San Francisco bound this weekend!

San Francisco is by far one of my most favorite towns.  I love the drive from Southern California up north, the scenery is gorgeous.  I almost enjoy the drive more than the destination!  This next weekend, I'll be venturing to San Francisco for a few days and am debating what to do while there.  I've visited a few breweries and craft beer bars on past visits, but I always like to try something new with each trip.

No traffic driving through Los Angeles is always a nice treat.

Beer at Bear Republic, so yummy!

Breweries I have visited on the way and/or in the area of San Francisco include:
Hollister Brewing Company, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, Firestone Walker Brewery, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Bear Republic Brewery, and Russian River Brewing Company.
I'm looking for suggestions for craft beer bars or breweries to visit on my next trip.  Which ones are your favorites?

Valiant Brewing Grand Opening

First customers in line to try some tasty beer!

Today I had the privilege of visiting Valiant Brewing in Orange, California for their Grand Opening.  It's not every day that you are able to enter a brand new brewery on their first official day of business.  I arrived at the brewery thirty minutes prior to their opening, not sure what to expect.  After a few minutes, I noticed other people were gathering at the entrance to the brewery and decided to wait in the small group.  At noon we were welcomed inside the brewery.

Pretty beer making equipment!

When you first enter the brewery, you are able to view all of the new shiny brewing equipment.  Being able to see where a brewery makes there beer is always fun for a beer drinker, especially if you don't have to go on an actual tour.  It also helps to make you appreciate even more all of the hard work that is involved in making a delicious beer.

Endless possibilities of beer!

First customers ordering beer.

After looking around and admiring the beauty of a brand new brewery, I decided it might be a good idea to sample some of the beer on tap.  There were three official beers on tap as well as a fourth beer that was available if you ordered a tasting flight.  Maverick's Mighty Ale, a 3.6 % abv Premium Bitter, 31 Kings, a 6.5% abv IPA, Veranda, a 8.5% abv French Ale, and Stentorian, a 13.5% abv Barley Wine.

31 Kings IPA, my favorite of the day!

While I enjoyed sampling all of the beers I sampled, 31 Kings was my favorite of the day.  Stentorian was a bit sneaky, in that it smelled far stronger than it tasted, but being 13.5% abv it is definitely a strong beer.






I am glad that I arrived when the brewery first opened their doors for the day, because many other craft beer fans had the same idea to visit today!  While many people helped make a continuous stream of customers, the lines moved in a timely manner.  All of the employees were friendly and helpful.  I loved seeing members of the brewery owners family helping out while we were there.  After finishing my beer, I decided to get a growler to take home, so that I would be able to share my new favorite beer with my friends.  I look forward to sampling more beers by Valiant Brewing Company and am excited to see what other beers they make in the future!

View of the many thirsty craft beer drinkers at the entrance.

More photos I took of the Grand Opening!

Great American Beer Festival

Last year, I had no idea what the Great American Beer Festival was all about.  Reading people's tweets and Untappd check-ins, I figured out it was a pretty epic beer event.  Breweries I had never heard of along with beers that sounded foreign.  I decided that 2012 would be my year to attend the festival.

Travelling from Orange County, CA to Denver, CO is a pretty short flight.  Arriving at the airport, I was extremely excited to hope on the plane, but the airline had different ideas.  Our flight was delayed by an hour, which at first made me sad.  Thankfully, the Jack Daniels and Coca Cola I consumed aboard the flight made the delay slip into my memory.  The first highlight of my trip to GABF was not being charged for my mixed drink.  I was pretty excited and smiled and thanked the flight attendant as we deplaned our aircraft.

Arriving in Denver, it hit me, we were here!  The land of craft beer!  But first, we had to take a shuttle to our rental car facility.  I had reserved a compact car and of course, at the rental agency the employee tried to up-sell me.  Would I like to drive a BMW for only $65 extra per day?  Would I like to upgrade to a full size car for $30 extra per day?  I politely declined all of the employees offers.  When she finally checked to see which car I would be driving, she told me they were sold out of the compact cars.  At first I thought, great, now I will HAVE to drive a BMW!  To my surprise, I was told I would be able to drive an SUV for the compact car price.  Second upgrade of my trip!

After our short drive to our hotel, which was located ten miles or so from the Convention Center, we were told that the room we had requested was no longer available.  I started to laugh as the front desk clerk told me they were going to upgrade us to a two room suite.  At this point, I was really starting to love Denver and I hadn't even been to GABF yet!

