• Stay three nights in a 5 bedroom mountain home with a guest house
• Sample 60+ beers over those three days
• Dine on gourmet dishes, including a 9-course all-day beer/food pairing

It was a personal beer festival. How much would you pay for such an adventure? Over MLK weekend, 9 friends and I spent about $230/person to pull this off. All it takes is some creativity, a fearless sense to push the envelope of pleasure, sprinkled a little bit of work and preparation. I thought it was a deal. Hell, Savor in DC is over $100/ticket, and you’re only there for three hours.

Sausage pizza with pappadeaux peppers and basil

Friday night we started off with homemade pizzas on the grill. We had three different varieties: Margherita, homemade sausage with pappadeaux peppers, and the Figgy Piggy (figs, bacon, caramelized onions and arugula), all cooked over a charcoal grill. The homemade sausage was spectacular and won the night.

Our beer theme for Friday was saisons. We ended up sampling about 16 saisons while we ate pizza. My personal favorites were Foret and Odonata.

As with many weekend reunions with friends (think weddings, getting together with college buddies, or going to Las Vegas), I feel like I shot myself out of a cannon Friday night. I may have had a little too much of Matt’s homebrew before beginning the saison tasting, but Saturday started a little rough.

However, this was Barleywine Weekend, dammit, and I had 9 beer and food pairings to crush on Saturday. Four cups of French pressed coffee and a gatorade later I was back on my horse!

Such an excursion of culinary brilliance can only be explained through photographs:

Course 1 by Bobby Congdon

Sierra Nevada Porter pancakes with candied pecans, coffee whip creme & framboise reduction. Paired with Great Divide Espresso Oak-Aged Yeti.

Course 2 by Brian and Nicole Cendrowski

Scratch-made biscuit with goat sausage, a poached farm-fresh egg, and homemade goat cheese. Paired with Anchorage Brewing Love Buzz Saison.

Course 3 by Matt Schaefer

Country Captain chicken and waffles. Paired with Rodenbach Grand Cru.

Course 4 by Ed Westbrook

Red curry with chicken, basil, Water Chestnut III, onion and jasmine rice. Paired with Westbrook White Thai.

Course 5 by Bobby Congdon

Potato gratin. Paired with Stone Arrogant Bastard.

Course 6 by Bryan K. Smith

Caribbean beans and rice with fried plantains. Paired with Mad River Jamaica Red Ale.

Course 7 by Cristina Schaefer

Dan dan noodles (pork sauteed in bacon fat, ginger, green onion, peanuts, szechuan peppercorns). Paired with Victory Prima Pils.

Course 8 by Nicole Cendrowski

Chocolate bacon tart topped with toasted cocoa nibs and more bacon. Paired with Nøgne Ø Sunturnbrew.

Course 9 by Morgan Westbrook

Unfortunately, not pictured: Scottish sticky toffee pudding paired with a variety of beers and mead.

While every dish pairing was awesome (I’m not just saying that, they all really were delicious, no duds), I have to nominate the Porter Pancakes and the Chocolate Bacon Tart as my favorite pairings.

The Porter Pancakes had a lot going on, between the coffee whip cream, candied pecans and framboise reduction syrup, but all those flavors bounced off each other like kids in a mosh pit during 311′s Happy Slamdance Song (Do You Right) in 1996. The bouncer that restored order was the Espresso Oak-Aged Yeti. It was an intense delight to behold.

Then, toward the end of the night, when all palates were shot and you didn’t think you’d be able to taste a block of pure high-fructose corn syrup, in rode the Chocolate Bacon Tart on its horse with two Sunturnbrew six-shooters by its side. Holy smoke. A graham cracker crust with bacon crumbled into it, chocolate tart filling made with Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips, then topped with toasted cocoa nibs and more bacon crumbles.

The Sunturnbrew is a smoked barleywine from Norway, but not overly intense on the smokey side. The smokey-sweet intensity of the beer was a perfect pairing with the chocolate and bacon. It may have been the best pairing ever, and I give credit to Camron Read at the Greenville Beer Exchange for the Sunturnbrew idea. Home run, my friend.

After the saison cannon Friday night and eating food the entire day, Saturday night was a bit more tamed. I think lights were out in the house around 11 pm. It was a good night for rest and recuperation, for we knew what was ahead: Strong Ale Sunday.

The Duck and Strong Ale Sunday

This is an authentic Oregon duck. This was not the duck we ate.

I have long had an affinity for duck. Ever since I had my first dish of roasted duck with steamed buns at P.F. Chang’s many years ago, I have been drawn to this majestic amphibious avian.

Now, whenever I see duck on the menu when I’m out to eat, I must order the dish. It’s bordering on an obsession. So, it had to be that I would find a way to serve duck this weekend.

Me and my smoked duck.

My inspiration came when Bobby told me he was going to bring his smoker and was planning on doing barbeque pork Sunday for dinner. After learning that they sold frozen whole ducks at the Asian grocery on Wade Hampton (for only $15), I knew I had to bring it. We needed a smoked duck.

I grabbed the first recipe I found when I Googled “whole smoked duck.” The marinade included fresh orange zest, sesame oil, white pepper, grated ginger and salt. After sitting with the marinade overnight, the duck spent three hours on the smoker, getting up to about 160 degrees.

The sauce that went with the duck drew rave reviews. A hoisin base was combined with chili-garlic sauce (I used Sriracha, the best hot sauce ever), fresh cilantro and basil (basil was my addition to the recipe) and grated ginger. It was awesome.

To top it off, Nicole prepared a large bowl of Asian slaw with Ramen. (Unfortunately, the slaw is not pictured.) While not a pairing with beer, the slaw and duck was amazing, if I do say so myself. (Thanks also go out to Matt, who also brought his smoker, upon which my duck rested.) Duck, while already high in my esteem, has risen even further. I hereby dub it the official Fowl of Barleywine Weekend.

