Category: Brewery Tour

A concise brewery bio

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June Brewery # 1 – June Lake Brewing

It is a bit of a silly theme this month, but the world can always use more silly. Breweries with June in the name or a beer name. Let’s start in California with June Lake Brewing.

Here is what I would put in my taster tray…

Lager for Joggers – “Classic North American Light Lager, JLB version of Hamms.”

Archimedes Red Ale – “medium body, well balanced, malty and biscuity.”

Oishii Japanese Rice Lager – “Floral, notes of jasmine rice, extremely crushable.”

Potter’s Porter – “Smooth Porter, Mild Roastiness, Brewed in Memory of Keith Potter.”

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NBA Playoff Brewery # 3 – Federation Brewing in Oakland

Last up are the mighty Golden State Warriors, who have reached the final four after a couple seasons absence. So we travel to Oakland and Federation Brewing.

Let’s pick a taster tray…

Cerveza de Primarvera IPA – “This lower-alcohol, easygoing IPA is perfect for a spring day, and was brewed with the specially-selected Pink Boots hop blend as part of the Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day®. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this beer goes to the Pink Boots Society.”

Purple Midnight – “A lovely dark sour ale with notes of dark chocolate and a rich plummy tartness. (Contains lactose.)”

Oakland Gold – “Light, crisp & refreshing golden Ale”

Gingerator – “Gingerator 5000 5.1% ABV Tart, lightly sweet, and made with real ginger, this gose is the perfect beer for the porch, patio, or an apocalyptic future in which ginger-powered robots…look, don’t worry about that for now, just enjoy the beer while you can.”

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NBA Playoff Brewery # 2 – Distraction Brewing

Well, the Celtics outlasted the champion Bucks in a seven game series so let’s head to Boston, specifically Roslindale for Distraction Brewing.

Stieffelboogie Hefeweizen would be the starter for the taster tray before heading to Target on Maibock, an amber lager perfect for this month. Then time for hops with an NE IPA, Intensely Distracted before finishing with Hello Lover a Belgian Chocolate Quad.

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NBA Playoff Brewery # 1 – Component Brewing in Milwaukee

Gotta start with the defending champion Bucks, so let’s head to Component Brewing and find a starting five…

Chase Avenue Chaser – pilsner

Three Steeples – pale lager

Mosaic Theory – Flagship IPA brewed with local honey.

Haze the Lord – “We add lactose to this hazy IPA to give it a smooth mouthfeel and pronounced hop aroma/flavor. Citra, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops.”

Junk Drawer #002– “New England IPA 6.3% ABV. Double Dry Hopped with Idaho 7, Azaca Cryo and Citra. We used a thiol producing strain of yeast the brings out even more fruit aroma. Think passion fruit and grapefruit!”

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Firestone Walker Invitational Brewery # 3 – Liquid Gravity

Our final stop before the Firestone Walker Invitational is in San Luis Obispo and Liquid Gravity. Let’s fill up a taster tray…

Killer Stratagy West Coast IPA – “100% STRATA WEST COAST IPA WITH BIG, STICKY NOTES OF DANK AND TROPICAL FRUIT.”

IPA – “LIQUID GRAVITY IPA IS A MODERN WEST COAST IPA WITH A BRIGHT, TROPICAL HOP CHARACTER, REFRESHING BITTERNESS AND CRISP FINISH. BURSTING WITH AN INTENSE BOUQUET OF PASSIONFRUIT, GUAVA AND TANGERINES, THIS 100% MOSAIC DRY-HOPPED BEER IS THE CORNERSTONE OF OUR LINEUP.”

Miami Heist Hazy DIPA – “MIAMI HEIST IS A HAZY DOUBLE IPA BREWED WITH CENTENNIAL AND CITRA HOPS. AT FIRST APPROACH YOU’LL FIND BRIGHT AROMAS OF CITRUS, MELON, AND TROPICAL FRUITS EXPLODING FROM THE GLASS. THE USE OF OATS AND WHEAT HELP TO BALANCE THE BEER WITH A GENTLE SWEETNESS AND LUSCIOUS TEXTURE THAT SOFTEN THE HOPS AS THEY LAND ON THE PALATE.”

Coffee Porter – “THIS BEER IS A TRADITIONAL ROBUST PORTER BREWED WITH PREMIUM LIGHTLY ROASTED ETHIOPIAN COFFEE BEANS FROM HONEY CO. COFFEE. THE RESULTING BEER HAS A MEDIUM BODY, GENTLE CARAMEL-LIKE SWEETNESS AND SOFT, CHOCOLATEY ESPRESSO FINISH.”

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A Trip to Julian

I made a drive out to Julian with two agendas. Pie from one of the many pie establishments in the small mountain town and beer from both breweries to pair with all that pie crust.

First was Nickel Beer Co. which reminded me of Happy Valley back in Portland. A corner location that looked to be a roadside hangout now brewery.

Inside was a memento filled small room with the taps, I picked out a sampler tray and set to tasting on the patio to enjoy the sun and wind and blue sky.

Unfortunately, three of the five beers exhibited off flavors which is something since I don’t usually pick “off” up much. The Farmer Jon Strong Pale was unique but not greatly hoppy. The Apple Pie Ale was as advertised but the others did not make the grade. I was hoping that the Pink Boots beer being a DIPA would be a saving grace, but alas, not to be.

On the other end of Julian is the aptly named Julian Beer Company with plenty of front patio seating in front of a pair of red barns to watch Pacific Coast Trail hikers going past.

I had a sampler tray with lovely taster glasses but alas, though better than Nickel, the beers were only so-so. My favorite was the Rye IPA, Pistol Whipped. If the Grave Digger was labeled as a dark lager and not a Dopplebock, I would have ranked that a bit higher. I had another Pink Boots IPA and it was a bit underdone.

To be blunt, the two Julian ciders that I had were easily the best drinks of the trip.

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Firestone Walker Invitational brewery # 2 – Chuckanut Brewery

We head to Washington State for Chuckanut Brewery. They do traditional styled ales and do them very well and I hope that their booth gets mobbed with people drinking beers like…

Export Dortmunder Lager – “Honey colored, bready, moderate bitterness.”

Grodziskie Lager – “Pale straw colored, fresh grain, gentle smoke, effervescent.”

Mosaic Leaf Pilsner – “Golden, dry, bitter, fruity noble hops, refreshing.”

Yellow Card Ale – “golden colored, spicy, crisp.”

Alt Bier Ale – “Deep bronze, zesty hop flavor, snappy, full malt flavor.”

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“Old” Brewery Tour # 3 – Alaskan Brewing

Our final “old” brewery is Alaskan Brewing. This brewery is past the 35 year mark which is quite an achievement.

Stratasphere IPA – “Brewed with a ton of Strata hops and Alaska-grown wheat for a slight haziness, this bold IPA is big in citrusy mango flavors that showcase this new exciting hop variety.”

Juneau Juice – “This unfiltered IPA is a glowing medium gold, with a hazy appearance reminiscent of a lazy summer day in Juneau, AK. Ripe pineapple, fresh tangerine and pine resin abound in the aroma, with a host of other tropical and stone fruit flavors. Juneau Juice is all about bright and succulent hop character.”

Pilsner – “It’s been said that Pilsners represent the high art of brewing. Named for the region of the Czech Republic known as Pilsen, this style of beer is considered both challenging to brew by brewmasters across the world and an easy to drink beer that delights beer drinkers everywhere.”

and of course, Smoked Porter – “Known as “rauchbier” in Germany, smoke-flavored beers were virtually unknown in the U.S. until Alaskan Smoked Porter was developed in 1988.”