that he had to see it. The night before they had a Deschutes Beer event that I was not able to attend. Black Butte XXIII was there and Conflux #2.

As soon as we got to the bar I got a Batch 300 from The Bruery. I have been going back and forth on buying a bottle of this but never made the jump. I am glad they had it on tap here but I would have been just as happy buying the bottle.... I LOVED IT! After this beer I asked for the Black Butte XXIII. Black Butte is already one of my favorite beers, but man... It just got better. Everything I loved about Black Butte was amplified and the oak aging really set it off.

I asked about the Conflux next but the keg had kicked just before we got there. It was getting pretty late by this time anyway but I noticed a LadyFace growler in HopHeadJims cellar so I decided to ask what it was... I had no idea that LadyFace made Mead. He asked us if we wanted to try some, so we did and OMG! It was damn good (it was my very first mead as well). It clocked in at about 15% and I guess that is kind of high, but I really have no idea. I am kind of on the hunt for more meads now.