The beers of Strong Ale Sunday were so numerous that it’s hard for me to even recall what was had. Some of my favorites that I do recall: 2009 North Coast Old Stock, the flight of Westbrook barrel-aged tripels (four varieties aged in different types of wine barrels), 2011 AleSmith Old Numbskull, 2010 Untamed Barleywine, and the 2008 Dogfish Head Immort Ale.

I will admit, I only made it to number 17 of the 27 total beers sampled that night. The good news? I wasn’t hung over. At 35, any time I can avoid a hangover and still enjoy good beer, I consider that a win.

The Combatants of Barleywine Weekend VI gather around the beer bottle graveyard.

One of the questions I’ve gotten more than once is, “How do you stay so thin and drink so much beer?” Before this post turns into one big humblebrag, I admit that yes, I am a thin man. Glad we got that out of the way.

What I am not is a genetic marvel (I was a chubby kid and never made an organized sports team I had to try out for). I do not have monk-like discipline (I will have the occasional hamburger and piece of cake). I am not an obsessed fitness maniac (I have never completed an Ironman).

Shortly after graduating college, I weighed 183 pounds and couldn’t run a mile. I wasn’t in terrible shape, I lifted weights and played pickup basketball. However, I just didn’t feel very good about where I was. I felt soft.

Before - January 1998

I made the decision that I was going to change my lifestyle and become more active and eat healthier. I didn’t use any specific diet program, I just tried to take a common sense approach to improve my life. Over the course of the next year, my weight dropped to about 160 pounds, I ran my first half-marathon and could bench press 260 pounds. (At the same time, I was 24, lived in downtown Columbia and probably drank more than I did in college.)

After - July 2009 (As a bonus, I have amazing tan lines)

Over the next 10 years, I’ve been able to maintain what I had attained. I weighed in this morning at 155 pounds. At 34, I ran a PR in the 10-K Cooper River Bridge Run this past April, finishing in 45:13. A few weeks ago, I had a fitness assessment and came in at 10% body fat and could do 43 pushups. I’m not super-human, but I think I’m doing well for myself and I’m enjoying a lot of good beer in the process. As the saying goes, if I can do it, anyone can do it.

Since this is the time for New Year’s resolutions, I thought I’d share some of my habits and philosophies that I’ve used to stay healthy, feel good, and yes, enjoy my fair share of beer. My hope is that at least one thing will stick with you and help you feel even better physically and mentally this coming year.

Below, I have identified five key ideas that have helped me maintain my weight for more than 10 years while still being a beer “appreciator.” Notice that I’ll often use words such as limit, avoid, and in moderation… That’s because I’m not going to say you should totally eliminate something, or always do this and never do that. I believe most people fail in their changes because they don’t allow themselves any room for error. Don’t give up because  you had a piece of cake at the office birthday party.

Cut yourself some slack!

1. Calories matter, make them count

I’m a male, 35 years old, 6’0″ tall, 155 pounds. Roughly, my resting metabolic rate is about  1,700 calories per day. Figure I burn about 400 calories in an average 30-45 minute workout and other activities throughout the day. I estimate I’m working with about 2,100 calories per day.

I figure that I drink, on average, about 2.5 beers a day. I usually have two on weeknights when I get home from work, and about three or four a day on weekends (sometimes more if it’s a brew day). That comes out to around 300-400 calories per day from beer. If math isn’t your thing, that leaves me with 1,700 calories for food and everything else.

Think of calories like money in a bank account. I have a certain amount money to spend, so if I’m smart, I’ll spend my disposable income on things I really enjoy or that have special meaning, rather than waste it on frivolous things I don’t care about.

I try to approach food in much the the same way. I only have a certain amount I can consume.  The goal is to maximize the enjoyment & health benefit per calorie. I want food and drink that is high quality or high health. That means minimizing empty calories, so out goes the soda, candy, chips, mayo, fried anything, the artificial and preserved. I deserve better.

If I’m going out to eat, I try to pick the most interesting and unique dishes available. If nothing stands out on the menu, I’ll get a salad and save the calories for when something better comes along. Choose your battles wisely.

A few other tricks that I’ve found very effective when eating out:

• Pick fun, new and/or expensive restaurants. Make eating out a special event, not just any old meal. (Goodbye, Applebees!)
• Consider ordering an appetizer instead of an entree. They’re smaller portions and often more creative dishes.
• If getting an entree, immediately draw a line down the middle of  the dish and only eat half. Take the rest home or let it go.
• Spend the extra $2 and upgrade to a side salad instead of fries.
• Ask to have the dressing or mayo on the side of salads and sandwiches.

2. Eat fresh

No, not Subway sandwiches. I mean load up on fruits and vegetables. You can eat them in nearly unlimited quantities. Throw in some whole grains, low-fat dairy (a little fat in your diet is actually a good thing), beans, fish and occasional lean meat.

My goal is to eat two pieces of fruit a day, either with breakfast on my cereal, as a morning snack or as “dessert” for lunch. I also try to make sure I have a salad at least once a day, either for lunch or dinner. Take larger portions of vegetables at dinner and smaller portions of everything else.

Over the past few years, Nicole and I have cut out a lot of meat from our diet. We’re not vegetarian, but we’re much more moderate. I’ve found that vegetarian dishes and recipes are often tastier than those that use meat. Many recipes use meat as a crutch to provide flavor, whereas vegetarian recipes have to be more creative, introducing a variety of ingredients, herbs and spices.

Eating fresh also means cutting out as much processed carbohydrates (including enriched flour, which is basically sugar) as possible. Limit pasta, white rice and white potatoes. Instead, try sweet potatoes, wild rice and beans. Lots of beans!

Now, I know some of you are going to say, “But I have an incurable sweet tooth! I can’t say no to sweets!” (Or fill in your vice…) Treat your sweet tooth like a heroin addiction. Go cold turkey for three months. Eat fruit instead of sweets. I guarantee you that at the end of your sabbatical, you’ll eat a candy bar or a bag of chips and it will be so sweet and heavy that you’ll feel like ass.

