Lucky 13

It might seem like it wasn't much of a beer festival if I can remember all 10 beers I drank, but that just wouldn't be true. This past Saturday was the Stone 13th Anniversary and Beer Celebration, and we were there along with about 30 other people we know in various ways, some of whom are regular commenters to this blog (Amy, of course, and Trekking Left, and the Queen, and Big Table/Patrick), so we had a sort of mini-festival within the festival too, and that's a lot of fest, and I've been to it 6 of the last 7 years so I know of what I drink. (Sad side note that luckily isn't even sadder than it is--one part of our group on its way out of the festival got rear-ended by a guy who of course got hauled away for DUI, and they are ok but not so their car, plus the years of life lost to the fear of getting DUIed themselves. People is crazy out there.)

Simply put, hot sun, lots of beer, ten tickets, go have fun. It was so good this year I skipped Russian River and Dogfish Head simply because I know their beers enough now, not that they aren't delicious. I wanted to hunt the unknown, and our merry band did just that, with sudsy abandon. It's good to have drinking friends, and I hope you all have them too (that is beyond those of you who are already my drinking friends on this blog, which might be everyone who reads it anyway. It's a small, besotted world. I love you all, and have only had one beer tonight.)

As for this year's trends, it seems brewers like this one now:
Imperial + anything that has deep roasted flavors + stout/porter

For instance there was the Pizza Port Carlsbad Night Rider Imperial Stout that one witty not-yet-that-tipsy person dubbed a "kitt" beer and then there was our last ticket, 20 seconds to last call shared beer, which was only fitting as the brewing of the beer was shared, a Ken Schmidt/Maui/Stone Kona Coffee, Macadamia, Coconut Porter. Sort of like a Hawaiian island in your mouth minus the dirt.

That said, my top 3 faves were:
1) Bear Republic Racer X
Yes, I'm a ridiculous hophead, but this double IPA is pungent while still wonderfully balanced. Not put on tap until halfway through the tasting, and they had a line the rest of the day. For very good reason.

2) Lost Abbey Angel's Share (Brandy Barrel 2009)
I like brandy. I like beer. Put them together you get this brandy-tasting beer, all oaky goodness with enough vanilla to source all the bakeries on the west coast, no doubt. Sure, you know the alcohol's there (12.5%), but you're only having a 4 oz. taster. Plus, angels would never kill you. Especially drunken angels, cause even if they tried, they'd miss. (Be sure to drink with someone expendable nearby, just in case.)

3) Craftsman Burly Barley Wine
I had to try this one as Craftsman is usually so good at the subtle stuff--their 1903 Lager got me to admit I like lager (well, their lager)-- that something with "burly" in the title intrigued. And while it might not have reached burly, it certainly was full-figured, rich in all that caramelly goodness I like in a barley wine.

If you want to see most of the list of beers, it's PDFed here. If you want ones to avoid, the stuff from Brew Dog didn't thrill, neither the Punk IPA (how could it live up to its name?) or the Paradox Isle of Arran, an imperial stout aged in whisky casks but nowhere as compelling as the Lost Abbey, say.

(2 of 31 in the drive to 2500)

When Yeast and Cheese Aim to Please

You know an event has to be a jim-dandy if at some point you think, "If I was a cheese, would you wash me in beer?" and that's exactly what happened this evening at the Beer & Cheese Tasting at C'est Cheese, co-sponsored by Hollister Brewing Company. (Digression, as if every one of my sentences doesn't suffer from at least one, as this poor sentence even has: it might just seem like all I do is eat, drink, cook, make drinks, and write about eating and drinking. That's just how this blog rolls of late, if rolls might be an unfortunate term. The sell-out on health care "reform," say, by the people who are most supposed to be like me politically is just too painful to discuss...without another drink.)

Turns out, as you might know, the good monks and the lay people they hire who are rumored to be even better than the holy folk (no comment from the agnostic gallery, promise) at Chimay in Belgium not only make terrific ales--as Hollister brewer Eric Rose said "the reason you see it everywhere is because it's perfect"--but also cheeses. The most common one to be imported into the U.S. has a washed rind, bathed in Chimay Blue. Hence my opening query, which, alas, didn't get as enthusiastic a response from Amy as I had hoped. I think she'd prefer the tasty cheese to a cheesy husband.

