Change of Plans...

Well so much for THAT idea.... no Beer Friday, no Beerfest, no fun. Buddha, senior BeerCat, apparently went on a beer run Friday morning and as of Monday evening, has yet to return. Personally, I think maybe he got a hankering for a Goose Island Honker's Ale and hightailed it to Wrigleyville. (My husband dreamed one night that Buddha told him he was hanging out at Jack in the Box AND another night dreamed that Buddha was frequenting an Italian restaurant. Of course, I've visited both to no avail.)

Seriously, Buddha is on the lam somewhere near Valley Fair Mall, and I've spent the better part of the past few days searching for him. If you've seen the big guy, let me know!

Now on to the beer: since I didn't make it to either of the planned beer outings this weekend and I knew beer was required this evening, I stopped at Bevmo to pick up a couple of favorites that I doubt will be available in Michigan: Drake's IPA and Speakeasy Prohibition Ale. As I wandered thru the beer section, I noticed something rather unusual: I didn't see any beer on sale! And even worse.... many of the prices had gone up!! When I got to the register, I learned that my suspicion was correct: both were related to the skyrocketing price of hops. Yikes! You can learn more about that by clicking here. This could get ugly!!

Big Beer Weekend

Sorry it's been awhile.. house hunting, wrapping up a job, all that stuff makes for a big ol' timesuck FAST!

Anyhoo, this should prove to be a big beer weekend for the Beer Chicks. We'll be (of course) at Beer Friday at Devil's Canyon in Belmont, partaking in a few Scotch Ales, I imagine. Then on Saturday is the big daddy: The San Francisco International Beer Festival. We'll be volunteering at the festival through One Brick, and plan to enjoy many tasty brews at the volunteer after party! I just read on the beerfest website that they are releasing 100 additional tickets on Friday the 25th, first come first served, so if you don't have a ticket and you aren't volunteering, get your booty to Fort Mason tomorrow afternoon. I hope to taste test some new brews!

Speaking of new brews, I tried one earlier this week at a birthday party: Blue Moon's Honey Moon Summer Ale. Strike One: I didn't know that Coors was responsible for Blue Moon. I like Blue Moon, though it is generally too light for my tastebuds, but for a refreshing bit of light, it's quite tasty. In reading the box (someone brought a 12 pack), we all agreed that the fact that Honey Moon is actually brewed in Canada was a redeeming factor. However.... strike two: for a beer that claims to be brewed with orange and honey, I have to confess, I didn't taste even a hint of orange. It certainly had a honey taste, but zero citrus. Strike three didn't come until I read the review I linked above, though to be fair, I can't consider it a strike since I really didn't notice it at the time. Apparently it is terribly fizzy. Since I drank it straight from the bottle instead of pouring it into a glass, the carbonation wasn't as apparent. So my verdict: it was fine for a "party beer", but it isn't something I would buy for myself.

GOSH! I almost forgot about Ashley's- we DID get to pay a too short visit while I was in AA. Review coming soon!

Welcome to Ann Arbor

The great house hunt has begun, and I'm learning my way around Washtenaw County. Ann Arbor isn't as big as I thought it would be, but seems to be a really nice town. A couple of definite selling points: The Beer Depot and Arbor Brewing Company, both located downtown, and Ashley's on State St.. Beer Depot has quite a good beer selection- not as many choices as say, Bevmo, but a lot of unique and international brews. They also carry brewing supplies for those who prefer to brew their own.

Arbor Brewing has not just a tasty variety of beers, but each month they host a beer tasting event! Yay! Their cask conditioned ESB is one of the tastiest I've encountered, and the food was quite yummy as well.

We haven't visited Ashley's yet, but our server at another establishment (a sports bar with a truly disappointing beer selection) suggested we give it a try. I'll write a review once we've given it a shot!

Say it isn't so!!