3. Drink a lot of water

Around the time I began my dietary revolution, I also made it a point to drink as much water as I possibly could. It’s gotten to the point where my friend Andy calls my water bottle my woobie. I can’t go anywhere without it.

The benefits of proper hydration are tremendous. Water is vital for proper body function. Among a plethora of benefits, it will improve your mental clarity, increase your energy level, and it will help you regulate your appetite.

What’s hard to believe is that most people don’t even know what it feels like to be properly hydrated. Most sources say you should drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. It’s also really difficult to drink too much water, so don’t worry about that.

These days, I basically drink three things: coffee, water and beer. (I enjoy milk, wine and gin from time to time.) I have my coffee in the morning, chug water throughout the day, then wrap it up with a beer or two in the evening.

4. Stay active

Everyone knows that exercise is important. I say it has to be a priority.

My goal is to work out six days a week. I alternate between strength training and running. It took me a couple years of starting and stopping to finally develop an exercise habit, but I cannot express how much better I feel physically and mentally because of it.

My workouts really aren’t all that intense. My weight and strength training workouts are about 30 to 45 minutes. If I’m not training for a race, I average 12 to 15 miles per week running.

I won’t pretend that I spring out of bed every morning ready to crush some weights or hit the pavement, but I always feel better when I’m done than when I started. Knowing the payoff keeps me going.

The key is to stay active, every day.

5. Listen to your body

A few months ago, I read the book The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. It’s a life-changing book, and I highly recommend it to anyone.

One of the central themes of the book is that we all have an “upper limit” of how successful we allow ourselves to be and how good we allow ourselves to feel. When we hit our limit, whether it’s feeling good in a relationship, being in good physical shape, or having some money in the bank, something happens to sabotage that good feeling or success. We get in a fight with our spouse, we break down and order dessert at Cheesecake Factory, or our car breaks down and eats all of our savings.

Our ceiling is determined by our self-image, the programming we received from our parents and all the other messages we’ve heard as we go throughout our lives. (Money doesn’t grow on trees… No one in our family is athletic… Just get a good job…)

It was after reading this book that a lightbulb went off in my head. Any time I eat too much or eat the wrong thing and I feel like there’s a brick in my stomach the rest of the afternoon, that’s my way of sabotaging my good feeling for that day. I deserve to feel good and I should treat my body accordingly.

Since then, I’ve started to pay close attention to how I feel after I eat certain foods, what time of day I eat, and how I feel when I have “just one more bite.” If I feel bad afterwards, that’s my body’s way of screaming, “STOP IT!”

A tip that my sister taught me to help avoid overeating is called the Oprah Sigh. You know how when you’ve had most of your meal, you’re getting full, but there’s a few bites left on your plate? You put your fork down for a minute and let out a long, drawn-out sign. That sigh is a sign from your body that it’s had enough and you should stop eating.

Listen to your body. Listen to Oprah.

The Hot Dog King comes to Ft. Collins

In 1983, my family moved from Cleveland to Denver. I was seven years old.

My parents both grew up in Cleveland. If I count correctly, at least three generations on either side preceded them in Northern Ohio, before you get back to the old country. Except for my Uncle Dave who was in the Air Force and now lives in Columbia, SC, all of my parents’ brothers and sisters still live in Ohio. Looking back, it took some guts for my parents to leave all they had known for 32 years to embark on a journey West, just the two of them and a couple young kids.

All I really remember of my first six years in Ohio was playing River Raid on the Atari with my friend Eric, getting popped on the chin by a see-saw in kindergarten, and my sister falling off our second story deck when she was two, yet somehow landing square on her back in a sandbox without getting hurt.

I was a little sad to leave my friends Eric and Jeff when my parents said we were moving to Colorado, but I think I was up for the adventure. When we flew into Colorado for the first time and I saw the mountains as we descended into Denver, I was immediately struck with awe. I was amazed at how big they were. I’d never seen anything so magnificent. Instinctively, I felt a primal fear of those jagged, snow-capped peaks, yet even at seven years old I was drawn to them.

Even though we only spent three years in Colorado, the experience had a profound effect on the rest of my life. I’m still a Broncos fan, I love going up to the mountains and I enjoy cold weather.

Turns out I have another connection to Colorado that didn’t surface until I was in my late 20s: beer. All I knew of Colorado beer as a kid was the one time we went on a tour of the Coors brewery in Golden. The only thing I recall of that tour was that it stunk to high hell in the brewery. I didn’t know what was going on, but it wasn’t natural. Maybe that’s why I ended up waiting until I was 21 to drink my first beer.

My, how Colorado beer and I have both grown.

As fortune would have it, a few weeks ago Nicole and I went on a pilgrimage to the Mecca of beer during Craft Beer Week. As our plane approached Denver, I looked over the port-side wing and felt the same nervous excitement when I saw the front range as I did when I was seven.

The plan was to spend a few days in Denver seeing the sights (read: breweries) with our good friends the Harrisons before heading out for a mountain get-away at the tail end trip. The Harrisons are beer appreciators themselves, and Alexandra was in between semesters and had ample time to serve as our beer sherpa. In fact, the first thing we did off the plane was head to a downtown King Soopers to pick up some Deschutes and Odell’s.

Being mid-May when we left South Carolina, it was in the high-80s with the ever-present humidity. As we cracked open a couple Deschutes Hop Henges and sat on the front porch at the Harrison’s near-downtown craftsman, the sun was shining and it couldn’t have been more than 70 degrees. It was a little slice of heaven.

However, after that sunny afternoon, it must have begun the rainiest week in the history of Colorado. It rained at least 6 of the next 7 days. It felt more like spring in Oregon. But we wouldn’t let it hold us down.

Nicole and Alexandra drape themselves along with the hop vines outside of Odell in Ft. Collins

We visited Great Divide, Oskar Blues, Left Hand, Avery, New Belgium and Odell over the course of four days. Each brewery and tasting room had its own character, from the tour-centric grandeur of New Belgium to the urban warehouse feel of Great Divide.