Or one that takes copious notes through an utterly delicious tasting. Part of that is that Kathryn from C'est Cheese and Eric from Hollister are so excited about what they do (and they darn well better be--they sell beer and cheese!) that they impart factoids without pain, so you learn stuff as all the good food and drink go down. But they also simply nail pairings, like the Morbius Double IPA (Rose's latest creation) matched with Shropshire Blue, for as Rose says, "salty foods need hoppy beers." TNT needs a detonator cap, too, but couldn't match this pair for explosive flavor. And then there was my favorite match of the evening (if neither was my favorite cheese or beer--now that shows the complexity of this synergy thing)--Midnight Moon with Allagash Dubbel. Kathryn said she felt the sweet saltiness from the goat's milk cheese brought out the chocolate notes in the beer, but I felt it was more a deep caramel, and for me caramel is a sort of taste safety blanket, so you can't top that (and don't take it away from me or I'll cry).

Obviously, this time around the 5 pairings didn't just feature Hollister Brewing beer, but also beers Rose helped C'est Cheese choose to sell itself. So along with that Allagash Dubbel and Chimay Blue (from the 5 liter bottle, too! they spoiled us so) we had Ommegang Hennepin, which got us so close to the valley girls and gals saying "O-my-gang!" but that's probably not as much a joke near where the beer comes from, Cooperstown, NY. And then I learned there's a Belgium Comes to Cooperstown Beer Festival, which means amazing beer and the Baseball Hall of Fame in the same little town. If I ever do get to go, I might just tremor, fall over, and die of too much joy at one time, the non-sexual version of that me, Neko Case, Julie Delpy threesome. But, like, possible.

Sorry, now that you're all too grossed out to keep reading.... That Ommegang, a wonderful saison style ale, lit up with champagne-like notes for the creamy goodness that is La Tur, the cheese so nice, they had to milk animals thrice--it's made with cow, sheep, and goat cheese. (Kathryn calls it "the scrubby effect of carbonation.") Then there was one more Hollister beer, Rose's new Belgian Country Ale that he says, "Shows the difference between a farmhouse and a saison...bascially I ripped it off from my friends at Russian River." Given as much as I like Perdition in Santa Rosa, it's a 6 hour plus drive, so being able to get an excellent facsimile in Goleta is a big plus. That beer matched well with Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, a new cheese to the store from Vermont, pleasingly pungently cheddar-like, but trading in some of those more ammonia-y after-tones some English cheddars can have for some lovely nuttiness (which the Belgian yeasties--I believe that's the technical term--helped accentuate).

Afterward, we still felt a bit peckish, so picked up some sushi to take home from the ever-reliable Ahi and washed that down sharing a bottle from dear Michigan beer friend Smitty--a New Holland Brewing Golden Cap Saison. It fit the rest of the Belgian-dominated night like a beer named cap caps a fine evening. And it was.

Busy Belgian All Afternoon

So we decided to really put the fest in Pizza Port's 2009 Belgian Beer Festival this year, and that means I have to thank all the people I knew there drinking along with me--Amy, Debby, Larry, Ken (all the way from SF, so he wins a prize), Chryss, Patrick, Robin, Kate. I also need to thank someone who helped put the Belgian beer in me. The basic set up is you pay your entrance fee and get 8 tickets for 4 oz. tastes. You can buy additional tickets. But we didn't have to as we were there for about a half hour when brewer extraordinaire Eric Rose from Hollister Brewing, who was featuring his tasty Hollister Abbey Dubbel, was on his way out, saw us, and promptly dumped a good 20 extra tickets in our hands. Than meant sampling heaven. For, as you can tell from the picture, there was no way to sample everything. (Well, you can't tell everything from the picture, as it's not detailed enough so that you can see the alcohol levels on these beers--many ran 8% or higher. Those monks don't fuck around.) There were 25 choices on tap, and another 92 in bottle. It was almost intimidating, approaching the bar--it was enough to make me feel like an AIG exec on bonus day, but I didn't have to shower my soul. And if I did, I could have showered it in something lovely like Russian River's Consecration, aged in Cabernet barrels, a winy, sour, but very dry-finishing treat. Or Ellezelloise Hercule Stout, deep and dark and earning a "wow" as my note (one of the few I can read--my handwriting in general stinks, and my guess is the beer didn't help any, either).

