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Another Great California Brewery – Tioga-Sequoia

1/26/2015

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Just when I started to think that I knew “my stuff” about NorCal beer, I was rudely mistaken.  This past Saturday, I volunteered at The Brewing Network’s annual Winter Brews Festival in Concord.  First and foremost, good times.  The fest featured approximately 50 breweries from California and beyond.  I was familiar with most, but I was also introduced to a few other tasty breweries:  Uncommon Brewers, Working Man Brewing Company, and my brew fest fave, Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Company. 

Uncommon Brewers, an all-organic brewery based out of Santa Cruz, features many unique beers such as their Golden State Ale brewed with toasted poppy seeds, their Baltic Porter brewed with licorice root, and my favorite, the Bacon Brown Ale brewed with you guessed it, bacon!  The toddler of the group, Working Man Brewing Company, is based out of Livermore.  They brought a 14% ABV Belgian quad (yikes!) that had very little bite, as well as their C’est Noir, a creamy imperial stout.  But, Tioga-Sequoia was my standout for the day.  Their tent was the place to be.  I tried the Joaquin Murrieta Chile Beer as well as the Rush Hour Breakfast Stout.  The 4.8% ABV Joaquin Murrieta is a cerveza-style lager full of zing.  If you like chilis, this is definitely the beer for you.  My Irish roots were a bit weary of the chili flavor, but I found it to have plenty of spice with very little heat.  All I needed was some chips and salsa to go along with it.  The 7.2% ABV Rush Hour Breakfast Stout was a great afternoon pick-me-up.  Loaded with coffee flavor, Rush Hour is like drinking an iced latte.  It provided the perfect midday caffeine “buzz."   

Tioga-Sequoia may be new to me, but it certainly isn't the new kid on the block.  Founded in 2007, TS predominantly distributes to the Central Valley.  However, they are in the process of expanding their Fresno facility to double production capacity.  Hopefully that means there is more TS brews on the horizon for those of us in the Bay Area. 



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Hidden Gem – Marin Brewing Co.’s Point Reyes Porter

1/21/2015

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As I blogged about previously in my Auburn Alehouse’s Hop Donkey post, I tend not to proactively seek out brewpub beer.  Welp, I definitely feel like an ass (see what I did there!) yet again.  This past MLK day I visited Tomales Bay for the very first time.  Being a Bay Area native, I’m ashamed to admit that I’d never been oyster tasting before.  The day was perfect – clear, crisp, and still – to sit outside and enjoy the fresh Marin air with some craft beer, oysters, baked brie, and of course, the company of good friends.  We sampled a handful of beers, but Marin Brewing Co.’s Point Reyes Porter was by far the standout.  Given its moniker and our current bay front setting 10 miles outside of the quaint town of Point Reyes Station, I figured it would be the perfect beer for the scene.  Not only was it perfect for the day, it’s one of the best porters that I've tried recently.

Opening its doors in 1989, Marin Brewing Company has medaled 30 times at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF).  To put it into perspective, that’s two more medals than the ever-so-popular Russian River Brewing Co. has won.  Granted, Marin Brew Co. has been in business a lot longer than RRBC (about 15 years longer), but not too shabby for the little brewpub across the street from the ferry terminal in Larkspur, CA.  The most recent medals have included bronze in the 2014 Foreign-Style Stout category for its San Quentin's Breakout Stout, gold in the 2011 Rye Beer category for its Three Flowers IPA, and gold in the 2009 Robust Porter category for its Point Reyes Porter.  

At 6% ABV, this is a great day-drinking dark beer.  Its chocolate, roasty goodness is chewier than most non-imperial porters.  And, the price is right.  The 22 oz. bomber cost me a whopping $6.50 at the touristy The Marshall Store.  You can also find it at Whole Foods for about $5.  You gotta love a quality, affordable beer.  I certainly do. 

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Playin’ Hooky - Long Trail Brewing's “Sick Day” IPA

1/11/2015

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First and foremost, what a #genius name for a beer.  And, it’s right on point.  Long Trail Brewing's “Sick Day” IPA oozes winter warmth, and if I were a skier/snowboarder of any sort, it would absolutely be perfect for a day on the slopes.  It pours dark as if it’s an amber and has the nose of a piney IPA.  But, the “Sick Day” IPA is much more malty than hoppy, which seems to be the theme for east coast IPAs. 

My sister’s boyfriend, Norty, grew up in Massachusetts and went to school in New Hampshire at Keene State College.  During his last visit to the east coast, Norty brought me back a few regional beers to sample from his ol’ stomping grounds.  The “Sick Day” IPA was one of the beers that I got to try.  Long Trail, Vermont’s largest brewery, has been around since 1989 when it was known as Mountain Brewers.  It was renamed Long Trail Brewing Co. in 1995 when they moved to its current location in Bridgewater Corners.  Unless you have a friend on the east coast, Long Trail beers are tough to come by in California.  They distribute to eight states in the northeast with 45% of its consumption in Vermont.  And, in case anyone is wondering (‘cause I was), Long Trail is a hiking trail that runs lengthwise throughout the entire state of Vermont.  That’s approximately 250 miles of hiking trail weaved throughout Vermont’s Green Mountains.  Sounds like a great place to visit any time of year. 

At 6.8% ABV, Long Trail’s “Sick Day” IPA would be a great hooky beer.  The piney, forest smell of the hops makes you want to get off the couch and do something active like, I don’t know, go for a hike!  But, its smooth malt finish and relatively low ABV for an IPA, makes the beer drinkable enough to have a few.

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Road Trip?  -  Bootlegger’s Brewery’s Black Phoenix (coffee stout)

1/4/2015

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Who’s up for an LA road trip?  For years, the SoCal beer scene has been dominated by San Diego, but times are a changin’, and LA is officially on the beer map.  Always known for its innovative home brewers, the LA area is now producing some high quality, commercially brewed beers.  I’m itching to jump in my car to make the trip down there.  You’ve got Golden Road Brewing, one of LA’s fastest growing breweries; Eagle Rock Brewery, the maker of Stimulus, a mean Belgian amber brewed with coffee; and this week’s highlight, Bootlegger’s Brewery, winner of two Great American Beer Festival (GABF) medals this past fall for its Rocco Red Ale and Galaxian barley wine.  I’ve also been wanting to visit Long Beach’s Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, this year’s GABF recipient of the Largest Brewpub of the Year award.  Like I said, who’s up for a road trip?

I was introduced to Bootlegger’s Brewery by my dear friend, Daniella, who gave me the Black Phoenix as a gift in honor of my graduation of beer school this past fall.  The two of us cracked it open the other day to catch up from our holiday vacations.  Based in Fullerton, Bootlegger’s opened its production brewery in 2008.  Being that their motto is “drink fresh, drink local,” Bootlegger’s beer is tough to find outside of the LA area.  I’m fairly certain Daniella got a hold of this bottle at Oakland’s The Good Hop Bottle Shop since they make regular trips down to LA to pick up beer.  In any event, it’s a good excuse for a road trip to check out LA’s blooming beer scene. 

At 6.7% ABV, Bootlegger’s Black Phoenix is a very drinkable stout.  A coffee stout brewed with chipotle peppers, this beer could work well as a dessert beer or paired with the right dish.  We had it for dessert, but I’d love to pair it with a mole enchilada as I think the rich coffee flavors combined with the subtle hint of heat from the peppers would pair well with a spicy chocolate sauce.  I’m looking forward to my next trip to SoCal, and of course, drinking more Bootlegger’s beer. 



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    Author

    Domenica Curran is an Oakland gal with a passion for craft brews and the stories behind them.

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