Oskar Blues tasting room, also known as the Tasty Weasel, had pinball, shuffleboard and four skeeball lanes with 200-barrel fermenters in the background. I continued my cornhole spiral at Left Hand, taking a beating at the hands of Alexandra and Emmett. Odell had a well-polished tasting bar, no doubt inspired by the friendly Ft. Collins beer arms race with New Belgium.

My favorite brewery to visit was Avery. Their tasting room has a mind-blowing 20 taps and a cask, including at least 8 beers that I had never tried. I ran the gamut on the rarities and one-offs that I could not find at home. My favorites were their sour and a bourbon barrel smoked beer. All-around it was outstanding. I always liked Avery, but after suckling on the teats of the brewery, my esteem has risen to new heights. Thank you, Adam Avery.

The wall of taps at Avery

On Wednesday of the week we loaded up a rental car and headed west on I-70. After surviving a snow-storm, we emerged on the other side of Vail in Edwards, the location of Crazy Mountain Brewing Co.

We stopped in around lunch time with a French bread loaf and salami, grabbed a couple pints of IPA and enjoyed the view of the Vail Valley. We also had the good fortune of meeting brewer and co-owner Kevin Selvey and Crazy Mountain’s agent, Jay. Jay also happens to be the inventor of the beer buckle. And yes, I will be wearing one at Brewgrass in September.

Me with Jay, the inventor of the beer buckle, at Crazy Mountain

Our final beer stop of the trip was at Revolution Brewing in Paonia. After driving through a couple of broken-down mining towns that bordered on creepy, we came into Paonia, a surprisingly quaint and active town of about 1,000 people. We learned that in town there’s a cool bar that has live music on weekends, an independent movie theater, a farm-to-table restaurant, and a brewery.

About 20 minutes from our final destination in Crawford, we rolled into Revolution weary from five hours in the car. It was about four in the afternoon and the tasting room bar, which is in an old church, was already full with about eight patrons locked in conversation. I totally expected one of those scenes where everyone goes silent and stares when the outsiders come in, but everyone kept on rolling. We were greeted with a smile from the woman behind the bar and were served a pint of Colorado Red and Miner’s Gold.

Nicole and me out in front of Revolution Brewing with brewmaster Mike.

We relaxed for a couple pints and filled a couple growlers to take on to our cabin in Crawford. After all, we couldn’t risk being snowed-in for a couple days without some local beer to stave off the cold. It was still only mid-May, after all! (We woke up Thursday morning to snow. It was May 20. Didn’t see that coming…)

After nine days in Colorado, drinking some of the best beer in the world, immersed in the most gorgeous mountain vistas, it was tempting not to get on the plane Sunday back to South Carolina. I dreaded the warm humidity hitting me like a wet blanket when I got off the plane. However, I boarded the flight, knowing there is unfinished business back home. I have debts to pay and beer to evangelize. My people are in Colorado, but I’m a missionary in South Carolina.

I now understand Grizzly Bear. I’ve been to the pinnacle and as much as I try to cling to it, it remains allusive. Yet how can I go anywhere else and be satisfied?

Colorado… what now?

The view from our cabin in Crawford. It was amazing.

The “Grocery List” as it is appropriately called, includes tomatoes from Iszy’s Heirlooms, dairy from the Happy Cow Creamery, pork from Brickhouse Farms, lamb from Red Fern Farms, flour from Adluh.

Amidst this delicious backdrop, American Grocery hosted their first beer pairing dinner on Monday evening. Chef Joe teamed up with one of Greenville’s heavy hitters in the beer world, Cameron Read from the Greenville Beer Exchange, to match the perfect beer with the perfect dishes.

Here’s what they came up with:

Course 1
mussel ceviche, smoked paprika, pickled mustard seeds
Lindeman’s Geuze Cuvee Rene

Course 2
crispy smoked pork, summer bean ragout, sauce gribiche
Aecht Schlenkeria Rauchbier Urbock

Course 3
local lamb, preserved lemon gnocchi, dinosaur kale, marinated tomatoes
Westmalle Trappist Tripel

Course 4
chocolate semifreddo, coconut caramel
Weyerbacher Heresy

So, um, yeah. It lived up to the hype.

We arrived at 6:30 and were allowed to choose our seat at one of three long tables, community-style. First, a word on community-style dinners at restaurants. This is totally the way to go. The food and beers were great, and I’ll get to that in a minute, but it was the good company that made the experience a memorable one. We met a half-dozen new people, some of whom were beer vets, others just wanted to try some new things. Everyone was open-minded and we had a great time discovering, telling stories and getting to know each other.

Sure, you might sit next to some weirdos on occasion, but you just don’t have to talk to them. Odds are you’ll meet really cool people and perhaps make a new friend or two. That’s what sharing a meal is really about. More restaurants should do this.

Enough philosophy, onto the goods.

For the first course, Chef Joe was gracious enough to substitute beets in for the mussels. (The thought of eating mussels makes me want to gag. Gah!) However, my involuntary reflex caused me to miss out on a fantastic pairing, as the acidity in the ceviche would have paired perfectly with the acidic tartness of the geuze. The salad was still good, and the smoked paprika was a neat twist on the finish. I loved the geuze, but that’s a given for me these days. It was light, tart and dry, much like champagne.

It probably comes as no surprise, but the smoked pork was my favorite dish and pairing of the night. The pork was tender as can be, and the crispy breading coated the pork and gave it a subtle crunchy texture that separated it from mere barbeque pork. The choice of the smoked, dark, malty rauchbier with the smoked pork may seem like a no-brainer, and with good reason. The pork and beer pairing took each other to new heights, as soul mates who, while leading separate lives, achieved a measure of worldly success, but when together have the potential for world domination.

Moving on to course three, I was prepared for a small let-down. After all, where do you go from there? There was no such disappointment. Not when you have tender, local lamb with preserved lemon gnocchi paired with a trappist tripel from Westmalle that practically invented the style. The lemony citrus from the gnocchi, along with the vinegar spice of the marinated tomatoes and the richness of the lamb was accentuated exceptionally well with the fruity spice and intense malt backbone of the tripel. Well done.

