Northern California Rare Beer Roundup – November 2009
The season’s heirloom tomatoes are all but kaput, I’ve busted out a goofy white hat to wear under my biking helmet, and our cat’s affections (I’ve done some back-of-the-envelope calculations) are inversely proportional to our house’s temperature. Some things change, but rare kegs and bottles remain incapable of drinking themselves. … It’s your November 2009 NorCal Rare Beer Roundup.
Yes, yes, and yes. This year’s Our Special Ale has indeed shown its spicy little head, kegs of Old Foghorn are popping up here and there, and Anchor has, in fact, brewed a draught-only special release to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their new brewery on Mariposa Street. But the question remains: does this beer really make you hum? This crisp, dry, and generous pale ale, showcasing the Nelson Sauvin hop (think: New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc; think: fancypants hop of the year?), is hoppy and sessionable enough to satisfy the hummer, whistler, and knee-slapper in all of us. Previously seen at TAPS and Toad in the Hole.
It’s baaaack. And, at $11-13 a bottle for impressive ready-to-drink barrel-aged imperial stout, it’s not exactly sitting idly on the shelf hoping, waiting, dreaming!, for someone to happen by and think “Now, that there is a nice label.” Scamper, do not stroll, to your nearest BevMo!, Bottle Barn, or bottle shop of choice.
Whereas Dr. Bill managed to secure a keg of XIII for a San Diego Beer Week event on Friday, mortals like us (I know, it came as a surprise to me, too) will have to wait until the 14th for the actual Firestone Walker release party. What? Paso Robles is too far to drive? Don’t worry, ma’am, there’s a wambulance already on its way! … Toronado will be hosting its own Firestone Walker XIII release party on the 18th, which, if it proceeds anything like last year’s (XII, 10, Union Jack, Big Opal, Walkers Reserve, Ibarra Buzz, Oaktoberfest, Velvet Merkin on cask) will be worth the drive from just about anywhere. Even, for instance, Sebastopol.
I will refrain from gushing further about the latest Moonlight seasonal to return in NorCal, a highly drinkable uber-version of Death and Taxes appearing at places like Flavor and Hopmonk, and instead simply ask the reader to imagine a scene in which a young, occasionally inappropriate beer geek happens upon a friendly female bartender and asks whether or not she has Bony Fingers.
As a faithful ticker of everything Ommegang, I had presumed that moving out west would preclude me from most of their newest stuff. And… I presumed well. But the TAPS Petaluma beer lineup never ceases to inspire certain degrees of shock and awe, and this big new beer measures up like a young version of the Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van De Keizer Blauw: imposing amounts of dark fruits, Belgian esters, a well-developed sweetness. Seek out a bottle and cellar it.
The Bistro’s Barrel Aged Festival
If there’s anything better to take your mind off missing San Diego Beer Week than crying yourself to sleep at night, it’s prescription sedatives. Alternately, there’s the Bistro’s annual Barrel Aged Festival in Hayward, which just might be the greatest beer festival you’ve (possibly) never heard of. This year promises 70+ rare barrel-aged offerings from the likes of Stone, Lost Abbey, Valley Brew, Russian River, Schooners, Drakes, Bear Republic, Allagash, etc. It’s kind of like that experiment where they put a mouse in a box with a lever that dispenses food and the mouse eats himself to death. … Actually, I’m not sure that’s how that experiment ended. But the Bistro event is kind of like my mouse. November 14th, $40 at the door.
NEXT MONTH: seems so far away right now.
