Beer Travel
Craft Beer Tour 2024: I Return to Yakima
These photos were taken Tuesday, October 29 at Bale Breaker Brewing and The Outskirts Brewing Company in Yakima, Washington. While I may suggest that I hit the Pacific Northwest at this time of year for all the fresh hopped brews available, ever since 2018 the real reason is that I want to visit Bale Breaker Brewing.
Bale Breaker Brewing is one of my two “destination breweries” which is a brewery that if I am within 200 miles of it, come hell or high water (or pissed off girlfriend), I am going to do my best to get there. For those wondering, the first brewery that made the cut as a destination brewery for me was 3 Floyds Brewing in Munster, Indiana. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2024: Oregon City and Portland
These photos were taken Friday, October 25 at Oregon City Brewing Company and Arch Bridge Taphouse in Oregon City; and Sunday, October 27 at Belmont Station and Great Notion Brewing Company in Portland.
So yeah, Thursday morning I left Novato for the 10 hour drive to Oregon City. Would flying be easier, perhaps even cheaper? Perhaps, but you cannot bring as much beer on a flight as I was planning on bringing back home. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2024: Novato and Corte Madera
These photos were taken Wednesday, October 23 at Moylan’s Brewing Company in Novato, and Saturday, November 2 at Fieldwork Brewing Company in Corte Madera; which were the first and last locations I visited on my Craft Beer Tour 2024.
So yeah, it is that time of year again; that time being fresh hop season, which is my favorite time to visit the Pacific Northwest. While I was definitely out seeking fresh hop beers, I was spending more time hunting down fresh Citra hops for the simple reason that I have become dependent on the Citra hop more than you can imagine. Those that know know; I am still deciding how much of that story I want to reveal, but we shall see how it goes. Continue reading
Craft Beer Guy Visits Urban Roots and Oak Park Brewing
These photos were taken Wednesday afternoon, March 22, at Urban Roots Brewing and Smokehouse, and Oak Park Brewing Co., two of Sacramento’s Black owned brewpubs; in the interest of full disclosure, I have been unable to figure out if Sacramento has any other Black owned breweries, but that has nothing to do with this article.
After the final session of the California Craft Beer Summit, Tomm and I decided to hit up a couple local breweries because he had never visited any in Sacramento. Even thought I visited Urban Roots in 2021, I got there kind of late in the evening and they were still observing COVID protocol so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to pay another visit post-COVID. Oak Park Brewing had a booth on the expo floor at the Craft Beer Summit and we had both enjoyed a couple of their offering, so we decided to make them our second stop. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2022 – Grand Rapids Area
These photos were taken Tuesday, October 11, day seven of my Craft Beer Tour 2022. As I mentioned in the last article, we headed back towards Ruth’s home in Grand Rapids so that I could hit up a few breweries in the area before I headed back to California. We visited Railtown Brewing Company in Dutton, Broad Leaf Brewery + Spirits in Kentwood, and City Built Brewing in Grand Rapids.
We started off the day by driving south a ways to Dutton, where we visited Railtown Brewing Company, a brewpub that opened in December 2014.
They have a 7bbl system, which offered 15 beers, a hard seltzer, and a cider on the day of our visit, with a nice variety of styles available. Being a creature of habit, I went with their Citra Warrior IIPA, Hophikers Guide to the Galaxy, and Harvest Smash ’22 their wet hopped harvest ale. All were solid, but I have to give the nod to the Citra Warrior as my favorite. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2022 – ByGeorge Brewing and Rusted Spoke Brewing
These photos were taken Monday, October 10, day six of my Craft Beer Tour 2022. As I mentioned in the last article, my sister Ruth wanted to visit the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore so we set the GPS for Munising to check it out. We then visited ByGeorge Brewing (also in Munising) and Rusted Spoke Brewing in Mackinaw City.
While I figured that Pictured Rocks must be pretty photogenic, as we approached Munising I started having some concerns because virtually every billboard or sign that I saw mentioning Pictured Rocks seemed to include kayaks or boats; I was wondering how easy it was going to be to photograph this place from land. The GPS was not being very helpful either since dozens of places had “Pictured Rocks” in the name. Eventually we happened upon a helpful Park Service Ranger that told us we wanted to go to Miners Castle and gave us directions to get there. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2022 – Yoopers and the Great Lakes
These photos were taken Sunday, October 9, day five of my Craft Beer Tour 2022. Ruth wanted to visit the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, so we set the destination of Marquette and reserved a hotel room so we would be sure to have somewhere to stay. As a result, we ended up visiting Beards Brewery in Petoskey, Biere de Mac Brew Works in Mackinaw City, and Barrel + Beam in Marquette.
So, for those that do not know what a Yooper is, it is a self-given nickname given to the residents of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. If you look at a map, which I never did until two weeks later, you will notice that these next three breweries were about as “upper” as you can get on the Michigan Upper Peninsula. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2022 – Right Brain Brewery and Hop Lot Brewing
These photos were taken Friday and Saturday, October 7 and 8, days three and four of my Craft Beer Tour 2022. As I mentioned early on, my sister (Ruth) was in a major train accident back in June and was pretty jacked up, so Friday, before we did anything else, I had to take her to get more x-rays. After that we headed up to her cabin in Dublin. On Saturday we visited Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City and Hop Lot Brewing Company in Suttons Bay.
Ruth’s appointment was around noon, and she knew there was a craft beer bar fairly close to the medical center that I could hang out at while she did her thing. She sent me to HopCat, a craft beer bar with numerous locations, this one in Grand Rapids and only sold beer brewed in Michigan. Okay, that is not exactly true; they also sell a wide variety of food, and some hard seltzers. They had about 40 options available.
I have to admit, I was a little bummed that Ruth’s doctor visit only lasted an hour, because I could have had a great time there. I had just finished my Hoplicated Imperial Pale Ale from Odd Side Ales when I was trying to decide between the Bark Lord Imperial Stout from Transient Artisan Ales and a 2018 Founders CBS, when I got the message it was time to pick her up. Bark Lord was phenomenal, but my server offered me a small crowler of the Founders to-go, so that is what I took with me. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2022 – Newago and Coopersville
These photos were taken Thursday, October 6, day two of my Craft Beer Tour 2022. We started off the day looking for trees with leaves changing colors, then worked our way to Newaygo Brewing Company and hit up Coopersville Brewing Company on the way home.
So yeah, while the end goal was to visit new breweries, we did want to check out some of the fall beauty this part of the country offers this time of year, so my sister suggested we take back roads to the town of Newaygo. Unfortunately(?), the weather has been in the 70’s around here and that is not exactly conducive to causing leaves to change colors. Luckily, it got very cold Thursday night, so things should be popping soon. That being said, the first few photos are from Hardy Dam Pond and the Croton Dam. Continue reading
Craft Beer Tour 2022 – The Mitten Brewing Co
These photos were taken Wednesday afternoon in Grand Rapids, Michigan as I started my annual craft beer tour. Wednesday found me at The Mitten Brewing Company, a microbrewery/pizzeria that opened in November 2012.
For over a year now, my sister Ruth and I have been planning a fall craft beer tour through the northeast as I have very little experience there and it would be cool to visit breweries and watch the leaves change colors. Unfortunately, my sister happened to be a participant in the Amtrak train derailment in Missouri this past June. To say she got jacked up in it would be an understatement (26 broken bones above the waist), but she wanted me to come visit, so we decided we would venture around the state for a week or so. Continue reading