Brüehol Brewing (Benicia, CA)

Today I made my way over to Benicia to try the offerings at Brüehol Brewing.

Brüehol Brewing was established in Benicia in 2014 by Mark Keller, Mark Ristow, and Steve Nortcutt, but opened its tap room only three weeks ago. I was eager to get there because Mark R. and Steve used to be homebrewers in the same club as I -the Diablo Order of Zymiracle Enthusiasts (DOZE).  Both of them are highly skilled brewers, and it shows in the beers they are producing at Brüehol.

It is relatively rare for small craft breweries to produce lager beers.  In part it is because of the time involved --while a lager rests -i.e. lagers- it takes up valuable fermenter space that could be turned to producing a couple of ales.  However, it is also because lagers, specially pale lager styles, are unforgiving of mistakes. They don't have the roasty, malty flavor character or hoppiness to counterbalance any flaws.  

It takes a bit of courage to make a lager a part of one's brewery's regular line up, and Brüehol offers two of them: a Gold Rush Helles Lager, and Old Capitol Pilsner.

Both beers are very good.  The helles was light and clean, and the pilsner was appropriately malty while maintaining the lightness of body that characterizes the style.  I dare say that they are two of the best craft lagers that I've tasted in the area.

The other beer I tried was the 5W-30 Black Ale.  It has hints of caramel or toffee in the nose, and coffee and chocolate in flavor.  Despite its looks, however, it is not a stout, but truly just a black ale.  Like the other beers its name is an homage to Benicia, in this case to its history (and present) as a refinery town.

Currently, Brüehol is producing about 10 barrels a month, running double batches on a 3-barrel brewing system.  Steve told me that in a few months, however, they expect to expand their output by gaining the ability to brew and ferment on a 10-barrel system.  That would also free the guys up to be able to produce more special occasion or one-off brews on their pilot system. There are plans to add a couple of ciders, and several more ales to the taps.

If you're in Benicia Brüehol is well worth looking up -just be aware that the tap room is not downtown but over on the east end of town.

Brüehol Brewing
4828 East 2nd St
Benicia, CA

www.brueholbrewing.com

Triple Rock Brewery & Ale House (Berkeley, CA)

I recently visited Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley for the first time.  Considering how long I've lived in the Bay Area, how much time I've spent in Berkeley, and that the brewery has been around since 1986 -making it one of the earliest modern microbreweries in the area- it's just ridiculous that I had never made it there before.

The main taproom is a pretty inviting place -dark wood, classic-style booths and furniture, and friendly staff- and the brewing process can be observed through a large window that looks in on the brewhouse.  There is also a larger space off of the main room, which was opened last year. It has more of modern feel, with more stained cement instead of wood and several large TV screens.

I arrived at lunch time, just as the place started to get busy for the lunch crowd.  As I enjoyed my food and beer I chatted with the fellow sitting next to me at the bar. He'd moved to the Bay Area in the 1988 and had been a regular at Triple Rock whenever he had found himself living in Berkeley ever since.

I ordered myself a flight of samplers, the selection of which I left to the server's choice. She poured me Mildly Politic (Pale Mild Ale, 4.5%), Belgian Spring Bier (6%), Oatland Ace (IPA, 6.7%), Black Rock (Porter 5.4%), and Finnegan's Whistle (Dry Irish Stout, 4.5%).

They were all good, but I've got to say that Oatland Ace was my favorite of the flight (at center in the above photo). It's made with oats three ways -flaked oats, golden naked oats, and oat malt- and big taste of Mosaic hops. Just lovely.

Also deserving special mention is a tasty, chewy Old Ale: Her Majesty's Crush with Figs (pictured at top of the post).

This beer -brewed in collaboration with Moylan's Brewing Co.- comes in at 9% and is warming without evident alcohol, and the fig character comes in nicely. I just really liked it.

After all that time, I finally made it there, and I'm glad that I did.

Triple Rock Brewery & Ale House
1920 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA

www.triplerock.com

Opening: Shadow Puppet Brewing Co. (Livermore, CA)

After keeping all waiting for what seemed like forever, founder and CEO, Brian Blackburn, and headbrewer, Craig Danielson, have thrown the doors to Shadow Puppet Brewing Co. open to the public starting this weekend.

