Drink Up

What and where are we drinking?

Selfie Monday, week 8, 2018: (Beer) Medaling

Before I talk about my selfie, I want to address the elephant in my room. My DayOne journal has been nagging me to see the posts I wrote on this day in the past. I don’t want to right now. My mom died four years ago today, and these days that loss is terribly raw for whatever reason. So, that’s not what I’m writing about today.

No, I’m writing about getting this 2018 Santa Rosa Beer Passport medal today at the California Welcome Center in Santa Rosa. Fern got one, too, and afterwards we played Queen’s “We Are The Champions” at least three times on the way home. Also, if I look… off… in that picture it’s because I’m finally in the full bear-hug of a cold that’s been squeezing me since Friday.

But let’s back up a few weeks. While Lisa and I were waiting in line for Pliny the Younger at Russian River Brewing Company (RRBC), I took a walk down through the mall, down through Railroad Square to the California Welcome Center next to the stop for the new SMART train to get three Santa Rosa Beer Passports. I honestly don’t remember where I read about this, but it was a few days before we lined up for Pliny. The gist of it is this: pick up your free passport at the beginning of February. Over the course of the month, you have to get stamps at 9 out of the 12 participating breweries – though there are three “free stamps” as two of the breweries (Seismic Brewing Company and Shady Oak Barrel House don’t yet have tasting rooms, and the aforementioned RRBC was doing their Pliny event for half the month (Lisa and I got that stamp that day anyway!)). So six breweries during February. No problem, I think.

But what was Fern’s reaction? “We can crank that out in a weekend.”

Wait, what?

Sunday morning we picked up cat food at Costco in Rohnert Park (lest the meows mutiny and smother us in our sleep!) before starting our day at Bear Republic’s new(ish) Robert’s Lake location in Rohnert Park. I don’t think I’ve written about this place yet, which is silly because Fern and I have been frequent visitors since they opened in early fall. I was ready to start small, to pace myself – literally, as they have a lovely 4% Session IPA called “Pace Car Racer.” But that’s when I realized we might have timed this incorrectly. It’s San Francisco Beer Week, and most of our Santa Rosa breweries are sending their A-game down do SF. For Bear Republic, that meant a double IPA called “Hop Republic,” weighing in at 9.4% and 105 IBUs.

Bear RepublicIt’s the first stop, I should get the Pace Car Racer. But counting myself as both a hop-head and beer aficionado, I couldn’t not get the Hop Republic. And, let me tell you, it was hopalicious. But by the time we parked and made our way through the Santa Rosa Mall to the new 2 Tread Brewing Company, I was feeling every percentage. And my cold was exerting its influence as well.

2 Tread Brewing Company opened just a couple months ago. They took their time building out the 2 Treadspace formerly occupied by a long-gone Fresh Choice. You’d never know it wasn’t a bespoke building. Bright and airy, the main room had plenty of room, and the roll-up doors facing the patio promise a wonderful summer space. As February was trying to establish itself in temperature at least, having given up on rain, the roll-up doors were firmly closed. They have three house-brewed beers on the menu and I went with their 2 Tread Brewing Experimental Hop IPA #2. If the name is a mouthful, the beer was delightfully less of one – a well-balanced IPA with appropriate hop and bitterness hitting mid-palette and falling away to pine on the finish. A really nice beer. Fern and I also split their “carnivore” pizza (sausage and peperoni) as well as their sweet potato tots with chipotle aioli. Everything was fantastic. Well, except for this sign and my choice of hat…

But, hell, if this marks me as being in my “late 30’s” I’ll take it!