For dessert? In normal-guy language was a chocolate brownie topped with kind-of frozen chocolate custard, coconut caramel sauce and cocoa nibs, paired with a bourbon barrel imperial stout. The use of the coconut in the dessert was genius, it totally meshed with the vanilla-coconut character from the bourbon barrel aging in the beer. A slice of nirvana.

My only suggestion for next time is to pour slightly larger samples of each beer. (Of course the lush would suggest that…) While I do understand we don’t want a bunch of drunks hitting the street, the samples were a hair on the short side, which meant that I had to ration my sips to stretch my beer through each course. Who knows, maybe that’s actually a lesson I should take home!

Overall, it was a delicious meal with thoughtfully paired beers in a welcoming atmosphere. Nicole and I had a great time, and we hope that AGR will team up with GBX to do this again.

While I was working the first part of the week, I was staying in Laguna Woods, about an hour south of LA. On Tuesday I was able to steal away for a post-work jaunt down to Laguna Beach for dinner at the Ocean Avenue Brewery.

Laguna Beach is a quaint little beach town, and is the only place in Southern California where the mountains go all the way to the sea. The beaches and small cliffs provide a beautiful setting. I was able to watch the sun set over the Pacific for the first time in almost four years. Ah, it’s been too long…

Sunset on Laguna Beach

After checking out some beach volleyball (players) and walking in the sand, I headed over to the brew pub. It was around 7 pm, but I was dog tired from the jet lag. It also threw me off that the Bulls-Pacers game was just finishing up. Stuff happens so early out there!

Ocean Avenue Brewery

The place was smaller than I thought it would be from the outside, with the bar on the left and a big projection TV on the right side. I got the feeling this place would be rocking during the peak of beach season, but tonight it was empty.

The dining area in Ocean Avenue Brewing

They had a good sized patio section along the sidewalk, but I decided to pull up a seat at the bar along with the other two patrons in the restaurant. As my father-in-law taught me, if you’re traveling by yourself, always sit at the bar. You’ll make some good connections that way.

I struck up a conversation with the bartender, Giovani, and ordered a sample flight of their four beers on tap. (They also had another four or five guest taps.) Of the brewery’s own beers, they had Watchtower Wheat, Red Sunshine, Ocean Pale and The Moors Scottish Ale.

Giovani told me a bit about each beer, in an awesome Italian accent, by the way. I started with the wheat, which would make a great beach beer. Light in body and flavorful, it came through with citrus and coriander.

The red was solid for a session beer. It had a nice malt flavor and dry finish. The pale ale was my least favorite, though it was decent. The Scottish was interesting. Smokey. I’m not sure I would have enjoyed an entire pint of it, as the smoke was too intense to make it a good session beer. However, the sample was tasty.

The food menu was creative and well thought-out. I ordered a pizza topped with fresh grape tomatoes, arugula, carmelized onions, garlic and shaved parmesan. It was delicious.

I wasn’t able to steal away to any more beer stops until I took my leave of Aliso Viejo and headed across town to visit for a couple days with my friends Jackie and Justin in Culver City, west of downtown LA. Justin is also a kindred craft beer spirit, and he proved to be a sage shirpa for my first foray into the SoCal beer scene.

Wally’s Wine and Spirits

Tactical Nuclear Penguin would have blown up my happy home.

I managed to leave the office early enough to avoid the worst of LA traffic, and I arrived at Jackie and Justin’s around 5 pm. Since Justin wasn’t getting home until around 7, Jackie took the opportunity to drive me over to Wally’s Wine and Spirits, a beer and wine shop a few minutes from their apartment. (They also had a separate small building dedicated to cheese. The world needs more buildings dedicated to cheese.)

Despite only having a few coolers for beer amid the wine and spirits, the selection was carefully chosen. No A-B here.

Somehow, I managed to restrain myself from buying the $100 bottle of Brewdog Tactical Nuclear Penguin, but I still came away with a good haul. Russian River Damnation and Supplication, Alesmith Old Numbskull and Odonata Saison. The 50 pound weight limit for checked baggage really puts a damper on a beer smuggler’s day.

Father’s Office

Once Justin arrived home from his hard days’ work, they took me to Father’s Office. I could only wish this were my father’s office. Nothing against my dad. He is a hard-working American.

Like most places in LA, Father’s Office has an upscale vibe, but in a way that makes you feel cooler for being there. It’s open seating, so there’s a predatory element that takes the excitement to a whole new level.

The wall of taps was impressive, and I went right in for a Deschutes Hop Henge. It had been over three years since I last tasted a Deschutes, and I felt like I was reunited with an old flame that I once shared a tryst with in Bend those many years ago.

I ponder the greatness of Pliney the Elder

After finishing the Hop Henge, Justin was able to score some seats at one of the outside patio tables. I then had the opportunity to cross one off my beer bucket list: Russian River Pliney the Elder. Yes, I’ve never had Pliney of any age. I now understand.

The food menu at Father’s Office is also on par with the quality of the beer. When he opened the place, chef Sang Yoon decided he was going to create dishes his way, so there are no substitutions. By the look of the dishes, I wouldn’t want to question his judgment.

I went with the burger, which was cooked a perfect medium rare, topped with guere, caramelized onions and arugula on a crusty baguette. We also got a basket of sweet potato fries, which were just sick. Oh, and don’t order ketchup with the fries. Just trust me.

Friday was laid back. While my hosts were working, I went for a run in Culver City Park, which put any hills in Greenville to shame. My calves are still sore. After lunch with Jackie at Native Foods Café, which was nutritious and delicious, I took a drive down to the beach in Santa Monica.

I stopped in for a beer at the Library Alehouse on Main Street. It was a neat little place and had 29 beers on tap. I chose the Firestone Velvet Merlin, a tasty oatmeal stout, roasty and chocolatey.