Things started off with a soft-opening Family and Friends Night on Thursday, and Homebrew Club Night on Friday, to which members of Blackburn and Danielson's homebrew clubs, the Mad Zymurgists and the Diablo Order of Zymiracle Enthusiasts, as well as of the Bay Area Mashers, were invited.

The tap room space, largely designed and built by Craig himself, are roomy and inviting.  There is plenty of comfortable seating - at the bar, several large tables, and a few couches. The brewery is fully viewable through a pair of large doors, and patrons can watch the goings on from a bar set up for that purpose. Not only is the tap room attractive and comfortable, but little details such as a well-appointed kids' playroom and shelves in the restrooms where one can set one's glass, attest to the care with which it was planned.

The beers -of which there are seven currently on tap- are all good, although from talking to others on Friday night, the Amber seemed a clear favorite, at least among homebrewers. On the other hand, on the previous night, the Down Under Extra Pale Ale -made with several New Zealand varieties of hops- had been a favorite.  The brewery has even set up an iPad where patrons can rate the beers and help Brian and Craig fine tune the beer lineup.

Shadow Puppet is well worth a visit.

Shadow Puppet Brewing Co.

4771 Arroyo Vista, Suite B

Livermore, CA 94551

www.shadowpuppetbrewing.com 

 

Danville Brewing Company

Last Tuesday, the Danville Brewing Company opened the doors to its taproom and brewpub in downtown Danville, and lines have been around the block to get in since day one.

The location the pub -Danville's first brewery- prime and the space is large, but friendly. The owners have done a very nice job in designing the place. There is a variety of seating options, including at the cool horseshoe-shaped bar with the wrap-around beer tap column.

I had a chance to view some project images for it when the pub was still in its design stages, and if it looked cool then, it is even cooler in person.

The food is good and nicely presented.  The wait staff knows their stuff, and one thing that we particularly appreciated was that our server had a list handy of all the menu items that were gluten-free.

Despite the crowds, the food was delivered promptly.  The restaurant is designed with an open kitchen as well as an open brewery.  What that means, in fact, is that the brewery is behind a glass wall, and is fully viewable by the public.

The brewery runs on a 10 barrel system, where head brewer Matt Sager has already begun to produce the pubs' first run of on-site produced beers (what is being served now was contract brewed for opening day in accordance to Sager's recipes and specifications).

Of the five beers on tap right now, most noteworthy are the CHUX Double IPA and the Coconut Stout.   The stout is smooth, and very subtly flavored with coconut, which makes it a very nice either-way stout -it has something for regular stout drinkers and for those who like flavoured beers.

The CHUX, despite being a DIPA, does not hit one in the face with hop bitterness, although it is definitely there, as befits an IPA.  Matt has done a nice job at crafting a recipe that packs a lot of hop aroma, flavor. and character in a tidy, smooth package. The servers are selling it as a beer that "will change your view of double IPAs."  It's marketting, but for the average beer drinker it may well be true.

For me the bottom line came when I was tasting the flight, and I exclaimed that the beers were "nice", and immediately thought to myself "duh, of course they're good. They're Matt's beers!"

Danville Brewing Company

200 Railroad Ave Suite A

Danville, CA 94526

www.danvillebrewing.com 

 

 

 

 

 

Farm Creek Brewing opens in Walnut Creek (CA).

After a three-year effort, Randy Janinda and family have opened their brewery and taproom in downtown Walnut Creek. 

The Janinda's opened the place up on Thursday, August 4th, and Friday, August 5th, for special soft-opening events for friends and supporters, before launching the taproom to the general public on Saturday.

Farm Creek is determined to not be "another IPA mill", and plans to produce a variety of brews.  To this end, Randy has hired award-winning brewer Winn Whisenhunt (formerly brewer at San Francisco's Bartlett Hall) to assist.

