I'm drunk. But it's my last night in the US, so fuck it. The picture above is the full flight of Russian River beers at the brewpub. I also had a Supplication (seriously fucking awesome) and a Pliny the Elder (seriously fucking awesome). Before these I spent the day at Bear Republic, where my lunch was a flight of 16 beers (2oz pours, not pints, thankfully) and a burger on the side. There was also a PBR in the middle and after Russian River we finished at The Toad in the Hole, a cracking pub in Santa Rosa run by ex-pat Paul Stokeld. In there I had the best pint of Bear Republic's Racer 5 (love that beer, it's seriously fucking awesome) and a crazy wormwood and horseradish thing from Sonoma Brewing. I also got to drink with Ken Weaver and his other half Ali, plus Joe Tucker from ratebeer all night and those guys rock.
Now it's time for bed; I have to fly too-many-bastard-hours home tomorrow, preceded by a two hour bus journey and ending with a tube and a train whilst carrying three bags. Thankfully those bags are filled with fantastic beers, and great beer is the reason I came out here in the first place. Beer is lovely.
Seriously fucking awesome post.
ReplyDeleteswearing is neither big nor clever, young man.
ReplyDeleteOther than a few extra Fs, you're an amazingly good speller whilst pissed. So glad to see you enjoyed yourself in my backyard. Next time in yours.
ReplyDeleteHey Mark, we bumped into you at Anchor Steam on the tour (me and the old man) Enjoying reading your stuff so far!!! (only gotten thru the first paragraph)
ReplyDeleteMarisol
haha nice one mark, did you keep all the bottle tops on the tray?
ReplyDeleteYou forgot the Little Chief and RyePA from Sonoma Springs and New EBlgium Dark Heather Ale while at Toad, the Moonlight at Flavor and the fresh Rebellion Citra from the tanks at Bear.
ReplyDeleteWhoever took you around to all this beer is just irresponsible.
Glad you had a good trip. See you next time.
There you go Dredgie - your first US beer tradition. Getting pissed before coming home. It can make 11 hours seem like, ooh, 10... 8-)
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous of your tray.
ReplyDeleteSo, is there any truth in the theory that hoppy American beers lose something and get a bit sweeter on their way to the UK..? Or, to put that another way, do they taste even better over there?
Bailey: the fresher the better, in my experience. Hop profile will attenuate over time, leaving a sweeter and sometimes slightly phenolic flavour. There's no strict rule of thumb, though. The kegs of Moonlight and Bear Republic that came over last Autumn were in superb nick - the Racer 5 I had last week at The Rake was just showing signs of losing its sharp hoppiness and the beer was sweetening.
ReplyDeleteDrink 'em when you buy 'em, would be my recommendation.
That is one seriously fucking awesome beer tray. I want to see that in UK bars. In fact, I want to see UK brewbars with that many beers on tap (tap, not handpull).
ReplyDelete