There were so many highlights that it might end up sounding like a kindergarten "all our kids are special" roll call. Of course you have to like the sour--I opted to open with something classic, a Rodenbach Grand Cru, which I found a complex delight, but others in our group soured on its sourness. Then there were fascinating oddballs (no, not the group I was with!) like a Baladin Al-Iksir, made in Italy, but a strong Belgian ale made with Islay whiskey yeast. Packing a surprising amount of fizz, and then more malty sweetness than I expected, which got pleasantly cut by the whiskey overtones (like a Belgian beer boilermaker with Lagavullin or something).

And we drank, and laughed, and seemed extra witty. And drank some more. Ate some pizza. Tried sips from everyone else's tastes, so got more of a handle on things that more or less slipped away as we got more. Just more. You've had Belgian beer, haven't you?

My official last beer, lucky 13, was a Pizza Port San Clemente Faceplant, as you have to end hours of drinking with a faceplant. Zippy with coriander and orange zest, it wasn't the best of the day, but at that point I wasn't probably, either.

Other beers tasted:
Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor
St. Bernardus Abt 12 (6 liter bottle)
St. Feuillien (3 liter bottle)
Russian River Beatification (3 liter bottle)
Alvinne Podge Imperial Stout
De Dolle Oerbier
Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca
Kerkom Winter King
Malheur Dark Brut
Mikkeller/De Proef Monk's Brew

Drink to Me Only with Thine Beer and Wines

So after 6 days of seeing the world through a wine glass (and beer glass), I'm back at work and sad sad sad. But some of you wanted a report, so here's the thumbnail sketch of what got drunk where (note that's what not who). There's a lot of lovely potent potables out there.

Stone Epic 07-07-07 (we brought this with us to have in the SF hotel when we arrived)

An Alaska cocktail at the delightful and delicious and delovely Alembic: Suppose your tires have frozen flat on one side. or you chased a kodiak off your lawn. the lure of living in the great white north may have escaped you, but the purity of the frozen tundra can be had in the form of this martini variation--gin, yellow chartreuse, orange bitters, and a healthy twist of lemon peel. it’s been around a long time: ours is a drier adaptation of the one in harry’s abc, a 1919 cocktail handbook.

An Opera cocktail. we love aperitifs here at the alembic, firmly believing that every good meal opens with a good drink. this is one of our sexier starters. millers gin with spicy dubonnet rouge and a dash of maraschino liqueur for aromatic sweetness. served ice cold and up. this aria might get stuck in your head.

Some La Chouffe and half a Bear Republic Strong Ale (All still at Alembic. The food is great too.)

Russian River Brewing: Bravo Ale, Pliny the Elder Double IPA

Yorkville Cellars tasting: best their Bordeaux blend Richard-the-Lion- Hearted

Meyer Family Cellars tasting, including their stunning Meyer Family Port

Navarro Vineyards Method a l'Ancienne Pinot Noir 2004 (very good with dinner at Boonville Hotel)

North Coast Brewing: Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout (ungodly good on tap and fresh) and 2007 Old Stock Ale with lunch at the brewpub

Wines with dinner we made at The Other Place: Surh Luchtel 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and 2004 Skewis Pinot Noir Demuth Vineyard Anderson Valley (double yum)

Wine tasting in Anderson Valley, part 1: Navarro, Lazy Creek, and Breggo (all delicious, and we get served by the winemaker at the last 2)

Dinner at the Highpockety Ox (the former Buckhorn Saloon, Mike)--it's no longer the Anderson Valley Brewing Brewpub, as they have a new facility and crappy, prefab tasting room down the road, but they still make the pleasing Hop Ottin IPA

Wine tasting in Anderson Valley, part 2: Goldeneye (where Amy took the picture above), the find of the trip Toulouse (the owner more or less gave us a hilarious seminar in winemaking while taking us through his pinots), and the building is better than the wine Standish

Bottled beer drinking on a lazy afternoon on a sun-dappled hillside: North Coast's Old Rasputin X Imperial Stout (barrel aged in bourbon barrels and as great as it sounds--wish I bought more) and North Coast's 25th Anniversary Ale, which is actually the same as their La Merle but in different packaging (smooth, spicy saisson style)

Dinner at the Ukiah Brewing Company, a delightfully hippiesque spot with solid and organic food and beer; I had the 10 Guilder and Coops Stout

And while we didn't imbibe, we did refill some Russian River Brewing growlers with Pliny the Elder and their IPA, so we did bring some of the trip home with us.