At the moment, they have three brews on tap: Southern Smile, a pale ale (5.5% abv); an American lager amusingly- and appropriately-named, #Beer (4.5% abv); and Favorite Daughter, a flavorful 3.7% abv beer labeled an "amber", but which, as Randy readily admits, is somewhat defiant of categorization -brewed with the addition of rye and smoked malt; too dark for an amber, but not quite fitting the profile of a brown ale.

All three are available in tasters and pints, but -most fun of all- you can get them to go in a 32-oz aluminum "crowler" (can + growler) which is filled and sealed right before your eyes when you place your order.

Visitors are greeted by two large copper-clad brewing vessels, and are able to partake of Farm Creek's brews just feet or inches from where they were made.

That proximity, and the care and love invested by the Janindas, make the taproom's vibe a friendly and intimate one.  

Seating is mostly spread between a couple of communal tables, but if you get there at the right moment you might be able to score one of the corner rocking chairs!

Farm Creek Brewing Co.
1415 Pine St
Walnut Creek, CA

www.farmcreekbrewing.com

Watch these spaces...

2115 Pacheco St, Concord, future home of Hop Heavy Brewing Co.

Recent surveys by the Brewer's Association indicate that in the US new craft breweries open at about one every two weeks.  Our area is certainly part of that trend, with several breweries opening or due to open in the near future.

Calicraft just opened its taproom in Walnut Creel last week, after a four year effort, and the much-awaited Farm Creek Brewing's brewery and taproom is set to open to the public on August 6th, under the direction of founder/owner Randy Janinda and new head brewer Winn Whisenhnut (formerly of Bartlett Hall in San Francisco).

Danville Brewing Co., meanwhile, is in the final stages of preparation, with estimates of an end-of-summer or early fall opening of its taproom on Railroad Ave, in Danville, with Matt Sager as head brewer. Matt is an award-wining homebrewer and until recently head brewer at Rock Steady Brewing in Martinez.

Also nearing final stages is Livermore's Shadow Puppet Brewing's brewery and taproom with Craig Danielson at the helm, in his first foray as a professional brewer. Craig is also an award-wining homebrewer with years of experience under his belt.

Another accomplished homebrewer going pro is Max Brown, who is steadily working away at getting his taproom ready to open in downtown Concord. Hop Heavy Brewing will be located on Pachecho Street, just a block from Todos Santos Plaza.  Max is expecting to open within the next six months.

Calicraft opens taproom in Walnut Creek (CA)

After a four-year wait, as a work-in-progress, Calicraft Brewing Company has finally opened the doors to its taproom in Walnut Creek.

The taproom was opened to the general public with a soft opening on July 29th.

When I got there, half an hour after opening, the line snaked through the room, and when I left a couple of hours later it was still to the door, with a steady stream of new visitors coming in.

Throughout it all, owner and head brewer, Blaine Landberg, circulated, greeting guests, distributing samples, and helping everyone feel welcome.

The beer was certainly very good, as was to be expected from a brewer with so strong a presence in the local market and beyond.

Of course, Calicraft's flagship brews -Buzzerkley, Oaktown, The City, Cali Coast-- were well-represented on the tap list. However, there were also a number of other treats, including a fruit-infused version of Buzzerkley, and a whiskey barrel-aged edition of Oaktown.

Particularly nice were a special sour beer fermented in a zinfandel barrel, and Zero Anniversary, a pale ale brewed specially for opening weekend.

According to Blaine's parents, who were also on hand, there are long-range plans of adding a deck out front, with maybe a bocce ball court. Food options are still under evaluation.

Calicraft Brewing Co.

2700-B Mitchell Dr

Walnut Creek, CA

BarBarian (Lima, Peru)

Lima's newest addition to the growing Peruvian craft beer scene is Cerveceria Barbarian's taproom in Miraflores: BarBarian.

Located half a block from Miraflores' main park, on Calle Bonilla, BarBarian taproom has been open only since March, and already it is a popular, standing-room-only, joint late into a Friday night.  It has a friendly, open atmosphere, and the back portion is dominated by a colorful mural and a wall display of several hundred beer bottles collected over seven years by the owners.

