Oh my god it was amazing. I threw a little bit of whole foods tangy BBQ sauce on top, PEFECTION!

 

speaking of beer food. i call it the irish-american chicken and the only reason why i will buy bud or miller:

a big pot
1 costco pack of chicken (i prefer drumsticks and thighs)
one bottle of guinness draught
one tall can each of bud, coors, miller (this doesn't really matter, it's the guinness that matters)
1/2 costco sized yoshida sauce
soy sauce to top of
one bulb of garlic, sliced
one white onion, sliced
one bunch green onions, chopped

throw everything in the big pot making sure your chicken is marinating. leave in fridge over night. grill or broil next day. enjoy.

 

Next month we should have an i-grub mini meet here: http://www.21st-amendment.com/

 

i was just there last night. i don't know why but i looked over and they were serving watermelon wheat from cans. they have a really interesting black IPA on tap this month. everyone should go by and check it out.

 

Yeah, they are starting to *do it in the can*

It's a new distribution thing. Not sure what the advantages/disadvantages are, but its catching on with craft brewers. Fat Tire is also now available in a can.

 

Maui Brewing Company is doing the same....Hey when's my beer gonna be ready?

 

The first of the two christmas brews is going to be brewed later today. Given they are going to be CHRISTMAS brews, I'd estimate they'll be ready around Chanukah.

Did you see the Hawaii Three Sheets episode? The brewer of Maui Brewing said their IPA is "the best there is right now" which I kind of doubt. The arrogance of that statement kind of puts a bad taste in my mouth before even trying the beer.

 

Smart ***

Yeah, the guy did seem a little full of himself in that episode. I've passed by it a lot, but I wouldn't mind trying that Coconut Porter in some marinades....

 

i heard a waiter say... "just to note... it's 12oz, not 16." for me, the 12 would not be enough and i'd have to get another beer. they'd get me to two beers automatically if i were debating whether it was a one or two beer meal.

 

Might be good in a marinade, but I've had the coconut porter and it just wasn't my thing. You can definately taste the coconut...almost like a burnt coconut flavor. But the flavor just didn't seem right with me.

 

They have been "Brewing what they can and canning what they brew" for quite some time now. The only weird thing about it is.. Buy a can of the Watermelon (Hell or High WaterMelon Wheat) and read on it where it's brewed......... No mention of that ANYWHERE as well. Somewhere in MN.

We go there a bit because it's near the train, but have you been to Thirsty Bear? It's another brewery and they have a Spanish themed menu. I probably like 21st's beer better (especially the Imperial IPA when they have it...) but it's another cool one to check out, and they have pool tables up stairs as well.

Some can benefits: easier transport, easier storage, no light penetration, easier to dispose of, allowed MANY more places. There may be more. I personally know that when I am planning to drink a lot on Caltrain, it's cans for me.

BTW - I think you meant "take it in the can" but could be wrong.

 

Listen to the last Brewing Network podcast on i-tunes, they have the 21A brewer on it. He said something about their beers changing brewing location a few times, which is probably why they didn't put it on the can.

EDIT: here is the link to the website to just download the show in MP3 format. It's 4 hours long, but entertaining to listen to.

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/560

 

Hmm I will check it out. In case it wasn't clear, it says specifically about being brewed in MN on the can, nothing at all about SF, then when I search for info on the brewery I only find info on them in SF, nothing about the MN location. Didn't know they moved - interesting and could explain it, but odd that they have not updated their cans by now since they have been in SF for a while.

There are quite a few great beer spots in SF. We should do some sort of ShortBus charter and tour the breweries. Speakeasy, 21A, Thirsty Bear, Magnolia (maybe), Rogue, SF Brewing, hmmm what else... Beach Chalet is cool if you are biking around in the park but not sure I would choose it as a destination. There are also some pretty awesome beer bars such as Churchkey.

Still trying to work out a trip to Bear Republic.. Oh man I cannot wait to go there. I spoke to some people up there and they seemed really nice.

I didn't mention too much about our last beer trip (end of Sept) because the disappointment at Sierra Nevada put a bad taste on the end of the trip. It was built up for the many years that I have wanted to go to the brewery since I have lived in CA but couldn't make it. We had such a bad time at the restaurant and bar that we didn't even bother with the brewery tour even though their brewery is a fortress of brewing awesomeness. While I will keep drinking the beer, I will probably not go back to the brewery and cannot in good conscience recommend anyone else do either. It gave me the feeling that maybe 10 years ago it was a cool place.

This was our 4th trip to Bend, OR (such an awesome town) and were at the Deschutes brew pub every day. It is at this point my all-time favorite brewery and the bar in the pub is one of my favorite spots. The people that work there are awesome and true fans of beer. They had 6 IPAs on tap as well as barley wine and their XXI porter. Pretty awesome to watch someone clock out, then sit next to me at the bar and have dinner and a few pints and go on about how they would never want to live or work any other place.

My pics came out all pretty much crap mainly because I don't know what I am doing... I could say the lighting was challenging and all I had with me was my 17-40L and a rented 50mm 1.4 but that would just drive the point home that I have no business being behind a camera. Anyway... It's all about the beer right?

Priorities... Wife on her iphone, me taking pics of my pint...


We timed our trip for the release of Hop Trip, which is amazing...



Taster... 5x IPA and a pilsner for the lady...



All the IPAs were amazing but my all-time favorite every time always comes back to the Bachelor Bitter on cask (genuine English beer engine). "Once it hits the lips...."



Their brewing setup is a little more kickass than mine...



Here's about a week's worth of whole flower hops, and our tour guide...



Hops strained from dry-hopping... Those are 32 gallon rubbish cans...



The fermenters... With 4" water jackets filled with coolant in order to hold a constant temperature... Note the 32 gallon rubbish bin blowoff containers.. I use a 1 gallon bucket and that is pretty big.



More fermenters... You can see the water jacket on the one on the lower right...



Here's a blowoff "gettin' angry" as our tour guide said. Must be a high-gravity brew...



That's pretty much it. It was a fun trip for sure. We were in Bend for 4 days, Chico over night, and then into Downieville for 4 more days to spend time with family and get on the bikes.

More beer content: A couple of the people at Deschutes recommended Full Sail's IPA which I had not tried. As a little kid I watched that brewery being built over time and have been there so many times in the last 20 something years but have never tried their IPA for some reason. They were right, it is good. Having some right now.

 

What happened at Sierra? My apologies if it's already mentioned in the thread, sometimes when I pop onto this thread I'm not completely coherent

And does Rogue have a restaurant in SF? I thought all of there stuff was brewed in OR. A trip to Bear Republic and Russian River would be awesome! I'm going to start a thread beginning of next month (when I get back from Vegas) about a brewpub meet in SF. I'll try to schedule it around what works for you, Bo (SolSurferX), Jeff (IPOZESTU), and Ray (OneManArmy). And you know Jeremy will come too whenever it is.

Great brewery pics too, they turned out better than my Stone ones (which I think were blurry because of me, not slow shutter speeds).

 

I'm soooo in.