Plus endless photos (you'll see we're set for Friday Dog Blogging for awhile)....

George Sloshes Suds, Mets Paddle Pods

Sorry the blog hasn't been a hotbed of hilarity or even posting the past few days, but I have an excuse, as we drove down to San Diego Monday night and just got back today. Yes, that means that I saw the Mets beat the Padres last night, thanks to tickets given to me for my birthday way back in March by my sister-in-law and her s.o. So I have to thank them for fine seats down the leftfield line and apologize for the Mets beating their team (here's hoping we make it up to San Diego fans by sweeping the Dodgers in LA this weekend).

Some random notes from the trip:

• Being retired will be lots of fun someday if I ever have the opportunity. Midday Tuesday prior to the game we hit the Stone Bistro, where beer is discounted during the day, and got to sit in a lovely, very uncrowded garden and enjoy a Vertical Epic 07.07.07 draft. It's one of their annual fun beers, with a touch of spice and some rich flavors. I want me some more, please.
• On the way to the game we had dinner at O'Brien's, because you can't have too much beery goodness in San Diego, where the streets are paved with beer. O'Brien's bill themselves "the hoppiest place on earth" as they always feature wonderful stuff on tap, and then you get it and sit in these odd, large green pleather chairs with wheels and try not to roll by the guys playing darts. The food is good, if not upscale a bit, but who cares when you're drinking Alesmith's Summer Yulesmith and Alpine's Pure Hoppiness? Six of us had dinner and beers and with the tip it came to $90. It was tempting to just stay there and watch the game on TV.
• But we did go to Petco, and despite a pitching match-up of El Duque v. Jake Peavy, the Mets prevailed 7-0. It's good to see the Mets win, and I'm on at least a 4 game winning streak with live attendance. Makes me think I should try to get to see them this weekend in LA, too.
• El Duque is just too cool. The high socks, the higher leg kick, the 66 mph curveball. The only person who could hit him was Adrian Gonzalez. To top it off, he hit a single and stole second base, and he's over 40. He was worth the price of admission himself.
• I want to believe in Lastings Milledge, if nothing else than for his name, but in general I like rooting for the young guys (see my fantasy team filled with Lincecums and Chris B. Youngs and Corey Harts). He looks the part--he's just solid out there in left. But Peavy schooled him twice in key at-bats, getting him to fish for sliders after he couldn't quite catch up to the mid-90s hitter Peavy has. It's ok to get struck out by the best pitcher in the NL, but to fall for the same "trick" twice makes me a bit nervous.
• Many Mets fans crammed into Petco, which was good as I seemed relatively sedate, especially when compared to the group that taunted tortured Milton Bradley endlessly, even starting a "Choke your wife, Milton, choke your wife" chant.
• You can get Stone Pale Ale at Petco. I did.
  

Wednesday Working on It Blogging

Since the LA Times even made the big trek up the 101 to sample Santa Barbara's new brews, it's only fair I report on our latest visit to Hollister Brewing. When I last reported on Hollister it was the first week they opened, and since then I've enjoyed their beer at the Real Ale Festival in Carlsbad, taken a growler of their Hip Hop Double IPA to a fine dinner of homemade Chinese food (thanks Randy!), and on Monday night Amy and I had dinner at the brewpub. My original write-up called them promising but had quibbles. Oddly enough, almost all those quibbles have dribbled away, as if they were reading and responding directly to my blog. That uncertain help was now polite, quick, and funny--she even apologized for not coming to our table quickly enough when we had barely sat for 3 minutes. The fries were a completely different style; no longer potato wedges but actually thick fries, some still with skin, but all with outside crunch and inside munch. A huge improvement, for a brewpub with mediocre fries is like a sentence of mine without a pun. (Wait, that one just didn't....)

