Noble Ale Works - Anaheim, CA

 Another industrial warehouse adventure. The town car slows and circles, and though welcomed by the site of the silo, it doesn't appear to be open. The driver encourages Lady Ellamie to try the door, pulling away to the thump of funk.

 It's early for a Thursday, an away game day. The tasting room is sparse. A few picnic tables, and a short bar. The carved wooden signs hanging from pegs tell her today is a short list day. Only 5 on tap, which makes selecting the 5 beers for the sampler a no brainer.

  Pistol Whips Pils: 4.5% 26 IBUs - Full bodied with a unique nose, her name is Mouteka, and she's from New Zealand. At first, she's hard to place, but then you hope to recognize her special scent in the future. Not too dry and not too malt. Heavier hitter than the traditional Czech style. Break Away Pale Ale: 5.0% 41 IBU - pale, bitter, golden, low carb. Another hard to place scent, kinda stinky, but not in a bad way. The Good Ship ESB 5.8% 35 IBU Swirling with the color of wildflower honey, and oh so little head. Smooth and silky, slipping down your throat. Tight, tiny bubbles tickle your tongue. Not much of smell, vaguely antiseptic. The taste sweetens as it warms. Big Whig IPA 6.8% 77 IBU, but which hops did they use? An earthy, faint cat piss aroma. Adequately bittered for this style. Rosalita 4.5% 26 IBU A slight pink hue shines through the goblet, invoking thoughts of grandma's pink wine in a jug, imperceptible head. Hibiscus imbues color and tartness, and perhaps the green peppers too? Mmmm.... Peppers. Wanting Mexican food... which would pair well with Rosalita. What a shame! No food truck today, and limited beer selection = short visit.

Perhaps induced by these conditions, there was the rare sighting of aurora beerealis!

 

Overall: Near Angels Stadium, which means decent beer before a game, and a projector promises views of the game at all times. The crowd today was mostly men after a white collar work day. A couple of beer geeks swish clean water in the glass prior to noting the elements of their swig. The crowd grew lively but not friendly, people seemed to keep to themselves. Danielle, the beer maiden, is a gem. Knowledgeable and friendly, full of enthusiasm. The beers which had the best reviews were not available that day.

An ad on the cork board announces it is the second anniversary of a local blog, promising 13 beers on Saturday.  And what of the brews for the party on Saturday?  Danielle can't be bribed for information, and with tribute band "Slaves Against The Machine" playing, it sounds like a good time. In the future, a call to inquire the taps, it might save a mediocre trip.

Russian River Brewing - annual Younger release

Last weekend I visited Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa to have the annual limited release "Pliny the Younger" brew straight from the source. This is the main entrance to the brewery as it appeared around 11:15 a.m. on Saturday:

The main entrance was far off for me, however, as I proceeded to walk down the block past an enormous line of people, turn the corner and kept walking past more people, until I reached the end of the line at the opposite corner of the block from where the brewery was located. I thought this would be a 2-3 hour wait, tops.

Wrong. Notice that this picture was taken during daylight hours. This will be important later.

As the day wore on, I got to know my line-mates, a couple of guys in the construction business, a software coder, a retired firefighter, and a number of others. Periodically, one or another of us would leave the line to feed a parking meter, get food, water, or coffee for the rest of us, or stop in at one of the local bars that wasn't releasing a once-a-year world-famous limited-release beer.

We crept along, discussing beer, the state of the computer industry, Mac vs. PC vs. Chrome, the morality of gambling, and the fate of the Sacramento Kings. And we stood, and stretched, and sat, and stood some more. Upon hearing of this adventure, one of my friends said it was like a marathon and I would agree, though it happened in slow motion.

It was also a bit like a Saturday morning detention or boot camp, certainly an exercise in patience, endurance, and pain, but with an ultimately rewarding outcome with all of us bound together by the shared experience.

You'll remember my comment about daylight above. Our group finally arrived near the entrance to the brewery just before 8:00 p.m. - that's postmeridian, people. It was dark:

Here's a shot of the bar inside, and of the eventual pizza I shared with a few of my line-mates:

In the photo of the pizza, you can see an 8-ounce pour of Pliny the Younger in the far corner. The pours were limited, but you could buy more than one. This beer was excellent. I had had it one time before during Sacramento's 2012 beer week, but this was different having it at the brewery where it was made.

If you like hops and the West Coast IPA-style of beers, I'm not sure you can get much better than Pliny the Younger. The bitterness was there, but it was fairly balanced by some sweetness, and the citrusy hoppiness was pegged at maximum. Also, the relatively high 10.5% ABV was not prominent.

Overall, I'm glad I made this pilgrimmage. Meeting a cool group of people and drinking a rare and terrific beer was worthwhile, but I will say that next time I will plan it so that I don't have to wait 9 hours to do it! If you want to make a visit for a future Younger release, be sure to go during the week, or as one of the brewery employees told someone in our group, come on Superbowl Sunday. Apparently no one is there.