The pain continues...

I just got my monthly Devil's Canyon newsletter which delivered some bad news: they are forced to raise the cost of a pint at Beer Friday to $4 due to the ever rising cost of materials to make the beer. Read the newsletter here.

Even worse, they mention some legislation currently pending in the California assembly that will cause even more pain for the craft brewer's of Cali. Anheuser Busch is pushing a bill that will increase the limit on how much "tchotchke" a brewer can give away to retailers and consumers by 1600%. Think about how many small breweries can afford to give away t-shirts, pint glasses, etc. vs. the budget the big breweries have for such giveaways. Until now there was a pretty low limit, which helped level the playing field, but if big "beer" has their way, that limit will effectively disappear. If you live in California, contact your assemblyperson, especially if they are on the Appropriations Committee (next stop for the bill).

On another note, we finally popped open the bottle of Arbor Brewing's Sour Blonde. Suffice it to say, it does NOT go well with pizza. M and I both thought it tasted too much like hard cider for our tastebuds. Neither of us could finish even a small glass. Oh well, it was worth a shot!

"That was an unpleasant combination of flavors..."

We finally got a chance to try the other brew pub in town, Grizzly Peak, after a yummy dinner at Earthen Jar, a vegetarian Indian restaurant downtown that we'd hear raves about. Even my husband the avowed carnivore chowed down at this place. We had the buffet- very yummy!!

But I digress. Grizzly Peak has some seriously tasty beers! We decided to go for the sampler, as we are wont to do our first time at a brew pub. We had the Grizzly Peak Pale Ale, Steelhead Red, County Cork's Irish Stout, and two special brews, a Cascade Pale Ale and Cream Ale. Usually when M and I rank beers, we are pretty close in our ratings, but not this time. He normally doesn't much care for reds, but ranked the Steelhead his #1, followed by the Cascade Pale Ale, which I didn't care for at all. I loved the Cream Ale, and ranked the Red second. We both ranked the GP Pale #3. I rather expected the Cream Ale would be like a Boddington's, but I found it to be much smoother. It reminded me a bit of a cream soda in flavor! MMM....

By the way, the quote in the title? Let's just say that vegetarian Indian food followed by 5 different beers makes for some interesting burps later in the evening.....

The Good, the Not so Good, and the Yucky

Yesterday was a big day: the inspection on our hopefully new house, discovery of a fab neighborhood liquor and food store near said new house, tickets to see Cirque D'Or at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, quite possibly the most disappointing Mexican food EVER, and... a visit to Ashley's!

Let's start with the most pertinent info: Ashley's. Since we were a bit short on time, we opted for a flight from the rotating taps. We chose Harpoon Brewery's Firth of Forth Ale, Stone's Oaked Arrogant Bastard, and Avery's 14er ESB and Collaboration, not Litigation Ale. We didn't have time to take a lot of detailed notes, but managed to each rate our top 2 of the 4. The first thing we noticed is that all the beers needed time to "open"- as they warmed a bit, the flavors really came out. I ranked the Firth of Forth first, followed by Collaboration, not Litigation. M liked Collaboration, not Litigation best, then the Oaked Arrogant Bastard. Sadly, neither of us much cared for the ESB (I actually scrunched up my nose on first taste, but then realized it's a BITTER so that is a good thing!).

The neighborhood shop sucked us in as we walked by headed to get coffee for M- they had cases of Concha y Toro wine stacked up against the window. We wandered in to find heaven for people like us: huge beer and wine selection with a deli in the back! We wound up picking up some picnic food and scoring a special treat: their last bottle of 1800 Edicion del Nuevo Milenio tequila, in a commemorative wooden box. (sorry, couldn't find a good link with info- this is the best I could find) I imagine this bottle will be broken open to celebrate moving into the house!

As for the Mexican food, well... last week I was buying something at CVS and when the clerk learned that we are moving to AA from Cali, his response was: "You're going to be really disappointed with our Mexican food." I laughed, but was secretly hoping he was wrong. We chose a place with multiple "Best of ..." plaques in the window, but apparently the voters were primarily students or something. (how do you turn refried beans GREY? they weren't back beans or pintos, but some evil hybrid?) There isn't enough hot sauce in Michigan to make me eat there again. :-( Looks like we'll be buying some Rick Bayless cookbooks and making our own Mexican food!

Welcome to Michigan

OK, so I'm sort of living in Michigan now... if living in a Holiday Inn Express counts. Which it should, since I have no other home at the moment! We've had an offer on a house accepted, so cross your fingers!

While I'm here with little to do other than look at houses, find my way around, and sample the various area eateries, I'm also trying to test a few beers. This being the midwest, though, not all restaurants have a big selection of brews, unless you count Bud, Bud Light, Coors, Coors Light, Miller, Miller Light, etc. And I don't.

Last night, however, we made a pilgrimage back to Arbor Brewing Company in downtown Ann Arbor. In honor of their 1600th (I think) batch of Red Snapper Special Bitter, they made a Red Snapper on steroids: the HXL Best Bitter, with extra barley and extra Huxell hops. With an 8.1% ABV, they limit each person to only 3 of the 12 ounce steins. M and I found it quite tasty, though I realized later that I should have had another beer first, the HXL second, as after tasting the HXL, everything else just paled. While there we also picked up a 750 ml bottle of their Sour Blonde, which I look forward to trying!

Back in our hotel fridge, we have a 6-pack of Founder's Centennial IPA, which I picked up at the local grocery. For an IPA, it is the opposite of full bodied... I don't want to say weak, because it isn't, but it certainly isn't as full bodied as I would expect from an IPA.

Last but certainly not least, mark your calendars for the Michigan Brewer's Festival, July 25-26 in Ypsilanti. Tickets are $5 cheaper purchased in advance, and we bought our Saturday tickets at Arbor Brewing. Cheers!

Blue Frogs and Silicon Blondes

We're wrapping up our last full weekend in California, and spent yesterday afternoon volunteering at the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend. Luckily most One Brickers got to spend the afternoon pouring beer and wine for the masses. Yay us!

Before we started our shift, M and I decided to sample a couple of beers and discovered Blue Frog Grog & Grill. They were pouring their Big DIPA, which lived up to its name: a big, hearty IPA! YUM! They were nice peeps, too, so pay them a visit next time you pass through Fairfield.

Later in the shift I found myself in the enviable position of "assistant pourer" in the Devil's Canyon booth! It's no secret how much I love their beer, and I'm VERY sad I'll no longer be able to enjoy it on a regular basis. At Sunset, they were pouring Silicon Blonde and Hellraiser Hefeweizen as well as selling their logo pint glasses and t-shirts. Good peeps there too; check out Beer Friday, the last Friday of every month, when they open their doors to the public!

Not even funny

Last weekend a group of friends went to downtown San Jose for a benefit comedy show, then dinner at a nearby establishment. I highly recommend Comedysportz. but can't say the same for our dinner stop.

For an establishment that seems to be really popular with SJSU students, San Jose Bar & Grill was woefully empty on a Saturday night. Maybe it was due to the holiday weekend, or SJSU graduation, or maybe it was because they were OUT OF THE GOOD BEER. Seriously- they were out of Fat Tire, Anchor Steam, and their hefeweizen on a Saturday night! How does that even happen? Sadly, when we got our dinner bill, I learned that I had just paid $5.50 for a pint of beer that I didn't even like. $5.50 in downtown San Jose?!? I think the only time I've paid that much for a pint recently was at either a ballpark, concert, or airport, where I was a "captive audience". *sigh*

Luckily I got to taste a good beer later in the week, when I had lunch at Los Gatos Brewing Co. I really enjoyed their pale ale!