Adventures in Sactown

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Wednesday “morning” we woke up before the dawn & helped with another brew at Elevation 66 Brewery with Super Dave & Big Ben. It was a pretty standard brewday… we were making Ramble Tamble Red, one of my favorites… Super Dave even trusted us enough to leave just the three of us (to catch some sleep)… oh and ugh… WE GOT TO MASH!!! WE GOT TO MOOOOONSTER MASH!!!

 

We also entered our first homebrews for competition at the Oak Barrel. We’re still a few weeks away until the judging (which is great because we just bottled four day earlier so they need at least another week to carbonate) but we’ve officially entered the San Mateo County Fair & Napa Homebrewers Classic with our Honey Amber Ale & Oktoberfest brews. This is great because we’ll not only get a chance to win fabulous prizes… but we’ll at the very least get some great feedback from certified judges on how to improve our beermaking and/or recipes. We’re really excited… and will actually also be entering the Alameda County Fair later this week… the SF Homebrewers Guild’s Tribute to America competition within the next month… and even the great California State Fair in blistering Sacramento by month’s end. So yeah… lots of feedback… and hopefully our beer turns out pretty good so we have a chance.

 

In two of the competitions (San Mateo & State Fair), they also have Labeling competitions… which is where the lovely Miss Izzy can show off some of her talents. Here’s a working version of our Honey Amber Ale label right now… Wish us luck!!!

 

Saturday morning, we woke up, had a little breakfast, and then bottled our Blood Orange Hefeweizen, which looks beautiful…

 

Afterwards, we headed to Sacramento for adventures… first, a stop at Heretic Brewing to replenish our growler with CHP (Chocolate Hazelnut Porter) and then to meet up with one of Izzy’s best friends Flea for some dinner at Red Robin & to pickup a fish. Yup… drove over 100 miles each way to pick up a fish… why? Because he’s a badass mutha lovin’ fish…

 

That night we stopped by Final Gravity which was a nice taproom where we sampled some selections from Loomis Basin Brewery… and found one of my favorite new little beers. It’s Ballast Point Brewery’s Navigator and it’s a doppelbock aged in Brandy barrels… and the taste is just magnificent. It’s obviously not your typical beer with the bitterness at the backend, just very smooth & flavorful… not unlike a sifter of brandy… but yeah, it was pretty f**king delicious. I highly recommend it. Loomis Basin’s selection was pretty good too. We tried their Alohawk (their top selling golden ale), Avenger (Double IPA) & Red Robin (kind of an amber English ale).

 

Monday night, after receiving my last shipments over the weekend, it was time to set up the new kegerator (despite not really having kegs filled yet) and get everything somewhat as situated for Steve-toberfest in less than two weeks. No, I won’t have anything on tap… but it’ll still be good to show off for future parties… and it’s a good solid fridge for keeping some of the selections righteously chilled. BEHOLD!!!

 

Tuesday (tomorrow nights) is the SF Homebrewers Guild meeting & it’ll actually be annual elections… and despite only being in the Guild for a few months, because I’ve shown that I really want to help out… they’ve actually made up for a position for me, so hopefully I can win over my constituents & be elected to the leadership group… but we shall see. Geez… competitions… elections… Steve-toberfest… empty carboys to fill… so much going on right now… wish us luck!!! Have a great weekend everybody!!!