The last time I was at Disneyland was during the Clinton Administration – the first term – but I remember we hit the park hard and fast, and then retreated to our hotel to recharge before returning the parade. We decided this strategy was prudent for our marathon, so we headed back to my house to recharge. By “recharge” I mean Fern chilled while I passed out in a cold-weary exhaustion for a three hour nap. With the sun down and Dayquil administered, we headed out to bag at least one more stamp and we set our sights on one of my favorite’s, Moonlight Brewing Company. We arrived only a half hour before their closing time, but we still got there. Fern went with her favorite Moonlight beer, Reality Czech. I went with their seasonal “Mounting Evidence” which uses flowers, herbs, and redwood tips instead of hops. As such, it had a more herbal quality to it but still managed to be crisp and delightful. Fern beat me in repeated rounds of Connect Four while we finished our pints and discussed out next move.

By and large Santa Rosa rolls up its streets at 8pm on a Sunday. Just about every other brewery on the list was closing, the exceptions being RRBC (which we didn’t need), and… Cooperage Brewing Company, practically around the block. Cooperage is similar to Moonlight in that they both reside in anonymous office parks. But if Moonlight is the attentive, good student with its carefully-crafted, miniscule-distribution, and blink-and-they’re-closed hours, Cooperage is, well, a shirt-off Bro who’s looking for a good time. But that really nice Bro who is friends with everyone and always says hi and asks how you’re doing when you pass. This analogy is getting weird…

CooperageOkay, Cooperage is open until midnight with plentiful seating, two TVs along with a giant projector, and a long list of beers on tap with names like “Curt Kobain Pale Ale” (Fern had that) and “Clear and Loathing DIPA” (yeah, that 8.4% one was mine – hey, with the hop-less “Mounting Evidence” at Moonlight, I had to make up my hop intake). Like Moonlight, they don’t have a kitchen, and if they had a food truck patron, they weren’t there at 8pm on Sunday. But patrons around us had take out from several different restaurants on nearby Piner Road. Next time – and there will be a next time – we’ll come with food.

But our Sunday was done. We’d bagged four stamps, and my cold had crushed my head.

Sonoma CiderMonday, Presidents Day, dawned bright and cold(ish – it’s California, after all). My cold had bloomed overnight into a sinus-crushing, nose-running mess. A hot, hot shower, followed by Dayquil made me feel mostly human as we drove down Westside Road. See, we’d planned to hit Henhouse Brewing Company, then Fogbelt Brewing Company. Unfortunately, it being Monday, Henhouse didn’t open until the afternoon. I really didn’t have until then. So we audibled to a location we had previously decided to skip: Sonoma Cider.

Sonoma Cider is on the outskirts of Healdsburg and is tucked in behind the Parish Café and the Elephant in the Room bar – you kind of have to know its there. They have a full menu, and it’s delicious. But you have to make it past the Parish Café’s beignets. Good luck on that. We did – we were on a mission – and decided to try a flight. You see, if you know Sonoma Cider from their popular farm-implement bottles (“The Hatchet” apple cider, or “The Pitchfork” pear cider), they have so much more on tap here. Even if the food wasn’t amazing (it is. It really is) the sheer number of options of cider on tap is worth the visit. I didn’t write down the farm-implements, but the “West Cider” (punily named after the small orchard on Westside road where all these apples came from) and Winter Banana (which is a type of apple!) were two of our favorites. We did find room to split a pint of the “Pitchfork” pear cider just to validate that their core ciders were solid (spoiler: oh yeah).

The Dayquil was starting to wear off as we rolled into Fogbelt Brewing Company. I’ve written about Fogbeltthem before, and they’re still a great place. Their SF Beer Week entry was a massive triple IPA, “The Godwood.” You know, if the Dayquil was failing, maybe replacing it with a shit-ton of hops would do the trick? It almost worked. Almost. I nursed that 10.3% monster while we played Uno. Forgive me for neglecting my tasting notes at this point, I was done. We got our stamps and we headed down the street to the California Welcome Center to claim our medals.

So, we did it! And then we came home and I slept for another 3-hour nap. And I’m ready to go to sleep again, because this cold sucks. But for Presidents day this weekend, despite my cold, Fern and I medaled!