Amy had a steak sandwich that was on the Philly cheese steak model for taste (good grilled peppers and onions) but with chunkier beef. I had one of the pizzas, a fennel sausage that said it had oregano on it on the menu probably because it really had oregano--it's good to taste ingredients when they're supposed to be there. It's sort of an old-fashioned style pizza, very thin, crackly crisp crust with enough topping but nothing whopping. Tasty and perfect beer food.

The good news is the beers just seem to get better, and not just after having a few. Amy had whatever they're calling their IPA now and it nailed the style, while I tried the fancifully named The J, an amber that features toasted hemp seeds. I'm not sure why I needed a second pizza, but I did. Seriously, the beer's rich roast was immensely satisfying and well balanced by hops. And then for my second I went to the ever-impressive guest list, passing up on beers from Port and Bear Republic to go with a Green Flash IPA that tasted so fresh they must have brewed it on the truck on the way up from San Diego.

If the place keeps improving like this, Amy and I might have to think about moving to Goleta.

Naw, it can't get that good.

Wednesday Dueling Beer Bar Blog

To begin with a conclusion, Hollister Brewing Company wins, as it has Pizza Port Po' Man's Double IPA on one of its guest taps. To unpack the inference of that conclusion--the heart of the best CA microbrewing is still 200 miles to Santa Barbara's south, in north county San Diego (Stone, Port, Alesmith, Alpine, Green Flash). In Santa Barbara we get interesting places with promise (I hope), mediocre service, solid enough food (one straining, one happily aimed at pubby), and did I say promise?

As you might know, 2 new brewpubs opened this Sunday, Hollister Brewing out in the Camino Real Marketplace and Downtown Brewing on Upper State St. (i.e. my neighborhood). Hollister actually brews on site; Downtown contracts with Firestone-Walker and makes some of its own beer in its San Luis Obispo location (which is why its decidedly uptown SB location has a funny name). On a lovely Sunday afternoon Amy and I visited Downtown; tonight Big Table and Trekking Left and I visited Hollister. And here's the scoop....

Downtown Brewing has by far the better space, simply by not being dropped into a box mall. Really, do you think it would be good to beer-up at Hollister and then head over to Costco? If you do, leave your credit cards at home to prevent that impulse HDTV buy. Downtown seems to have a room for any mood, unless you're into dungeons or something--a pool room, a large bar, a lounge area with comfy chairs to hold your own Spanish Beerquisition, a room Santa Barbara old-time styled with red pleather booths (it's like Harry's without the wear and tear), and two outdoor patios in a city where summer never sleeps.

Alas, it has beer not quite as good. Amy and I tried the taster sampler to get the lay of the lager (I know the problem with that word choice, but can't pass up on the alliteration), and while each brew started at okey-dokey, none left us doing the hokey-pokey (that is, ending by saying, "that's what beer's all about!"). The best of the lot were the IPA, sort of on the Red Tail model, hoppy enough but it won't scare too many people off, and the porter, which had a pleasing richness. Other beers include a blueberry without any hint of bubblegum, a wheat that doesn't suck like most American wheats (what about Paulaner Hefeweizen is so hard to copy?), and a honey wheat you might call honey but wouldn't necessarily call for a second date.

Since we went in the early afternoon we only wanted some snacks, and oddly paired wings and hummus. The hummus will keep you safe from vampires and French kissers, packing a garlicky, flavorful punch. The wings have a pleasing if more than likely "synthetic" crust to them, but the bleu cheese dressing could use some more cheese and less dressing. There are pizzas, salads, burgers, steaks, all the usual pubspects. You'll get a further report when later studies come in from the lab known as my expanding waistline.

As for the service, everyone is startlingly nice. One guy who I think is part owner or at least manager actually sat at our table with us to discuss the place and I find that friendliness charming--after all, I want it to be my cheerful Cheers as it's 7 minutes away by foot. Of course, niceness does not automatically equal togetherness. We got our food way before our beer, and after an effusive apology we got our beer but were told we could send it back if it was too warm. That's an instant flag for beer snob me--your beer can't be good approaching room temperature?! Of course, it was the place's opening day, and everyone can't be the Hungry Cat, about which I have to admit I have a horrible thing for--if I can admit to mancrushes (oh, Johan!) can I also admit to restaurant crushes? I mean, I spent a good half hour at work today writing Hungry Cat in fancy calligraphy and circling the name with heart doodles....