The twety-three taps offer a mix of Barbarian's own brews and guest beers from other Peruvian craft brewers such as Nuevo Mundo, La Magdalena, Cumbres, and Sierra Andina.  All are available in 100-ml tasters, or in 200-ml and 400-ml pours.  

In addition, there is a selection of bottled Peruvian craft and import beers available for consumption on the spot or to go (currently at a 30% discount relative to the in-house price!).

There is also a kitchen, offering burgers, chicken wings, and other pub-type fare, making  this a good place for lunch, dinner, or a late night snack, washed down with quality beer.

BarBarian
Calle Manuel Bonilla 108
Miraflores, Lima
Peru
 

Raleigh, NC: Raleigh Beer Garden

One of my destinations in North Carolina --a recommendation from Susana-- was the Raleigh Beer Garden, on Glenwood Avenue in downtown Raleigh.

The Beer Garden, rather than a garden, is actually a three-story affair, with three regular bars, which are expanded on weekends with a draft setup on the rooftop patio.

One of the bars is the liquor and cocktail bar near the entrance.  It is a pretty cool affair in its own right, dominated by a sculpture made out of a real tree which towers into the second floor.

Toward the back of the first and second floors are the beer taprooms.  The Raleigh Beer Garden claims to offer the world's largest selection of draft beer, and they have the Guinness World Record certificates to prove it.

Even without the certificates the claim is easy to believe.  Altogether there are 378 taps, of which the 144 on the first floor are all North Carolina beers, while the second floor bar serves beers from elsewhere in the country and imports.   If you're in the Raleigh area and don't have time for a local beer crawl, then definitely hit the Raleigh Beer Garden.

With a beer selection so vast, actually pretty good food, patio seating and a rooftop bar and patio, it is easy to understand why the Raleigh Beer Garden is a very popular spot.  We went on a weekday afternoon, and I recommend that. As I understand it, from 4 pm on on Thursday and Friday evenings, and on the weekends, the place is gets packed with the college crowd (which, of course, can be a totally fun scene in its own right!) and it can be hard to get in without a reservation.

Raleigh Beer Garden

614 Glenwood Ave

Raleigh, NC 27603 

www.theraleighbeergarden.com

Raleigh, NC: House of Hops

Another nice beer spot I enjoyed in North Carolina is House of Hops Craft and Draft tap house and bottle shop in Raleigh.

I happened upon it purely by chance: as I was slowing for an intersection I noticed its streetside sign out of the corner of my eye.  Without a second thought, I turned around at the intersection and made my way to its door, and boy am I glad I did.

The place has a friendly, comfortable vibe, with a bar and multiple taps, along with couches and a welcoming attitude to both kids and dogs.  Ronna, who was on duty at the time, was really warm and welcoming, and gladly pointed us to local beer offerings on draft that we might like.

The bottle shop selection --both, refrigerated and on the shelves-- can conservatively described as wide and varied. Everthing is clearly labeled with brewery, provenance and price, and for a traveler from the West Coast, such as me,offered many new discoveries, ranging from breweries I did not know to brews from known breweries which were not distributed out here.

Susana and I drooled over the selections and but were only able to enjoy a half pour of beer before moving on to downtown Raleigh and our ultimate destination at the Raleigh Beer Garden.

We did stop at House of Hops on the way back to load up on a few choice bottles to take home and enjoy later.



House of Hops
6909 Glenwood Ave #100
Raleigh, NC 27612

www.houseofhopsnc.com

1 step forward, 2 steps back

In a month's time, Contra Costa County has gained a brewery, but lost another plus a tap room.

Ale Industries got its start in the county, with its original brewery having been located in wharehouse space next to the MoreBeer! showroom in Concord, where some of guys also worked.  After a few good years there, they felt the need to expand their facility, and to brew closer to the owners' homes in Oakland.  The story is that in 2013 they moved the brewery piece by piece, in a pickup truck, to the new Oakland facility, which opened in 2014.

However, Ale industries did not abandon Contra Costa, and opened their Concord tap room, The Pig & The Pickle, even as they were opening the brewery in Oakland.