 

Moonlight Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA

Moonlight Brewing Company
3350 Coffey Ln
Santa Rosa, CA
707-528-2537

Back in the day, going wine tasting meant standing in the barrel room or in the processing room among giant tanks, smelling the sweet smell of fermenting grapes as you tried the aged, ready-to-sell product. Usually you were freezing, as sleeping wine likes it cold (maybe you were even in a cave), and your surroundings left no doubt that the liquid coming from the bottle required a lot of work to get from the vines to your glass.
These days, most wineries have invested in dedicated tasting rooms with carefully selected art pieces and gently playing music alongside their wines. The experience, for the most part, is still lovely, only… different. I’d argue that there’s something lost when you can only see barrels through a window, or hear the machinery when a worker inadvertently opens a door and disturbs the carefully crafted ambiance of the tasting room.
Most breweries largely skipped the tasting among the equipment to varying degrees – at Lagunitas you can see the enormous tanks, but unless you go on one of the tours then the gift shop is as close to the production as you’ll get. 101 North and Henhouse, are “taprooms” but both have walls that largely shield visitors from the process.
Not Moonlight Brewing’s taproom.
If you’ve heard of Moonlight Brewing Company you a) have probably heard of it when you were in the North Bay, and b) probably know of it because of their flagship dark ale, “Death and Taxes”. Unless you’re not a fan of the style you likely came away from that encounter happy to have discovered a somewhat elusive beer, and that was that.
Founded in 1992, Moonlight has been until very recently the labor of love of Brian Hunt who filled every role in the company – brewer, distributor, marketer. So when I mention you probably were near the North Bay trying “Death and Taxes” it’s because their distribution has been about as far as Brian would drive the kegs in his van.
Things started changing a few years ago. Rumors swirled that Moonlight was going to open a tap room and that Brian would take on employees. The biggest shocker came last year, though, when Brian sold a 50% stake of Moonlight Brewing to Lagunitas, itself having been sold entirely to Heineken. Brian explained to the Press Democrat the transaction was about preserving Moonlight – already 60, his children indicated they weren’t interested in running Moonlight.
But Brian did hire some employees.
And the taproom did open.
And if you are a fan of Moonlight, then the taproom is everything you could ever want. But let me explain that a little bit. First, it’s not open a lot: Fridays 4-8, Saturday and Sundays 2-8. If that seems to coincide with non-working hours, it’s not a coincidence. While the taproom itself – that is, the small area where the beer is poured – is walled off from the brewery equipment, the “seats” in the taproom are pony kegs with hand-made cushions temporarily resting on top. Most people take their pint or 12 ounce pour, or flight and go through the door into the brewery proper where the equipment is blocked off with wooden pallets (easily removed when Monday’s workday comes around). It’s cold, too – bring a jacket. But they also have a stack of board games, and Fern and I wiled away the afternoon playing Sorry and Uno.
As for the beers, “Death and Taxes” is one of a lineup that does vary somewhat week to week, but features their lighter beers, “Reality Czeck” Pilsner and “Misspent Youth” pale ale. When we were there, they also had a seasonal wet-hopped beer, and at the top of the ABV scale for them, “Bony Fingers” at 6.5%. Did you catch that? The highest ABV on tap is just 6.5%, bucking the trend of hop bombs starting well-north of that figure, with most of Moonlight’s beers falling around 5% or lower. The lower alcohol levels put the focus on flavor and complexity, where Moonlight shines (pun intended). But it also means you can wile away the afternoon with several pints without needing to draw straws for a designated driver or pulling up your Uber or Lyft app.
Downsides? Sure: it’s cold. That doesn’t bother me, but Fern wished she’d brought a parka and gloves (they do have some blankets by the games, though – clearly this is not a new issue). It’s hit or miss these days whether a taproom will have food, with many opting to partner with food trucks. There’s no trucks near Moonlight, but the low alcohol makes the absence of food less a deal breaker. Aside from the hours, It can be a little hard to find. Turning right onto Coffey from Piner, look for the business park on your right side a couple of hundred yards in. When the driveway splits, take the left fork and Moonlight is the first suite on the right side.
So make a note of the hours. Mark it in your calendar, and just go. Did I mention they have regular size and double-walled 32 oz growlers (it is, after all, a taproom). Incredible beer that doesn’t hide the method of production. Go. Just go.