Holy cow... California assemblyman Jim Beall has proposed a 1500% increase of state tax on beer- from 2 cents per can to 30 cents per can, or $1.80 per 6-pack. (As if the rising cost of raw materials for brewing beer weren't enough!) Beall said the tax would generate $2 billion a year to fund health care services, crime prevention and programs to prevent underage drinking and addiction.

Dan Gordon, co-founder of Gordon Biersch Brewing Co., calculated that the tax on a barrel of beer would go from $6.40 to $89. "We would all be looking for jobs," he said.

The proposal likely won't go anywhere, though, as enacting this tax would require a two-thirds vote in the Assembly and Senate - and then it would have to be approved by voters, because it's a constitutional amendment. It also conveniently avoids the one topic our CA legislators don't like to talk about: the REAL problem, overspending. (find more information here)

But on to a happier topic: BEER! The weather has been incredible in the Bay Area this weekend: my car thermometer read a whopping 86' this afternoon, and we were walking in San Francisco last night WITHOUT JACKETS. (It felt like summer in the midwest!) So in honor of this loverly weather (yes, I said loverly- you got a problem with that?), I'm sipping on a New Belgium Springboard Ale in the backyard. Aged in oak, this brew combines oats, ancient Chinese herbs and Mt. Hood hops for a balanced springtime treat.

Wine country weekend

Back from a very nice, mellow weekend in wine country... we had wine club events at Mayo in Sonoma and Peterson in Healdsburg, plus a special private tour with Mantra and stops at Maurtison and Seghesio. We had a great time! The Peterson event was a wine blending seminar, and we all got to bring home a bottle of our "special blend", mine called "I Can't Believe It's Not Zin". :-)

On Friday night, after a long evening of wine, we stopped for dessert and I got to try a beer I'd never had before: Avery Brewing's IPA, from Boulder, CO. Tasty and hoppy, it didn't pair with chocolate bread pudding and vanilla gelato so well, but it was yummy all on it's own. It was the perfect antidote to all that red wine!

BTW- if you're ever passing through Glen Ellen, be sure to stop by the Garden Court Cafe for breakfast or lunch: homemade sausages, jams & jellies, whole wheat bread, sticky buns... good stuff.

Big Sur

We took a little roadtrip this past weekend, revisiting another of our favorite places: Big Sur.

I had to visit Sand Dollar Beach one last time; I swear it is the most beautiful place I have ever attempted to surf. The tide was pretty high, and we got to hear the rocks "sing", as the tide pulled back over the millions of rocks on the beach. I tried to memorize the sound! We also stopped in at Pfeiffer State Beach, home of amazing purple sand, and Garrapata State Beach.

On our last trip, stayed in a yurt at Treebones, a wonderfully unusual resort just south of Big Sur. We had hoped to stay there again, but unfortunately they were full. Instead we stayed at another resort, the River Inn, with cabins built in the 1930s. The soundproofing of the rooms wasn't all that great (the guy next door had a rather distinctive snore!), but it was otherwise a great place to stay. The food in the restaurant was yummy, too!

But where's the beer, you ask? Of COURSE there was beer! As we were preparing to head north, we decided to stop for lunch and found the Maiden Publick House, in the Village Shops next to the River Inn. The food wasn't particularly special, though we were there at 2:30 on a Monday afternoon, not the best time to get great food. However, the beer.... ah yes, the beer. In addition to having Guinness and 5 rotating beers on tap, they have the requisite Bud Light and Corona (and a few others). And best of all- SIXTY SEVEN BOTTLED BEERS!!!

The beer menu varies based on season and demand. Their menu is very organized and well thought out, arranged by types of beer: American IPAs, American Pale Ales, Belgian Strong Dark Ale, etc.. They have 34 categories, each with a description of each type, a list of the brews they carry, the ABV and where the beer was brewed.

We had planned to finish out the trip with a stop at El Toro Brewing, maker of one of my very favorite beers, Poppy Jasper. Alas, they aren't open on Mondays, so perhaps another trip to Morgan Hill is in order!