I stuck around long enough to watch the Broncos select Rahim Moore and Orlando Franklin back-to-back in the second round. I think Denver had a good draft, despite not taking a defensive tackle. If you want my full opinion on the draft, send me an email and I’d be happy to share.

Later Friday night, after sushi dinner, where I tried sashimi for the first time, we dropped Jackie off at LAX to catch a red eye to DC for a baptism. That is one dedicated godmother.

City Tavern

Justin and I then proceeded to the City Tavern back in Culver City. He’d never been there and wanted to check it out. It was packed when we arrived at 10 pm. There was patio seating, but was reserved for diners only before 11.

We went into the bar and ordered a couple beers. The atmosphere was lively. There was a bachelorette party and another group of guys that ordered a round of shots of brown liquor. It could have been one of those nights. The crowd seemed a little bit older, but as Justin put it, “People seem to grow up late in LA.”

The City Tavern is unique in that it is the only bar in California (or anywhere that I’m aware of) that has self-serve taps at three booths. I’m not exactly sure how it works, and I forgot to take a picture, but you have to reserve the booths and they offer three selections that aren’t available from the main bar. It’s a cool concept, though I’m not sure it would be good for my health.

Stone World Bistro and Garden

On Saturday Justin and I wanted to take a pilgrimage down to the Stone World Bistro and Garden in Escondido, about two hours south, just north of San Diego. When we first pulled up, there was a huge parking lot full of cars. I caught a glimpse of a sign that said “Trailhead,” so I figured that the brewery was next to a state park or something. Nope, that’s all for the brewery and garden.

Walking in, the place was teeming with people. It felt like bizzaro Disneyland for beer geeks. We were told it would be an hour and a half to be seated for lunch, so we took our chances with bar seating.

The dining room at Stone's World Bistro

I began by ordering an El Camino (Un)Real Black Ale, a collaboration between Stone, Firestone Walker and 21^st Amendment. It was fantastic. Rich chocolate malt with a terrific bitter finish. Justin got the Bashah, a collaboration between Stone and Brewdog.

We made our way up to the balcony area overlooking the huge patio area and garden. Unfortunately, the garden was being worked on, so we couldn’t go in.

I usually prefer places that are less populated and a little more rustic, but Stone created as close to a Garden of Beer Eden as I’ve seen. The garden is like an oasis among the desert of San Diego, and the restaurant is top-notch. Since we couldn’t order lunch entrees in the bar area, we did the next best thing, soft pretzels and sausages. Not a bad consolation prize!

Our lunch of pretzels and sausage, accompanied by Oaked Arrogant Bastard and Cali-Belgique

The pretzels were soft, yet crispy and buttery on the outside. We were given four sausage links: smoked cheddar bratwurst, spicy Polish, chicken florentine and hot Italian with provolone, all served over braised cabbage. Paired with an Oaked Arrogant Bastard and a Cali-Belgique, it was a heavenly meal.

I can’t speak highly enough about the Stone beer garden. I’m still in awe. However, if you do go, be sure to make a reservation.

But wait, there’s more…

Lost Abbey

We had one more stop left in us. About five minutes down the road from Stone is Port Brewing and their sister Belgian-style brewery, Lost Abbey.

Unlike Stone, Lost Abbey is no frills. You walk into the brewery, and it’s a brewery. There’s a small bar off to the left where you can sit on kegs with bags of dextrose for cushions. Everywhere you go in the brewery, you’re surrounded by oak barrels and aging beer. It is, in a word, inspiration.

There were oak barrels around every corner in the brewery

This was probably the most fun stop of the weekend. Combining the excitement of $1 four-ounce samples with other people who were equally excited about $1 samples, the atmosphere was festive.

I was wearing my Coast Brewing t-shirt and a guy from Mt. Pleasant who was also in California for a work trip came up and introduced himself. He and his other friend who lived in San Diego were also at Brewvival in February. Yes, it is a small world.

We also met a group of four girls who were chemists in graduate school. We compared tasting notes, and I learned that one of the girls, Jenny, was from Germany and had never eaten an avocado! Imagine!

At this point, Emma the Dog saved me. After trying several samples, including 10 Commandments, Avant Garde, and Carnevale, along with Port Brewing’s Old Viscocity, Mongo IPA and Santa’s Little Helper, I was in a good place.

I could have kept drinking samples like this was Brewgrass, but we had to leave to pick up Emma from doggy day care. I’d like to send Emma a personal thanks, as she prevented me from being hungover on an airplane for eight hours the next day.

The Lost Abbey beers were great, and I still have an unopened bottle of Red Poppy waiting for me in the fridge. I’m going to wait a few weeks to open it, after I’ve come down from my California high and need a little reminder of what the beer is like on the West Side.

Needless to say, I’m excited about this Saturday. This year should be even better. The weather forecast looks good and the beer list already has me buzzed. It’s going to be a fantastic day.

Aside from all the rare treats that I’ll get to sample, one of the most exciting aspects of going to this year’s festival is that one of my longtime friends, The Beave, and his wife Meredith will be coming with us. This is their first-ever beer festival. I remember my first beer festival… barely…

What a first-time. This is the beer equivalent to loosing your virginity to Brooklyn Decker. I’m not sure any other festivals will ever measure up for them.

So, it got me thinking, what advice would I give first time beer festival goers? There are four key things to keep in mind in preparing to attend a festival:

1. Hydration is key, bring a hydration pack if you have one

Brewvival is a six-hour affair. These are big beers. You will get hammered much faster than you think, especially as you get caught up in the festivities. You need to make sure you’re paced and hydrated enough to make it all six hours. Don’t be that guy passed out face-down in a field.

Many of the smaller, outdoor festivals will allow you to bring in your own water bottles or hydration packs. Having plenty of water easily accessible is crucial, especially if there aren’t a lot of water stations around the festival area.

I always recommend drinking a swallow or two of water between samples. Not only does it help keep you hydrated, but it cleanses the palate, getting you ready for your next beer. Obviously, check the festival’s website or FAQ and see if there are any restrictions about what you’re allowed to bring in.

