California Trip (Part 2) - The Firestone Walker Inaugural Fest

That is 3 Floyds Dark Lord Vanilla Bean. Really. Suck it.

The whole plan for this trip started when Firestone Walker announced that they were planning the Invitation Festival this winter. Ashley (being the loyal Facebook devotee) caught the post the day they put it up. We recruited Eric and bought the regular tickets the first day they went on sale.

And then we planned a trip around the fest and the easiest days to fly from ORD to SFO.

They've gotten a ton of great press about the event already so there's no need for me to go into a ton of detail about it. But I'd be doing the event and those responsible for organizing it a huge disservice if I didn't say that it was simply the best fest I've been to thus far. The selection of beers, the organization of the festival grounds themselves, and the concept behind it were all phenomenal.

I had the chance to revisit some of my favorites, try a ton of beers you just can't get here in Chicago (Russian River, Pizza Port, etc) and to sample more than a few super-rare specialties.

They just announced June 1st, 2013 the date for next year's fest. I'll be shocked if I have any trouble convincing my partners in crime to do a second round... (Well, other than the fact that Ashley and I will likely have just gotten back from our honeymoon.)

Templeton Rye English Barleywine Group Brew

So, I've got some more Instagrammy beer porn for you here. Gary (aka Panic Brewing) from my homebrew club Square Kegs mentioned a few meetings back that he had a couple of Templeton Rye barrels just sitting in his basement. And being a good homebrewer / soon to be pro brewer, he decided that he'd organize a group brew of English Barleywine. Jeremy and I immediately jumped on the chance and brewed up ten gallons even though we had to struggle to figure out fermentation space.

More on the end product in six months or so. I am a little jealous Gary is the one sampling it to gauge how it's aging out...

California Trip (Part 3) - The Toronado

Everyone we talked to along the way said we absolutely needed to go to The Toronado. The San Fran locals we met on the bus to the festival, Justin from The Brewing Network, one of our airline industry friends from Chicago (completely unsolicited), and everyone else.

So we did. Ash and I drove around for about 30 minutes looking for parking after spending some time at a street fest in the Haight. But we eventually found somewhere to ditch the rental, used Google maps and walked to the bar.

It didn't disappoint. They've got a solid selection of drafts, are unapologetic on their curt service and cash-only policy and after settling in to your table, it slowly becomes apparent that this place has a  certain patina. As in, "We were here before craft beer was called microbrew, you un-enlighted mofo. Glad you finally decided to join the cause."

I love these places. We're lucky enough to have The Map Room and The Hopleaf here in Chicago, and even the relative newcomer in The Local Option. The Palm Tavern (still no website) is where I had my angels and trumpets moment with beer. I'm sure there are more out there and I want to find them.

But if you're in San Fran, do yourself a favor and go here. Seriously.

(Original Photo from Flickr)

California Trip (Part 1)

IllSo our hotel bar in San Fran has Pliny the Elder on tap. Upon noticing this last night I immediately ordered three for Ashley, my buddy Eric, giddy with anticipation.

I don't know if it was an old keg or it hadn't been cellared properly, but it did not change my life. There's so much hype about this beer that I'm not sure it could've lived up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong - it's a damn good beer. But I think all of the hype about it does Vinny a disservice. I'll gladly drink it again, but I wouldn't go out of my way to set up a trade for it when bombers of Double Jack are readily available in Chicago...

English Ordinary Bitter

Well looky look at that - I finally jumped on the Instagram bandwagon and can now take my own faux artsy photos without busting out the DSLR and Gimp. (Although it is pretty nice to just snap a quick shot on the phone and have something that looks reasonably good...)

On to the real subject of the post. Jeremy and I brewed 10 gallons of English Ordinary Bitter (using the recipe in Brewing Classic Styles.) Having previously mentioned my relatively newfound appreciation for truly sessionable beers, I am really happy with how this turned out.

It clocks in at 3.8% and packs a ton of flavor for such a small beer. There's a lot of toasted malt character and a hint of fruity esters from the Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) strain. The hop bitterness is restrained, but definitely present. Even with the relatively low CO2, it still has a nice creamy mouthfeel and a rocky, solid head.

Short of the Ginger Wheat I brew every summer, this is the smallest beer I've made yet and honestly probably one of the best. The recipe is dead simple (Marris Otter, Crystal 120, Special Roast and East Kent Goldings) but the flavors are all in balance and it just works.

We entered it the Two Brothers Hop Juice Competition and I can't wait to get a score sheet back on it...

The Revolution Production Brewery Opening

I've been really, really excited about Revolution opening up their production brewery here in Chicago since I first found out they were in the planning phase of the project. It's a monster facility (for a small-ish brewery anyways) and it's only about two miles from my house.

So when the opportunity to buy tickets for their Grand Opening party at the brewery came up, especially since it was billed as having 30 of their beers on tap I quickly snatched a couple for the lady and I. A few of my college buddies and guys from Square Kegs (my club) also bought tickets, so I was pretty stoked leading up to the event.

The brewery itself is a pretty awesome space. It is, in fact, HUGE. They've got a serious brewhouse and a  pretty significant number of fermentors and tanks in, as well as part of their canning line. There's a ton of space for them to grow and it looks like it's going to crank once it comes on line.

And now for the downer. I'm not sure if my expectations for the event were out of whack, if I'm just getting a little crusty in my old age or if they just totally oversold the event. I was expecting to leave full and having a decent buzz on from tasting a handful of beers they don't normally have at the brewpub. This wasn't the case. The lady and I waited (no exaggeration) 45 minutes in one of the lines criss-crossing and snaking around the space outside of the brewery for one of the food trucks and gave up.

From what I could tell, there were only three to four pouring stations including the tap room and I didn't find any new or different beers. I assume they were in the tap room, which was totally packed. The beer lines took about ten to fifteen minutes for each pass, and they were $4 pours.

I love these guys and their beer. I'm going to chalk this one up to them being unprepared for such a large event in a new, unfamiliar space and having no idea as to the kind of demand they'd face for beer. But the event left both the little lady and I with a bad taste in our mouths (pun intentional.) I'll be back and I hope that they can get their shit together for future events...