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Beer Is Beautiful - Santa Fe’s Imperial Java Stout

10/27/2014

I am writing this week’s post from Vegas…holla! I’m here in Sin City with some of my best friends for Life Is Beautiful, a three-day music fest sprawled all over downtown Vegas. I know this is meant to be a beer blog, but I have to give this event a quick shout out. If you haven’t been, I HIGHLY recommend it. It’s by far my favorite music festival (bye, Outside Lands). First of all, the lineup is killer, which of course is a critical component of any good music fest. But, the overall vibe is what I like most. I mean, it’s huge and crowded like any marquee festival, but downtown Vegas is actually really cool. Quite the opposite of The Strip, this is the artsy, up and coming side of town. So, when you’re walking between stages, your eyes are treated to unique art fixtures and intricate wall murals. There are food trucks galore, neon signs with inspirational quotes, and grassy areas with picnic tables to chill. I feel like I’m on the set of an Urban Outfitters' photo shoot staged at a retro trailer park. Don’t worry, I’m doing my best to festify my nautical stripes. Luckily, one of my friends is a festival fiend and came prepared with “flash tats,” which are like skin jewelry. Apparently, it’s a thing at these music fests, so I’m feeling super trendy with metallic tattoos painted all over my body. (Thanks, T!)

High on my priority list was checking out the beer garden. We’re talking at least 12 different breweries represented with two taps each. Not too shabby. After carefully perusing my options, I was stoked to find Santa Fe’s Imperial Java Stout. YES!!! I’m actually not quite sure where I first heard of this beer (maybe an episode of Brew Dog’s?), but it’s certainly been on my radar to give it a taste test. It comes in a can that is pretty hard to forget – the label is brown and simple with the words “java stout” prominently featured. You see it and think – is this a beer or a coffee? Well when something is this good, there is no need to define it. My friends all tried a sip of mine and loved it too. Unfortunately, we were one and done - it sold out by the middle of day two of the festival.

If I could somehow replace my morning coffee with Santa Fe’s Imperial Java Stout I would, but at an 8% ABV, I’m not sure how the ol’ J O B would feel about me drinking beer to get my daily jolt. Incredibly rich and smooth with plenty of java aromas and flavors, Santa Fe’s Imperial Java Stout is a beer I’d recommend to any coffee lover. It’s not distributed in California yet, but if you don’t have a trip to New Mexico planned in the near future, you can find it around town during your next trip to Tahoe.

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Stout Does the Body Good - Stone’s Coffee Milk Stout

10/20/2014

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Stone beer is everywhere, literally. Based out of the San Diego area, Stone has completely blown up over the last couple of years. They are in the midst of building two new breweries, one in Virginia and the other in Berlin. The Berlin location would be the first U.S. owned and operated craft brewery in Europe. Pretty darn cool if you ask me. I’m not really a “Stonehead” (is that a thing?!) per se, but I do appreciate their beer and admire their marketing strategy. A gargoyle as a mascot is not only rebellious and manly but also memorable. They have this amazing aura of being sort of badass, even though they are rather corporate. Take their San Diego - Liberty Station brewery for example. Liberty Station is just a stone’s throw away from the SD airport. Originally opening in 1996 in San Marcos, Stone relocated to neighboring Escondido in 2006 to expand. Since SD is one of the largest beer meccas in the world, I assume that Stone opened a second location at Liberty Station to accommodate the craft beer tourists that come through the city. The Escondido headquarters is a little out of the way at about a 45-minute drive from the SD airport.

I visited the Liberty Station brewery in the summer and was slightly underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, the place is gorgeous and brand spanking new, but it feels a little chichi for a badass brewery. You walk into the entrance to be greeted by a large gargoyle hovering over the hostess desk. Beyond that is a huge bar, restaurant, and bocce court with the medieval vibe Stone projects. But, and I can’t quite put my finger on it, it just felt a little too swanky. We sat outside in the gardens and had lunch and tasters right next to the babbling koi pond. (Maybe it was the pond that felt too swanky?) The food and beer were good, but I so wanted to leave saying: OMG…I absolutely love <<insert Stone beer here>>. But, unfortunately, that didn’t happen that day.

Apparently when we visited the brewery in June, Stone’s Coffee Milk Stout was not in season. In my experience, milk stouts in general are not easy to come by. My first milk stout was actually by The Duck-Rabbit, a brewery out of North Carolina that coins itself as "the dark beer specialist." This beer completely opened my eyes to a different kind of stout, sweet and full but still somehow light. I tried the Stone’s Coffee Milk Stout for the first time at Rogue (of all places) in SF. They had some guest handles on tap and this happened to be one of them. It was absolutely delicious. And since then, I’ve actually tried some other really great Stone beers such as their 18th Anniversary IPA and their Xocoveza Mocha Stout, which deserves a post all on its own.

At 4.2% ABV, Stone’s Coffee Milk Stout is a full-bodied brew without being heavy on the booze. You can really smell and taste the cream and coffee. I may need to have it with pancakes next time.