2. Pretzel necklaces are the crown jewels of beer festivals

We all know what happens when you drink beer on an empty stomach. Well, imagine drinking for six hours on an empty stomach. Bad things.

Since the dawn of agriculture and domesticated grains, man has known of the alcohol-absorbing power of bread. I don’t want to be the asshole carrying around a loaf of bread at a beer festival. Instead, wear a band of pretzels around your neck! It’s the coolest and will supply you with a steady stream of spongy carbs to keep you going all afternoon.

Pretzel necklaces are the perfect accessory for the beer connoisseur.

3. Know the lay of the land

Do a little homework before the festival. If it’s posted, check out the beer list, or at least the list of breweries that will be there. Mark the beers you want to be certain you try. Often, the rare or one-time beers will be in limited supply. You want to hit those first so you don’t miss out.

Other things to remember:

1. Determine if food is provided or available for purchase. Pretzels only go so far. Bring some cash for a substantial meal or snack if food is not complimentary.
2. If the festival is outside, wear sunscreen. Hungover and sunburned is not a badge of honor, it’s dumb.
3. Wear an abnormal hat. It will make your day more fun.

4. Arrange transportation before the festival

Trust me, you’re going to be more hammered than you think. Even with small, four-ounce samples, if you try 25 beers, which is not too difficult in six hours, that’s the equivalent of eight beers. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot for me.

It’s best to have your transportation arranged before the festival, when you are at least somewhat coherent. Do not trust yourself post-festival. Coherence will be a scarce commodity. Make sure you make it back to tell your friends about all the crazy stuff you did at the festival.

These guys didn't arrange a ride home.

The view from the back deck of this year's Barleywine Weekend mountain house

I love hanging around “beer people.” Not only are beer people generally laid back, friendly and helpful, they rarely settle for the status quo. Whether it’s pushing the envelope while brewing or searching for their next favorite beer, they are never content to let things get stagnant.

There is also a point in time when beer people realize that beer is not only great on it’s own, it is even better with food. I’m not talking about beer and pizza. I’m talking about a Flanders Red with a goat cheese omelet. Crazy stuff that pushes the imagination and the palette to new heights and experiences.

That brings me to Barleywine Weekend V. Over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, Nicole and I were honored to be invited to attend a long weekend with beer-loving friends in the mountains. The tradition started five years ago when a small group of hard-core beer geeks wanted to have a weekend centered around an under-appreciated style of beer; they chose barleywine.

The general format of the weekend is this: Friday night is beer theme night (this year’s is canned beer), Saturday is food and beer pairing, and Sunday is nothing but barleywine.

I've got 99 problems, and a ditch ain't one.

The weekend started off with a dramatic flare. The owner of the house somehow forgot to let the property manager know that we were coming, so the quarter-mile long uphill driveway on the top of a mountain was not plowed and was still covered with snow and ice.

None of our cars could make it very far up the hill, so we parked at the bottom of the drive. However, after getting in touch with the property manager, he was going to come out and get some things touched up for us. So, we needed to move our cars so he could get his truck up.

Well, I had a small mishap while backing up my car, and while looking over my left shoulder to prevent sliding down a 15-foot hill, I got too close to the other side and the car slid down into a two-foot ditch.

Luckily, LeRoy, the property manager showed up about 15 minutes later and happened to have a truckload of firewood. A 65-year veteran of the mountain, he immediately set us to chopping wood, clearing the snow in front of the car, and built a small ramp for me to drive my car out of the ditch. The car only suffered some minor scratches. I am eternally grateful to LeRoy, could have been a disaster…

Once we finally got settled in, we began our canned beer tasting. 24 beers were sampled, and PBR and Natty Light were not in the mix. As a matter of fact, there was only one Oskar Blues beer in the spread, Dale’s Pale Ale.

Plating the frisee duck salad

Saturday was an incredible display of culinary ability. It was like an amateur version of Top Chef with beer pairings. Everyone brought there A-game, as there were 11 dishes in all. We started at 1 pm and finished around 11. There is nothing like eating for 10 straight hours.

With the smaller portions of each dish, I somehow managed to avoid getting full until around the 7th or 8th round. However, each dish was amazing, and I had to try each. It was a struggle toward the end, but I persevered and made it. (It took about five days for my digestive system and my weight to return to their pre-BBW status.)

I’ve included photos and a description of a few of the dishes below if you’re interested in the pairings.

On Sunday we started the day a beautiful pre-lunch mini-hike down a snowy road below the house, where an offshoot lead to a natural bridge. Upon our return we were treated to a pairing of two of soups and grilled cheese.

Later that afternoon we broke into the barleywines. We started out with five or six homebrewed barleywines, which were just as good as the commercial versions we tried afterward. We had some talented brewers in our midst.

In total, we had 24 barleywines to taste, but once we got to about 15 or 16, it became obvious that we wouldn’t make it through them all. Barleywine is rich, malty and typically over 10% ABV.

So call us pansies, but in the interest of public safety and next-day headaches, we called it at 16. Like the end of a cigar, it just wasn’t tasting good any more.

We had so much good beer, good food and silliness, but three days is about all my 34-year old body can take. I wish I could stay in the mountains forever, but it was good to get back to clean livin’ with lots of water, exercise and vegetables.

However, I’ve already started brainstorming for BWW VI. I’m not a rookie anymore, and it’s time to bring the thunder.

