Domestic Micro Brew

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Restaurant Guru on January 30, 2008 at 6:58am

Hey Peter, I live in IL and I actually don't know of any great regionals offhand, but I have a favorite beer website right now that you might want to check out. I keep it on my blogroll because I like the writing and the pics: www.drinkcraftbeer.com. I just wish they updated the blog a little more often. Happy brew hunting! (And thanks for the CA tips; hope I can find them next time I'm there.)

Permalink Reply by Jeff from DrinkCraftBeer.com on February 14, 2008 at 1:50pm

First, let me say thanks Restaurant Guru for the kind words about our site. We try our best to update as frequently as possibly. If you have any suggestions for content you'd like to see, I'd love to hear it (jeff (at) drinkcraftbeer.com).

As for Southern California, it's basically beer paradise! I am Boston based, so don't know the nuances as well as I do up here, but there's many high quality local breweries. Nearby you have Firestone Walker, Angel City, Ballast Point, Green Flash, Lost Abbey/Port Brewing (Lost Abbey has great Belgian Style beer), Stone Brewing and lots more. Those are just what I know of.

Craft brewing is definitely an industry on the rise. It's a good move for restaurants to try to sell them, as well, as they often have higher margins than Budweiser and that ilk (which I'm sure you all know).

Hope any of this info is useful/interesting.

Permalink Reply by Matt Urdan on January 30, 2008 at 9:56am

Glacier Brewhouse Oatmeal Stout

Cheers!

Permalink Reply by Peter Karnowski on January 30, 2008 at 3:02pm

Thanks everybody for the responses. Here in Bakersfield CA we have a local brewery, Lengthwise. They have a good triple hop red and a great IPA. We have the IPA on tap at the restaurant I manage. Funny thing is Keith, that I also have Blue Moon, Stella, and Fat Tire on tap. I agree that those are not really small beers anymore, but for Bakersfield, it is a hard sell. It is definitely a domestic light beer kind of town. The restaurant is situated in an RV resort. As the RV side increases, I would love to have other regional favorites, that the travelers are aware of. I do have a few belgiums, Chimay and Delerium Tremens, and also a few British, Hobgoblin and Black Sheep Brewery. Would love to be the epicenter for great beer in my area.

Permalink Reply by Justin Mehrman on February 15, 2008 at 12:13pm

I live in upstate New York and there are some great micro brew's in the area. The best I have come across is in Chambly, Quebec Canada.
The brewery is called UniBroue a very unique brewery that creates some fantastic beers. My favorites are

La Fin du Monde "End of The world in French": A Belgium style triple fermented golden ale. It is a very smooth kind of tart ale. The unique thing about this beer and some of there other ones is that they are refermented in the bottle which a makes them strong about 9% but also lets them actually age quit nicely like wine does if kept in the correct temperature.

Don de Dieu "Gift from God in French": A triple fermented Wheat ale that is refermented in the bottle like La Fin du Monde but has a rich, creamy, and sweet taste.

Permalink Reply by Jeff from DrinkCraftBeer.com on February 15, 2008 at 1:23pm

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Unibroue! They do some great Belgian style ales. Just a couple details about the style (since this is a beer lovers group, I hope I'm not stepping on any toes or anything... just want to help everyone get a full understanding of this wonderful drink called beer).

First, all of Unibroue's beers are bottle conditioned (or have a small fermentation in the bottle, as do almost all Belgian and Belgian style beers).

Second, bottle conditioning does not really add an appreciable amount of alcohol. What the brewer does is add a little bit of sugar to the already fermented beer. Fermentation produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. They then cap/cork the beer, sealing it. The carbon dioxide then increases the pressure in the bottle and goes into solution in the beer. It's not enough sugar to produce much alcohol, though. The strength of the beer just depends how much sugar is in the liquid before the initial fermentation.

Bottle conditioning does help the beer age, though. It is a live beverage and the yeast continues to work on the beer, cleaning up fermentation byproducts and some potential off-tastes. Also, the beers age well because they are high in alcohol. Alcohol acts as a preservative so, for the most part, a good rule of thumb is higher alcohol beers age better. A lot of beers around the 9%-10% mark will taste great after two years. Some styles, such as barleywines and imperial stouts, can be aged for up to 10 years some times or even longer.

On a side note, I love La Fin du Monde, though!

Permalink Reply by Peter Karnowski on February 24, 2008 at 7:01pm

No worries Jeff, this is what this group is about, right?? I will also throw out my appreciation of Unibroue, as they make a great beer. I recently purchased a bottle conditioned beer from Trader Joe's in the style of a belgian beer. If I am not mistaken it was made by Unibroue, but bottled by Trader Joe's. It was in the $5-$6 range for a 750ml. Most places around here sell the 750ml blue Chimay for around $10. Needless to say, it was a tasty beer. I know that Trader Joe's does the same thing (self bottling) for some scotch distilleries.
Allagash out of Portland Maine is another brewery that excels at this style of brewing. Definitely worth checking out.

Permalink Reply by cschappa on March 4, 2008 at 1:58pm

I live in Florida, try www.dunedinbrewery.com and www.tampabaybrewingcompany.com

Also a good source for different beers, www.beerschool.com
Good netcast to listen to when driving to work, I have a 30min commute.

Craig

Permalink Reply by Chris Black on March 11, 2008 at 11:43am

I like Dogfish Head from Delaware, they make some great IPA's also the New Belgium Brewing Company in Colorado does some great stuff. Guru is right about the craft beer site it does have some great stuff, but they don't really update it much.

Permalink Reply by firerose on July 24, 2008 at 3:43pm

I live in Colorado, so am not as familiar with So Cal local breweries (though last time I was there, I had some really incredible brews). However, my favorite local around me is Avery. They do a really good IPA. I noticed someone also mentioned Dogfish Head form Delaware, which I'm also a big fan of.

Permalink Reply by Joe G on August 12, 2008 at 6:56pm

Living in Maryland there is a wealth of good and some great beers to enjoy. Dogfish, Flying Dog (used to be Frederick Brewing Co until they were bought), and all the nearby small brewers in PA (Victory, Troggs etc).

I'm a big fan of hoppy beers and really love the Stone IPA; Arrogant Bastard and also Bear Republic "Racer 5."