Hollister clearly has some higher ambitions, as befits a place run by Marshall Rose, the former Executive Director of SB's Downtown Organization, and a man who looks enough like John Cullum that I keep expecting him to break into "Shenandoah" at some point. (Sorry that I paused to pander to the Broadway geeks who read my blog, as if I have any.) For instance on the menu the soup of the day is called, and I wish I were kidding, "Liquid Produce from the Farmers Market." Its Hollister Burger--what all 3 of us ordered--is a "formed Masami Kobe burger," which is American Kobe-style beef and does not score on your taste buds as much as something named Kobe should. It's a good burger, but it's no Hungry Cat pug burger (local #1), or Quantum burger (probably #1A), or Paradise burger (the old fave before the new burgers came to town).

Still, all the meal's details were off. You can order either avocado, bacon, or grilled onions on the burger for $1.50 extra, and following my taste buds and not my wallet I opted for onions. Half of those came on Big Table's plate, not one of them was warm (I guess that they didn't vouch for when they were grilled), and I could barely fill a thimble with the amount I got. If you can buy a pound of supposedly currently high-priced onions for $1.49, even with mark-up I'd say Hollister owes me a half pound o' onions.

And while I won't make a big deal out of the patty being too small for its roll (or vice versa), I will carp about the fries (Quantum wins that competition). Big Table joked they were "too potatoey", but I prefer to think they weren't "fry-y" enough. I like that crispy shell-i-ness, that contrast of textures. And I can't remember the last time I ordered fries and thought they needed salt.

It's almost like tasting a beer and thinking it needs balance, which is what happened with Hollister's Magic Clamp Weizenbach. The malts were full, but the beer had a certain uncertainty, a sharpness that wasn't hop tang as much as cellar must-y. Otherwise what we drank we liked quite a bit. The Blown Out Stout is on its way to imperial style, with pleasing flavors and mouthfeel, and the Inaugural Pale Ale (IPA, get it?) is much better than its name. That said, the Port Double IPA whipped out its hoppy thumping stick and pummeled the Hollister IPA into submission.

As for the help here, it could use some. Our waitress seemed a bit at a loss to pick up on humor (we are funny, really!), or even exactly our orders at times. We ordered a first round while waiting for our table--the place seems quite popular already, especially with the nearby UCSB crowd (you can stumble home to F-T!)--and ordered a second with our food. It came after our food. That's not good.

To summarize, Downtown seems to be aiming lower and therefore stands a better chance of hitting its goal. Hollister wants to be something more, but that ambition gets illuminated, a bit, in its "guest beer" program aimed to bring hard-to-find in SB brews. They have the good taste and sense to bring Port, Port's related Belgian-style Lost Abbey, and Russian River. But is it one of the amazing Russian River beers like Damnation or Salvation? No, they have Dead Leaf Green Pale Ale. That's like opting to take Kate Jackson as your first draft choice from the original Charlie's Angels.

A Weekend of No Flipping

As it's now Earth Night I feel I can finally admit something terrible about myself--today was the first day in my almost 13 years in Santa Barbara that I rode a MTD bus. And mostly I did it because it was free, and Amy, as usual wisely, insisted. I'm a hypocrite, I know, preaching all the save the earth spiel and refusing to get from behind the wheel of my own car. Although, in a weird way, I want to blame it on music, as the car is one of my favorite places to listen (and my car stil has a tape deck, even), and just-the-right song on the way to work can do so much for the start of a day. Sure, I could iPod-up like many mass transiters, but that means ignoring the mass, which seems rude somehow, plus if you start singing along, that's not just rude, it's offensive (you haven't heard me sing, and say thanks for that).

In other news this weekend....

So the News-Press has decided to go after Jerry Roberts in the nastiest way possible now. Nothing like a slimy unsigned story that doesn't even bother to try to get a quote/response from the person being accused of terrible things. (Don't they know it's de facto for such a story to have a quote claiming the accused refused to comment at this time, or could not be reached?) Reminds me of the old LBJ tale when he was running for an office in Texas and he told his advisors, "Accuse my opponent of pig-fucking. I know he didn't do it; I just want to see him deny it." At this rate, next Sunday's News-Press will allude to a now-vanished You Tube video of Susan Paterno strangling puppies....