The Beer & Food Pairings

Dish #1: Steamed Asparagus topped with a poached egg, lemon confit hollandaise sauce, Parmesan cheese, and crumbled bacon paired with Sierra Nevada Kellerweiss (Prepared by Matt Schaefer & Christina Gonzalez's thumb)

Dish #2: Fresh baked pita, feta & chickpea salad paired with Ommegang Hennepin (Prepared by Bobby & Shelly Congdon)

Dish #3: Rye sourdough toast topped with homemade pickled apple relish and huntsman cheese Welsh rarebit paired with Founders Red Rye (Prepared by Matt Schaefer & Christina Gonzalez)

Dish #4: Roast duck on frisee salad with spiced walnuts, apple chips, goat cheese and Rodenbach vinaigrette paired with 2007 Rodenbach Oak Aged Ale (Prepared by Brian & Nicole Cendrowski)

Dish #5: Blue cheese on melba toast paired with Oskar Blues Ten Fidy (Prepared by McCracken)

Dish #6: Homemade pasta and pesto paired with Rogue Dead Guy (Prepared by Bobby and Shelly Congdon)

Dish #7: Apple brie quesadilla with sauted onions, brown sugar, cinnamon and thyme paired with Tripel Karmeliet (Prepared by "Burger King" Smith)

Dish #8: Mojo marinated pork tenderloin on a bed of collard greens with mustard bbq sauce paired with Sweetwater IPA (Prepared by Matt Schaefer & Christina Gonzalez)

Dish #9: Spicy szechuan pork stew paired with Stoudt's Gold Lager (Prepared by Ed Westbrook and Morgan seBlonka)

Dish #10: Baked framboise soaked brie and porter reduction paired with Ommegang Three Philosophers (Prepared by Bobby and Shelly Congdon)

Dish #11: Creme brulee made with Bell's Java Stout reduction paired with Bell's Java Stout (Prepared by Matt Schaefer & Christina Gonzalez)

If I had to pick a favorite, I would have to go with the mojo marinated pork tenderloin on a bed of collards. The collards cooked in stock and a ham bone all afternoon. They were incredibly tender and succulent. The moderate hop flavor and bitterness from the Sweetwater IPA provided a spicy contrast to the savory pork and collards. Great job, Matt and Christina!

Compliments to all the other chefs, as well. Each pairing was amazing, and I’m not just saying that to be nice. Beer people know their food. They go hand in hand, and these beer geeks know their palate.

It’s going to be a 4-course meal, each course paired with a beer and wine selection. I’ve personally selected the beers and will describe each pairing at the dinner. It’s $20 to participate. Space is limited, so reservations are recommended, call 864-286-1070 to prepay and guarantee your spot.

I would love to see my fellow beer lovers come out and represent to show all the wine people where it’s at. Here is the menu:

First Course
Blackened shrimp bruschetta
Thomas Creek Red
Madonna Riesling

Second Course
Brixx salad
Victory Prima Pils
Drouhin Laforet Chardonnay

Third Course
Sundried-tomato stuffed chicken
Terrapin Hopsecutioner
Kings Ridge Pinot Noir

Dessert
Strawberry tiramisu
Rogue John John Dead Guy
Hyatt Cabernet Sauvignon

Hope to see you there!

I thought I’d kick ’010 off with something different, and RJ Rockers’ Black Pearle fits the bill. (I wrote a full feature on the brewery for the HopPress earlier this week, if you care to learn more about the brewery.) Black Pearle is described as a dark IPA. A dark IPA, you ask. How can this be? Well, let’s explore the depths.

The color is as the name says, dark. Sitting in the glass on the counter, the beer looks black, like a stout. However, hold it up to the light and you can see a deep ruby color and it is slightly transparent.

The aroma brings in some citrus hops and candied sugar. It has a strong malt aroma which allows the hops to be somewhat understated. The flavor is certainly reminiscent of a strong IPA. Solid malt backbone and sweetness topped with a bitter hop finish.

The twist with the Black Pearle, which to me makes it unique, is that is also comes with a roasted toffee flavor that you would not expect from a traditional IPA. I’m assuming that’s from the roasted malt that they used to produce the deep ruby color.

I believe that the Black Pearle is the perfect example to debunk the misconception that many people have that a dark beer must be heavy. This beer shows that color does not necessarily correlate to body.

Brewers can use a small proportion of very dark malt and produce the same color as using a large proportion of a not-as-dark malt, but with very different flavor and body.

The Black Pearle a 9.5% ABV beer, so it’s going to have a big body and intense flavor. However, if I drank this beer blind, I would not call it a stout. It doesn’t have the creamy mouthfeel and intense roast of most big stouts.

I’m sure there are some purists out there that scoff at this notion. “How can they call it an IPA when it’s that dark!?” Well, I don’t care.

So often we feel like we have to play within these established style parameter, but what fun is that? I say push it, do something off the wall, and give people a new experience. Who cares what’s on the label?

If you have never had a barrel-aged beer, or a beer served from a cask, please, I beg you, find a cask night or a barrel-aged beer at a fancy beer store and drink it. It will change your life.

Now, I’m a huge fan of Oskar Blues regular selections. I think Dale’s Pale is a staple for any session or camping trip, and Old Chub is one of my favorite choices when I’m looking for something sweet and malty. The whiskey oak-aged versions of these beers did not disappoint. They were delicious.

Mama’s Little Yella Pils

I started with the Mama’s Little Yella Pils. This was a very unique selection, as I’d never had a barrel-aged pilsner before.

The whiskey aroma was dominant, but more of the oak came through in the flavor. I would not have guessed this was a pilsner. It was a very tasty and unique combination.

My only criticism is that the body seemed a bit watery. The regular Yella Pils has a nice body and mouthfeel, so my only thought is that this was due to the cask. Either way, it was tasty and I wouldn’t call it a failure.

Old Chub

The Old Chub was the opposite of the Yella Pils. I noticed a lot of the oak in the aroma, but the whiskey came through wonderfully in the flavor.

Perhaps from the combination of malt, oak and whiskey, but I tasted a banana malt milkshake thing going on. It was smooth and delicious.

Ten Fidy

The barrel-aged Ten Fidy was a huge malt bomb wrought with whiskey and oak aromas. It was sweet, bready and smooth. Excellent, although if I had another, it may have put me on another planet.

My choice for best of the night was the Old Chub. It was somewhere in between the Yella Pils and Ten Fidy in terms of intensity and body, which made it a very smooth drink. The flavor was simply amazing. That’s the kind of beer that I could nip on all night.