Petaluma Hills Brewing Company is closing (and Jan Brady is Hawt) *updated*

*UPDATE* Spoiler: You’re too late
Due to extenuating circumstances, Petaluma Hills Brewing Company closed on Sunday, June 18th. We were there — Jazz, Lisa, and me. The mood was resigned, but still ebullient. More folks with kids stopped by and there were more dogs, too; it was as if people wanted to stop by one last time even if they couldn’t find a babysitter. I got a growler of Dated 1848. My last. For now…

So I don’t bury the lede, let me start by saying if you’re reading this before June 30th, 2017 and you have any way to get to Petaluma Hills Brewing Company — right across the street from Lagunitas — go. If you’ve been putting it off, go. If reading this strikes your fancy and you wonder whether you shoul– just go.
If, on the other hand, you are reading this after June 30th, then I am so sorry: we lost a good one.
Let me also state that I never intended to fall in love with Petaluma Hills. I’d had a number of their beers in bombers and found them always enjoyable, but never counted them as a don’t-miss kinda place (Spoiler: don’t miss them). That was until the fateful “Petaluma Beer Crawl,” I did with Lisa and Jazz a few months back. The plan was simple — start at 101 North Brewing (more on them in a different post), walk to Petaluma Hills, and  finish at Lagunitas; they’re all within a couple blocks of each other. Did you see the order there?  Petaluma Hills was the middle child, the Jan Brady of the bunch, a buffer between the precocious 101 North and the mature Lagunitas.
…Until we got there. 101 North is precocious, make no mistake. And Lagunitas is mature to a fault. But stepping into Petaluma Hills felt like stepping into your favorite buddy’s party barn – comfy couch, dart board, board games, great bar… But your buddy doesn’t likely have this many beers on tap. And they DEFINITELY don’t have this many on nitro.
First, let’s talk about what that means. Most beers (read: almost all) use carbon dioxide to make their beer fizzy. “Nitro” refers to nitrogen which replaces the carbon dioxide as the fizzy-ing gas. What’s the big deal? There’s a much better description of the science involved here but suffice it to say beers with nitrogen carbonation have a more creamy mouth feel. It’s most commonly associated with Guinness stout, so when you can try it with, say, an IPA… it’s a fantastic experience. Especially when you can try both side by side — which you can at Petaluma Hills.
Now you’re starting to see that Jan is really the hawt one. And you’re right.
On my most recent visit with Jazz and Lisa, I started with my favorite IPA of theirs, Dated 1858, on standard CO2 carbonation. Then, later, I had that exact same beer on nitro. The difference was spectacular — that creamy mouth feel I mentioned was at the forefront but it mellowed out the sharpness associated with a California hop-forward IPA. And that may not be for everyone, but it’s absolutely worth trying and I wouldn’t have had that opportunity outside of visiting their taproom.
But Petaluma Hills is closing June 30th.
If you’re wondering why such a fantastic place with so many great offerings is closing even while new breweries are opening or expanding in the area, it comes down to money, or poorly-spent/not-enough capital. This article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat  lays it all out pretty clearly. If you read between the lines, there’s a strong suggestion that not all these breweries that have popped up over the last few years will be here in 3 or 5 years. We’re absolutely living in a golden era of craft brews, and if there’s a takeaway from Petaluma Hills Brewing Company it’s that we should visit them before they’re gone because many do bring something new or something special. Enjoy them while we can! Carpe Diem!
Obviously this philosophy extends beyond brewpubs (please go hug those you love, you know, just in case), but that’s the topic here. And, if I haven’t mentioned it before, Petaluma Hills Brewing Company closes at the end of June, so you should go. Now.