The uptown Downtown Brewing Company should be open by the first week of May. We were out walking and peeking at the posted menu and they invited us in to look around. It's quite a space, with pool tables, a banquet room, a very nice bar, the already approved of by INOTBB outside seating area, and a nifty, couch-filled lounge, plus lots of plasma TVs (I can see myself watching the Mets win the World Series there already). Lots of cool specials, too, so here's hoping the beer they make and the beer they contract from Firestone Walker is up to snuff. And here's wishing their Happy Hour wasn't 3:30 - 6, but at least till 6:30. Some of us, despite how much time we spend blogging, have to work.

Rush out right now and buy Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show. This DVD package is totally hilarious--some of the best written TV ever. We're only 5 of the 23 episodes in, but after the Garden Weasel and fun with tarantulas and the Hankerciser 200, and a quick shot of T Bone Burnett, we couldn't be happier. That's leaving out the 8 hours of new material, mostly supposedly very unusual interviews with Gary Shandling and friends, we have yet to set eye on. The triumvirate of Shandling as the self-centered yet aware enough to be self-loathing Sanders, Jeffrey Tambor as the brilliantly dumb Hank "Hey Now!" Kinglsey, and the sly, slick Rip Torn as Artie (a performance that reaches back to George C. Scott as Buck Turgidson in Dr. Strangelove and is a fore-runner to what James Spader does as Alan Shore in Boston Legal) makes every second of this show a joy.

Wednesday Belgian Beer Party Blogging

Saturday we attended The 12 Hour Belgian Beer Party, were there for 3 hours, and left in a fizzy. Hosted by Pizza Port Carlsbad, which makes some brilliant brews all on its own, Belgian style or otherwise, the event was one of those overload things that actually makes you glad your entrance fee gives you a limited number of drink tickets (which you could buy more of, but we're talking Belgian beers, which often have a higher alcohol content to help the monks see God and all that). With 90 beers to chose from (20 on tap), it was a crazy cornucopia of yeasty delight.

And hard to know what to taste. A bunch of local brewmasters flitted through the crowd (OK, the one bigger guy decked out like a monk was too large to flit, but you know what I mean), dropping suggestions that got passed around like grammar school "who's got the cooties" gossip. Alas, it seems many of those beer snobs (it's not an oxymoron!) are like the people who try to get you to eat the oddest thing on the menu at an exotic restaurant. For while Belgium offers more beer styles than a country that's half the size of San Bernadino County should rightfully be able to create, that doesn't mean all the styles are equally delicious. There's a style I'm not smart enough to pinpoint or name, but it has something to do with making your mouth pucker. We're not talking unripe Hachiya persimmon astringent, but it's not the most pleasant of mouth events (really, it's not just a taste thing--it does stuff to your tongue's surface, too). Given we (Amy, her father Larry, and I--thanks, Debby, Amy's mom, for being designated driver) tried to split up what we tasted, of course we hit on a few of these sourpusses, like Petrus Aged Pale, Saison Pipaix 1995, Cantillon Iris, Geants Saison Voison, and from the US in Belgian-style, Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere (but the dog label is mighty cute) and, sadly, Russian River Supplication, given that brewery up north is one of our favorites. Looking at the list right now, it hit me saison isn't the thing for this Jersey boy. (There's a joke there, I promise.)

So what did we love? Gouden Carolous Ambrio, on tap, and full of that Belgian yeast (bready, banana-y, belicious)(OK, even Cole Porter wouldn't try to get away with that one); Liefmans Frambozen, with just enough raspberry to cut its bitterness; Rochefort 10, which was about two levels better than Maredsous 8; Malheur Black Chocolate, which was, um, chocolate.... For a US version of the Belgian style, nothing beat Craftsman Honesty Cherry Ale, another fine balancing act between the cherry sweetness and the beery bitterness.

One bit of fun was waiting for the 3 liter bottle to be opened at the top of each hour. Just the ceremony of it was exciting, as was the long arm reach hoping to get your share. I assume brewers believe beer, especiallly bottle conditioned beer like so many Belgians (that means it's still got active yeast in the bottle, keeping fermentation, and flavor-making, alive), ages better in larger formats, just like winemakers claim about wine. From what we could tell this seemed true--a Chimay Blue 1995 was rich and creamy and moving towards something profound, while a Russian River Damnation still seemed freshly alive in the mouth. And where better to end 3 hours of Belgian beer than with a bit of Damnation?