Rad table at New Belgium

The next morning, we joined the owners of Bootlegger's Brewery, where my boyfriend works, and some of the other employees for a journey to some of the local breweries.  Our first stop was New Belgium Brewing.  We were greeted by an amazing selection of food and beer to sample as we waited for our tour to begin.  The beginning of the tour started with a visit to a shiny curved slide, how many work places have a slide besides fast food restaurants?  We continued with viewing the various production areas of the brewery.  Along our tour, we had a stop at a small tasting area where we were able to re-fill our glasses.  

Grabbing a bottle of fresh Fat Tire!

My favorite part of the tour was visiting the bottling and packaging area.  This is where we were each allowed to take a bottle of freshly bottled Fat Tire off of the line.  I felt like I was in the opening credits of Laverne & Shirley!  We were also allowed to taste fresh Fat Tire directly from the fermenter.

Fresh Fat Tire from the fermenter.

Our tour guide was very patient as we snapped photos and took our time trying to take in all of the sights.  I loved seeing all of the bicycles along our tour.  After working at New Belgium for a year, every employee is given a bicycle.  What a cool idea!  The sheer magnitude of the bottling and packaging facility was a bit overwhelming.  Robotic arms were moving cases of beer with ease while we just watched in awe as they were completing their tasks.

O'Dell Brewing's Tasting Room

After our tour concluded, I was able to purchase some of my favorite beer, Super IPA.  We were then on our way to our next destination, O'Dell Brewing just a few minutes down the road.  O'Dell Brewing is not as large as New Belgium but is still an impressive facility.  While we did not go on a tour, we did spend a good amount of time sampling beers in the lovely tasting room.

Oskar Blues' Tasting Room

Instead of getting a tasting flight, I opted for a full pint of beer.  Our next stop was Oskar Blues' tasting room.  I really liked the ambience of Oskar Blues which had live music as well as a no frills environment.  Just like at O'Dells, instead of a flight of beer, I opted for a pint of beer.  We were pleasantly surprised to find different years of Ten Fidy available and tried the 2009 version.  It did not disappoint!

Upon finishing up at Oskar Blues Brewery, we headed back into downtown Denver.  This is when I had my first opportunity to visit GABF.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I entered the massive convention center.  My first thought after receiving my tasting glass and entering the doors of the convention center was simply, "wow!"

Live music at GABF

I've been to numerous beer events, but nothing comes close to the number of brewery booths that are set up at GABF.  I was a bit worried that I might get lost and never find my way out until I quickly realized that the layout was organized according to region.  I was happy to see that there were not any huge lines at any of the booths, as I've seen at other events for popular beers.  Since I'd had such a long day, I didn't end up staying only a few hours during my first session of GABF.  I decided that going to bed early would be better so I could enjoy my second session at GABF more fully.

Beachwood BBQ & Brewing One Year Anniversary

Special first anniversary food menu

On Saturday, July 7th, 2012 Beachwood BBQ & Brewing turned one year old!  A first birthday is always cause for a celebration.  When amazing beer, food, friends, and live music are involved it makes any celebration that much more enjoyable!  For their anniversary, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing not only had some great beers on tap, but they also had specialty food items on the menu.  I tried the Apple White Cheddar Hand Pie with Maple Glaze which was delicious! 

So many guest beers to choose from!

While they had several guest beers on tap, from Ballast Point, Green Flash, and Stone, just to name a few, I decided to sample the house beers instead.  I started off the day with the Hop Vader, a Black IPA with an ABV of 7.1%.  Since I'm a huge IPA fan, this beer was definitely a favorite of the day!  

Cheers to Beachwood BBQ & Brewing!

Next up, I sampled the Dank Epoch, a 10.7 % Triple IPA.  Even though the ABV was nearly 11%, this beer was surprisingly easy to drink.  My third beer of the day was the Knucklehead Red a 5.7% ABV American Red Ale.  This is my second favorite style of beer and I really liked it!  The fourth beer I tried was the Mandarin Dream, a 6.7% ABV Belgian Style Saison.  This beer was light and refreshing, a great beer to enjoy all summer long.  

Just a few of the beers on tap from Beachwood Brewing

My final beer of the afternoon was also the one beer I was most looking forward to trying, the System of a Stout an 11.3 % Imperial Armenian Coffee Stout.  This beer has been on tap a few times, but this was the first time I'd been able to finally sample it. Although I do not like coffee, I loved this beer.  While I wouldn't be able to drink it on a daily basis, such as the Mandarin Dream, it is one I would love to try again.  As always, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the beers made by Beachwood Brewing and I cannot wait until their second anniversary next year!