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Give Me S’more – High Water’s Campfire Stout

10/12/2014

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As a Bay Area native and a lover of rich, sweet stouts, I was surprised I’d never heard of this beer until a few weeks ago. I was out with a friend at my local bottle shop, and he and the bartender started choppin’ it up about High Water’s Campfire Stout. I remember standing there thinking “wait, how can this be? There’s a stout made in the Bay Area prepared with graham crackers and marshmallows, and I’ve never heard of it before?” All I kept thinking was: Must. Get. My. Hands. On. Campfire. Stout. ASAP.

Fast forward to the next week when I went grocery shopping at Whole Foods where I usually examine the beer fridge for far too long to see what’s new (or at least what’s new to me). Most of the time, nothing. But this time, I spotted High Water’s label. I recognized the label but never paid much attention to it. From what I’ve seen, all their beers have the same label of the flowing waterfall, but differentiate by the background color of the label. To be honest, I think I’m more attracted to something a bit more modern such as what Green Flash has done with their new labels or Evil Twin’s simple design. But, to each his own. High Water’s label never really stood out to me because the waterfall is the emphasis, not the type of beer. If I would’ve read “campfire stout” in big letters or seen a picture of a campfire, I probably would have been intrigued all on my own. But hey, I’m a lady, and we ladies like our labels!

In any event, I bought a bottle of the Campfire Stout to bring to my mom’s to share with my stepdad and her. They live in Petaluma aka the very edge of Wine Country, but they are not really beer drinkers, nor are they really wine drinkers. My stepdad likes an O’Doul’s every now and again, and my mom likes her whiskey, Fireball to be exact. They drink wine and beer but don’t fit the stereotype of someone who lives in Sonoma County. So bringing the Campfire Stout was a bit of a risk. Or, was it? Both of them were sold by the idea of the beer being made with real graham crackers and marshmallows. Actually, that’s really all I had to tell them. We cracked open the bottle that Saturday afternoon and absolutely loved it, all of us.

High Water’s Campfire Stout is a hardy, sweet stout full of s’mores' flavors. To get the full effect, you must drink and smell at the same time as the smell is probably more potent than the taste itself. I should also mention that this beer won gold at the Great American Beer Festival for the “special beer” category. I’m not sure what qualifies as a “special beer,” but I agree with the judges, Campfire Stout is one special beer!

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Drink First, Judge Later - Auburn Alehouse’s Hop Donkey (imperial red ale)

10/5/2014

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The Bay Area is in the midst of a mega heat wave and as a dark beer drinker, it’s been difficult to stick to my usual chocolaty porters and stouts. Until October starts feeling like October, I’m going to continue to try and expand my palate. IPAs and reds, here I come!

My friends and I ventured to Beer Rev this past Friday to 1) try a variety of beers (obvi), and 2) enjoy the outdoor deck during a smoldering 80-degree evening in Oakland. It was my turn to buy a round, so I headed back to the fridge area to select a bottle. I had tried Knee Deep’s imperial red ale the day before only to be left a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, Knee Deep is one of my favorite breweries. Their Simtra triple IPA is killer and their Tanilla porter is like drinking a bottle of vanilla ice cream. I hate to say it, but their imperial red ale, McCarthy’s Bane, felt a little too bitter and not one I’d seek out again. So after minutes of examining the numerous options at Beer Rev, I convinced myself to give imperial reds another go.

I had heard that Auburn Alehouse would make for a great pit stop when travelling to Tahoe. Unfortunately, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to Tahoe. I know, seems kind of pathetic for a Bay Area native such as myself, but I never quite picked up skiing or snowboarding. Needless to say, I have yet to make it to Auburn Alehouse, but I was pretty stoked to learn that they bottle some of their beers. The Hop Donkey label caught by eye because it was simple yet informative. I felt like I knew exactly what I was getting into even before I cracked open the bottle. And sometimes on a hot Friday night, you just want to drink something cold and refreshing.

My expectations for this beer were pretty low because I don't usually seek out beers made by brewpubs. Whelp, I was wrong. Hop Donkey was the best beer of the night. Actually, I think all of us were a pretty surprised with how good the beer tasted. Each sip was almost shockingly better than the next. And when I woke up the next morning to check out the Great American Beer Festival medalists, I was thrilled to read that Hop Donkey had won silver in the Imperial Red Ale category. I mean, who knew?! Having “discovered” the beer the day before, I was ecstatic over the news. It was almost as if I had won the medal myself…well, almost.

Hop Donkey is a malty yet pleasingly crisp red ale, perfect on a hot day for a dark beer drinker.

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Beer Is Beautiful - Santa Fe’s Imperial Java Stout

Stout Does the Body Good - Stone’s Coffee Milk Stout

Give Me S’more – High Water’s Campfire Stout

Drink First, Judge Later - Auburn Alehouse’s Hop Donkey (imperial red ale)

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