Hippity Hoppity a Brew Pub's on Its Way

In a follow-up to a follow-up of a follow-up, I have to report that I drove by the uptown Downtown Brewing Company today to see a whiteboard outside that announced: "Coming Soon--March 30." So I guess you're all spared seeing me there dressed as a Leprechaun as they won't make their scheduled opening date of 3/17 (their website still says February, so here's hoping that doesn't mean 2008). There is still time for me to make an appearance as the Easter Bunny, although I'm not sure what the proper Easter drink is (anybody have a recipe for a Resurrection cocktail?).

It's Better to Have Beer Near than Near Beer

I hesitate to make this post, for I don't want people to expect actual reporting at INOTBB too much, but given this is about beer, I figured I could pour in a quick follow-up to Wednesday's Brew Pub Blogging. Turns out I did get a response from Nathan Boudin, one of the partners in the local venture, which makes me like them already. Here's the news:

We plan to have our opening date on St. Patrick's Day, Saturday March 17th. I am not sure if you have been able to attend either of our other locations but we will serve the same menu and price point, with a few variations (like pizzas and higher end steaks), but we will not be brewing on site here in Santa Barbara. Our beer is brewed in San Luis and Paso Robles. As for the live shows, we do not have plans to book large shows like those at our San Luis location because we are located on the same premises as the hotel and within a few blocks from your neighborhood.

So now you know and get ready to welcome Downtown Brewing to SB in three weeks. I'll be the one dressed as a leprechaun. You need a beer already, don't you.

Wednesday Brew Pub Blogging

If I had an enterprising bone in my body I would try to open a Santa Barbara equivalent to Santa Monica's Father's Office, a bar anchored by great food (a killer burger and sweet potato fries, cause you need some fried stuff with beer, just good fried stuff to justify the grease) but starring a wall of micro taps. Alas, not only do I lack the drive to pull off something like that, but I also drink too much beer to do more than dream. Still, I quickly notice signs of beer-stirrings in Santa Barbara, especially when one appears within blocks of my home. Oddly enough that sign, in an area known as upper State Street (the main thoroughfare for our town), trumpets the coming of the Downtown Brewing Company. At first I was worried this geographical snafu meant the owners imbibed too much of their own product, but instead it turns out that we're getting the third branch of a brewpub based up the coast in San Luis Obispo (a town happy to be called SLO--this is California, after all).

An article in January from the SLO Tribune--we don't just import our beer, we import our news in Santa Barbara--about the business wrote:

When Korie and Todd Newman took over the old SLO Brew a little over a year ago, locals quickly took notice of their efforts to beef up the entertainment scene.

Soon after their arrival, the newly revamped restaurant/bar/brewery brought in big-name acts, like Dick Dale, Sir Mix-a-Lot and Hank Williams III. And the establishment, now known as Downtown Brewing Co., was revitalized.

That new vigor has obviously been good for business, because now the Newmans, with partner Darren Smith, have opened a second Downtown Brewing Co. in Paso Robles. If that wasn’t enough, a third one is set to open next month in Santa Barbara.

Last evening after dinner Amy and I decided it was time for some reconnaissance, so leashed up the pups--there's no better way to sneak up on people than with greyhounds in tow, or more precisely, towing you--and walked to the site. It's going into a restaurant space near the Sandman Inn, a spot that's been home to numerous other failed ventures, so here's hoping it's not jinxed. It does have a lot going for it, though--two areas for outdoor seating, which is always a plus in idyllic SB, plenty of parking, room for a long bar. But as for the place opening by the end of February, which the brewery's website announces, well, I wouldn't bet a beer on it. There was no sign of taps installed and things were in such an early state that the doors were left wide-open and the lightas were bright; it seemed as if people working on the site left for a minute but figured there was nothing for anyone to take so why lock up?

Only time and a few downed ales will tell if the Downtown Uptown will be a hit, shipping in its beer from up the coast, and perhaps offering one more place for some interesting live music. (No one bothered to email me back when I queried them about their plans, but that's bar owners for you.)