Petaluma’s fortunate enough to not only have a terrific craft beer bar like TAPS, but also two breweries within a few miles of each other. Lagunitas of course, and the up-until-now Brewpub-only Dempsey’s.
The latter’s only 4 blocks from my house. Yet, just across the street from me is the Petaluma Whole Foods, where I stumbled across the freshly bottled first offerings from Dempsey’s Restaurant & Brewery. Surprise, surprise.
I spoke to Dempsey’s brewmaster Peter Burrell who confirmed See the rest »
Just a scant 12 miles north of the Lagunitas Beer Sanctuary is another must-visit brew spot, Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa. If you’re in the Bay Area it’s well worth the trek. Since it’s a restaurant, you can bring your kids if you got ’em (witness the Lego’s above). Plus, Sunday’s have HAPPY HOUR ALL DAY.
Obstructing Lego’s view above is a frothy glass of Hopfather. If you go, order this for sure. Like a crisper, less oily, but much hoppier Pliny the Elder. So hoppy it prompted my friend Shawn to pose the question, “Can a beer be too hoppy?”. An awkward silence followed.
The Belgian Beer Sampler was all-around tasty with two particular stand-outs:
Salvation 8.60 ABV
Nice, strong dark ale with hints of birch, pepper, dark fruits, and licorice.
Consecration 10.0 ABV
A dark, sour-aged belgian that may be the first of the sour beers (which are oh-so-hot right now for some reason) I actually appreciate. To the un-sour initiated, it tastes like dark-cherry kombucha. So if that’s your thang you’ll dig this.
Here’s what else was on tap: See the rest »