Unfortunately, on December 7th Ale Industries announced on the The Pig & The Pickle's FaceBook page that, in order to "restructure and reinvent our retail presence" it was "temporarily" closing The Pig & The Pickle, inviting everyone to instead visit their brewery tap room in Oakland.

Then, on January 12th, Pyramid announced on FaceBook and on its webpage that the Pyramid Alehouse in Walnut Creek was closed. Following the closure of the Berkeley alehouse, this move leaves Pyramid with no taprooms or brewpubs in California.

On the plus side, the county has had the opportunity to welcome a new face to the beer scene: Concord's Epidemic Ales.  

Epidemic held the grand opening of their brewery and tap room at 150 Mason Cir. on Jan. 2nd.   They managed to get it all set up in time for SF Beer Week, which they are participating in.

I hope to get to their facility soon to sample some of their brews.



 Correction:  I stated above that Pyramid has no taprooms left in California. They do in fact have at least one small one, in Terminal 2 of the Oakland International Airport. (5/28/16)

The Rare Barrel

Impossible Soul
Golden sour beer aged in oak barrels with tart and sweet cherries
pH 3.38 / ABV 7.2

Cosmic Dust
Golden sour beer aged in oak barrels with hibiscus
pH 3.47 / ABV 5.4

The Rare Barrel

940 Parker St

Berkeley, CA 94710

www.therarebarrel.com

A visit to E J Phair in Pittsburg

On Saturday, November 15th,  a dozen or so Club DOZE members -joined by a smattering of Mad Zymurgists and others- had the pleasure of touring the facilities of the E J Phair brewery in Pittsburg (CA), and trying their beers and the pizza that kept coming out of the newly-installed wood-fired oven.

Best beer tasted?  The Zinful Stout, a dry stout aged in zinfandel wine barrels from Viano Winery in Martinez.

E J Phair's Pittsburg taproom and restaurant, with the new woodfired pizza oven at back right.  Fermenters can be glimpsed through the windows behind the bar.

Fermenting tanks.

The brewery.   They currently produce 3-4 brews per week, mostly contract brews.

Head brewer Cortlandt Toczylowski conducting the tour.

Kegs ready for washing for Rocksteady brewing  Rocksteady, headed by brewmaster Matt Seager, is the house brewery for Creek Monkey Tap House in Martinez, andthey contract  E J Phair to clean their kegs on their keg washing machine.

The grain mill, downstairs, and the pipe which conducts the milled grain up to the mash tun on the main floor.

The cool room

The supply for the taps above.

Settling tanks in the cool room.  These have been built from re-purposed horizontal lagering tanks.  At back, just above the large tank one can barely glimpse the pipes that the brewery installed to carry beer lines under the adjoining roadway and into their old tap room and restaurant across the street.

Peruvian Craft Beer Revolution

There have always remained a few local or regional breweries that clung on in the face of the market take-over by the big beer companies.   On example is Perkas Ale, which I sampled in Cusco.

There have also been some new regional breweries that have managed to get started and hang on.  I've heard, for example, of Cerveza Andes in Huaraz and Cerveza Iquitena from Iquitos.

And there is, of course, the case of Ayacucho's Añaños family, who have expanded their nationwide soft drink empire into beer production with Tres Cruces beer.

However,  with sole exception of the pioneering Cerveceria de Tomas, there seemed to be a dearth of craft beers and craft beer pubs in Lima itself.   That, fortunately, is changing.

Last year I became aware of Cerverias Aldon's beers from Pachacamac, and in the past year it appears that at least three craft breweries have opened in Lima, and that at least one has a tap room.

Heretic Brewing Company

Today, due to its hosting the AHA Members' Rally, I got to look around the new Heretic brewery in Fairfield, where Jamil Zainasheff and his partners have set up shop after moving out of E. J. Phair's brewery in Pittsburg.

The smaller tanks at back are the ones brought over from the days at E. J. Phair, and the ones in the foreground are newer 120-barrell tanks.

Evil Twin ale

The blow-off tube furiously in action from one of the 120-barrel fermenters

The fermenter from which the staff filled our carboys and buckets.

An ale with pommergranate.

120-barrel fermenter

The tap room